Ned Jarrett

Ned Miller Jarrett was born on October 12, 1932, in Conover, North Carolina, to Homer Keith Jarrett (1908 to 1983) and Eoline Marie Leatherman Jarrett (1910 to 2002). He grew up in Catawba County around his father's sawmill and was working there by the time he was 12. His father let him drive the family car to church on Sunday mornings when he was only nine years old, an early taste of the driving that would shape his life.

His father did not want him racing. After Jarrett's first race in 1952 at Hickory Motor Speedway, where he finished tenth in a Sportsman Ford he co-owned with his brother-in-law John Lence, he was told he could work on cars but not drive them. He kept racing anyway, under Lence's name, until a win gave him away. His father then told him that if he was going to drive, he should use his own name.

Jarrett's formal schooling details have not been widely published, and he went to work young in the family sawmill. He often credited a Dale Carnegie course with giving him the confidence and communication skills that made him a successful broadcaster and public speaker. In 1997 Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Jarrett made his first Grand National (now Cup Series) start in the 1953 Southern 500 at Darlington, lasting ten laps before an oil leak. He was the 1955 track champion at Hickory Motor Speedway, finished second in NASCAR's Sportsman division in 1956 and won the national Sportsman championships in 1957 and 1958.

In 1959 he bought a Junior Johnson Ford for $2,000, wrote the check after the bank had closed, and won two races that weekend to cover it. His first premier series win came at Myrtle Beach that year. He won five races in 1960 and then the 1961 championship for owner W.G. Holloway Jr., with one victory, 22 top fives and 34 top tens in 46 starts.

Moving to Ford, he finished third in the 1963 Daytona 500 during Ford's sweep of the top five. In 1964, driving for Bondy Long, he won 15 races, including his first superspeedway victory at Atlanta, but finished second in points to Richard Petty. In 1965 he won 13 races, scored 42 top fives in 54 starts despite a back injury, and won his second championship. That year he won the Southern 500 by 14 laps, the largest margin of victory in Cup history, and clinched the title with his final win at Dog Track Speedway in Moyock.

When Ford pulled out of NASCAR in 1966 he retired at 34, the only driver to retire as the reigning champion. His career totals were 50 wins, tied with Junior Johnson for tenth all time, and 35 poles. After retiring he managed Hickory Motor Speedway from 1967 to 1977, twice earning Promoter of the Year.

Jarrett started a taped radio show on WNNC in Newton in the early 1960s while still racing. He joined the Motor Racing Network (MRN) in 1978 and on July 4, 1984, interviewed President Ronald Reagan live from the Firecracker 400 at Daytona, the race in which Richard Petty earned his 200th win. He hosted the daily program Ned Jarrett's World of Racing with MRN for 31 years before announcing his retirement from it on May 15, 2009.

On television he worked for CBS as a pit reporter from 1979 and later as a color analyst, and for ESPN as an analyst. He hosted TNN's Inside Winston Cup Racing and NASCAR Tech on FSN. He called his son Dale's first Cup victory at Michigan in 1991 and, most famously, Dale's win over Dale Earnhardt in the 1993 Daytona 500, openly cheering his son home at producer Bob Stenner's urging. He returned to the booth in 2007 for a Busch Series race with Dale, and joined Dale and Ken Squier for Darlington's throwback Southern 500 broadcasts from 2015 to 2017.

On January 14, 1950, Jarrett married Olene Rebecca Proctor. Their son Glenn was born on August 11, 1950; the marriage ended in divorce. On February 18, 1956, he married Martha Ruth Bowman, and they were together for 67 years until her death in 2023. They had two children, Dale (born November 26, 1956) and Patricia, known as Patti (born August 31, 1959).

Dale became the 1999 Cup champion and a NASCAR Hall of Famer, Glenn raced in the Busch Series and became a broadcaster, and Patti married crew chief Jimmy Makar, who won the 2000 championship with Bobby Labonte. Grandson Jason Jarrett also raced. Ned and Martha built their home in 1984 overlooking the eighth hole at Catawba Country Club, where he was a member for more than 50 years and an avid golfer.

Jarrett's family described him as a devout Christian. He was a member of Beth Eden Lutheran Church in Newton from 1958 until his death and supported many of its charities. He was known for treating everyone with courtesy, which earned him the nickname Gentleman Ned. Dale Jarrett recalled that his father told him many times that it is really easier to be nice to people than not to be.

Jarrett was one of the first NASCAR competitors to move successfully from the driver's seat to the broadcast booth, helping lay the foundation for the sport's television growth. NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell called him as fierce a competitor as NASCAR has ever seen and an outstanding ambassador for the sport for more than six decades. His 1965 Southern 500 margin still stands as a Cup record, and his 1993 Daytona 500 call remains one of the best known moments in NASCAR broadcasting.

His decision to sell his 1961 Chevrolet to Wendell Scott is remembered as an example of his character. The Jarretts are one of NASCAR's great families, with Ned and Dale both champions and Hall of Famers. He also raised more than $1 million for the American Cancer Society through 25 years of charity golf and helped fund the Catawba County YMCA in Conover. He was a founding member of the Newton Elks Lodge.

NASCAR Grand National (Cup) champion, 1961 and 1965. NASCAR national Sportsman champion, 1957 and 1958. Myers Brothers Memorial Award, 1964, 1965, 1982 and 1983. National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame, 1972. North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, 1990. International Motorsports Hall of Fame, 1991. American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame, 1992. Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, 1997. Honorary doctorate, Lenoir-Rhyne University, 1997. Named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers, 1998. Hickory Metro Sports Hall of Fame, 2001. NASCAR Hall of Fame, class of 2011 (inducted May 23, 2011). Named one of NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers, 2023.

Jarrett's voice was familiar to generations of fans through MRN radio, CBS, ESPN and TNN. His call of the final lap of the 1993 Daytona 500 is replayed often. ABC's Wide World of Sports used footage of Cale Yarborough's crash from the 1965 Southern 500, the race Jarrett won by 14 laps, for years. Late in life he appeared with Dale on NBC's Coffee with Kyle to share stories from his career.

Ned Jarrett died peacefully of natural causes at his home in Newton, North Carolina, on Thursday, June 4, 2026, at the age of 93, with his family by his side. In a statement his family wrote that he was a devout Christian, a devoted and loving family man, a friend to everyone he met and NASCAR's oldest living champion.

NASCAR, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and FOX all paid tribute. A memorial service was held at 1 p.m. on June 11, 2026, at the P.E. Monroe Auditorium of Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory. The family asked that memorials be made to Beth Eden Lutheran Church in Newton or to the American Cancer Society. His burial place has not been made public.