News from Amelia Island Concours: Paul Goldsmith and Linda Vaughn Welcome NASCAR’s Oldest Racecar to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Museum

Paul Goldsmith and Linda Vaughn Welcome NASCAR’s Oldest Racecar to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Museum

Paul Goldsmith poses with the “Roarin’ Relic” at Daytona International Speedway. Photo courtesy of Bill Warner.

Paul Goldsmith, 94, is the only man to win on the Daytona Beach Road Course in both cars and on a motorcycle. Smokey Yunick once called him “the best pure racer I ever saw.” Harley-Davidson founders John Harley and Walter Davidson personally asked him to become a rider for their factory team, a decision that led to victory at the 1953 DAYTONA 200.

The 1949 Olds race car widely believed to the the oldest remaining original NASCAR racer sits on the hallowed sand of Daytona Beach. Photo by Bill Warner.

“Goldie” won the 1958 NASCAR Grand National Event on the Daytona Beach Road Course five years later and went on to win consecutive USAC stock car titles (1961-1962). Goldsmith was inducted into the American Motorcycle Association (AMA) Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2008.

On August 20, 2020 Paul Goldsmith flew from Indiana to Daytona Beach to be reunited with the 1949 Oldsmobile that he and other racing legends drove at the dawn of NASCAR. Widely believed to be the oldest remaining original NASCAR racer, the Olds was presented for permanent exhibit at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Museum on the grounds of Daytona International Speedway.

Photo courtesy of Bill Warner.

Many consider the 1949 Oldsmobile, referred to as the “Roarin’ Relic,” to be the oldest surviving NASCAR racecar. Originally built by Bobby Griffin’s Griffin Motors of Florence, SC, the ’49 Olds survived more than a decade of top-level stock car competition at the hands of some of the sport’s most famous drivers. Two-time NASCAR champion Lee Petty, two-time NASCAR champion Buck Baker, Darel Dieringer, Bill Blair and Gene Darrah all sat in the driver’s seat. Buck Baker put it on pole for the 1951 Modified Sportmans race on the Daytona Beach Course at 100.139 MPH and led the first 12 laps before being sidelined with a fuel pump issue.

The Relic was the first car enshrined in the Joe Weatherly Stock Car Racing Museum at Darlington Raceway upon its opening in 1965 and was a featured guest at the 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Ben Kennedy, Paul Goldsmith and Linda Vaughn stand with the “Roarin’ Relic” at the Daytona International Speedway. Photo courtesy of Bill Warner.

“It’s an honor to help deliver the Roarin’ Relic to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Museum at Daytona International Speedway,” said Goldsmith. “The car and I go a long way back. It will give people a chance to see what it was really like for us in NASCAR’s earliest years.”

During the event Goldsmith was joined by the one and only Linda Vaughn and NASCAR historian Buz McKim for a special edition of the Legends of Racing Radio Show and podcast. The show was recorded at Racing’s North Turn Restaurant in Ponce Inlet, Florida, named for its location at what was the North Turn of the old Daytona Beach Road Course.

In an exciting conclusion of the day’s events, racer and NASCAR Vice President of Racing Development Ben Kennedy took the “Roarin’ Relic” out on Daytona International Speedway for demonstration laps.

Be sure to visit the 1949 Oldsmobile and other great racing machines and artifacts at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Museum located at the Daytona International Speedway or take a virtual tour by visiting this link.

Goldsmith (far right) was joined by the one and only Linda Vaughn (seated center) and NASCAR historian Buz McKim for a special edition of the Legends of Racing Radio Show and podcast. The show was recorded at Racing’s North Turn Restaurant in Ponce Inlet, Florida. Photo courtesy of Bill Warner.

Tickets for the 26th Annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance are now available online.

For more info and to purchase tickets visit:

The Amelia is currently accepting applications for Cars & Coffee at the Concours 2021.

Don’t delay, applications are limited.

About The Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance

THE AMELIA will be held March 4-7, 2021 at The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island and The Golf Club of Amelia Island. For the Amelia’s full events schedule, including Saturday’s Cars & Coffee at the Concours and Sunday’s premier Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, visit www.ameliaconcours.org. The show’s Foundation has donated over $3.5 million to Community Hospice & Palliative Care, Spina Bifida of Jacksonville and other charities on Florida’s First Coast since its inception in 1996.

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