NASCAR Legend Herman "The Turtle" Beam Dies - August 27, 1980

December 11, 1929 - August 27, 1980

Herman "The Turtle" Beam

(Photo; legendsofnascar.com)

Home: Johnson City, Tennessee, USA.

Herman “The Turtle” Beam was a NASCAR Grand National driver and team owner from  who was active as a driver from 1957 until 1963. He is famous for holding the longest streak of races without a DNF, with 84, from 1961 until 1963. He had 57 Top 10 finishes in 194 races.

Beam was a chemical engineering graduate from the University of North Carolina. His contemporaries would say that with his horn-rimmed glasses and stoic demeanor he looked and acted more like a college professor than a race car driver. Beam did, however, have a scientific, methodical approach to his career in the NASCAR Grand National series. His method was based on the simple principle that the less he abused his equipment and the less money he spent making repairs, the more money he earned.

“He knew the distance to each racetrack, how many gallons of gas it took to get there, what you had to do to qualify for the race, how much money the race paid for each position, and where he thought he could finish,” said Kingsport racer Gene Glover, who was one of Beam’s contemporaries. “He built his own car and towed his own car, and didn’t have much help and didn’t really have a lot of overhead. He was really a genius at stretching a dollar and stretching his equipment longer than anybody.

“They called him Herman the Turtle because he had good equipment but he just didn’t want to drive fast, so he just got down on the apron and stayed out of the way. A lot of times he’d end up with good finishes.”

In an era when it was normal for at least half of a Cup field to fall out of a race, Beam ran a race for survival rather than a race for victory. As other cars crashed out or suffered mechanical problems, Beam gained positions in the finishing order.

Beam made his Grand National debut in 1957, finishing 20th in a self-owned Chevy. In 1958, he ran 20 races, with a single top 10 finish. 1959 was his best season, where he started 30 of 44 events, had 12 top 10 finishes including his first career top 5, and finished 4th in points. He made 2 starts in the NASCAR Convertible Division that year. In 1961, Beam suffered an engine failure at Richmond International Raceway. It was the last last DNF for 84 races, starting the streak of finishing races that he is most famous for, which ended at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1963. Beam retired from racing that year, but continued to field cars for other drivers, including Ned Jarrett and Cale Yarborough.

Beam's 84-race streak took place over the span of 22 months 10 days, and was being threatened by Clint Bowyer, who if he finished the first ten races of the 2009 season could have tied the record. However, he crashed at the 2009 Southern 500 at Darlington to end his streak at 83 finished races. Bowyer's teammate Kevin Harvick fell three short when his engine failed in the 2009 Auto Club 500 ending his streak at 81 races without a DNF.

Beam also holds a number of other distinctions. In 1959 he finished fourth in the Grand National point standings ahead of legendary drivers including Buck Baker, Rex White, Jack Smith, Junior Johnson, Fireball Roberts, and the young second-year driver Richard Petty.

He was also the first driver ever to be black flagged at Daytona International Speedway. It occurred in 1960 during one of the two Daytona 500 40-lap qualifying races when he somehow forgot to put on his helmet before the race.

Beam ran eight laps before officials noticed he didn’t have on a helmet and threw the black flag.

Beam ended his car owner career in 1966. He operated a garage in Johnson City, Tennessee, and continued to work with area drivers until his death on August 27, 1980 at the age of 50. He was instrumental in the early career of NASCAR veteran Brad Teague.

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