NASCAR names Elmhurst native to Hall of Fame

ELMHURST – As a 12-year-old playing in her family's basement, Amanda Lorenzen Gardstrom knocked over and broke the Daytona 500 trophy that her father, Fred Lorenzen, had won decades earlier. Surprisingly, he wasn't upset with her.

“He was incredibly humble,” said Gardstrom, 37, an Elmhurst resident. “He never told us what big deals these trophies were, he never told us what he did, or what he accomplished, or what a legend he is in the sport [of NASCAR]. He didn’t like to brag.”

But the unassuming Elmhurst native has something to brag about. Lorenzen, 80, who was known as “Fearless Freddie,” was one of five men inducted Jan. 30 into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C.

“It’s an honor,” said Lorenzen, who lives in Oak Brook. “It’s as high as you can go, and it finished off my career.”

Lorenzen said winning that Daytona 500 trophy in 1965 was the “second biggest” accomplishment of his successful NASCAR career, which officially began in 1961 when he started racing with the Ford-sponsored Holman-Moody team.

He said his biggest accomplishment was winning the Rebel 300 in Darlington, S.C., in 1961 by beating rival Curtis Turner, who was also one of his heroes.

“That’s a hard race to win,” Lorenzen said. “That’s one of the hardest tracks in the south. I barely beat Turner.”

Lorenzen had many other accolades during his career, including becoming the first NASCAR driver to earn more than $100,000 in a single season in 1963 and winning eight out of 16 races he entered in 1964.

Waddell Wilson, who worked with Lorenzen as an engine builder, said Lorenzen was more professional and focused than most drivers of the day, and that was a big part of his success.

“The knowledge he had, and the ability he had to feel the car,” Wilson said. “He was unusual in that he paid so much attention to the car. He worked on it, and drivers in those days didn’t work on their own cars.”

Lorenzen walked away from the sport in 1967, according to Gardstrom, “because he wanted to go out on top and he said he'd won everything he could.” He staged a comeback in 1970 but Gardstrom said he quit racing for good in 1972 to start a family and because he was tired of the constant travel.

"He also lost a lot of friends in accidents, including his hero ‘Fireball Roberts’,” she said. "He said he regretted leaving it his whole life; he missed it. But he got his second dream, which was to have a family, and went on to a second career as a successful [real estate agent].”

Lorenzen’s story is one that not many local residents may know. NASCAR racing is much more popular in southern states, and Lorenzen’s accomplishments weren’t always celebrated in local media, said Lance Tawzer, curator of the Elmhurst Historical Museum.

The museum had an exhibit dedicated to Lorenzen in for several months in 2013, which contained photos, racing footage and other artifacts from his career. Tawzer said several fans from the South came to Elmhurst to see the exhibit.

“If Fred was a baseball player who made it to the Hall of Fame, there’d be a statue. It’s our responsibility to make sure local people know who he is,” Tawzer said.

Gardstrom said it was very emotional for her father to be at the Hall of Fame ceremony.

“The most important thing for him was to see his old friends, and relive memories. It was such a priceless gift to see his eyes light up,” Gardstrom said. “He teared up when I told him [about getting voted in to the Hall]. It’s the last victory for him.”

Wilson said there were “people all over him, wanting to see him and take a picture with him” at the ceremony, proving he’s still a fan favorite.

“People didn’t forget about him, and it was an honor for me to be able to work with him. He taught me so much,” Wilson said.

Gardstrom still receives letters and calls from fans, and she said it’s very humbling to learn how many people were inspired by her father.

“I’m so proud and so lucky to have a dad who’s my hero. But then to learn he’s so many other people’s hero is just so emotional.”