Here's another segment for NASCAR Did You Know?

This time I have chosen Neil Castles. I came across him while searching for an 86 car for my Daytona Countdown. I'd never heard of him (and love reading about older drivers) and figured others hadn't either so here we are!

Neil "Soapy" Castles - Born October 1, 1934 in Charlotte, NC. Neil Castles competed in the Grand National and Winston Cup ranks for 19 years before retiring from the sport in l976. He was nicknamed "Soapy" from his boyhood competition in soap-box derbies. Throughout the Sixties "Soapy" was highly competitive, spending four seasons in Buck Baker's cars and finishing eighth in the point standings in l965 and ninth in the final standings in 1966. Other than those years, Castles fielded his own cars and was considered one of the leading "independents" - those without a factory-backed program. He was eighth in the standings in his own cars in l967 and then 12th in l968. His best seasons came in 1969 and 1970 when he was fourth and fifth in the final point standings. During his long career he made 498 starts and although he never scored a victory, he had 51 top-five finishes and 178 top-10 placings. He also performed stunt driver duties in the Warner Brothers film "Greased Lightning" alongside Wendell Scott.

I found a pretty good article detailing his racing career. It's too much to paste here, but if you're interested go take a read! :) Read it here




Ashley