Lou Figaro Dies Of Crash Injuries Received During "Wilkes 160" - October 25, 1954

October 12, 1920 - October 25, 1954

Louis Figaro

(Photo; legendsofnascar.com)

Home: South Gate, California, USA.

Figaro competed in 16 NASCAR Cup Series races from 1951 to 1954, picking up one victory in the 1951 event at Carrell Speedway in Gardena, California. During the early years of late model stock car racing on the west coast, no name was more well known than that of Lou Figaro.

Figaro started his racing career in the early 1930’s and drove everything he could get his hands on. He liked stock cars, and by the end of WWII had decided to direct most of his energy to that type of racing. He was always a Hudson man and when the Hudson Hornet came out in 1951, Lou was there driving one of Jimmy Dane’s cars. He ran the Mexican Road Race with a Hudson and nearly lost his life in that effort. Lou raced with AAA, NASCAR, IMCA and WAR and won many races. He was especially fast on the high bands of Oakland, and the ½ mile dirt at Carrell Speedway.

He won the 1953 WAR Championship for Late Models and in 1954 had decided to concentrate on running NASCAR Grand National events in the south. He was killed in an accident during the 1954 Wilkes 160 at North Wilkesboro Speedway on October 24, 1954, when his vehicle smashed through the guardrail and overturned with three laps left. He died in the hospital the following day.

In 2002, Figaro was inducted into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame. His granddaughter, Tracy Figaro-Davis, accepted.