Who won the inaugural 1982 NASCAR Busch Series championship?

Jack Ingram won the inaugural 1982 NASCAR Busch Series championship, then officially known as the Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series. He captured the title as an owner-driver for Ingram Racing.

The 1982 season marked the beginning of NASCAR’s modern national second-tier series lineage. Ingram finished first in the final standings with 4,495 points, narrowly ahead of Sam Ard, who scored 4,448. The schedule contained 29 races and included historic venues such as Daytona, Martinsville, Bristol and Charlotte.

The terminology can cause confusion because the series was renamed the Busch Grand National Series in 1984, while the 1982 championship is often retrospectively grouped with later Busch Series records. Morgan Shepherd, Tommy Ellis and Sam Ard were important competitors, but none won that inaugural title; Ard was the runner-up.