Longtime leading Louisiana stock car driver Freddy Fryar has died at the age of 86.

Born on Feb. 15, 1936, Fryar won the Snowball Derby late model special at Florida’s Pensacola Speedway twice, in 1979 and 1981.

Known as “The Beaumont Flyer,” Fryar made six starts in NASCAR Cup Series competition, turning in one top-10 performance, finishing sixth at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in the Bill Ellis Plymouth No. 14 on April 12, 1970.  He finished 15th in the 1971 Daytona 500.

Fryar was only 20 years old when he raced in his first NASCAR Grand National race at Montgomery, Ala., in 1956.

“I was 14 years old when I started,” said Fryar many years later. “My dad had taken us to the races as little kids. He loved to go watch them race.”

Fryar first raced on the dirt in a 1935 Plymouth Coupe and is reported to have won 826 feature races during his career. He retired from racing in 1987.

For a time, Fryar was an instructor for the Richard Petty Driving Experience and worked for a number of NASCAR teams. He was a member of the Alabama Auto Racing Pioneers Hall of Fame and the Ozarks Auto Racing Hall of Fame.