Emanuel Zervakis (January 23, 1930 – June 25, 2003) was an American NASCAR driver and team owner. He won two NASCAR Grand National Series races in his career, both in 1961 (Greenville 200 and Yankee 500). He later went on to own a part-time Cup team and a successful Busch Series team, receiving five Busch wins as an owner, four with Butch Lindley and one with Ricky Rudd.

Emanuel Zervakis
Born(1930-01-23)January 23, 1930
Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
DiedJune 25, 2003(2003-06-25) (aged 73)
NASCAR Cup Series career
83 races run over 7 years
Best finish3rd (1961)
First race1956 Race 6 (Daytona Beach)
Last race1963 Southern 500 (Darlington)
First win1961 Greenville 200 (Greenville-Pickens)
Last win1961 Yankee 500 (Norwood)
Wins Top tens Poles
2 40 2

Career

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Driver

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He started in 83 NASCAR Cup races between 1956 and 1963 and finished in the top ten in points twice. He started his first race at Daytona Beach in 1956, finishing last in a field of 76 cars. He did not score a single top ten finish until 1960, but after that, he was in the top ten more than he was out. Zervakis was disqualified for his fuel tank being too large after winning at Wilson Speedway in 1960. He was the last winning driver to be disqualified from a race for 62 years.[1][2] In 1961, he finished third in the point standings, only behind Ned Jarrett and Rex White. He ran his last race in 1963. He also made 6 starts in the now-defunct Convertible Series.

Owner

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Zervakis was also a team owner. He might be remembered most for fielding a car for Dale Jarrett's first Winston Cup race. his Cup team competed in 39 events total, with a best finish was a second-place finish by Butch Lindley at Martinsville. He also had five wins in the Nationwide series, including Ricky Rudd's only Busch/Nationwide win in his first start, and four wins by Butch Lindley in 1982, where he finished ninth in points despite running a partial schedule.

Racing career results

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NASCAR Grand National Series

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NASCAR Grand National Series results
Year Team/Owner No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 NGNC Pts Ref.
1956 Emanuel Zervakis 113 Chevrolet DAY

76

OCC

14

LIN

14

RAL

13

81st n/a [3]
11 DAR

23

WIL

20

1957 WIL

16

RCH

22

MAR

DNQ

n/a n/a [4]
Junie Donlavey 90 Ford RAL

24

Chevrolet LAN

26

MAR

22

1958 ODO

22

TRE

24

RAL

55

DAR

42

MAR

33

161st n/a [5]
9 RCH

21

1960 Monroe Shook 85 DAY

8

DAY

10

MAR

9

WIL

19

OCC

7

RCH

18

CLS

33

ATL

10

ASH

3

DAR

4

MAR

8

CLS

7

ATL

30

8th 9,720 [6]
Ford DAR

8

1961 Chevrolet DAY

7

DAY

18

ASH

5

ATL

9

GRE

1

OCC

14

BOW

13

MAR

4

NWI

6

COL

3

HIC

17

MAR

2

DAR

13

CLS

15

CLS

15

GRE

3

BOW

4

NOR

1

HAR

16

STA

5

ATL

4

COL

6

MYR

5

BRI

7

NFA

5

BOW

4

ASH

5

RCH

3

SBO

4

DAR

5

HIC

5

RCH

6

ATL

14

MAR

7

NWI

6

CLS

7

BRI

5

3rd 22,312 [7]
Ford DAY

29

1962 Emanuel Zervakis 20 Mercury RCH

6

DAR

29

CLS

14

ATL

16

RCH

23

SBO

21

BRI

30

DAR

13

RCH

24

CLS

7

ATL

27

27th 6,406 [8]
1963 RCH

24

54th 1,882 [9]
Ford CLS

16

DAR

41

NASCAR Convertible Series

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NASCAR Convertible Division
Year Team/Owner No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 NCSS Pts Ref.
1957 Junie Donlavey 7 Chevrolet NOR

6

27th 1,556 [10]
3 WIL

7

1958 90 RCH

17

DAR

15

MAR

31

n/a n/a [11]
1959 RCH

17

80th 64 [12]

References

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  1. ^ Long, Dustin (July 24, 2022). "NASCAR disqualifies top two cars, Chase Elliott is Pocono winner". NBC Sports. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
  2. ^ Meredith, Luke (June 19, 2019). "NASCAR denies Ross Chastain's appeal over Sunday's post-race disqualification at Iowa Speedway". Des Moines Register. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
  3. ^ "Driver Emanuel Zervakis 1956 NASCAR Grand National Results - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2021-04-11.
  4. ^ "Driver Emanuel Zervakis 1957 NASCAR Grand National Results - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2021-04-11.
  5. ^ "Driver Emanuel Zervakis 1958 NASCAR Grand National Results - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  6. ^ "Driver Emanuel Zervakis 1960 NASCAR Grand National Results - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  7. ^ "Driver Emanuel Zervakis 1961 NASCAR Grand National Results - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  8. ^ "Driver Emanuel Zervakis 1962 NASCAR Grand National Results - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  9. ^ "Driver Emanuel Zervakis 1963 NASCAR Grand National Results - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  10. ^ "Driver Emanuel Zervakis 1957 NASCAR Convertible Series Results - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  11. ^ "Driver Emanuel Zervakis 1958 NASCAR Convertible Series Results - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  12. ^ "Driver Emanuel Zervakis 1959 NASCAR Convertible Series Results - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
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