Buddy Baker, nicknamed The Gentle Giant, died Monday morning at his home alongside Lake Norman in Catawba County, North Carolina after a short battle with advanced lung cancer. The former driver and commentator was 74. Baker announced his cancer diagnosis on July 7, adding that it was inoperable, but insisted that people "not shed a tear," as he was "not saying goodbye, just talk to you later."
Buddy Baker, real name Elzie Wylie, was the son of early-era driver Buck Baker, who competed in the first-ever officially sanctioned NASCAR top series race in 1949, won 46 races in what was then the Grand National Series, and back-to-back championships in 1956 and '57; he retired in 1976 and died in 2002. Buddy debuted alongside Buck in a 1959 Grand National race in Columbia, South Carolina driving a 1958 Chevrolet owned by his father. His first win came in 1967 at Charlotte. Baker won 19 total races in the series including the 1980 Daytona 500, with an average speed record of 177.602 miles per hour. His last start came at Talladega in 1992. Baker then appeared on several of CBS' famed Daytona 500 broadcasts with Mike Joy and Ned Jarrett, the last of which took place in 2000. He also appeared on radio broadcasts with such commentators as Barney Hall and Eli Gold.
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