Car Number Histories: No. 25

ATLANTA -- The "golden age" for the No. 25 could be described as a six-year period starting with Tim Richmond and ending with Ken Schrader.

Richmond won nine races over two seasons and Schrader added four more during a four-year stretch, putting the No. 25 in the winner's circle for the first time since Dick Linder turned the trick three times in 1950.

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Before Linder, Bob Smith, Jack Smith and Ken Marriott all drove the numeral in 1949, with Jack Smith driving his Lincoln to a pole at Hamburg in his lone start.

Linder won five poles in an Oldsmobile in addition to his three victories, finishing eight in the final standings. Bob Smith was 21st at Martinsville that same season.

Jimmy Thompson, who ran a pair of races in 1950, finishing eighth at Martinsville, ran both a No. 25 and No. 25A in 1951, winding up 41st on the Daytona beach course. Linder ran nine more races in 1951, with a best of tenth on two occasions. Speedy Thompson was 17th at Daytona.

Oldsmobile drivers held the numeral for the next three seasons. Clyde Pittinger wound up 19th at Darlington in his three-race stint in 1952. Bill Norton finished 35th in the 1953 Southern 500 and Fireball Roberts was seventh at Darlington the next season.

Late in the 1954 season, Bill Widenhouse put the No. 25 on a Chevrolet and ran five races, with a best of fifth at Raleigh. The next year, he finished 11th at Charlotte in a six-race effort.

Speedy Thompson returned to the No. 25 for two races at the end of 1955 (which counted towards the 1956 season), finishing 17th at Charlotte. He then was hired by Carl Kiekhaefer's powerhouse Mercury team.

Jimmy Lewallen and Doug Yates shared the Chevy ride for the rest of '56, with Lewallen 22nd at North Wilkesboro and Yates 17th at Columbia.

In 1958, Gene White took over the numeral and ran 16 races over the next two seasons, with a sixth at Birmingham that year and seventh at Greenville the next.

Tommy Herbert's Ford finished 45th in the 1960 Daytona 500, while John Hamby ran a four-race schedule in a Dodge in 1961, with a best of 16th at Martinsville.

The No. 25 returned as a Ford the next season, with Jim Bennett behind the wheel. Bennett finished fifth at Greenville in five starts.

In 1964, Paul Goldsmith put the No. 25 Plymouth on the pole at Daytona, finishing third behind Richard Petty and Jimmy Pardue. He had four top-10s in 14 starts.

Bud Moore was 40th in the 1965 Southern 500, while Jabe Thomas began his family's long association that year, running nine races, including an eighth-place finish at Bristol.

With the exception of Doug Cooper stepping in for Thomas in the 1967 Southern 500, Jabe would compete until 1976, posting four consecutive top-10 finishes in the final standings, starting in 1968.

	Credit: Autostock

During that stretch, Thomas flirted with victory but finished his career with 322 starts and no victories. His best efforts came in 1968, when he was fifth at Greenville, one of 15 top-10s that season. In 1971, he was fourth at Asheville and fifth at Columbia en route to sixth in the points.

By 1978, Jabe's son, Ronnie, had taken over the ride full-time, posting two top-10s and finishing 18th in the points. The next season, Ronnie Thomas was seventh at North Wilkesboro and 17th in the final standings.

With an eighth-place finish at Atlanta the next season, he improved to 14th overall, then ran partial seasons the next two years.

Along that same time, a number of drivers had limited time in the No. 25, including Earl Brooks, D.K. Ulrich, Dick May, Dean Dalton, Ferrel Harris, Joe Ruttman, Charlie Chamblee, Joe Booher, Jim Reich, Jerry Churchill and Bobby Gerhart.

Richmond, winless in the No. 27 the previous season, moved over to the No. 25 in 1986 and promptly won seven races and eight poles, finishing third behind Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip in the standings. But he came down with a mysterious illness first reported as pneumonia at the beginning of 1987.

Feeling well enough to get back behind the wheel, Richmond reeled off victories at Pocono and Riverside in his first two races back. But he steadily slipped back over the next six starts and climbed out of the car for good, with Rick Hendrick making one of his two career starts, finishing 33rd at Riverside.

Richmond died of complications from AIDS less than two years later.

Schrader had been in the No. 90, and found instant success in the No. 25, posting consecutive points finishes of fifth in 1988 and 1989. In 1988, Schrader won two poles and a race at Talladega. He was even better the next season, winning four poles, including the Daytona 500, where he finished second. He won at Charlotte.

In 1991, Schrader went to the winner's circle at Atlanta and Dover en route to ninth in the points.

Schrader stayed in the No. 25 until 1996, putting up two more top-10 finishes in the final standings, but wouldn't visit Victory Lane again.

In 1997, Ricky Craven ran 30 races, including seven top-10s, while Jack Sprague and Todd Bodine had one start apiece.

Two years later, Wally Dallenbach Jr. finished 18th in the points with six top-10s.

Jerry Nadeau then took over the ride starting in 2000 and won at Atlanta, finishing 20th in the points. He climbed to 17th the next season, but got off to a terrible start in 2002 and was replaced by Joe Nemechek.

Nemechek posted two second-place finishes late in the season, then won at Richmond in 2003 before accepting the ride in the No. 01 late in the season.

Brian Vickers drove the final four races, with a best of 13th at Phoenix.