CURTIS

Curtis Turner slings his car around a dirt track, no doubt driving the machine as hard as it could possibly go … and then some.

Of course, that was Turner’s style on the track and in life. Turner had a hand in building the track now known as Lowe’s Motor Speedway, he was banned from NASCAR for attempting to form a driver’s union and, on his return, won Rockingham’s inaugural Grand National event. And that doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of Turner’s story.

Turner died Oct. 4, 1970 in a plane crash.