Builder, owner, administrator

Fox was so resourceful as an engine builder that NASCAR hired him to guard the “henhouse” of other engine builders after he retired from active Cup Series competition. Fox gained early attention building the engine for inductee Fireball Roberts’s flag-to-flag 1955 Daytona win — later overturned on a technicality. Shortly thereafter inductee Carl Kiekhaefer hired Fox and 2017 inductee Herb Thomas to prepare his famous Mercury Outboards Chrysler 300s, which won 22 of the 1956 season’s first 26 races. Fox was named Mechanic of the Year and opened his own engine shop. He began entering his cars in 1962, eventually winning 14 Cup events and 16 poles. In 1965, LeeRoy Yarbrough drove a Fox-prepared Dodge to a new closed-course world speed record of 181.818 mph. NASCAR hired Fox as an engine inspector in 1990. Fox’s son Ray Jr. worked for Robert Yates Racing and grandson Ray Fox III is a car chief for Team Penske. Fox was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2003.