James "Jimmy" Ingram
Born: February 23, 1928
Died: December 8, 2025
Born in Cheraw, SC - Jacksonville, Florida
Jimmy
Ingram had only three starts in the upper tier NASCAR competition
starting in 1951 and 1952, then in Winston Cup in 1980 at Dover where he
started 33rd out of 34 and finished a respectable 15th, earning $1,435.
In his previous two NASCAR starts, he garnered only $25.00. In his later
years, he became a dirt short track owner and promoter.
Jim
Ingram
is a former NASCAR driver from Cheraw, SC. He competed in the
Mason-Dixon 500, Race Number 12 of the Winston Cup Grand National Series
in 1980. Ingram raced for his own team at Dover. His daughter,
Lynn Ingram, was his crew chief, and his only other crew member was the
late Willie Cassidy of Cheraw, SC.
Starting 33rd in the thirty-four car field, Ingram completed all but
sixty-three laps. That left Ingram in the 15th position, a respectable
debut. Earlier in the 1980 season, he had attempted to qualify at
Rockingham and Darlington; he again went to Rockingham for the fall
race, running fast enough in practice to have qualified, but during a
practice lap, his front tire blew, putting the car into the first
section of concrete retaining wall in the second turn. The car slid and
rode the inside guard rail to the third turn, ending Ingram's bid not
only for a position in that race but also his resurrected racing career.
Ingram was 52 when
he
raced in 1980; his first racing experience had come much earlier, in the
late 1940s and 1950s, when he competed in NASCAR races in Columbia, SC;
Upper Marlboro Speedway near Baltimore, MD; and other tracks and was a
consistent winner. He also ran in the second Southern 500 in Darlington,
SC, but did not complete the race, as his car wrecked due to a
flat-spotted tire that put him into the wall - uncannily similar to the
wreck during practice at Rockingham that ended his 1980 season.
Lynn, age 2, and Daddy Jim
Lynn giving her Dad a surprise "trophy" at the Dover
race end
Ingram had previously worked as company pilot for Holman-Moody of
Charlotte, the firm that built engines for all Ford racers prior to
other types of sponsorships. He also owned and operated a popular
quarter-mile dirt track near Cheraw and later lengthened the track to
3/8 mile and paved it.
His daughter Lynn Ingram writes:
"What
you are all talking about was Cheraw Speedway. It was built and
owned by my father, Jimmy Ingram. It was originally a quarter-mile
dirt track. Later, it was lengthened to 3/8 mile and paved."
"I
still own the property. It's seven acres, off of S.C. Hwy. 9 near
the Cheraw Municipal Airport. The property is for sale. Every now
and then - especially when I see people get interested and start
talking about the history - I think how cool it would be to try to
start the track up again. My dad would be tickled to death over
that. He passed away in December 1998 - but he would be smiling down
from heaven if his old track became a reality again. He is ALREADY
smiling down from heaven to know that people remember the track and
still care about those good old days."
More from Stock Car: Racers Reunion:
Lynn Ingram writes: My father, Jimmy Ingram,
built Cheraw Speedway in 1954-1955 as a quarter-mile dirt track on
property he owned off of S.C. Highway 9 near the Cheraw Municipal
Airport. He operated the track from 1955 through 1960. Operations ceased
for a few years; my best guess is that this was because he started
flying for Southern Airlines out of Charlotte.
Daddy reopened the track around 1963 and kept
it in operation through about 1968. I helped him do a resume in the
1980s, and he said then that this was his "best guess" for the years of
operation the second time. At some point during these years of
operation, the track was lengthened to three-eighths of a mile and
paved.
Prior to building Cheraw Speedway, Daddy built
race cars and competed in Sportsman events up and down the East Coast,
on both paved and dirt tracks, but mostly dirt. I do not have complete
records of all the races in which he participated, and most of the folks
who would know this information are long gone; I should have asked more
questions and listened to the answers. I do know he ran in Columbia, SC;
North Wilkesboro, NC; Rutherfordton County Speedway (which I assume is
in NC; I have the first place trophy; it just doesn't have a state on
it); Upper Marlboro Speedway outside Baltimore, MD; and Darlington, SC,
in the 1952 Southern 500. He never lost the desire to race, and he
returned to NASCAR for one season, in 1980, at the age of 52, finishing
15th in the Mason-Dixon 500 at Dover, Delaware. Links to records for
some of these races can be found in the document "Jim Ingram's early
racing career" at the
Facebook page for Cheraw Speedway.
I created the
Facebook group for Cheraw Speedway on August 17, 2026 as a way to
connect all the people who have an interest in the old Cheraw Speedway
and in Daddy's racing history. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to a
number of people, who I mention here in no particular order: Roy
Allison, who has always loved these stories and remembered the
importance of keeping them alive; Willie Short and James Short, who
jumped all over the mentions of Cheraw Speedway on the
Remembering Cheraw Facebook page and got me lit up about doing
something with all my pictures and memories; Chris McDougald, who asked
me during the summer of 2011 to scan pictures and payout sheets, and
when I told him I didn't have time right now, offered to do it for me,
and who has wholeheartedly embraced this page and the revival of Cheraw
Speedway memories; Bobby Williamson of Charlotte who had already known
of the track and found me just last week after Willie Short posted
photos here and has been as excited about all the interest in the track
as one man could be. There are plenty more people I have known all my
life who are helping this page become vibrant and alive, and there are
newcomers, like Bobby Williamson, mentioned above, and Jerry Smith, who
are helping to spread the word via internet radio. To all of you, and to
all of those who I haven't named here, thank you from the bottom of my
heart.
Finally, the deepest and most heartfelt
gratitude must go to my father, Jimmy Ingram, born on February 23, 1928,
died on December 8, 2025 - much, much too soon. No little girl could
have been blessed with a more wonderful father, a man who dreamed dreams
and then turned them into reality, a man who never once thought that
just because he hadn't done a thing before that he couldn't figure out
how to do it, a man who loved life and people, a man with insatiable
curiosity and a finely-honed sense of adventure, a man with a broad and
deep intelligence far beyond any "book learnin' " he ever got. I know I
told him how proud I was to be his daughter once or twice; I regret I
didn't tell him more often, and I wish he were here to see how all of
you are loving and enjoying this history of his racing career and his
racetrack. I have to believe that he actually IS looking down on all of
this remembering that we're doing, and that he and all his buddies are
up there in heaven explaining to St. Peter why the place needs a race
track.
Click
HERE for an excellent group of pictures of Jimmy Ingram and Cheraw
Speedway info
