Tommy Gale (racing driver)

Tommy Gale (September 10, 1934 – September 30, 1999) was an American NASCAR Winston Cup Series race car driver from McKeesport, Pennsylvania who raced from 1968 to 1986. He ended up becoming one of the runners-up for the 1977 NASCAR Rookie of the Year award.

Tommy Gale
Born	(1934-09-10)September 10, 1934 McKeesport, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	September 30, 1999(1999-09-30) (aged 65)
NASCAR Cup Series career
246 races run over 17 years
Best finish	15th – 1981
First race	1968 American 500 (Rockingham)
Last race	1986 Winston 500 (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 4 0

Career

Gale started as a NASCAR Cup Series rookie when he was 34 years old and competed until his retirement at the age of 51. Leading only three laps of his 60,655-lap spanning career, Gale managed to make $683,965 in total winnings ($1,961,987.03 when adjusted for inflation). While starting in 27th place on average, his average finishes were 22nd place after competing in a grueling 75,239.7 miles or 121,086.6 kilometres of top-level professional stock car racing.^[1]

His only three DNQs came at the 1972 Miller High Life 500, the 1973 Daytona 500 and at the 1984 Talladega 500.^[2]

Gale's strongest performances are on short oval tracks where he finished an average of twentieth place. His weakness would be found on road courses; where a finish of 28th place would be expected out of Gale.^[3] His primary vehicle throughout his career was the No. 64 Ford machine owned by fellow NASCAR driver Elmo Langley.^[4]

Post-NASCAR career

After Gale retired from NASCAR, he decided to focus on his son and started a trucking business in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania; which is near his hometown of McKeesport.^[5]

Motorsports results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Grand National Series

NASCAR Grand National Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51	52	53	54	NGNC	Pts	Ref
1968	Lyle Stelter	56	Mercury	MGR	MGY	RSD	DAY	BRI	RCH	ATL	HCY	GPS	CLB	NWS	MAR	AUG	AWS	DAR	BLV	LGY	CLT	ASH	MGR	SMR	BIR	CAR	GPS	DAY	ISP	OXF	FDA	TRN	BRI	SMR	NSV	ATL	CLB	BGS	AWS	SBO	LGY	DAR	HCY	RCH	BLV	HBO	MAR	NWS	AUG	CLT	CAR 30	JFC						N/A	0	[6]
1969	Don Culpepper	76	Ford	MGR	MGY	RSD	DAY	DAY 12	DAY	CAR	AUG	BRI	ATL	CLB	HCY	GPS	RCH	NWS	MAR	AWS	DAR	BLV	LGY	CLT	MGR	SMR	MCH	KPT	GPS	NCF	DAY	DOV	TPN	TRN	BLV	BRI	NSV	SMR	ATL	MCH	SBO	BGS	AWS	DAR	HCY	RCH	TAL	CLB	MAR	NWS	CLT	SVH	AUG	CAR	JFC	MGR	TWS	90th	39	[7]
1970	Walt Valerio	03	Ford	RSD	DAY 15	DAY																																																				52nd	271	[8]
			Mercury				DAY 31	RCH	CAR	SVH	ATL	BRI	TAL	NWS	CLB	DAR	BLV	LGY	CLT	SMR	MAR	MCH 36	RSD	HCY	KPT	GPS	DAY	AST	TPN	TRN 10	BRI	SMR	NSV	ATL	CLB	ONA	MCH	TAL	BGS	SBO	DAR	HCY	RCH	DOV 27	NCF	NWS	CLT	MAR	MGR	CAR	LGY
1971	Larry Jackson			RSD	DAY	DAY 9	DAY 21	ONT	RCH	CAR	HCY	BRI	ATL 22	CLB	GPS	SMR	NWS	MAR	DAR	SBO	TAL 37	ASH	KPT	CLT	DOV	MCH 18	RSD	HOU	GPS	DAY	BRI	AST	ISP	TRN 24	NSV	ATL	BGS	ONA		TAL 14	CLB	HCY	DAR	MAR	CLT	DOV 23	CAR	MGR	RCH	NWS	TWS							41st	729	[9]
	Richard Giachetti	44	Ford																																				MCH 11

Winston Cup Series

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	NWCC	Pts	Ref
1972	Frank Vasko	03	Mercury	RSD	DAY 11	RCH	ONT DNQ	CAR	ATL 27	BRI	DAR	NWS	MAR	TAL	CLT	DOV								TAL 28	MCH	NSV	DAR 16	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT 23	CAR 39	TWS	41st	1298	[10]
	Richard Giachetti	44	Ford														MCH DNQ	RSD	TWS	DAY	BRI	TRN	ATL
1973	Frank Vasko	03	Mercury	RSD	DAY DNQ	RCH	CAR	BRI	ATL	NWS	DAR	MAR																							57th	N/A	[11]
	Gale Racing												TAL 13	NSV	CLT	DOV	TWS	RSD				ATL 37	TAL 48	NSV	DAR 36	RCH	DOV	NWS	MAR	CLT	CAR
			Chevy																MCH 25	DAY	BRI
1975	Langley Racing	64	Ford	RSD	DAY 23	RCH	CAR	BRI	ATL	NWS	DAR	MAR	TAL	NSV	DOV	CLT	RSD	MCH																	46th	437	[12]
	Champion Racing	10	Ford																DAY 18	NSV	POC 28	TAL	MCH	DAR 22	DOV 35	NWS	MAR	CLT	RCH	CAR	BRI	ATL	ONT
1976	Langley Racing	64	Ford	RSD	DAY DNQ	CAR 15	RCH	BRI	ATL 35	NWS	DAR 22	MAR	TAL 18	NSV	DOV 37	CLT	RSD	MCH 21			POC 34	TAL 40	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV 25	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR 24	ATL	ONT 17		33rd	1005	[13]
	Henley Gray	19	Chevy																DAY 29	NSV
1977	Langley Racing	64	Ford	RSD	DAY DNQ	RCH	CAR 21	ATL 22	NWS	DAR 21	BRI	MAR 23	TAL 15	NSV	DOV 18	CLT 37	RSD	MCH 23	DAY 38	NSV	POC 25	TAL 14	MCH 32	BRI	DAR 18	RCH 24	DOV 26	MAR	NWS	CLT 21	CAR 15	ATL	ONT 22		26th	1689	[14]
1978				RSD	DAY 25	RCH 23	CAR 14	ATL 22	BRI 22	DAR 21	NWS 27	MAR 17	TAL 16	DOV 18	CLT 24	NSV	RSD	MCH 21	DAY 15	NSV	POC 16	TAL 20	MCH 16	BRI 21	DAR 13	RCH 24	DOV 17	MAR 27	NWS 17	CLT 31	CAR 18	ATL DNQ	ONT 17		20th	2639	[15]
	Bobby Wawak	74	Chevy																													ATL 31
1979	Langley Racing	64	Ford	RSD	DAY DNQ	CAR 13	RCH 22	ATL 21	NWS 20	BRI 18	DAR 34	MAR 16	TAL 7	NSV 13	DOV 19	CLT 20	TWS 20	RSD	MCH 33	DAY 27	NSV 28	POC 19	TAL 36	MCH 14	BRI 15	DAR 21	RCH 24	DOV 15	MAR 22	CLT 21	NWS 27	CAR 12	ATL 22	ONT 34	18th	2795	[16]
1980				RSD	DAY 20	RCH 21	CAR 26	ATL 18	BRI 17	DAR 15	NWS 29	MAR 29	TAL 16	NSV 15	DOV 12	CLT 33	TWS 25	RSD		DAY 28	NSV 18	POC 19	TAL 29	MCH 22	BRI 13	DAR 31	RCH 19	DOV 36	NWS 20	MAR 11	CLT 22	CAR 20	ATL 15	ONT 16	18th	2885	[17]
	Ulrich Racing	40	Chevy																MCH 19
1981	Langley Racing	64	Ford	RSD	DAY 17		CAR 19	ATL 18	BRI 15	NWS 19	DAR 18		TAL 11	NSV 17		CLT 17	TWS 12		MCH 36	DAY 19	NSV 21	POC 31	TAL 18	MCH 21	BRI 15	DAR 29	RCH 17	DOV 24	MAR 13	NWS 14	CLT 22	CAR 13	ATL 22	RSD 26	15th	3140	[18]
	Junior Miller	79	Olds			RCH 18
	Ulrich Racing	40	Buick									MAR 18			DOV 14			RSD 30
1982	Langley Racing	64	Ford	DAY 16	RCH 21	BRI 17	ATL 37	CAR 12	DAR 11	NWS DNQ	MAR	TAL 16	NSV 16	DOV 13	CLT DNQ	POC 18	RSD Wth	MCH 18	DAY 14	NSV 18	POC 23	TAL 29	MCH 20	BRI 19	DAR 25	RCH 21	DOV 14	NWS 19	CLT 36	MAR 17	CAR 16	ATL 26	RSD		21st	2698	[19]
	Hylton Racing	48	Buick												CLT 23
1983	Langley Racing	64	Ford	DAY 27	RCH DNQ	CAR 21	ATL 23	DAR 14	NWS 19	MAR 22	TAL 13	NSV 28	DOV 27	BRI 20	CLT 35	RSD	POC 25	MCH 26	DAY 23	NSV 28	POC 24	TAL 39	MCH 28	BRI 23	DAR 29	RCH 30		MAR 19	NWS 24	CLT 31	CAR 10	ATL 19	RSD		23rd	2507	[20]
	Bud Reeder	02	Pontiac		RCH 32																						DOV 28
1984	Langley Racing	64	Ford	DAY 32	RCH	CAR 30	ATL 24	BRI 20	NWS 23	DAR 18	MAR	TAL 19	NSV 27	DOV 23	CLT 25	RSD	POC 27	MCH 33	DAY 24	NSV	POC 36	TAL DNQ	MCH	BRI 11	DAR 22	RCH	DOV	MAR	CLT	NWS	CAR	ATL	RSD		33rd	1426	[21]
1986	Langley Racing	64	Ford	DAY	RCH	CAR	ATL	BRI	DAR	NWS	MAR	TAL 25	DOV	CLT	RSD	POC	MCH	DAY	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	ATL	RSD			N/A	0	[22]

Daytona 500

Year	Team	Manufacturer	Start	Finish
1970	Walt Valerio	Mercury	29	31
1971	Larry Jackson	Mercury	20	21
1972	Frank Vasco	Mercury	26	11
1973			DNQ
1975	Langley Racing	Ford	24	23
1976			DNQ
1977			DNQ
1978			38	25
1979			DNQ
1980			29	20
1981			28	17
1982			42	16
1983			25	27
1984			30	32