Budd Olsen

Purdy “Budd” Olsen (October 16, 1924 – December 26, 1991) was an American national champion stock car and sprint car racing driver from the Thorofare section of West Deptford Township, New Jersey.

Racing career Olsen made two appearances in the NASCAR Grand National Series, the first of which was in 1949, the inaugural year of the series, where he finished 12th. He otherwise spent the majority of his career racing in the Modified division, and won the 1958 NASCAR Modified Championship.

Olsen competed at the renowned tracks of the northeast, including Nazareth Speedway and Reading Fairgrounds Speedway in Pennsylvania, and Flemington Speedway and Wall Stadium in New Jersey. Olsen was inducted into the Eastern Motorsports Press Association and the Northeast Dirt Modified Halls of Fame.

Personal life Olsen was the brother-in-law of Jackie McLaughlin, who suffered a fatal racing accident in 1964. Olsen was a skilled fabricator and began building race chassis with his son Doug. Their chassis was a dominant player in the racing world for over two decades until Doug's 2019 death.

Motorsports career results NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Grand National Series NASCAR Grand National Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 Pts Ref 1949 Walt Frank 39 Mercury CLT DAB HBO LAN12 HAM MAR HEI NWS 51st 180 1961 Budd Olsen 56 Chevy CLT JSP DAY DAY DAY PIF AWS HMS ATL GPS HBO BGS MAR NWS CLB HCY RCH MAR DAR CLT CLT RSD ASP CLT PIF BIR GPS BGS NOR HAS STR DAY ATL CLB MBS BRI NSV BGS AWS RCH SBO DAR HCY RCH CSF ATL MAR NWS CLT BRI GPS HBO 42