Car Number Histories: No. 16

ATLANTA -- When Greg Biffle won the 2003 Pepsi 400 at Daytona, he joined some of racing's legendary drivers who have visited Victory Lane in the No. 16.

Bobby Allison, Mark Donohue, Darel Dieringer, Joe Weatherly and Glen Wood are the only other drivers to earn that distinction.

	Greg Biffle won at Daytona in 2003 while driving the No. 16. Credit: Autostock

Bill Snowden and Jack O'Brien shared the numeral in 1949, with Snowden finishing sixth at Martinsville in three starts and O'Brien running 17th at Pittsburgh.

Snowden returned to the No. 16 in 1951 for one race -- a ninth-place finish in the Southern 500. Fred Steinbroner ran six West Coast events that season, with a fourth at Gardena.

Banjo Matthews drove a Snowden-owned Hudson three times in 1952, including a fifth in the Southern 500.

During the next three years, the No. 16 made solo appearances in the Southern 500. Weldon Adams' Ford was 39th in 1953, Buck Mason's Plymouth wound up 27th in 1954 and Tim Flock switched from his usual No. 300 or 301 to grab third in 1955.

Tiny Lund moved over from the No. 37 in 1956 to run 12 races, including 24th in the Southern 500, while Fred Harb was 17th at Hickory in two starts.

Lund ran the numeral once in 1957, a fourth-place finish at Concord.

The next season, John Seeley, Tommy Irwin and Charlie Cregar shared the No. 16. Seeley was fifth at Busti, N.Y., Irwin finished third at Richmond and Cregar was 15th in the Southern 500.

Wood used the No. 16 three times in 1959 and scored three top-10s, including poles at Weaverville and North Wilkesboro. Jim McGuirk was 11th at Atlanta while Danny Weinberg finished third at Sacramento.

Wood was a perfect three-for-three at Winston-Salem in 1960, winning three consecutive races there. Weinberg ran three more West Coast races that season, including a fifth at Sacramento, while Dick Joslin drove the No. 16 at Daytona and Steve McGrath at Darlington.

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Weatherly used the numeral for the 1961 season-opener at Charlotte and won, then switched to the No. 8. Elmo Langley's Pontiac was 25th in the Daytona 500 that year, while Speedy Thompson was 17th at Charlotte.

Ralph Earnhardt made three starts in the No. 16 in 1962, including 17th at Daytona.

Then starting in 1963, Dieringer shared the numeral over a four-year stretch -- and drove a No. 16 Mercury to victory in at least one race in each of those seasons.

Dieringer won at Riverside in 1963 and at Augusta in 1964.

In 1965, he won one of the Daytona 500 qualifiers, which counted in the standings, was second in the 500 and third in the Southern 500. He also captured two poles and wound up third in the points. Ned Setzer made one start that season, finishing ninth at Weaverville.

Dieringer won the 1966 Southern 500 and added a second win at Weaverville.

In 1967, three drivers shared the numeral: Bobby Allison, Sam McQuagg and LeeRoy Yarbrough. Allison was 40th in the Daytona 500, McQuagg wound up fifth at Darlington and Yarbrough was third at Atlanta.

Tiny Lund made 13 appearances in the No. 16 in 1968, including a ninth in the Daytona 500. Don Schissler blew an engine before completing a lap during a race at Talladega and finished 36th.

By 1972, American Motors cars became the standbearers for the No. 16. Donohue finished 15th at Atlanta in four races that season, while Donnie Allison was third at Riverside and Dave Marcis seventh in the Southern 500.

In 1973, Donohue earned his only NASCAR victory at Riverside, while Gary Bettenhausen was 12th in the 1974 Daytona 500.

Bobby Allison, who mainly piloted the No. 12, returned to the numeral later that season and finished fifth in the Firecracker 400. He ran the No. 16 full-time in 1975, winning at Riverside and sweeping both Darlington races, three of his 10 top-10 finishes that season.

When Allison moved to the No. 2 to start 1976, the numeral saw limited action for more than a decade. But there were some highlights.

In 1980, Rusty Wallace made his debut in a No. 16 Chevrolet for Roger Penske and finished second at Atlanta. David Pearson finished third at Daytona in 1983 and fifth at Atlanta in 1985.

Other drivers who got behind the wheel during that time included Ed Negre, Dave Sisco, Ray Williams, Glenn Jarrett, Mel Larson, Richard Brickhouse, Chuck Bown, Jim Bown, Butch Lindley, Morgan Shepherd, Bill Osborne, Tommy Ellis, Brett Bodine, Bob Schacht and Tom Rotsell.

Larry Pearson made a total of 39 starts in the No. 16 over a five-year span and scored three top-10s. His best points finish came in 1989, when he was 23rd.

Wally Dallenbach Jr. had two seasons in the numeral, finishing fifth at Watkins Glen in 1992 and second there in 1993.

In 1994, Ted Musgrave began the first of his five seasons in the No. 16, winning three poles and finishing 13th in the standings that first season. He added another pole and a second-place finish at Martinsville in 1995, ending up seventh in the points.

Two more seconds and a pole left Musgrave 16th in the final standings in 1996, and he posted second-place finishes at Darlington in 1997 and Martinsville in 1998 before being replaced by Kevin Lepage for the final 13 races of the season.

Lepage started 66 more races in the No. 16, including fifths at Darlington in 1999 and Fort Worth in 2000.

The numeral sat out two seasons before Biffle took over in 2003, winning at Daytona and posting six top-10s en route to a 20th-place finish in the points.