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Question about rookie drivers


64Comet404

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A friend reminded me of a story about A.J. Foyt. He had been running at some NASCAR tracks (mainly Daytona and Riverside ) from 1963. But in 1985 he was going to run at Darlington for the first time.. NASCAR made him run rookie stripes on his car and this really made him mad but he did it .

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I reached out to the Jayski NASCAR page and they contacted NASCAR.......here is what they said.

We haven’t found anything definite and NASCAR doesn’t seem certain either.  This is the latest from NASCAR:

I’m sorry to say I don’t know the origin of the rookie stripes in NASCAR or when the first stripes appeared. According to Indianapolis Motor Speedway historian, Donald Davidson rookie stripes were first applied for the Indianapolis 500 in 1950. I would imagine that was an influence on NASCAR but have not found the exact start of this tradition.

 NASCAR awarded their first Rookie of the Year title to Blackie Pitt in 1954, then did not present the award again until 1957 to Ken Rush. They have presented the award every year since.

 Some NASCAR tracks had special rookie orientation tests before a competitor can race. For instance, in 1985 4-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt was making his first career start at Darlington. NASCAR gave Foyt the opportunity to opt out of the orientation, but Foyt chose to participate to get the full Rookie experience. Most recently, in 2018 NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott wore Rookie stripes at Road America while making his first career start at that venue.

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