CASSVILLE, Mo. – Longtime leading stock car driver Freddy Fryar has died at the age of 85.
Born on Feb. 15, 1935, Fryar won the Snowball Derby late model special at Florida’s Five Flags Speedway in 1979 and ’81.
Known as “The Beaumont Flyer,” Fryar made six starts in NASCAR Cup Series competition, turning in one top-10 performance, finishing sixth at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in the Bill Ellis Plymouth No. 14 on April 12, 1970. He finished 15th in the 1971 Daytona 500.
Fryar was only 20 years old when he raced in his first NASCAR Grand National race at Montgomery, Ala., in 1956.
“I was 14 years old when I started,” said Fryar many years later. “My dad had taken us to the races as little kids. He loved to go watch them race.”
Fryar first raced on the dirt in a 1935 Plymouth Coupe in the Chattanooga, Tenn., area. He raced at tracks like Fort Oglethorpe Speedway, Alton Park and Boyd’s Speedway, following his older brother, Harold, into racing. Harold Fryar died from injuries suffered in a racing accident in 1971.
Freddy Fryar is reported to have won 826 features during his career, during which he was a regular winner in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. He retired from racing in 1987.
For a time, Fryar was an instructor for the Richard Petty Driving Experience and worked for a number of NASCAR teams. He was a member of the Alabama Auto Racing Pioneers Hall of Fame and the Ozarks Auto Racing Hall of Fame.