Racer Profile: Bill Amick

January 24, 2008

By Allen Madding

Allen Madding

Bill Amick grew up the younger brother to Portland, Oregon midget driver George Amick. Bill began to establish himself in racing in the early 1950’s. His controversial driving style and his ability to score wins quickly gave him his own identity.

In 1955 he finished seventh in NASCAR points with the Pacific Coast Late Model Series. The year before, he had made his debut in the NASCAR Grand National Division driving Carmen Amica’s No. 21 Oldsmobile at Oakland, California’s Oakland Stadium’s half-mile dirt track, then driving Frank Christian’s No. 97 Oldsmobile at Darlington, Macon, Charlotte, and Langhorne.

He drove Frank Dodge’s No. 28 Oldsmobile on the 1-mile dirt Bay Meadows Speedway in San Mateo, California finishing second. In 1955, He entered four NASCAR Grand National Division events qualifying on the pole at the Arizona State Fairgrounds in Phoenix finishing fourth and at the Tucson Rodeo Grounds finishing fifth driving the No. 3 Dodge.

In 1956, Amick signed on to drive Pete DePaolo’s No. 66 and No. 97 Ford in 13 NASCAR Grand National Division events logging seven top-fives and ten top-tens. In 1957, He drove DePaolo’s No. 12 and 97 in three events finishing third at Concord Speedway. He then campaigned his own No. 97 Ford in 15 events winning at Capitol Speedway in Sacramento, finishing second at Spartanburg, LeHi, Lancaster, and qualifying on the pole at Norfolk and Weaverville. He drove Dick Beaty’s No. 34 Ford at Southern States Fairgrounds in Charlotte, and Holman-Moody’s No. 2 at Newberry and Concord to record 21 starts, two poles, one win, eight top-fives, and 12 top-tens to finish 16th in the NASCAR Grand National Division Championship points standings.

Amick returned to the NASCAR Grand National Division in 1961 making one start at California State Fairgrounds in Sacramento driving the No. 98N Pontiac. Amick qualified on the pole for the event, but finished 28th after suffering a mechanical failure. He raced Dick Niles No. 62 Mercury in the Golden State 400 at Riverside in 1963 finishing eighth. Amick returned to Riverside in 1964 to drive Nile’s No. 9W Mercury in the Motor Trend 500 finishing fourth. In1965, he returned to Riverside one final time to drive Nile’s No. 9 Mercury in the Motor Trend 500 finishing 18th after an engine failure.

Despite his partial involvement in the NASCAR Grand National Division schedule, Amick stayed heavily involved in the NASCAR Pacific Coast Grand National schedule. In 1964, Amick finished second in the Pacific Coast Grand National Standings. Then in 1965, He won the Pacific Coast Grand National championship driving Dick Niles Mercury. After 1965, Amick competed in the Can-Am Series for a couple of seasons before retiring as a driver and becoming involved in operating, managing, and promoting speedways.

Portland Speedway held an honorary dinner saluting Amick’s accomplishments in 1994. The event was packed with west coast racers. Fans flocked the track the following day to honor one of the west coast’s racing heroes. Bill Amick died on July 15, 1995.

Career Acomplishments:

NASCAR Grand National Division: 48 starts, five poles, one win, 19 top-fives, and 27 top-tens.

Discuss this and other racing matters in the Prodigys@Speed Forum

You can contact Allen Madding at .. Insider Racing News

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

   More Articles By Allen Madding

---

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Finding cures for children with catastrophic
illnesses through research and treatment

return to top

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
	Web Insiderracingnews.com

---

---

---

---