Buddy Arrington obit

Buddy Arrington, Former NASCAR Cup Series Driver, Passes Away at Age 84 

He was not on the list.

Buddy Arrington, a long-time driver and team owner in the NASCAR Cup Series, passed away just one week after his 84th birthday, on Tuesday, August 2.

The Richmond, Virginia-native boasted a fruitful 25-year career as a driver and team owner in the NASCAR Cup Series, where he competed in 560 events between the years 1964 and 1988. In those starts, Arrington recorded 15 top-five and 103 top-10 finishes.

Competing in the majority of NASCAR Cup Series events from 1975 to 1986, Arrington scored a career-high points finish of seventh-place in 1982, after picking up eight top-10 finishes, one of his two top-10 points finishes.

In 2019, Arrington underwent double-bypass heart surgery following a pair of heart attacks on December 15, 2019. Arrington, who was 81 at the time, was cleared to return home on January 13, 2020.

Arrington is survived by his wife Patsy Ann Chitwood Arrington, son Joey Arrington, step-son Todd Arrington, brother Jimmy Arrington (Marie), nephew Ronnie Arrington, niece Angela Arrington, step grand-son Danny Goad, and step-granddaughter Amber Arrington. He was born in Martinsville, Virginia.

Arrington has the second-most starts without a win, and finished in the top 10 of NASCAR points twice; in 1978 (ninth) and 1982 (seventh). Arrington was loyal to his Mopar cars and engines, as he ran Chryslers and Dodges until 1985 (Chrysler stopped production of raceable body styles in 1983 and they became ineligible two years later) when the company stopped supporting them. His best career race and finish was at Talladega in 1979, where he had a powerful enough car to lead a few laps towards the end, and finished third. Arrington finished one lap ahead of Richard Petty, driving one of Petty's cast-off Dodge Magnums that were left when Petty abandoned Mopar and began driving General Motors vehicles a year earlier, and several other top NASCAR drivers. Arrington almost always ran his own car, and his operation was a very money-conscious effort. His pit crew were almost always unpaid volunteers, and he relied heavily (and almost exclusively) on used equipment with Petty's old Magnums being his primary cars. Since Arrington could not afford new cars, his team would have to reconfigure the Petty cars and re-skin them into Dodge Miradas or Chrysler Imperials for a 1981 rule change