Tragic news struck the NASCAR community recently, as former NASCAR driver, Buddy Arrington passed away on August 2. Arrington had just turned 84 a few days ago and his absence will be deeply felt. Although he had never won a Cup title in his career, Arrington was still an excellent driver. This was evident by his 103 Top 10 finishes over the span of his 25-year-long career in the top flight of stock car racing. When the news broke, Dale Earnhardt Jr led the tributes to the late driver.

Arrington is probably best known for being a top independent driver in the Cup Series. It is also worth mentioning that he often ran Mopar products and many insist that the cars he drove were beautiful. Dale Earnhardt Jr said, “One of the sports true independents. Buddy was always fun to watch. Like all the independents of his era you had to admire the effort and resourcefulness it took to compete.”

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What else did NASCAR fans say about Buddy Arrington?

A few NASCAR fans had plenty of stories about the 84-year-old and how he raced in the Winston Cup era. According to some, he was well-known for keeping his workshops clean and immaculate. Normally, people would expect workshops to be a hive of activity with a large mess. However, it is said that under Arrington’s watch, it would be a hive of activity without the mess.

Runor also had it that on a few occasions, he would perform his own pit stops during races. One thing is for sure, Buddy Arrington will be missed in the community. In his very first NASCAR Winston Cup race, he stormed to eighth place at the Jacksonville Speedway. Meanwhile, his best career finish was third at the Talladega Superspeedway which came all the way back in 1979 for his own Arrington Racing team.

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