Herman "The Turtle" Beam, born December 11, 1929, is a former NASCAR driver from Johnson City, TN. He competed in 194 Sprint Cup events in his career prior to dying on August 27, 1980. Beam, who was an independent driver, never found much success as he only earned 3 top-five finishes. However, Beam did use his limited resources to earn fifty-seven top tens.

Career Recap

Part of Beam's strategy was not worrying about speed in his racecar. Beam was the forerunner in the thought that even if a car was very slow, the driver could stay out of the way and run a respectable race. Beam's plan working, running very slow, but staying out of trouble and avoiding attrition to earn respectable finishes and a part of the purse.

After his debut in 1957, Beam's best year came in 1959. Despite only earning twelve top-ten finishes in his thiry races, Beam earned a 4th place finish in the year end points. He also earned his first career top-five during this year, recording a fifth at Asheville-Weaverville Speedway.

In the next two years of 1960 and 1961, Beam earned twenty-top tens, including a pair of fourths (1960-Hillsboro and 1961-Spartanburg)

In 1962, Beam did not earn any top-fives, but did earn a career-best 18 top-tens in route to an 11th place finish in points. And finally, in 1963, Beam would earn six top-tens in twenty five starts before retiring from the sport. This included a seventh place in his final career event held at Moyock.

Trivia

Herman made this infamous quote to fellow racer Bill Morton: "Well, just between me and you, Cale Yarborough will never make a race car driver."

"The Turtle" still holds the record for most consecutive starts without a DNF at 84.

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