John Linville

John Paul Linville (January 2, 1943 – November 1, 2005) was an American stock car driver, who raced from 1982 until 1995 in the division that would become the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Throughout his career, Linville made 136 starts in the Xfinity Series where he finished in the top ten three times.

John Linville
Born	(1943-01-02)January 2, 1943 Forsyth County, North Carolina, US
Died	November 1, 2005(2005-11-01) (aged 62) Kernersville, North Carolina, US
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
136 races run over 12 years
Car no., team	No. 62 (Linville Racing)
1992 position	57th
Best finish	17th
First race	1982 Daytona 300
Last race	1992 SplitFire 200
Wins Top tens Poles 0 3 0

Racing career

Early career

Linville began racing at the age of 20, when he entered a race at Bowman Gray Stadium with a car that he purchased for $99. He went on to win the Late Model Sportsman Division Championship at Bowman Gray Stadium in 1968, 1969, and 1971. Additionally, he won the 1970 Limited Sportsmen Championship at State Fairgrounds Speedway in Raleigh, NC.

National series

In 1982, Linville made his NASCAR Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series debut at Daytona International Speedway in the Goody's 300 at the age of 39. This was the inaugural race for what would become the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Linville finished 20th in his self-owned No. 62 Pontiac. He competed in a total of eight races during his Rookie campaign, with his best finish coming at Caraway Speedway, where he finished 11th. Overall, he finished 36th in points.

Linville went on to make several more appearances in the series running nearly full-time from 1983 through 1987. His career best finish came at Martinsville Speedway in the 1987 Nationwise 150, where he finished 8th. His top annual points performances came with a 17th-place finish in 1983, 1984, and 1986. His final race attempt came in 1995, when he attempted to qualify for a race at Myrtle Beach Speedway, but failed to do so. In total Linville competed in 136 races, finishing in the top ten, three times.

In addition to the Busch series, Linville attempted to qualify for two NASCAR Cup Series races, but failed to do so. He attempted to qualify for the 1988 Daytona 500 and the Miller Genuine Draft 500 in 1990. Both entries were in the No. 74 car owned by Bobby Wawak.

Linville's final professional race came in the ARCA Menards Series in September 1998 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He finished 29th in the No. 90 Ford, owned by Ed Berrier.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Cup Series

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Team	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	NSCC	Pts	Ref
1988	Wawak Racing	74	Chevrolet	DAY DNQ	RCH	CAR	ATL	DAR	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL	CLT	DOV	RSD	POC	MCH	DAY	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	CLT	NWS	CAR	PHO	ATL	n/a	0
1990			Pontiac	DAY	RCH	CAR	ATL	DAR	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL	CLT	DOV	SON	POC DNQ	MCH	DAY	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	PHO	ATL	n/a	0

Daytona 500

Year	Team	Manufacturer	Start	Finish
1988	Wawak Racing	Chevrolet	DNQ

Busch Series

NASCAR Busch Series results
Year	Team	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	NBGNC	Pts
1982	Linville Racing	62	Pontiac	DAY 20	RCH	BRI	MAR DNQ	DAR	HCY	SBO	CRW 21	RCH	LGY	DOV	HCY	CLT 39	ASH	HCY	SBO	CAR 32	CRW 11	SBO 24	HCY	LGY	IRP	BRI	HCY	RCH	MAR 17	CLT 22	HCY	MAR							36th	746
1983				DAY 31	RCH	CAR 36	HCY 19	MAR 12	NWS 23	SBO 13	GPS 16	LGY	DOV 18	BRI 29	CLT 40	SBO	HCY	ROU	SBO	ROU	CRW 12	ROU 11	SBO 19	HCY	LGY 20	IRP 15	GPS 17	BRI 12	HCY 20		RCH 25	NWS 20	SBO 11	MAR 21	ROU 13	CLT	HCY 13	MAR 22	17th	2,690
		91																												DAR 28
1984		62		DAY 27	RCH 14	CAR 26	HCY 16	MAR	DAR 29	ROU 26	NSV	LGY	MLW 21				HCY 19	ROU 24	SBO	ROU 22	HCY 17	IRP 11	LGY 13	SBO 12	BRI 21	DAR 31	RCH 13	NWS	CLT	HCY 13	CAR	MAR 12							17th	2,035
		91												DOV 17
	Johnny Davis Racing	48													CLT 18	SBO
1985	Buddy Arrington Racing	29	Dodge	DAY	CAR 23				DAR 26																														18th	2,046
	Linville Racing	62	Pontiac			HCY 14	BRI	MAR 13		SBO 9	LGY 19		CLT 18	SBO	HCY	ROU		SBO 11	LGY 21	HCY 17	MLW	BRI 28	DAR 19	RCH	NWS 20	ROU 19	CLT	HCY 19		MAR 11
		2															IRP 13
	Baugess Racing	31	Oldsmobile									DOV 28
	Johnny Talley Racing	78	Oldsmobile																										CAR 25
1986	Linville Racing	62	Pontiac	DAY 30	CAR 28	HCY 24	MAR 12	BRI 27	DAR 29	SBO 22	LGY 18	JFC 20	DOV 20	CLT 38	SBO 23	HCY 17	ROU 19	IRP 19	SBO 15	RAL 16	OXF DNQ	SBO 15	HCY 23	LGY 23	ROU 16	BRI 20	DAR		DOV 24	MAR 17	ROU 23	CLT	CAR 15	MAR 21					17th	2,652
	American Uniflex	43																										RCH 29
1987	Linville Racing	62	Pontiac	DAY	HCY 23	MAR 21	DAR 31	BRI 17	LGY 23	SBO 17			IRP 22	ROU	JFC	OXF		HCY 24	RAL 17	LGY 18	ROU 23	BRI	JFC		RCH 30	DOV 25	MAR 8	CLT DNQ		MAR									22nd	1,871
	Graham Racing	93									CLT 26
			Chevrolet																									CLT 17
	Shook Racing	95	Buick									DOV 19
	Reedy Racing	08	Pontiac														SBO 26
	Setzer Racing	86	Buick																					DAR 42
	Brolsma Racing	26	Pontiac																										CAR 35
1988	Linville Racing	62		DAY DNQ	HCY	CAR 31	MAR	DAR	BRI	LNG	NZH	SBO	NSV	CLT	DOV	ROU	LAN	LVL	MYB	OXF	SBO																		72nd	158
			Oldsmobile																			HCY 25	LNG	IRP	ROU	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	CLT	CAR	MAR
1989				DAY	CAR	MAR	HCY	DAR	BRI	NZH	SBO	LAN	NSV	CLT	DOV	ROU	LVL	VOL	MYB 18	SBO 25	HCY 22	DUB 22	IRP 22	ROU	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR 14	CLT DNQ	CAR	MAR 27							42nd	691
1990			Chevrolet	DAY	RCH	CAR	MAR	HCY	DAR	BRI	LAN	SBO	NZH	HCY	CLT	DOV	ROU	VOL	MYB	OXF	NHA	SBO	DUB	IRP	ROU	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	CLT	NHA	CAR	MAR 10					82nd	134
1991				DAY	RCH	CAR	MAR	VOL	HCY	DAR	BRI	LAN	SBO	NZH	CLT	DOV	ROU	HCY	MYB	GLN	OXF	NHA	SBO	DUB	IRP DNQ	ROU	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	NHA	CAR	MAR 22					92nd	97
1992				DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	MAR	DAR	BRI	HCY	LAN	DUB	NZH	CLT	DOV	ROU 17	MYB 12	GLN	VOL	NHA	TAL	IRP	ROU	MCH	NHA	BRI	DAR	RCH										57th	312
		82																												DOV 30	CLT	MAR	CAR	HCY
1995		62		DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	NSH	DAR	BRI	HCY	NHA	NZH	CLT	DOV	MYB DNQ	GLN	MLW	TAL	SBO	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	CAR	HOM										n/a	0

Later life

Following his retirement from NASCAR, Linville worked as a general contractor at his self-owned business, Linville Home Builders, Inc., that he began in 1970. He also became involved in Kevin Harvick Incorporated, a race team co-owned by his daughter DeLana and her husband Kevin Harvick.

On November 1, 2005, Linville died after a battle with cancer.

Family

John Linville is the son of Ernest Paul Linville and Floy Phipps Linville, both originally from Forsyth County, North Carolina. He was one of nine children. His younger brother, Richard "Dickie" Linville, also raced in 52 Busch Series races from 1982 until 1986.

Linville married Joyce Griffin on October 14, 1966, at the age of 23. Together they had one daughter DeLana Harvick, who was born on July 7, 1973. DeLana is married to NASCAR Cup Series Champion Kevin Harvick.

External links

• John Linville driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• John Linville owner statistics at Racing-Reference