HOME > INSIDE PIT PASS

October 18, 2006

Norm Benning wishes James Hylton good luck before final race

James Hylton straps in for the last time

James Hylton's final lap at Iowa Speedway

Steven Wallace holds off Kraig Kinser at Iowa Speedway

Steven Wallace disappears in the sea of confetti in Victory Lane

Out With the Old and In With the New
James Hylton's Final Lap at Iowa Speedway
By Dennis Michelsen

One of the most amazing careers in sports ended rather quietly at Iowa Speedway on Sunday. In this day and age of younger and younger young guns there is a guy that was still holding on to the dream that started so many years ago. As a kid I remember the amazement over kicker and backup quarterback George Blanda in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders. Blanda was discarded by the Chicago Bears for being "Over the Hill" in 1958 at the ripe old age of thirty-one. Seventeen years later the ageless wonder was still kicking footballs! Racing's answer to Blanda is James Hylton who raced his final lap on Sunday.

James Hylton was born in 1934 in Gills County, Virginia. Joining NASCAR legend Rex White as a mechanic on White's race team in the late fifties, Hylton would go on to help White win a NASCAR championship in 1960. In 1964 with White scaling back his racing James Hylton would go on to crew chief for another NASCAR legend Ned Jarrett. Starting his own racing career that same year at age 30, Hylton would make his career debut in the Old Dominion 400 in Manassas, Virginia. This storied career would last over forty years on racetracks from coast to coast! But longevity is not the only reason to remember James Hylton's career.

In twenty-seven years racing at NASCAR's top-level Hylton amassed an impressive record. While only winning twice, his level of consistency was something to marvel at indeed. Over half of his 601 NASCAR starts ended in top ten finishes. Almost a fourth of his races ended in top five finishes! Three times James Hylton was runner up in the NASCAR championship race…twice to Richard Petty and once to David Pearson. Another four times he finished third at the end of the long season. After leaving NASCAR in the 1990s Hylton continued to campaign on the ARCA series. It just won't seem right to see an ARCA race without Hylton's name on the entry list. But after all these years it is time for him to pass the torch to the next generation of racers.

Steven Wallace served notice on a chilly Sunday afternoon that he could be a force to be reckoned with in racing in the years to come. This rambunctious youngster will need to learn a thing or two about patience if he wants to stick around in this business half as long as Hylton. But there is no questioning his ability to drive a great car very fast. Weaving in and out of lapped traffic the young Wallace almost made a mockery of this race. Only seven cars finished on the lead lap. Up and coming racing star Kraig Kinser also served notice that he is on his way too. Catching Steven Wallace as they came under the flag stand to take the white flag, Kinser almost pulled off the upset. It was quite a sight to see the No. 48 of James Hylton return to the track on the apron completing his career as these two youngsters raced for the checkered flag up in the racing groove. In racing it is unfortunately always a case of saying out with the old and in with the new. Exciting youngsters such as Steven Wallace and Kraig Kinser have big shoes to fill. Legends such as James Hylton were the pioneers that helped build this sport into the amazing show it is today. Farewell James and thanks for the memories!