(Reuters) - NASCAR Hall of Famer and 1965 Daytona 500 champion Fred Lorenzen has died at 89, NASCAR said on Wednesday.
Lorenzen, who won 26 career Cup races, was named in NASCAR's list of its 50 greatest drivers of all time in 1998. He also became the first NASCAR driver to earn more than $100,000 in a single season in 1963.
“Fred Lorenzen was one of NASCAR’s first true superstars. A fan favorite, he helped NASCAR expand from its original roots," NASCAR chairman and CEO Jim France said in a statement.
"For many years, NASCAR’s ‘Golden Boy’ was also its gold standard, a fact that eventually led him to the sport’s pinnacle, a rightful place in the NASCAR Hall of Fame."
Lorenzen, fondly called the 'Elmhurst Express,' 'Fast Freddie' and 'Fearless Freddie' by his fans, had been battling dementia for years, according to U.S. media reports.
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by Michael Perry)
