(Born December 14, 1927) A NASCAR legend, Hershel McGriff, began racing stock cars in 1945 at the age of 17. He is NASCAR Winston West’s oldest and winningest active competitor, with 35 victories. He won the Winston West championship in 1986 and has finished in the top ten in points thirteen times since 1971. On September 16, 1945 McGriff raced in his first race at Portland Speedway. He finished “12th or 13th” in a 250-lapper, cautiously navigating a muddy 5/8-mile track in his minister father’s 1940 Hudson.

Hershel won the 1940 Mexican Road Race, out-driving NASCAR founder Bill France and 131 other cars. He raced in the inaugural Southern 500 at Darlington International Raceway in South Carolina, and drove his race car to the track all the way from his home in Portland, finished ninth in the race, then drove his car home again. Although he did compete in the SCCA Trans-Am 2.5 Challenge and finished 19th in the 1982 Endurance Le Mans race, most of his time has been spent behind the wheel of a NASCAR stock car. During the 1970’s, Hershel drove for Petty Enterprises, swapping positions with the likes of Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, A.J. Foyt, and Johnny Rutherford.

Career highlights for McGriff include: Helped form, and then race in, the NASCAR Winston West series with friend Bill France, Sr.; has raced and won in six different decades, starting in 1945; most wins (14) at the old Riverside, Calf., International Raceway; was presented with NASCAR’s prestigious award of Excellence in 1994; and was voted one of NASCAR’s “50 Greatest Drivers”.