Car Number Histories: No. 32

ATLANTA -- When Ricky Craven crossed the finish line to win at Martinsville in 2001, it was not only his career victory, but the first time the No. 32 had been in Victory Lane.

In 2003, Craven doubled the No. 32's win total with a thrilling door-to-door photo finish with Kurt Busch.

Other than those highlights, the numeral has more than its share of unusual trivia.

It's not like the No. 32 hasn't been around from the start. Indy-car star Jim Rathmann, whose real name is Dick, not to be confused with his brother, Jim, who drove as Dick Rathmann, finished 32nd in the No. 32 Oldsmobile at Langhorne in 1949.

Reino Tulonen drove four races in 1951 in a Henry J (that's a Kaiser product), with a season-best of fifth at Thompson.

Jimmie Lewallen, who mainly piloted the Nos. 2 and 24, stepped into the No. 32 Hudson and finished sixth at Macon in 1952.

In 1954, NASCAR decided to run a race on the airport runways at Linden, N.J., and allowed sports cars to enter. Al Keller won the race in a Jaguar while Bob Grossman drove a No. 32 Jag to a fifth-place finish.

Paul Goldsmith drove a Chevrolet to an eighth-place finish at Chicago in 1956.

Then Brownie King acquired the numeral the next season and became its first full-time driver, running a total of 64 races over the next three years. King was fifth at Columbia in 1957, finished eighth twice the next year and had a 16th-place finish at Fayetteville in 1959.

That same season, George Green moved over from the No. 33 and finished sixth at Columbia in 14 races. In 1960, Green ran two races in the No. 32, finishing 55th at Daytona and 12th at Charlotte.

From next few years, the No. 32 was a yearly visitor to Daytona. Darel Dieringer finished 16th in the 1961 Daytona 500, Bill Wimble was 11th a year later, Bob James wound up 18th in 1963 and Tiny Lund drove to an 11th-place finish in 1964.

Jack Anderson drove four races in a No. 32 Ford that same year, finishing fourth at Savannah.

Driving for Harry Rainier, Andy Hampton -- who made only four career NASCAR starts -- was a surprising 10th in the 1968 Daytona 500.

Dick Brooks was the next driver to make the No. 32 his full-time home. Over a six-year span, Brooks ran upfront in the numeral, but his only NASCAR victory came in the No. 22 at Talladega in 1973.

Brooks' best finish in 28 races in 1969 was third at Weaverville. The next season, he was runner-up at Darlington and Hickory, good enough for 13th in the final standings.

Pete Hamilton, who had won three times on superspeedways in Petty livery that season, drove for Brooks in the season-finale, finishing third at Hampton.

Brooks stayed in the No. 22 for most of 1971, running 20th at Macon in his only start in the No. 32. He ran two more races in 1973, finishing seventh at Rockingham, then used the No. 32 nearly exclusively in 1974, with a best of seventh at Bristol.

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It would be almost 20 years before another driver would make more than a handful of starts in a car with No. 32 on the side.

Drivers who piloted the car from 1977-1990 included Gary Matthews, Bobby Wawak, Ray Elder, Jimmy Finger, Jim Ingram, Dr. Bob Jarvis, Bosco Lowe, Tommy Ellis, Butch Lindley, Jonathan Edwards, Tommy Houston, Alan Kulwicki, Jim Sauter, Eddie Bierschwale, Ruben Garcia, Philip Duffie, Lee Faulk and Joe Ruttman.

In 1992, Jimmy Horton started a two-year run in the No. 32, running 21 races, but never finishing in the top-20. His best two finishes were a pair of 20ths at Dover.

In 1994, Dick Trickle took over the ride and made 25 starts, running as high as eighth at Rockingham in the next to last race of the season.

The next season, the No. 32 was shared by five drivers: Jimmy Hensley, Chuck Bown, Ed Berrier, Michael Ritch and Greg Sacks. They ran a total of 19 races, with no top-10 finishes.

The numeral stayed inactive until 1999, when Mike Wallace finished 24th at Richmond.

A year later, Cal Wells moved over from Indy cars and started a new team with Scott Pruett in the driver's seat. In 28 races, Pruett's best finish was a 10th at the Brickyard 400.

Ricky Craven moved into the picture starting in 2001 and promptly put the No. 32 in the winner's circle. In 36 races, he collected seven top-10s and finished 21st in the final standings.

Craven was even better in 2002, even though he didn't win. He started from the pole twice, finished third at the Coca-Cola 600 and wound up 15th in the points.

Despite the exciting Darlington victory and eight top-10s, Craven slipped to 27th overall with a string of poor finishes late in the season, punctuated by crashes in three consecutive races.