Jack Roush, NASCAR team owner, global business executive, mechanical wizard and perhaps the world’s best-known wearer of Panama hats, received the prestigious NASCAR Buddy Shuman Award during today’s NMPA Myers Brothers Awards Luncheon in Las Vegas. Established in 1957 in memory of Louis Grier “Buddy” Shuman, one of stock car racing’s most popular early drivers, the award has been sponsored for 60 consecutive years by Federal-Mogul Motorparts’ iconic Champion brand of spark plugs, filters, wipers, batteries and other products.
Roush joins such racing luminaries as Bill France Sr., Richard Petty, Ken Squier, Chris Economaki and Rick Hendrick in receiving the award, which recognizes individuals and organizations that have helped shape professional stock car racing. Shuman was a beloved figured who raced in Grand National (now Sprint Cup Series) events in the early 1950s and also served as NASCAR’s first technical inspector. He perished in a hotel fire in 1955.
A native of Covington, Kentucky, Roush became interested in motorsports as an engineer at Ford Motor Co. in the mid-1960s. He and racing partner Wayne Gapp had significant early success in drag racing’s Pro Stock class before Roush began developing road racing vehicles through a consulting deal with Ford. He leveraged his engineering skill and racing experience to establish Jack Roush Performance Engineering in 1976. Roush was a dominant force in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) road racing during the 1980s, winning more than 100 races and 24 national titles. He moved to NASCAR in 1988 with the launch of Roush Racing, a one-car Sprint Cup Series team led by driver Mark Martin. Roush Racing won back-to-back Sprint Cup championships in 2003 and 2004. In 2007, the organization announced a joint venture with Fenway Sports Group. The resulting organization, Roush Fenway Racing, now operates three teams each in NASCAR Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series competition.
“Jack is a true racing legend, with unprecedented success as a performance engineer, driver, entrepreneur, team owner, tactician and mentor,” said Michael Proud, vice president of marketing, Americas, Federal-Mogul Motorparts. “Perhaps his most impressive achievement, however, has been his ability to empower those around him – drivers, mechanics, engine builders, crew chiefs and engineers – to excel both on and off the track. The Roush brand is synonymous with race-winning performance.”
To learn more about Champion, visit championautoparts.com.
