Hylton's career in
auto racing began in the late 1950s when he began working as a mechanic for
Rex White. Hylton, White and Louis Clements teamed to win 26 races and most importantly the 1960 NASCAR Grand National championship. In 1964, White scaled back his driving duties and Hylton began a tenure as crew chief for the
Ned Jarrett /
Bondy Long team. He won only two races over his career. Although, he only won two races, he was always in the thick of the championship hunt. He finished in the top-ten in the season points standings in ten of the twelve years between 1966 and 1977. In the 1972 Talladega 500, Hylton won under interesting circumstances, when
Goodyear supplied teams with a special tire for superspeedways. However, this tire design proved to shred after long distances under superspeedway conditions. Because Hylton's team could not afford the new tires they ran with the old ones. Hylton and
Ramo Stott, another low tier driver who also could not afford the tires, skated around the other cars, and Hylton won it by less than a second.
Dual role In 1968, Hylton became a car owner/driver, a dual role that continued until his death. He found his way to victory lane for the first time on March 1, 1970, at the
Richmond 500, driving the familiar No. 48 Ford. During the late sixties and early seventies, Hylton amassed an amazing consistency record that was rivaled only by those of
Richard Petty and
Cale Yarborough. On August 6, 1972, Hylton forever etched his name in the history books by claiming the
Talladega 500. Hylton led 106 laps of the 188 lap race and won $24,865 for the day. Hylton won by one car length over
ARCA legend
Ramo Stott. Hylton continued driving the full schedule until 1982, when he handed over driving duties to Canadian driver
Trevor Boys. He soldiered on as an owner in NASCAR Winston Cup until 1993.
ARCA how to run Daytona in 1999 Hylton moved to the ARCA Racing Series during the 1990s, and ran in sixteen of 23 ARCA races in 2006. He finished eighteenth in the final points standings. Hylton's final planned race was at the inaugural race at
Iowa Speedway, but he returned to compete other events.
Comeback Hylton's attempt at a comeback began in 2004, when he attempted to qualify for two races in the Craftsman Truck Series, with Welz Racing and Ron Rhodes Racing, respectively. On June 24, 2006, Hylton started his first
Busch Series race since June 27, 1982 at the
AT&T 250 held at the
Milwaukee Mile. This made him the oldest driver to start in a 'top level' NASCAR event. Hylton attempted to make the 2007 Daytona 500 in equipment leased from
Richard Childress Racing, sponsored by GrahamFest and Retirement Living TV. Hylton said "I am doing this for seniors to show that at 70 years old, you don't have to go hunting for an old-folks home. You can go race for a little bit." In the final practice session for the
2007 Daytona 500 he posted the fifteenth fastest time of 48.532 sec./185.445 m.p.h. He was in a position to qualify for the Daytona 500 with ten laps remaining in the qualifier when he was leading, then a caution for a wreck was called and on the restart he fell out of the draft due to a clutch problem. He did not qualify for the race. It was announced that he was going to attempt several others races in 2007, including the
UAW-Ford 500, but these plans did not come to fruition. At the age of 74, Hylton returned to Daytona to attempt to qualify for the
2009 Daytona 500. Hylton signed on with
E&M Motorsports for the race. Unfortunately, carburetor issues plagued the team in both Saturday pre-qualifying practice sessions, and Hylton was unable to make a lap. Because NASCAR had a rule that you must make one timed lap in practice to be eligible for qualifying, Hylton and team were forced to withdraw. Hylton was planning on qualifying his No. 48 car sponsored by the
Sons of Confederate Veterans for the ARCA race at Rockingham on April 19, 2009. Hylton lost that sponsorship on April 16, 2009, due to ARCA placing a ban on the organization's logo from being used, as it contains a version of the
Confederate Battle Flag. Since this ban breached the contract already entered into by ARCA and the SCV, the SCV cancelled its sponsorship and participation with the race. ARCA was forced to refund the organization's fees due to the breach of contract. Hylton later became a member of the SCV. Hylton planned to attempt to qualify for the
2010 Daytona 500, but no deal came to fruition. In 2011, Hylton set a record at the 2011 Royal Purple 200 in Darlington as the oldest driver in history to start a NASCAR race in the top three divisions at the age of 76. At the start of the 2013 season, Hylton announced that the 2013 ARCA season would be his last; finishing eighteenth in his final race.
Post-retirement team ownership Hylton stated that his plans following his retirement included continued participation in the ARCA Racing Series as a team owner, planning to hire a younger driver to run the No. 48.
Sean Corr ran the car in 2014 along with several other drivers. Corr returned to Daytona in 2015.
Brad Smith took over as driver planning the full season, but an injury at Talladega forced him out of the car;
James Swanson took over the ride as the team switched to Dodge. ==Death==