One of the oldest living NASCAR champions, Frankie Schneider, will be turning 90 on Aug. 11, 2016.
New Jersey native and NASCAR legend Frankie Schneider is turning 90 years old on Aug. 11, making him one of the oldest living NASCAR champions.
From east to west coast, as far north as Canada and as far south as the Bahamas, Schneider has driven his way to victory across the nation.
Schneider, born in 1926 in Sergeantsville in Hunterdon County, has competed in almost every type of NASCAR racing there is to offer, winning titles along the way. However, he has made his fame mostly in Modified Stock Car racing, winning the NASCAR Modified title in 1952.
Schneider, who now lives in Delaware Township, got his start in June of 1947 at the Flemington Speedway where, in a borrowed car, he finished seventh and won $75. From then on, he was hooked on racing.
"Racing is something that once you get in your blood, you never get out," Darlene Ellis, Schneider's daughter, said. "He loved it. He would say that he lived the best life and did everything he ever wanted to do."
1952 NASCAR champion Frankie Schneider
It is documented that Schneider has won over 750 victories, but this number doesn't include wins that did not make it into the record books. During the beginning of his racing career, many of his race victories were not recorded. Schneider also raced under multiple aliases to avoid conflict with NASCAR as he competed in rival series.
Schneider raced eight times week and won 100 titles in one year alone. Ellis believes her father has won over 1,000 titles.
Ken Kuhlman, who has interviewed Schneider, said he also holds the honor of being one of only two New Jersey-based race drivers to win a premier NASCAR Sprint Cup race. The other is Martin Truex, Jr. of Mayetta.
"I did the best I could, trying to earn a living at it," Schneider told Kuhlman. "I managed to do so for over 30 years, bringing up five children during that time."
Some of Schneider's victories include his NASCAR Grand National triumph at Old Dominion Speedway in 1958, and the Langhorne National Open in 1954 and 1962.
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Den Keenan, who wrote a book on Schneider's success titled "The Old Master," said he believes one of the reasons he was so successful was his ability to improvise and engineer the best cars. Schneider was a farmer and a mechanic and built every car he ever raced in his career.
Ellis said he never bought any parts and instead built the cars from junk yard parts that he put together. One of his cars, "Ole Bess," ran for five years without major damage and won track championships at Nazareth, Reading, Harmony and Middletown.
"He also had an uncanny knack of missing accidents," Keenan said.
During his 30 years of racing, Schneider encountered only one serious injury where he faced to possibility of losing a leg. In 1955 at the Vineland Speedway, Schneider he was involved in a wreck that tore his fuel lines. Ellis said he was badly burned and the doctors were close to amputating his leg, but were able to save it.
As Schneider approaches 90, Ellis said his health has been quite well with the exception of the last few years. For the past four years, Schneider has been battling cancer that has spread to his bones. He has gone through radiation treatment and the cancer is now in remission.