NASCAR Racing: Finding info on Ralph L., indiana state fairgrounds, wilson speedway

Question
I met a gentleman over the weekend named Ralph Lagino, Ligano, Ligaro? Not sure how he said his last name. He said in his day folks would contact the drivers to drive their cars. I'm guessing he's in his 80's. He also said he remembers the night Mel Kinyon rolled & got hurt; along with a recent funny stunt he tried to pull off with Tony Stuart. Do you know who this is & what years he drove? who he drove for, etc? He mentioned he was two time nascar champ at something, but he had turned to wave at someone & I didn't hear what. Thanks for your help.

Answer
Hi, Thanks for your question. You are actually my first since joining this site.
Sounds to me like you had a really great opportunity to meet Ralph Ligouri. Based on your question, I am not sure if you were asking about him or Mel Kenyon. This is outside of my expertise but I did a quick search for Mel and found a webpage dedicated to him. It is quite a story and has some really great photos that I think you will enjoy. Mel Kenyon, as far as I can tell, has never been involved with Nascar but was big in USAC and Indy Car. Here is the link:

http://melkenyon.tripod.com/

As for Ralph,
Born Oct. 10, 1926, and is from the Bronx NY. He competed in the USAC Championship Car series from 1957 to 1971 making at least 61 starts. His best finish was 2nd place at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Speedway in 1970. 1966 was his most active year, when he made 7 starts and finished 28th in the National Championship. He attempted the Indianapolis 500 six times (1959, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967, and 1968) but he failed to make the field each time. Liguori continued racing well into his 70's and won a minor race in 2000 at 73 years old. I havent found what race that was but I will keep looking.

He did compete in Nascar for a short time.

Liguori competed in 76 NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup Series) races in his career. He had 30 Top 10 and 5 Top 5 finishes in his career with a best finish of third place at Wilson Speedway in Wilson, North Carolina. He finished tenth in the 1954 season points. Liguori also made one start in the NASCAR Convertible Series during 1956. He never led a lap in NASCAR.

His Nascar Statistics are available here:
http://www.racing-reference.info/driver?id=liguora01

Ralph's grandson Joe Liguori is now racing midgets and hopes to eventually move up to either Nascar or Indy Car.