Emanuel Antonius Zervakis, born January 30, 1930, was a former NASCAR driver from Richmond, VA. He was a great driver and owner prior to his death on June 25, 2003. Zervakis took great pride in his Greek heritage, nicknamed "The Golden Greek", and became the only Greek-American driver to our knowledge to win a Sprint Cup race.
Driving Career[]
He competed in eighty-three starts in his Grand National career with two wins. Both came in 1961 when Zervakis won at Greenville-Pickens and at Norwood Arena. That year he finished a career-best third in points and added one pole to another he earned in 1980. He retired his driving career following 1963 at Darlington. He drove the #85 Chevrolet for Monroe Shook.
Owner[]
Although Zervakis' famous #01 Pontiacs never fared much success in the Winston Cup tour during the 60s-80s, Zervakis had some of the best drivers during the time period come up in them. Often times, those drivers would find success with better teams after getting their start with Zervakis. Mark Martin, Ricky Rudd, Dale Jarrett, Sam Ard, Morgan Shepherd, Geoffery Bodine, and Butch Lindley, Sonny Hutchins all drove for Emanuel Zervakis in their careers. Lindley had Zervakis' best finish as a career owner-a 2nd place finish at Martinsville. Zervakis' team made its last race in the 1984 season when Jarrett raced at Rockingham.