| Jimmy Ingram | |
| Birth Name: | James Edwin Ingram |
| Birth Date: | February 23, 1928 |
| Birth Place: | Cheraw, South Carolina |
| Death Place: | Cheraw, South Carolina |
| Total Cup Races: | 3 |
| Years In Cup: | 3 |
| Best Cup Pos: | 86th (1980) |
| First Cup Race: | 1951 Race 11 (Columbia) |
| Last Cup Race: | 1980 Mason-Dixon 500 (Dover) |
| Cup Wins: | 0 |
| Cup Top Tens: | 0 |
| Cup Poles: | 0 |
James Edwin Ingram Sr. (February 23, 1928 – December 8, 1998) was an American pilot and stock car racing driver. He made three starts in NASCAR's Winston Cup Series, two in the early 1950s and the last in 1980; the 27-year-gap between his second and third races are the longest time between starts in the series' history.
Ingram served in the United States Navy aboard the during World War II, where he was part of an aviation unit before being honorably discharged in 1946 as a seaman first class.[1]
He recorded over 11,000 flight hours during his career as a pilot for Southern Airways, Air Haïti with type ratings for the Convair CV-240 family, Martin 2-0-2 and 4-0-4, and Douglas DC-3. A member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Ingram operated out of Cheraw Municipal Airport for 30 years, including a stint as its manager.
During his NASCAR dormancy, Ingram was the team pilot for Holman-Moody.
In 1951, Ingram entered the NASCAR Grand National Series' Columbia Speedway. Racing a Henry J, he failed to finish and was classified 19th.[2] His second start came at the 1952 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Racing a 1951 Nash Ambassador, he started 52nd but crashed on lap 104.[3] [4] Ingram had lost control of his car, spinning before rolling three times.[5] He was taken to the hospital after being extracted from the car, with an Associated Press report saying he was "bleeding profusely from face cuts before he could be released."[6] Officially, he was classified as finishing 57th.
While he did not run a Grand National (later known as Cup Series) race again until 1980, he remained involved in racing as Holman-Moody's pilot and the owner of Cheraw Speedway, the latter from 1955 to 1960 and from 1963 to 1968. The track began as a quarter-mile dirt track before becoming a paved 3/8-mile oval in the 1960s.[7] His family continues to own the property, which was used to store crop dusting chemicals following its closure.[8] [9]
He returned to the Cup Series in 1980 at Dover Downs International Speedway with his daughter Lynn as crew chief. With 27-and-a-half years between Darlington and Dover, it was the largest gap between starts in Cup history and the first of two instances where a Cup driver had at least a 25-year pause.[10] Despite the hiatus, he qualified 33rd and two miles per hour faster than the 34th and slowest car before finishing 15th.[11] Ingram later entered that year's Darlington race, and was required to do rookie testing despite having raced there already; he had an extended run after initially failing to meet the minimum top speed of 140mph, which he eventually succeeded.[12] However, he did not qualify for the event. He also missed another attempt at North Carolina Motor Speedway.
Ingram was born in Cheraw, South Carolina, the son of Dr. Boyd and Allie Lide Ingram and one of two children. His 18-year-old sister Annie Jo Ingram was killed in a car accident in 1956.[13] He graduated from Cheraw High School in 1943, after which he worked as an electric welder on a shipyard in Brunswick, Georgia, prior to joining the Navy.[14]
He was married to Betty Jean Lee Ingram (née Hodge) from 1945 to 1980. They had a son James Edwin Ingram Jr. (died 1992) and daughter Nancy Lynn Ingram.[15] [16] [17]
Besides flying and racing, other ventures included running businesses in home construction, trucking, and logging.
Ingram died at his home on December 8, 1998 at the age of 70.
(key) (
Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)| NASCAR Grand National Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | Pts | Ref | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1951 | Jimmy Ingram | Henry J | DAB | CLT | NMO | GAR | HBO | ASF | NWS | MAR | CAN | CLS | CLB | DSP | GAR | GRS | BAI | HEI | AWS | MCF | ALS | MSF | FMS | MOR | ABS | DAR | CLB | CCS | LAN | CLT | DSP | WIL | HBO | TPN | PGS | MAR | OAK | NWS | HMS | JSP | ATL | GAR | NMO | NA | - | [18] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1952 | 26 | Nash | PBS | DAB | JSP | NWS | MAR | CLB | ATL | CCS | LAN | DAR | DSP | CAN | HAY | FMS | HBO | CLT | MSF | NIF | OSW | MON | MOR | PPS | MCF | AWS | DAR | CCS | LAN | DSP | WIL | HBO | MAR | NWS | ATL | PBS | 166th | 0 | [19] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||