By Allen Madding
Insider Racing News
Ford's First Official NASCAR victory came in 1950 at Dayton Speedway in Ohio when Cleveland mechanic Jimmy Florian, driving for the Euclid Motor Co., 1950 Ford Custom Coupe. scored his only win and took home a $1,000 check for his efforts.
Ford Motor Company's affiliation with NASCAR goes all the way back to the first Grand National race at Charlotte Speedway in 1949, which was won by Glenn Dunnaway's Ford -- later to be disqualified -- handing the victory to Jim Roper's Lincoln.
In 1950 Ford offered a formal “police package” for its Deluxe and Custom series sedans with unique, heavy-duty and high-performance parts not available to civilian buyers. Beefy frames, extra-capacity radiators and huge brakes were among the usual upgrades.
The cars sponsor Euclid Motor Co, donated the car to the Police Chief after
Jimmy Florian, went back to Dirt track Cart racing.
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Denny Hudock, Cleveland, OH Writes: I happened on your site today. Really neat. As on old-time racer and a fan as a youngster, the names of two of my boyhood heroes grabbed me as I looked through your All-Time winners list of NASCAR drivers. Being from Ohio (Cleveland), I watched both Dick Linder and Jimmy Florian race as a youngster. Jimmy Florian's unique claim to fame in his one win at the Dayton Speedway is that it was the first win in NASCAR for a Ford! It was a 1950 Ford #27 owned by Skip Krauslack of Cleveland and sponsored by Euclid Ford. Jimmy ran a few more races in 1950 and 51 with NASCAR, but returned to a successful career locally driving midgets. He passed away last year. When he raced at Darlington in 1950, he flew there from Cleveland in his open-cockpit bi-plane. Jimmy was a real character.
Here are two pictures of Jimmy Florian taken the Dayton Speedway in 1950. The one showing Jimmy shirtless caused NASCAR to adopt a rule that drivers had to wear at least a T-shirt when racing. Jimmy said: "it was so damn hot, I just took the shirt off to keep cool".
The other shot shows Jimmy and car owner Skip Krauslock. This was Ford's first win in NASCAR. Unfortunately, Jimmy never received many accolades from Ford, and by the time they tracked him down for the 100th Anniversary in racing celebration, he had passed away. Jimmy drove a few more NASCAR events in the 50's, then concentrated on racing more locally in Shorty Christiansen's 17X Olds powered Chevy Coupe and returned to the Midgets where he and owner Dick Swartzlander tore up the Midwest until the mid-60s. Jimmy drove a few late model races in the 70's and then retired. He was active in the Vintage American Race Cars Club until his passing. It was always fun to be around Jimmy and to listen to the many stories of his early years after returning from WWII racing the roadsters, midgets and stock cars. He was truly one of a kind.
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