Draft:Buck Simmons

Buck Simmons
Simmons after winning the final race ever held at Lakewood Speedway in 1979.
Born	Charles Leroy Simmons (1946-07-31)July 31, 1946 Baldwin, Georgia, U.S.
Died	August 12, 2012(2012-08-12) (aged 66)
Achievements	All-Time wins leader in the National Dirt Racing Association (23) Most wins in a single season in the National Dirt Racing Association (13 in 1981) 1981 NDRA Champion 1975 Alabama 200 Winner 1976 Rattler 250 Winner 1977, 1980 Tiny Lund Memorial 200 Winner 1977 National 100 Winner 1980 Super Bowl of Dirt Winner 1980 Georgia 100 Winner 1985, 1986, 1987 Governor's Cup 100 Winner 1985 Stroh's Invitational Winner 1990 Hillbilly 100 Winner
Awards	National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame Inductee (2001 - Inaugural class) Georgia Racing Hall of Fame Inductee (2009)
NASCAR Cup Series career
6 races run over 2 years
Best finish	43rd (1983)
First race	1979 Dixie 500 (Atlanta)
Last race	1980 Winston 500 (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
ARCA Menards Series West career
2 races run over 1 year
Best finish	72nd (1979)
First race	1979 Los Angeles Times 500 (Ontario)
Last race	1979 Napa Arizona 250 (Phoenix)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 1
Statistics current as of July 13, 2023.

Charles Leroy "Buck" Simmons (July 31, 1946 – August 12, 2012) was an American professional dirt track racing and stock car racing driver. He won over one thousand feature events across Dirt Super Late Models and Asphalt Super Late Models reaching 1,012 feature wins by the end of his career in 2005.

Since Buck's death in 2012 a race has been held annually in his honor known as the Buck Simmons Memorial, the first race was held at Toccoa Raceway in 2012 and won by Casey Roberts then went to Lavonia Speedway in 2014 once Lavonia had reopened, it was won once again by Casey Roberts. The race was not run from 2015 to 2018 but returned in 2019 and it was won by Zack Mitchell.

Racing career

Early career

1950s-1970s

Simmons started his racing career at the age of 12, in 1958, driving a No. 41 jalopy-style car and later progressed into Dirt Late Models around the 1960s. At some point in the late-1960s and early 1970s he strung together Dirt Late Model wins in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, against Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison, and after that, in Hartsville, South Carolina, scoring a win over Dale Earnhardt. Later in the 1970s he progressed to Super Late Models on both dirt and asphalt, scoring several crown jewel wins, such as the Alabama 200 in 1975 and the Rattler 250 (then Rattler 100) in 1976. He also ran well in other Crown Jewel events; in 1977 he scored a second-place finish in the Snowball Derby.

Full-time driving

1980s

Simmons kicked off the 1980s by winning the Super Bowl of Dirt and the Georgia 100 at Lavonia Speedway, one of his home tracks. 1981 was one of the best seasons of his career, winning the NDRA championship and accumulating the most wins of any driver in NDRA history, with 13 in that season alone. In 1985, 1986, and 1987, he won the Florida Governor's Cup in the Pro Late Model division, as well as in 1985 winning the Stroh's Invitational at Smoky Mountain Speedway.

1990s-2000s

In the 1990s Simmons scored one more crown jewel win, in the Hillbilly 100 at Pennsboro Speedway in 1990, and then quietly stopped racing full-time. He raced until 2005, when he scored his last win, putting him at 1,012 wins in his career.

Late Model Sportsman Series

Simmons made two starts in the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman Series in 1977.

Cup Series

1979

Simmons made his NASCAR Winston Cup Series debut in the 1979 Dixie 500 at Atlanta Raceway, in the No. 12 for Kennie Childers, where he finished 14th, ahead of Richard Childress and James Hylton. He made one more start that season, in the combination race with the West Series at Ontario, and finished 29th after a transmission failure on lap 123 with 77 laps to go.

1980

Simmons returned in 1980 to the Cup Series, in the No. 12 for Kennie Childers. He started his season by attempting that year's Daytona 500, although he would ultimately DNQ after wrecking out in the first qualifying race on lap 25. He attempted six more races, making all of them, but was plagued by mechanical problems all year and finished only his last two races. His best finish of the year was a 16th at Martinsville Speedway. He never attempted another NASCAR race after 1980.

Winston West Series

1979

In 1979 Simmons ran two NASCAR Winston West Series races in the combination races with the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, at one of which he scored a pole for the last race of the season, at Phoenix International Raceway.

Personal life

Simmons had 4 children, he also has a grandson Paris Simmons, who currently competes in Dirt Late Models and won the 602 Crate Dirt Late Model portion of the Buck Simmons Memorial in 2020 as well as the track championship for 602's at Lavonia in 2022.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

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

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
1979	Kennie Childers Racing	12	Chevy	RSD	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	NWS	BRI	DAR	MAR	TAL	NSV	DOV	CLT	TWS	RSD	MCH	DAY	NSV	POC	TAL	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	CLT	NWS	CAR	ATL 32	ONT 29	73rd	197
1980				RSD	DAY DNQ	RCH	CAR 22	ATL 14	BRI	DAR	NWS	MAR 16																							43rd	495
			Olds										TAL 24	NSV	DOV	CLT	TWS	RSD	MCH	DAY	NSV	POC	TAL	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	NWS	MAR	CLT	CAR	ATL	ONT

Daytona 500

Year	Team	Manufacturer	Start	Finish
1980	Kennie Childers Racing	Chevrolet	DNQ

Winston West Series

NASCAR Winston West Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Pos.	Pts	Ref
1979	Kennie Childers Racing	12	Chevy	RSD	MMR	RSD	EVG	YAK	POR	AAS	SHA	CRS	SON	EVG	SPO	POR	ASP	ONT 29		72nd	35
		72																	PHO 16

External links

• Georgia Racing Hall of Fame page
• Buck Simmons driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Buck Simmons at The Third Turn

This page will be placed in the following categories if it is moved to the article namespace.

Categories:

• 1946 births
• 2012 deaths
• Racing drivers from Georgia (U.S. state)
• NASCAR drivers