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Red Farmer recovering from COVID-19 after hospitalization

ELDORA: Prelude to the Dream

ROSSBURG, OH - SEPTEMBER 09: Red Farmer, driver of the #97 during the Gillette Young Guns Prelude to the Dream at Eldora Speedway on September 9, 2009 in Rossburg, Ohio. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images for True Speed Communication)

Chris Graythen

Red Farmer, selected to be in the 2021 NASCAR Hall of Fame class, is back home after spending five days in an Alabama hospital after contracting COVID-19, according to Rick Karle of NBC affiliate WVTM in Birmingham, Alabama.

Farmer is part of a 2021 Hall of Fame class that includes Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mike Stefanik.

Karle reported that the 87-year-old Farmer spent five days at Grandview Medical Center in Birmingham.

Karle reported that Farmer said: “The doctors told me if I went in a day later, I may not have made it. Those doctors and nurses saved my life.”

Farmer seeks to return to racing in early October at the Talladega Short Track.

Farmer has been racing since the late 1940s. He is a member of the famed “Alabama Gang” and has won more than 750 short track races. He won a NASCAR Modified title in 1956 and the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman title from 1969-71.

Farmer was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.