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Curtis Turner

You’re in for the ride of your life when you meet Golden Era gladiator Curtis Turner, NASCAR’s first superstar and its most original ‘hell-raiser”! Turner’s “Mardi Gras” mentality and legendary lead foot “horsepowered” NASCAR throughout its pioneer rough and tumble beginnings. Turner, who achieved matinee idol popularity and co-founded The Charlotte Motor Speedway, was a constant thorn in the side of legendary NASCAR founder “Big Bill” France.

Like many of the early NASCAR pioneers, Turner cut his teeth behind the wheel of a moonshine car in his native Virginia, where serpentine mountain roads primed young hotshoes to be future NASCAR champions! The hard-charging Turner thrilled crowds with his show-stopping antics, both on and off the track. In 1956, Turner drove his Ford convertible to one of the best seasons ever by a NASCAR driver, winning 22 out of 42 events. He also won the most prestigious hardtop race of the year, the coveted Southern 500 at Darlington, in his 1956 Schwam Ford called the "high-flying Purple Hog!"

Watch in amazement as Turner and his sidekick “Little Joe” Weatherly, NASCAR’s first factory-backed drivers, slide through Daytona Beach’s rutted hairpin North turn,

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one of the hardest corners in the racing world. The dynamic duo took great pleasure infuriating Ford executives by slamming into each other while battling on the dusty bullring tracks, the mainstay of the early Grand National series.

See for the first time exclusive footage of Turner’s famous duel with Formula One Champion Dan Gurney on the road course at Riverside in 1966. Gurney describes how Turner battled throughout the punishing six-hour race, swapping paint and fighting Gurney like it was hand-to-hand combat.

In the twilight of his career, Turner teamed up with ace mechanic “Smokey” Yunick at the 1967 Daytona 500 -- where the two shocked the racing establishment by winning the pole in an un-sponsored, ‘trick’ Chevrolet Chevelle.

The incredible racing and Hollywood movie lifestyle of Curtis Turner’s life had been all but lost to time until now. Racing is now ruled by image conscious sponsors who demand drivers behave -- at least in the public eye. The spirited personalities of racers like Turner, who risked life and limb for little more than the thrill of the ride, helped draw fans to the growing NASCAR circus in the wild, early days and helped build the base of popularity that the sport now enjoys!