Driver
Born in Catawba, NC, where he made his home throughout his 15-year career, Isaac is 21st on the all-time NASCAR Cup Series list with 37 wins, spanning 1961-1976. His 12% winning percentage shades Dale Earnhardt. He also had 170 Top 10s in 308 starts — more than half his races. A master of qualifying, he is 10th on the all-time poles list with 49 and holds the all-time record for poles in a season with 20 during the 1969 campaign. Isaac was Cup series champion the following year in a Harry Hyde-prepared K&K Insurance Dodge. In 1970, he set what was then a world closed-course speed record of 201.104 mph at Talladega. The following year they took the car to Bonneville, where Isaac set 28 additional world speed records, some of which still stand. Isaac died in 1977 following a sportsman race at Hickory Speedway, a stone’s throw from his Catawba home. He was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998 and inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2016.