Car Number Histories: No. 45

ATLANTA -- When the Petty family brought the No. 45 out of mothballs in 2000 for Adam Petty to drive, it revived a car number which has had periods of success but long stretches of drought.

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Until Californian Eddie Pagan began competing in the No. 45 Ford starting with the 1956 season, the No. 45 had only made sporadic appearances in NASCAR. Ralph Liguori drove to a fifth-place finish at Wilson in a No. 45 Plymouth in 1953 and Paul Pettit followed that a year later with a fifth at Langhorne in a Hudson.

But Pagan proved to be the master of the West Coast ovals, winning at Bay Meadows in 1956, winning three more times in 1957 and then running a national schedule in 1958, finishing ninth in the standings.

Frank Schneider, Joe Weatherly, Paul Bass and Tiny Lund also made appearances in the No. 45 -- Bass in an Edsel and Lund in an Oldsmobile -- before Pagan returned in 1961 to pilot the car for four races for owner Bill Clinton. No, not that Bill Clinton.

Then in 1964, promising young driver LeeRoy Yarbrough climbed into the No. 45 Plymouth and posted victories at Savannah and Greenville in 17 starts. Those would be the final wins for the No. 45.

A year later, Bud Moore, known better as Bobby Allison's owner, would finish third at Hillsboro.

By 1966, Bill Seifert took ownership of the No. 45. His best years were in 1969 and 1971, when he finished 13th in the standings. Seifert put Yarbrough back behind the wheel in 1972 -- and he responded with a third-place finish in 15 starts.

Then Vic Parsons -- no relation to Benny or Phil -- drove the No. 45 to seventh in the 1973 Firecracker 400, his best finish in 16 races.

By 1975, Baxter Price had taken over the No. 45, but never dented the top 10 in nearly 80 races.

During a stretch of nearly 20 years, the No. 45's driver list reads like a Who's Not Who of NASCAR. Drivers like Rick Newsom, Walter Ballard, Earl Brooks, Tighe Scott, Larry Lemay, Elmo Langley, Roy Smith, Joel Stowe, Jimmy Means, Charlie Chamblee, D.K. Ulrich, Johnny McFadden, Jeff Hooker, Rick Baldwin, Rick McCray and Ken Ragan all piloted the No. 45 without success.

Then Ken Schrader jumped in the No. 45 in 1989 and posted a top-five finish in his only start. It would be the last top-five finish for the numeral.

Rich Bickle and David Green split driving duties in the No. 45 in 1999, handing the job over to Petty heir-apparent Adam in 2000.

He made just one start before being killed in a crash at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Since then, with one start by Christian Fittipaldi, father Kyle has driven the No. 45 in Adam's memory, posting one top-10 finish in 93 races.