Frankie Schneider
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| Frankie Schneider | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||
| Born | August 11, 1926 Maplewood, New Jersey, U.S. | ||||||
| Died | November 12, 2018 (aged 92) | ||||||
| Motorsport career | |||||||
| Debut season | 1947 | ||||||
| Car number | 2 | ||||||
| Wins | 750+ | ||||||
| Finished last season | 1999 | ||||||
| Championship titles | |||||||
| 1952 NASCAR National Modified champion 1954,1962 Langhorne National Open 1967 All Star Stock Car Racing League Champion | |||||||
| NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
| 27 races run over 7 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 20th (1957) | ||||||
| First race | 1949 Hamburg Speedway | ||||||
| Last race | 1958 Starkey Speedway | ||||||
| First win | 1958 Old Dominion Speedway | ||||||
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Frank E. Schneider (August 11, 1926 – November 11, 2018) was an American stock car, modified, midget, and sprint car racer. He had one NASCAR Grand National Series victory at Old Dominion Speedway in 1958 driving a 1957 Chevrolet. He also won the 1952 NASCAR modified title, where it is suspected that he scored at least 100 wins.[1][2] Schneider earned his nickname "The Old Master" for his ability to master anything with wheels.
Frank E. Schneider was born on August 11, 1926 in Maplewood, New Jersey. His father, Frank Sr, was employed at Western Electric in Newark at the time. Frank was the oldest of five children, Eleanor, Lorraine, Robert, and Charles are his younger siblings.[3] He left home when he was 16 and he started racing cars when he was 21.[4]
Racing career
Schneider began his career on June 15, 1947, by winning $70 ($1,009.31 when considering inflation) for driving his streetcar to a seventh-place at Flemington Speedway.[2] Schneider is believed to have won at least 750 races in the next thirty years.[2] He routinely raced in several classes at eight races per week.[2] He reportedly scored at least 100 wins again in 1958.[2] Schneider won the Langhorne National Open, the country's top event for Sportsman and Modified racers in 1954 and 1962. In 1963, he won four track points championships—Middletown, Harmony, Reading, and Nazareth—in a car he bought for $1,000 ($10,516.3 when considering inflation).
Schneider scored his last feature win on July 31, 1977, at the 1/2-mile dirt track Nazareth Speedway.[2][5] Although he competed in almost all 50 states, the Bahamas, and Canada, Schneider raced most of his career at the Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, New York; Reading Fairgrounds Speedway and Nazareth Speedway in Pennsylvania; and Flemington Speedway and Harmony Speedway in New Jersey.[4] The Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame inducted Schneider in 1992 as part of its inaugural class.[6] He was recently voted driver of the century by Area Auto Racing News.[2]
Schneider's career is the subject of the video "The Old Master: Frankie Schneider".[7] Schneider died at the age of 92 on November 11, 2018.[8]