Elmo Langley
| Elmo Harrell Langley | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | August 21, 1928 Landover, Maryland |
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| Died | November 21, 1996 (aged 68) | ||||||
| Cause of death | heart attack | ||||||
| NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career | |||||||
| 536 races run over 27 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 5th - 1969 Grand National season and 1971 Winston Cup Series season | ||||||
| First race | 1954 Southern 500 (Darlington) | ||||||
| Last race | 1981 Mason-Dixon 500 (Dover) | ||||||
| First win | 1966 race at Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds | ||||||
| Last win | 1966 race at Old Dominion Speedway | ||||||
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Elmo Langley (born August 21, 1928 in Creswell, North Carolina - died November 21, 1996 in Suzuka, Japan) was a NASCAR driver and owner. Langley primarily used the number "64" on his race cars during his NASCAR career.
[edit] Racing career
Langley began his racing career racing modified cars in Virginia and Maryland in 1952. Langley came in to NASCAR as a Driver/Owner in 1954. In 1966 he partnered with Henry Woodfield and created Langley-Woodfield Racing. That same year Langley won the only two races of his long career. After the second race of the 1969 season, Langley and Woodfield split and Langley continued to run team on his own returning to the driver/owner role. He finished in the Top-10 in season points from 1967 until his final full season as a driver for Langley Racing in 1975 (except 1974). He continued to drive in a few select races until 1981 when he hung up the helmet for good. Langley began to field his familiar #64 for other drivers to develop their career including Tommy Gale, Joe Millikan, Jimmy Hensley and Ken Schrader. Langley shut down his team after the 1987 season.
Elmo's very last race was the Battle of the NASCAR Legends race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1991. The race featured such drivers as Cale Yarborough, Junior Johnson, Pete Hamilton, and Donnie Allison. The winner was Langley, beating Yarborough to the line by about 3 feet on the last lap.
From April, 1989, through November 21, 1996, Langley served as the official pace car driver for all Winston Cup events (and during the caution laps, been known to be playing with Dale Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace).
[edit] Death
Elmo Langley died on November 21, 1996. He had a heart attack while driving the pace car during the days leading up to NASCAR's exhibition race at Suzuka City, Japan in November, 1996.
