Timothy Lee Richmond (June 7, 1955 – August 13, 1989) was an American race car driver from Ashland, Ohio.

Richmond was one of the first drivers to change from open wheel racing to NASCAR stock cars full-time, which later became an industry trend.

Richmond filed a lawsuit against NASCAR after the organization insisted it wanted access to his entire medical record before it would reinstate him.

"[6] When Richmond was cast for a bit part in the 1983 movie Stroker Ace,[6] "He fell right in with the group working on the film," said director Hal Needham.

[6] Cole Trickle, the main character in the movie Days of Thunder, played by Tom Cruise, was loosely based on Richmond and his interaction with Harry Hyde and Rick Hendrick.

While home in Ohio over a summer break, he met local drag racer Raymond Beadle through lifelong friend Fred Miller.

[8] When Richmond reached age 16, his parents purchased him a Pontiac Trans Am, a speedboat and a Piper Cherokee airplane for his birthday.

That year he attended Jim Russell's road racing school at Willow Springs International Motorsports Park, setting a student course record.

[2] Richmond's father bought an Eagle Indy Car chassis and an Offenhauser engine for the 1979 race at Michigan International Speedway.

[8] Owner Pat Santello was looking for a driver to replace Larry Rice for his CART team at the following race at Watkins Glen International, so he gave Richmond a test at Willow Springs Raceway where he had previously set the student record.

Santello hired Richmond, who then qualified 15th fastest for the event and finished in eighth place, the best of his IndyCar career.

Richmond was able to lap the test track at over 200 MPH, but found doing so in a car with no left front wheel slightly unnerving.

"[10] Pocono Raceway President Joseph Mattioli III convinced Richmond to make the change to stock car racing on the NASCAR circuit.

For the final seven races of the season, he drove for Bob Rogers and had a top 10 finish at Dover International Speedway.

[3] Richmond started 1982 without a ride before getting a one-race deal to drive for Mike Lovern's Fast Company Limited, Billie Harvey, at the Rockingham track.

In his first race for the team, Richmond earned his first career top 5 finish when he placed fifth at Darlington Raceway.

[2] Richmond had suffered a 64-race winless streak that was finally broken at the Van Scoy Diamond Mine 500 at Pocono in June 1986.

After two straight second-place finishes at Charlotte and Riverside, Richmond started the Pocono event in third place inside the second row.

[4] NASCAR wanted the cars to get to the halfway point to make the race official, so the sanctioning body had the drivers slowly circle the track.

[4] Because his radio did not work, he was unable to communicate with his crew chief, Hyde, and he made his final pit stop with 37 laps left.

The remaining laps of the race where completed slowly under caution and Richmond took the checkered flag for the victory.

[4] He notched four more victories that season, and over a span of twelve races, Richmond earned three second-place finishes, and six wins.

[3] Richmond fell ill the day after the 1986 NASCAR annual banquet during a promotional trip to New York City.

[21] He was not well enough to begin the 1987 NASCAR season despite lengthy hospitalization in Cleveland[6] and further rest at home; when Richmond missed the Daytona 500, his condition was reported as double pneumonia.

"[4] Richmond earned a victory in the next race at Riverside, and made his final 1987 start at Michigan International Speedway's Champion Spark Plug 400 that August, finishing 29th with a blown engine.

In the 2010 ESPN documentary film Tim Richmond: To The Limit, Bill France Jr. of NASCAR acknowledged that it "was not a good test.

[23] In 1990, a few months after Richmond's death, Washington television station WJLA-TV and reporter Roberta Baskin reported that Dr. Forest Tennant, who was then the National Football League's drug adviser, "falsified drug tests" that ultimately helped shorten Richmond's NASCAR career.

Baskin reported that sealed court documents and interviews showed Tennant and NASCAR used "allegedly false drug-test results in 1988 to bar Richmond from racing".

[31] The documentary film Tim Richmond: To The Limit was produced as part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series with a premiere date of October 19, 2010.

[33] From 2019 to 2022, an ARCA Menards Series driver who shares the same name and is also coincidentally related to Tim very distantly through his father Dave, ran identical paint schemes with his cars to Richmond's No.