Many of the greatest drivers in the history of motorsports have won the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway. Similarly, some of the greatest drivers have been very close to victory but have not been able to secure the Tom Dawson Trophy. 

Today, we take a look at 10 of the best drivers in Snowball Derby history who have yet to win the most prestigious race in pavement late model racing. 

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Bubba Pollard

Snowball Derby Starts: 16 

Best Finish: 3rd in 2017

Laps Led: 351

From the 2023 incident with Stephen Nasse to the 2010 spin while leading with 13 to go, Bubba Pollard has been on every side of defeat at the Snowball Derby. The track’s all-time Blizzard Series wins leader (25) has more laps than most modern drivers at Five Flags, yet the Tom Dawson Trophy has not found its way back to his hometown of Senoia, Georgia. 

Pollard has posted three overall top-five finishes, but his bad luck that includes broken axles, fires and wrecks has hampered his ability to win the race. Pollard is now hoping that his 17th attempt will be the lucky number to close the deal and win the Snowball Derby. 

VIDEO: Bubba Pollard reacts to the news that the 2024 Snowball Derby will be streamed live on FloRacing and pay $50,000 to win.

Rusty Wallace 

Snowball Derby Starts: 9 

Best Finish: 2nd in 1979 and 1985 

Laps Led: 194

The timing was always bad for Rusty Wallace at the Snowball Derby. In 1979 he placed second behind a determined Freddy Fryar.  Wallace was on the front row in 1981 only to end up two laps down. In 1982 he won the pole but failed to finish the race. 

Wallace then ran third in 1984 and was second to Jody Ridley in 1985 to end his Snowball Derby career with back-to-back podium runs.  He nearly led a full race in his career with 194 total laps led. Wallace was a terror on the All-Pro circuit at Five Flags. He swept the weekend double on the Panhandle more than once. 

Scott Hansen 

Starts: 9  

Best Finish: 2nd in 1999  

Laps Led: 41

Despite only nine starts in the Snowball Derby, Scott Hansen made his mark. Seven times he was in the top 10 and five times he finished in the top five. His best effort came in 1999 when he finished second.

His near miss in 1999 was followed up by a third-place finish to give him two career podium finishes at the Snowball Derby. His average career finish was 9.67 at Five Flags in December.  

David Rogers

Starts: 33 

Best Finish: 4th in 1979  

Laps Led: 0

David Rogers had more starts In the Snowball Derby than any driver in the history of the race. But unfortunately, that didn't translate into a win for the Florida racing legend. 

Rogers had the most chances to win the race, but he never had success in the Derby like he did on the east coast of Florida at tracks like New Smyrna Speedway. Still, his eight top 10 finishes are among some of the best who have ever run the Snowball Derby. We wish there was an acute lap count for all the races so we could see the total number of laps he completed at the race. We estimate it to be over 7,000 laps.  

David Rogers No. 11 TM Ranch car was a mainstay at the Snowball Derby for many years. (MoJo Photos)

Bobby Allison

Starts: 16 

Best Finish: 2nd in 1968 

Laps Led: Unknown

The ever-popular driver from Alabama was a regular at the Snowball Derby for many years. After finishing second in 1968, Allison wanted to come back and finish the job but he was never able to seal the deal. When Bobby missed the race in 1975, his brother Donnie Allison won the race and added his name to the Tom Dawson Trophy. 

After that, his best results came in the early 1980’s beginning with a fifth-place finish in 1982. In 1983 he was the current NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion and he came back to Pensacola to finish fifth again. In what would be his final Derby, Allison won the hard charger award as he started 35th in 1987 and finished 15th.  

Red Farmer

Starts: 32  

Best Finish: 2nd in 1987 

Laps Led: Unknown

It's unlikely that we'll ever see another driver run 32 Snowball Derby events like Farmer did. It's even more unlikely that a driver will ever run 32 Snowball Derby events in a row like he did. Those are two feats that Red Farmer has put out of reach.  

Farmer won the pole for the inaugural Snowball Derby in 1968 and was leading when he had to retire from the race. The years that followed saw limited success and his best run came when he was second in 1987 to Butch Miller. He did start fifth in 1994, which gave him a top-five qualifying effort in four different decades, but it never translated into a win.

Darrell Brown

Starts: 16  

Best Finish: 2nd in 1996 

Laps Led: 37

It’s very easy for some people to forget about Darrell Brown and his near misses at the Snowball Derby. The 1984 All-Pro Series champion was second in points in 1985 to Steve Grissom and then Gary Balough in 1986. Despite being a great points racer, Brown never fared well in the big races. 

He started on the front row twice and posted his best finish in 1996 when he finished second to Rich Bickle. He was fifth back in 1986 and posted nine top-10 runs in his first 12 starts in the December event.  

Junior Niedecken 

Starts: 28 

Best Finish: 2nd in 1999 

Laps Led: 27

For three decades Junior Niedecken was one of the best weekly racers in the Late Model Series. Niedecken tried for years to accomplish what his father did in 1968 and 1970. He had several near misses and the best he could do was a second-place finish in 1999.  

Along the way he piled up 28 starts, which is third most all-time. He had 11 top-10 finishes and three finishes in the top five. He made himself a factor by qualifying inside the top 15 nine times during his career.  

Stephen Nasse

Starts: 13  

Best Finish: 3rd in 2022 

Laps Led: 150

Last year Stephen Nasse helped raise his stock in a category he doesn't want to be in. Nasse led 148 laps in 2023 before being involved in an incident with his fiercest rival, Bubba Pollard, in the late stages. 

Nasse also took the checkered flag at the Snowball Derby in 2019 before being disqualified in post-race technical inspection. 

Nasse has been sniffing a Snowball Derby win for quite some time and now he’s nearly kicking down the door.  

It’s crazy to think Nasse has completed more than 3,000 laps in this race, but he ran his first Snowball Derby at the age of 16. Nasse has also won the most Blizzard Series races without winning a Blizzard Series Championship. If you asked him which he’d prefer, he’d take a Derby win without a second thought. 

Grant Enfinger 

Starts: 14 

Best Finish: 2nd in 2008 & 2013 

Laps Led: 100

A lot of people might have forgotten that NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Grant Enfinger was a pretty darn good driver at the Snowball Derby. The 2008 polesitter had a run of eight races inside the top 10 at Five Flags in December. His best runs were in 2008 when he finished second and in 2013 with the same result. 

In his last seven Snowball Derby races, he’s only failed to finish two laps. Enfinger could have won a pair of these in his younger years, but he used them as stepping stones to move up the NASCAR ladder.