Former NASCAR driver Sam McQuagg selected to Chattahoochee Valley Hall of Fame

In the 1960s, Columbus-born race car driver Sam McQuagg duked it out with the top talent in NASCAR. On Saturday, the late McQuagg will be honored for his achievements in the racing world.

McQuagg, who passed away in 2009, will be inducted into the Chattahoochee Valley Hall of Fame. The honor is a special one for McQuagg’s loved ones, who will see McQuagg’s career pursuits revisited at the hall’s banquet.

“We think it’s a very gracious recognition of his accomplishments,” Sam McQuagg Jr. said of his father’s induction. “We’re most appreciative of the hall including him.”

McQuagg entered his first automobile race at Columbus Speedway in 1960, winning the heat and finishing second in the feature race. He quickly proved his ability through racing modified sportsmen, winning races across the state of Georgia, including 19 straight at Valdosta Speedway.

“They would race literally four or five nights a week,” McQuagg Jr. said. “They would be in south Georgia and Valdosta then come up through Macon and Hawkinsville. They would race Thursday nights, Friday nights and Saturday nights. Sundays they would come all the way to Atlanta to the Peach Bowl (Speedway) and race.”

McQuagg moved up to the NASCAR Cup circuit — then known as the Grand National Series — in 1965. He recorded two top-5 finishes and five top-10s that season and was also involved in a legendary crash at Darlington with Cale Yarborough that sent Yarborough’s car flying off the track into a nearby parking lot. McQuagg’s debut season earned him NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors.

McQuagg picked up his first and only Grand National victory the following season, taking home the top spot in the Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Despite only competing in 16 races that season, McQuagg finished 15th in the points standings.

McQuagg competed in NASCAR for eight seasons and drove for legendary owners such as Bud Moore, Cotton Owens, Nord Krauskopf and Ray Nichels. As McQuagg began scaling back his racing career, he turned to flying, something he initially started to ease the burden of traveling from race to race.

McQuagg flew an executive plane for Aflac for about three years before moving on to the W.C. Bradley Co., where he flew for 27 years before retiring in 1999.

Even after he began flying full-time, McQuagg couldn’t shake the urge to hit the racetrack. McQuagg Jr. recalls his father competing under different aliases, eager to make sure his employers never found out after his racing escapades.

“Obviously, they had a major investment and just didn’t really approve of him doing that,” McQuagg Jr. said. “They more or less said, ‘Sam, you need to decide if you’re racing or flying.’ He opted for the flying and did that from then and on. Other than just a couple of short track races he ran in in late ‘74 or ‘75, he pretty much didn’t drive cars after that.”

McQuagg didn’t leave the NASCAR world entirely at that point, returning in 1991 for a Winston Legends race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Racing alongside some of NASCAR’s greatest heroes such as Yarborough, Tim Flock, Buck Baker and Junior Johnson, McQuagg took home 13th in a race that left a lasting memory with his son.

“NASCAR sure thought a lot of him,” McQuagg Jr. said. “People call it a fraternity these days, but I suspect that if you were part of that group you’d believe it was a family. That’s the way it was back then. They invited him to several things long after he was retired from racing.”

McQuagg lost his battle with cancer in 2009 at the age of 73. Saturday will likely include plenty of discussion about what McQuagg was able to do behind the wheel, and while those will be welcomed memories to those who knew him, they also cherish the times spent away from the track.

“We’re certainly grateful for the Chattahoochee Valley Hall of Fame for including him, but he was so much more,” McQuagg Jr. said. “He was a Pawpaw and a fisherman and a great dad. We miss him.”

This story was originally published January 28, 2018 at 9:42 AM with the headline "Former NASCAR driver Sam McQuagg selected to Chattahoochee Valley Hall of Fame."