Car Number Histories: No. 4

ATLANTA -- With a few exceptions, the No. 4 was dominant on the short tracks in NASCAR's early years, but more recently was nearly unbeatable on superspeedways and road courses.

The most notable exceptions to the rule came in 1954 and 1998. Al Keller's No. 4 Jaguar became a trivia footnote with a victory at the Linden airport road course, the only foreign manufacturer to win a race in NASCAR's premier division.

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And when Bobby Hamilton drove the No. 4 to victory at Martinsville in 1998, it was the first time in eight years that the numeral had won on a track of less than a mile in length.

The history of the No. 4 really boils down to three drivers and one family: Rex White, Ernie Irvan, Sterling Marlin and the Myers.

Four drivers shared the ride in 1949. Frank Mundy was 30th at Charlotte, Bill Rexford third at Pittsburgh, Don Cecchini 17th at Langhorne and Otis Martin 15th at Martinsville.

Cecchini and Martin returned in 1950 for one race each, along with Joe Eubanks, who was 19th in the inaugural Southern 500.

Martin would run the No. 4 a total of seven more times over the next two seasons, with a best of ninth at Detroit in 1952.

Gayle Warren finished 21st in the 1951 Southern 500, while Slick Smith was sixth at Langhorne in five 1952 appearances. In addition, Herschel Buchanan drove the No. 4 to a fourth-place finish at South Bend that season.

Smith won a pole at Raleigh in 1953 and had 10 top-10 finishes in 23 starts.

In addition to Keller's victory, four others ran the numeral at some point in 1954. Ken Fisher was seventh at Morristown, Smith 60th on the Daytona beach course, Buchanan fifth at LeHi and John Soares won at Gardena, one of seven starts that year.

Fisher returned in 1955 for nine starts, including a 10th at Charlotte. Jimmy Massey, normally in the No. 04, drove a No. 4 at Darlington, finishing 10th in the Labor Day classic.

Then the Myers brothers -- Billy and Bobby -- began an association with the No. 4, with tragic results for both men.

Billy won at Norfolk in 1956, one of seven top-10s in 13 starts. Bobby was 19th at Hickory in two appearances.

In 1957, Billy ran the first two races of the year in the No. 4, finishing 14th at Concord, while Bobby used the numeral at Darlington, where he was killed.

Billy Myers was killed in a race at Winston-Salem the next season.

Bob Welborn won his only start in the numeral in 1958, at Martinsville, in a car owned by Julian Petty. Jim Paschal ran two races, including a fourth at Weaverville.

Then White took over the ride in 1959, with great success on the short tracks. He won five races and five poles that first season, including 11 top-five finishes, earning him 10th in the final standings.

He took the championship the next year, winning six races and posting 25 top-fives in 37 starts. He won twice at Martinsville and was second in the 1960 Daytona 500. Scotty Cain drove three West Coast races in a No. 4, finishing second at Sacramento.

White and Cain both returned in 1961. White wound up second in the points, thanks to seven wins, seven poles and 38 top-10s in 47 attempts. He won three races at Winston-Salem and two more at North Wilkesboro. Cain's best was an eighth at Hanford.

White's best season may have come in 1962, when he won eight races and nine poles, posted top-10 finishes in the Daytona 500 and Southern 500, and finished fifth in the final standings.

By 1963, White began to cut back on his schedule. He still won three poles and was sixth in the Southern 500, one of 14 top-10s in 25 events. He ran five more races in 1964, including a third at Charlotte.

Billy Wade used No. 4 once in 1964, finishing 13th at Riverside.

Bobby Wawak was 36th in the 1965 Southern 500, while Paschal returned to run 33rd at Charlotte in his only start.

In 1966, John Sears acquired the numeral and ran cars bearing No. 4 for the better part of a decade. He had five top-10 points finishes during that span and never visited Victory Lane.

Sears was second at Manassas in 1966, his best finish of 24 top-10s in 34 races. He posted 25 top-10s the next season, including winning the pole at Savannah to wind up fifth overall.

Elmo Langley drove three races in 1967, including a third at Macon.

In 1968, Sears once again finished fifth in the standings, thanks to 24 top-10s, including a third at Greenville. Sears ran 52 races in 1969, including 17 top-fives and 27 top-10s. Jim Hurtubise finished 25th at Talladega in his only start.

Sears won a pole at Raleigh in 1970 and finished fourth three times in 40 starts. He made 28 events in 1971, including an eighth in the Southern 500. He was fifth at Dover in 1972 and 11th at North Wilkesboro in 1973, his final season as a driver.

Jim Vandiver and Ed Negre also drove the No. 4 that season.

Starting in 1976, a second generation of the Myers clan returned to the No. 4. Gary Myers finished 34th at Rockingham that season, then ran 10 races in 1977, including 11ths at Rockingham and North Wilkesboro. He finished 14th in the 1978 Southern 500, one of 19 starts that season.

Randy Myers made one start in the No. 4, running 20th at Rockingham in 1977.

Other drivers who used the numeral during that era included Salt Walther, Herschel McGriff, Bobby Fisher, James Hylton, Gary Baker, Bob Riley, Connie Saylor, D.K. Ulrich and Lennie Pond.

Mark Martin drove the No. 4 for six races in 1983, including a 10th at Talladega. In 1984, Tommy Ellis made 20 starts, including a ninth at Talladega. Joe Ruttman finished out the season, posting a 10th at Riverside in three races.

Ruttman returned in 1985, running 16 races, including a fifth at Charlotte.

In 1986, Rick Wilson began his association with the No. 4. Over the course of four seasons, Wilson would run 93 races. He had four top-10s in 17 races that first season, then ran 19 events in 1987.

Wilson won a pole at Bristol in 1988 and finished second in the Pepsi Firecracker 400 at Daytona, moving him to 21st in the points. He then advanced to 16th in 1989, thanks to seven top-10s, including a fourth at Martinsville.

Irvan came over from the No. 2 for the 1990 season, winning at Bristol and grabbing three poles on his way to ninth place in the final standings. Phil Parsons also drove three races that year.

Irvan opened the 1991 season with a victory in the Daytona 500, then added a win at Watkins Glen and 19 top-10 finishes to end up fifth in the points. He won three races the next season -- Sonoma, Daytona and Talladega -- plus three more poles but just missed the top 10 when the final standings were released.

However, Irvan jumped back to sixth in 1993 with a win at Talladega and four poles before moving to the No. 28 near the end of the season. Jeff Purvis, Joe Nemechek and Jimmy Hensley finished out the year.

Marlin had been driving the No. 8 when he took over the No. 4 starting in 1994. The move paid immediate dividends as Marlin won the 1994 Daytona 500, one of his 11 top-10s that season.

He successfully defended his Daytona 500 crown in 1995, plus added victories at Darlington and Talladega and 22 top-10s to finish third in the final standings. Marlin remained strong at the superspeedways in 1996 -- winning at Talladega and the Pepsi 400 at Daytona -- but slipped to eighth in the points.

After a winless 1997, Marlin moved to the No. 40 and Hamilton took over the ride. Hamilton's victory at Martinsville was his only one in the No. 4, but he posted 20 top-10s in his three seasons in cars bearing the numeral.

In 2001, Kevin Lepage, Rich Bickle and Bobby Hamilton Jr. shared the ride but failed to crack the top 10 in a combined 29 attempts.

Mike Skinner ran sixth at Rockingham in 2002, his best finish in 36 starts. He began the 2003 season in the car, but was replaced 14 races into the season as the wheel was handed to Johnny Miller, Stacy Compton, P.J. Jones, Johnny Sauter and Lepage.