Lennie Pond

Lennie W. Pond
1985 racecar
Born	August 11, 1940 (1940-08-11) Ettrick, Virginia
Awards	1973 Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
234 race(s) run over 17 year(s)
Best finish	5th - 1976 (Winston Cup)
First race	1969 American 500 (Rockingham)
Last race	1989 Miller High Life 400 (Richmond)
First win	1978 Talladega 500 (Talladega)
Last win	1978 Talladega 500 (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles 1 88 5

Lennie Pond (born August 11, 1940 in Ettrick, Virginia) is a former NASCAR driver. He won NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year honors in 1973, and won his only race at Talladega Superspeedway in 1978 for Ronnie Elder and Harry Ranier. Pond set a then world record speed of 174.700 miles per hour (281.152 km/h) in winning the caution free 500-mile race.

Career

Lennie W. Pond grew up in the Village of Ettrick, Virginia and had a couple cars that he used to race on his parents farm, which is where he got his taste for cars going fast. Ettrick has been home to Lennie all his life. Pond started being involved in racing probably in the mid-1950s. Lennie started racing modifieds on dirt tracks, then went to asphalt tracks, then to late-model tracks. In 1973, Pond started to run Winston Cup races, his last race with Winston Cup was in 1989 at Richmond International Raceway for Junie Donlavey. Lennie got to run all three tracks here—dirt, asphalt and the new track.

His career totals include 234 career stars, one win, 39 top fives, 88 top tens, five poles, and a best championship finish of 5th in 1976. He beat out Darrell Waltrip for rookie of the year honors in 1973. Before retiring Lennie raced his last race on the 10th of September 1989 at Richmond International Racewayin the Miller High Life 400 where he finished in 11th place.

Pond later became a car salesman at Heritage Chevrolet, Chester, Virginia.

References

1. Richmond Times-Dispatch http://www2.timesdispatch.com/classifieds/richmond-drives/2011/apr/29/race-legend-lennie-pond-ar-1003359

2. Car 54 Where Are You http://www.facebook.com/Ettrickvirginia#!/Ettrickvirginia?sk=wall

3. Village of Ettrick http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/groups/245407042444/

4. Junie Donlavey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junie_Donlavey

5. Morgan-McClure Motorsports http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan-McClure_Motorsports

6. Langley Speedway (Virginia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langley_Speedway_(Virginia)

External links

• Pond Interview with John Sealy
• Lennie Pond at Racing Reference