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Herman Beam (December 11, 1929 – August 27, 1980) was a NASCAR Grand National Series driver and team owner from Johnson City, Tennessee who was active as a driver from 1957 until 1963. He is famous for holding the longest streak of races without a DNF (did not finish), with 84, from 1961 until 1963. He had 57 Top 10 finishes in 194 races.
Beam's nickname was "Turtle", reflecting his cautious driving style, which was to finish each race without retiring. His most famous moment was at the 1962 Richmond 250 race at the Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds at Richmond, Virginia. Due to heavy rain, qualifying was cancelled, and the drivers drew for grid positions by lot. Beam drew pole position, but pulled off the track on the pace lap to let the entire field go past. He eventually finished 12th. After the race Beam said that he did not feel comfortable starting in front of faster cars.
Beam's 84-race streak took place over the span of 22 months and ten days, and was being threatened by Clint Bowyer, who if he finished the first ten races of the 2009 season could have tied the record. However, he crashed at the 2009 Southern 500 at Darlington to end his streak at 83 finished races. Bowyer's teammate Kevin Harvick fell three short when his engine failed in the 2009 Auto Club 500 ending his streak at 81 races without a DNF. After the 2014 FedEx 400, his 84-race streak was broken by Greg Biffle, who finished the race despite being 108 laps down in 38th. Biffle would DNF at the Coke Zero 400 a month later, ending the streak at 89 races.
Another outstanding mark of Beam's was running the same number throughout his career. In all 194 of his starts, Beam drove only the number 19 in NASCAR Grand National races, the former record for officially retired drivers that has since been surpassed by Jeff Gordon, with 797 consecutive starts in the #24.
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