Jerry Schild
| Jerry Schild | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born |
September 1, 1954 Houston, Texas, United States |
||||||
| Died | August 4, 2012 (aged 57) | ||||||
| Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
| 5 races run over 1 year | |||||||
| Best finish | 45th – 1974 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season | ||||||
| First race | 1974 Winston 500 (Talladega Superspeedway) | ||||||
| Last race | 1974 American 500 (Rockingham Speedway) | ||||||
|
|||||||
Jerry Schild (September 1, 1954 – August 4, 2012) was a NASCAR driver from Houston, Texas.
Jerry Schild was the son of local race car veteran Charles Ray and younger brother of Larry Schild. Jerry was well known in the series because he had been racing since the age of 6. Starting from modest beginnings in go-karts, he began to build a reputation as a no-nonsense racer, a trait that he continued to bring to the seat of the Jerry Schild Racing team.
After several more years of competition on the go-kart circuits, he stepped up to the challenges of the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman features at Meyer Speedway. It was 1972, Jerry was only 16 when he began driving full-time rookie for Rush Johnson. He placed 3rd in point standings with top-five finishes in most every race that year. The following year he was 2nd in points, again finishing top five most of the season. He worked his way up on the circuit eventually gain sponsorship from legendary A.J. Foyt, as well as Red Adair, continuously proving his exceptional driving abilities throughout several seasons to follow, earning many trophies for his sponsors.
In 1974, Jerry made five Grand National appearances racing alongside such veterans as David Pearson, Benny Parsons, Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Bobby & Donnie Allison, Buddy Baker, Darrell Waltrip, and Harry Grant. The Darlington Southern 500 in September, resulted in an 8th-place finish, the best ever for a first-time competitor on the track. Cale Yarborough, winner of the race, was quoted as saying "a lot of veterans might do well to take driving lessons from teen-aged Jerry Schild."
More compelling highlights of Schild's career include another trip down victory lane with first-place prize in the Texas Invitational Stock Car Classics, Texas World Speedway. More notable was his Busch competition at Daytona Speedway, qualifying 5th and finishing in 11th place.
Throughout the 1980s, Schild consistently raced hard on various other circuits including Midgets and Sprint cars (Texas Super Sprinters) on various dirt tracks in Texas. Afterwards, he returned to asphalt, including another trip down Victory lane at the Lubri Lon Grand Prix at Texas World Speedway in the TIDA (Texas International Driver's Association). Schild competed in various Late Model Stock Car events in this decade.
...
Wikipedia