Ron Bouchard

Infobox NASCAR driver
Name = Ronald Bouchard


Birthdate = birth date and age|1948|11|23
Birthplace = flagicon|USA Fitchburg, Massachusetts
Best_Cup_Pos = 8th - 1982 (Winston Cup)
Cup_Wins = 1
Cup_Top_Tens = 60
Cup_Poles = 3
First_Cup_Race = 1981 Valleydale 500 (Bristol)
First_Cup_Win = 1981 Talladega 500 (Talladega
Last_Cup_Win = 1981 Talladega 500 (Talladega
Last_Cup_Race = 1987 Winston 500 (Talladega)
Awards = 1981 Rookie of the Yearvoted into the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame (1988)
Years_In_Cup = 7
Total_Cup_Races = 160

Ron Bouchard (born November 23, 1948 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts) is a former NASCAR driver who was the 1981 NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year. His brother Ken Bouchard was the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year.Ron bouchard has a son, Chad Edward Bouchard, who attends university of Tampa. He also plays on their golf team.

Local driving career

Ron began racing career at Brookline Speedway as a substitute driver in 1963 by replacing the ill driver for his father's car. After high school he began racing in his father's car, and he rapidly moved up the ranks to late models at Seekonk Speedway. He claimed five consecutive track championships from 1967 to 1971. He began racing at other local tracks in the Camaro, and he was noticed by Bob Johnson.

Johnson quickly put Bouchard in his Modified car at the famous Stafford Speedway, and he won his first of his 35 career victories at Stafford in April 1972. He won the 1973 and 1979 track Modified championships.

NASCAR career

Ron began his NASCAR career in 1981 in the #47 J.D. Stacy Buick for owner Jack Beebe (Race Hill Farm team). He captured the 1981 NASCAR Rookie of the Year title even though he only raced in 22 of 31 events. He posted 12 Top 10 finishes in the 22 races, including his only career win in the Talladega 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Running third to Darrell Waltrip and Terry Labonte on the last lap, he swooped under both of them as they battled side-by-side out of the final turn. The three cars crossed the finish line nearly simultaneously, with Bouchard winning in a photo finish. After the race, Waltrip, who had thought Bouchard was a lap down, asked, "Where the heck did he come from?"

In 1982 Bouchard finished a career-high eighth in the final points standing with 15 Top 10 finishes in 30 races.

He ran full-time in 1983, 1984, and 1985. He finished between eleventh and sixteenth in the final points standing each of these years.

In 1986 he changed to the #98 Valvoline Pontiac for owner Mike Curb (Curb-Agajanian Motorsports). The team generally finished in the Top 20 when they completed a race, but they had 9 DNF's (did not finish) in their 17 events.

In 1987 he raced in the #1 Bull's Eye Barbecue Sauce Chevrolet for owner Hoss Ellington in five events. Their two finishes were eighth and twelfth. He has not raced in a NASCAR event since then.

Award

In 1998 he was inducted into the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame in its inaugural class.

External links

* [http://www.racing-reference.info/driver?id=bouchro01 Drivers statistics at racing-reference.info]
* [http://www.petesracingsite.com/legends/ron.htm Ron's Biography]