NASCAR ROTY RANKINGS 1978: Ranking the Rookie of the Year Classes Through the Years

Runner-up Al Halbert

Join me as we take a look at every NASCAR Cup Rookie of the Year class from 1972 (the start of the modern era) through 2021, going from the worst to the first in terms of overall careers of each year’s rookie class.

1978

Winner: Ronnie Thomas (Robertson).  Runners Up: Roger Hamby (Hamby), Blackie Wangerin (Wangerin), Baxter Price (Price/Cronkite), Al Holbert (Hylton).  Aborted Attempts: none

How their careers turned out: Ronnie Thomas edged Roger Hamby for the 1978 ROTY title…and neither did much of anything in the driver’s seat again.  With that being said, we can grade on a curve with all these drivers racing almost exclusively in underfunded “independent” operations.  However, with THAT being said, Blackie Wangerin’s stretch of failing to qualify for the Daytona 500 in eight straight attempts in nine years gives you an idea of what we’re dealing with here.

“Fun” “Fact” about the winner: Both Ronnie Thomas and his father Jabe have Wikipedia pages that read like “OK, we’re just going to paraphrase from Racing-Reference.”

Ranking: #40 out of 50 

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