Jack was born in Illinois but his family moved to Georgia when he was two-years-old. For the next 35 years Georgia was home. In 1960, he moved to Spartanburg, South Carolina finishing out his racing career, that began in 1947 on the old modified circuit. Then he retired in 1963 after hundreds of wins. One of the first to use boric acid to treat a driver’s uniform before a race to make it more fire retardant, and one of the first drivers to use a two-way radio in 1959. He believed it was dangerous for a driver to be attempting to read a pit board from far away instead of paying attention to driving.

• 1951 – National Modified Stock Car Point Champion
• First driver to win at both the old Daytona Road and Beach Course” and Daytona International Speedway
• 1958 – Voted NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver
• 1960 – Winning car owner of the Darlington Southern 500
• 1961 – Won first race ever held at Bristol International Raceway
• Winner of 21 Grand National Winston Cups
• Voted “Top Ten Driver” by Sports Illustrated