1965: Marvin Panch poses by his Wood Brothers Ford that he drove to four wins during the 1965 NASCAR Cup season. Panch finished fifth in Cup points. (Photo by ISC Images & Archives via Getty Images)
Marvin Panch, who captured 17 career top series NASCAR wins, including the 1961 Daytona 500, died Thursday at age 89.
According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Panch was found unresponsive in his car Thursday morning and pronounced dead of natural causes not long after.
A native of Oakland, Calif., Panch made 216 starts in what is now the Sprint Cup Series from 1951 through 1966.
Panch -- named one of NASCAR's "50 Greatest Drivers" in 1998 -- never won a Cup title, but finished a career-best second in the season standings in 1957, when he was runner-up to Buck Baker.
Panch, whose wife Bettie died in 2006, spent much of his life residing in Port Orange, Fla.
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