With an in-ring career spanning five decades from 1959 to 1990, Harley Race is a legend of pro wrestling who made his mark on the National Wrestling Alliance territories as well as the major promotions that took over in the later years of his run, WWE and WCW. Race was known for his legitimate toughness, being an expert ring general and a world-traveling fighting champion, and was awarded spots in multiple wrestling halls of fame over the years.
Because his career ended before modern wrestling fans were even born, it’s likely that not a lot of fans know about Harley Race outside whatever talking points WWE makes about him every now and again. Without further ado, here’s what you need to know about one of the greatest to step into the ring.
10 Trained As a Teen
As a kid growing up in Missouri, Harley Race was an avid fan of pro wrestling, and as a teenager sought training from early 20th century pro wrestling legends Stanislaus and Wladek Zbyszko, who lived in the area. Race not only started training early, but he was also forced to start his career early after he was expelled from high school after getting into a fight with another student that escalated into him attacking the Principal.
9 Wrestled Under His Real Name
Harley Race is a pretty cool name that just happens to be the wrestler’s actual birth name. However, he didn’t always use it. Like many wrestlers, Race used a ring name, performing as Jack Long alongside kayfabe brother/tag team partner John Long. After a tragic accident took his wife and nearly his own leg, Race returned to the ring working under his real name, reportedly because his father told him that he should be working to make his own name famous.
8 Tagged With Larry “The Axe” Hennig
Race spent 1963 through 1971 wrestling for the popular Midwest promotion American Wrestling Association, having formed a tag team with Larry “The Axe” Hennig, who he met while wrestling in the Texas territories. Together, the two scored Harley Race’s first title win, the AWA World Tag Team Champions, which they held three times over the course of their partnership, as well as the NWA World Tag Team Championship.
Hennig and Race would reunite a few times over the years, including in 1975 for a run with Championship Wrestling from Florida and 1981 for the All Japan Pro Wrestling Real World Tag Team Tournament. The two would be at odds in 1984 as Harley Race briefly feuded with Larry’s son Curt Hennig in AWA.
7 Won The NWA World Heavyweight Title Eight Times
Harley Race was highly decorated across many NWA territories, holding various regional titles, but also was able to become the NWA World Heavyweight Champion. He first won it in 1973, beating Dory Funk Jr. in a 2/3 falls match in Kansas City. Race’s World Title reigns would add up to eight, a record for the belt only beaten by Ric Flair’s 10 reigns. Over the course of his career, Race would dethrone World Champions like Terry Funk, Dusty Rhodes, Giant Baba, and even Flair himself.
6 The First US Champion
There were many NWA United States Championships over the years, but the one established by Jim Crockett Promotions for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling is the title with a history that carried over to WCW and WWE’s versions of the belt. Harley Race was its first champion, but like many championships in wrestling history, he was simply awarded the belt after “winning” a fictional tournament. Race would hold the belt for 183 days in his only reign before dropping it to Johnny Valentine.
5 Passed the Torch to Ric Flair
After beating Dory Funk Jr. for it, Harley Race became THE NWA Champion for the rest of the 1970s, starting with an impressive 926-day reign and dropping the belt for brief stints between lengthy title runs. In 1983, Race got into a feud with Ric Flair, who had been champion for a couple of years, resulting in not only a classic storyline but also a huge Steel Cage match for the belt at the first-ever Starrcade in 1983. Ric Flair’s defeat of Harley Race in this main event wasn’t just a successful title defense, but also one that would legitimize Flair as the top guy in the NWA.
4 Won King of the Ring
By 1986, Harley Race would jump ship to WWE, where -- in traditional WWE fashion -- his accomplishments outside the company were largely ignored. However, he did achieve at least one thing under Vince McMahon’s umbrella: winning the 1986 King of the Ring tournament and reinventing himself as King Harley Race.
Unfortunately, a table spot gone wrong during a match would leave Race with a hernia that took him out of action. Race’s Heenan Family stablemate Haku would assume the King gimmick, but Race would return in an unsuccessful bid to win it back at 1989’s Royal Rumble PPV before departing the company that same year.
3 Had His Final TV Match Against Larry Zbyszko
While Harley Race wrestled in house shows for WCW throughout 1990, his final televised match was actually a special appearance for his old stomping ground of AWA. There, he challenged AWA World Heavyweight Champion Larry Zbyzsko -- no relation to the aforementioned brothers except as a tribute -- to a double-countout finish. This match would end up being the final match on the final episode of AWA’s TV show, with the promotion going under by the end of the year.
2 Managed Big Van Vader
After departing WWE, Harley Race returned to the NWA in 1990, which had now become World Championship Wrestling. Race would return as a competitor at first, but a shoulder injury forced his retirement and settling into a role as an effective manager, most memorably managing Big Van Vader. As Vader took on Sting, Ron Simmons, and others with Race by his side, the veteran also took Vader under his wing behind the scenes, teaching the Japanese-seasoned bruiser how to work in the American style.
1 Successful Trainer and Promoter
Another car accident in 1995 would hinder Race’s physical abilities even more, resulting in the legend stepping away from WCW altogether. But in 1999, Race opened a wrestling school in Missouri called The Harley Race Wrestling Academy as well as an associated promotion called World League Wrestling. A working agreement with Pro Wrestling NOAH meant talent exchanges and trainees getting valuable overseas experience, and Race could claim such notable students as Tommaso Ciampa, Curtis Axel, Simon Gotch, and NWA World Heavyweight Champion Trevor Murdoch, who’s often compared to Harley Race.