William James "Bill" Rexford (March 14, 1927 – April 18, 1994)^[1] was astock car driver in the early 1950s. He is best remembered for winning the 1950NASCAR Grand National Series championship at only 23 years old. Rexford currently holds the distinction as NASCAR's youngest Cup Champion.

This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(June 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Born inConewango Valley, New York to Kermit and Edith Rexford, Rexford made his name driving stock cars inWestern New York. He got his introduction at a young age as his father owned aChevrolet dealership in the village. At age 16, he made his racing debut at a nearby track inLeon, New York. After he turned 18, he stopped his racing career to join theUnited States Navy during World War II, during that time, he was stationed inNewport, Rhode Island. After his discharge, he went back home to New York and started racing at bullrings in Buffalo, Rochester, and everywhere in between. When NASCAR introduced its "Strictly Stock" series in 1949, Rexford made three starts, with his best finish being a 3rd atHeidelberg Raceway. He went into full-time competition in the newly renamed Grand National Series in 1950. He and teammateLloyd Moore became the first Northern-born drivers to go full time on the circuit. He competed in 17 of the 19 races that season, drivingOldsmobiles,Fords, andMercuries owned by nearbyJamestown, New York residentJulian Buesink. He scored his first and only win in the fifth race of the year atCanfield Speedway.

Rexford was consistent and battled for the points lead for most of the year. His two biggest competitors were legendsCurtis Turner and then-rookieFireball Roberts. A third contender,Lee Petty, had been stripped of 809 points earlier in the season for competing in non-NASCAR sanctioned races and was essentially robbed of a realistic shot at the title. Late in the year, Rexford was able to take the points lead as both Roberts and Turner suffered from inconsistency.

In the final race of the year atOcconeechee Speedway, Rexford was locked in a tight battle with Fireball for the championship, holding the points lead by a slim margin. Rexford's engine expired early, and his championship hopes nearly went up in smoke. All Roberts needed to do now was finish in the top five, but trademark desire to win led him to push his car and his engine gave out with less than 50 laps to go, giving Rexford a dramatic, and controversial championship.

1950 proved to be Rexford's lone full-time campaign in NASCAR's highest division. He moved back to the Northeast and remained a part-time competitor in the Grand National ranks until 1953, when he ran his last race inRochester, New York. He finished 5th, driving the #60Chevrolet for long-time car owner Julian Buesink. After 1953, Rexford joined the Midwest Association for Race Car (MERC) in 1954 (now known asARCA). As a result,Bill France banned Rexford from racing and fined him $1,000 in the process, which Rexford refused to do. He raced until 1956 when he retired from racing at the age of 29. After he moved to Arizona and started a trucking company for 25 years. After that, he sold the company and retired to California where he died after a long illness.

73 years after his lone Cup championship, Rexford is still the youngest driver to win a championship in what has become theNASCAR Cup Series, doing so at age 23. He remained the only driver from the Northeast to win a championship until2017 whenNew Jersey’sMartin Truex Jr. won, and was the only non-Southerner to win a title until1989 whenMissouri'sRusty Wallace won, a feat which has been matched many times since. Rexford was the only series champion that was not included amongNASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998 and is the only champion from 1949 to 2003 not to be inducted into theNASCAR Hall of Fame, as well as the only Cup Series champion who has since retired not to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. He is the only Cup champion to have just one career win and the first of four drivers to win the title with just one win on the season, being followed byNed Jarrett in1961,Benny Parsons in1973, andMatt Kenseth in2003.

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

• Bill Rexford driver statistics at Racing-Reference

• 1927 births
• 1994 deaths
• NASCAR Cup Series champions
• NASCAR drivers
• Sportspeople from Chautauqua County, New York
• Racing drivers from New York (state)

• CS1 errors: missing title
• CS1 errors: bare URL
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from June 2015
• All articles needing additional references