Harley Race

Harley Race is a retired American professional wrestler. He wrestled for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), American Wrestling Association (AWA), and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). He was born in Quitman, Missouri on April 11, 1943. Race was trained by Stanislaus and Wladek Zbyszko on a farm in Missouri.

In 2004, during Wrestlemania weekend, Race was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. http://www.wwe.com/superstars/halloffame/inductees/harleyrace/ The ceremony took place in New York City. Ric Flair presented Race during the event. Fellow inductees included Tito Santana, Sgt. Slaughter, Jesse Ventura, Pete Rose, Don Muraco, Greg Valentine, Junkyard Dog, Bobby Heenan, Big John Studd, and Billy Graham. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417250/ Race is one of six men to be inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame, the WCW Hall of Fame, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame, and Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.

Race began his career in the early 1960s. He wrestled for the AWA in a tag team with Larry "The Axe" Hennig. They were managed by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. The duo won the AWA World Tag Team Title on January 30, 1965. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/h/harley-race.html They defeated Dick the Bruiser and The Crusher. Race and Hennig won the AWA Tag Titles a second time on August 7, 1965, when they defeated Verne Gagne and The Crusher. In the late 1960s, Race moved to the NWA. Race wrestled in several different territories in the NWA. These territories included: Missouri, Florida, Central States, Mid-Atlantic and Georgia. Race won the Georgia Heavyweight Title, United States Title, Southern Heavyweight Title, Central States Heavyweight Title and the Missouri Heavyweight Title during this time. http://www.wrestling-titles.com

On May 24, 1973, Race defeated Dory Funk, Jr. to win the NWA World Heavyweight Title in Kansas City, Kansas. He lost the title later that year to Jack Brisco on July 20. Race regained the title February 6, 1977 from Terry Funk in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Race had seven reigns in all as NWA World Champion. Some of his top challengers included Dory Funk, Jr., Jack Brisco, Terry Funk, Ric Flair, Bruiser Brody, Dusty Rhodes, and Tommy Rich. In 1986, Race joined the WWE. He was managed by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Some of his rivals included Hulk Hogan and Junkyard Dog. Race then wrestled briefly for World Championship Wrestling in 1990. He retired from active competition later that year.

Race's greatest match took place on June 10, 1983 in St. Louis, Missouri. He defeated Ric Flair to win his seventh NWA World Championship. Race won the title by pinfall. http://harleyrace.com/titles.htm The title win by Race broke the record for most NWA World Title reigns. The previous record was six title reigns by Lou Thesz. Flair and Race had several matches over the Flair's title around the world. Some of the matches took place in Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Japan. The two men wrestled in bouts that lasted sixty minutes on many occasions.