Edward Lewis "Eddie" Pagan
Born: August 1, 1918 -
August 1, 2026
Born: Midland County, Texas
Resided:
Lynwood, CA
Eddie
Pagan
.....was a NASCAR driver from Lynwood, CA. He competed in sixty-two
NASCAR events in his career, mainly racing at the West Coast
tracks. Pagan, the 9th place finisher in the 1958 season, had a
remarkable career: four victories, thirty-eight top-tens, and
six poles. He won at San Mateo (1956), Portland Speedway (twice
in 1957), and Los Angeles (1957). His average finish was 10.9,
making Pagan one of the most consistent drivers in NASCAR
history.
EDDIE
PAGAN
www.stockcarreunion.com
The late Eddie Pagan made the choice to move out of modified
racing and into NASCAR�S Pacific Coast Late Model circuit in
1955, and never looked back.
A native Californian
(*see note)
Pagan had his greatest success in the Oscar
Maples Fords of the late �50�s. Perhaps his biggest triumph came
in 1956, when he bested Parnelli Jones and a host of east coast
NASCAR regulars to win the Bay Meadows 250 on the famed and
treacherous one-mile Bulingame, California horse track.
Pagan sat on the Southern 500 pole at Darlington in 1958 (more
on that story below), and
ultimately won 4 Winston Cup races to compliment his 9 Pacific
Coast Late Model victories.
Pagan co-founded Hutcheson Pagan Engineering, an early leader in
Ford Stock Car racing chassis and high performance parts.
It is both interesting and impressive that Pagan led 40% of the
races that he entered. A real �stand on the gas� kind of driver,
Pagan is an obvious choice for induction in the West Coast Stock
Car Fall of Fame.
(*Note:
Eddie Pagan was not a native
Californian. This is a common error. He was
actually born in Midland
County, Texas. Then his family moved to Barstow, Ward County,
Texas by the 1920 Census. He told
people he was from Barstow, Texas but since he was lived most of
his life in California, it was transliterated to Barstow,
California. I appreciate your earnest effort to get it right.
Glad I could help get it right. I was his stepson.
Danny Pickett)
