Ernie Gahan

Competitor
CLASS OF 1998

Ernie Gahan’s 28 year racing career started in 1948 at New Hampshire’s Dover Speedway. By the time he drove his last race at Thompson in 1975, he had amassed over 300 career victories.

For a majority of his career, Gahan was known as a one-man team who not only did the driving, but all the work in the shop and did all the towing of his racecar to various tracks up & down the east coast where he competed.

His greatest achievement was being the first New Englander to win a NASCAR National Modified championship in 1966. He drove a 1936 Chevy coupe to 15 wins in 71 races to earn the title over Ray Hendrick.

He was equally successful on both dirt and asphalt. He won a record 21 features on the old dirt surface at Stafford Speedway in the late 50s & early 60s. He won 12 more times at the track after it was paved.

Ernie had eleven starts in the NASCAR Grand National (now Cup Series) and has two top ten finishes, one of which was in the 1962 Daytona 500. He also had competed at the old Daytona Beach course.

In 1963 Gahan was credited with saving the life of Marvin Panch by pulling him out of a burning race car at Daytona. For his courage he won the Shuman Award and the Carnegie Medal for Bravery.

He passed away on November 27, 2009 at the age of 83.