Portrait of Paul Menard

Birthday profile

Paul Menard

Paul Menard, American race car driver

Born
August 21, 1980
Age in 2026
46
Zodiac sign
Leo
Birth year
1980

About Paul Menard

John Paul Christian Menard (born August 21, 1980) is an American professional racing driver who currently competes full-time in the Trans-Am Series, driving the No. 3 Ford Mustang for 3GT Racing. Menard is the 2024 and 2025 Trans-Am Series champion in the TA class. Menard competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2007 to 2019, driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc., Yates Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, and Wood Brothers Racing. He retired from full-time competition after the 2019 season. He has also competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in the past, including running part-time with Andy Petree Racing in 2003 and 2004, full-time with DEI in 2005 and 2006, and full-time with Roush Fenway Racing in 2010. He has won one Cup Series race (the 2011 Brickyard 400), three Xfinity Series races, and one ARCA Menards Series race. He is the son of entrepreneur John Menard Jr., the founder of the Menards chain of home improvement stores. Menard's racing career began at the age of eight when he won the Briggs Junior Karting Class Championship in his native Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He later won the Briggs Medium Class Champion before working his way up to higher level racing. He began ice racing at the age of fifteen and won ten International Ice Racing Association events in his career.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Paul Menard timeline

  1. He has won one Cup Series race (the 2011 Brickyard 400), three Xfinity Series races, and one ARCA Menards Series race.
  2. Menard is the 2024 and 2025 Trans-Am Series champion in the TA class.

The world when Paul Menard was born

Paul Menard was born in 1980. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1980

  • #1 song"Call Me" – Blondie
  • Top movieOrdinary People
  • Top TV showDallas
  • Best-selling bookThe Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentMiracle on Ice — US hockey team beats the Soviets at Lake Placid
  • Top headlineJohn Lennon assassinated outside his New York apartment
  • Technology milestoneCNN launches as first 24-hour news channel
  • Defining fadRubik's Cube
  • Notable inventionPost-it Notes (officially released)
  • World population4.44 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderJimmy Carter
  • Sports championPhiladelphia Phillies (World Series)
  • Also wonLos Angeles Lakers (NBA)
  • U.S. population227.2M

1980 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Paul Menard's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19802026
Gas$1.19$3.45/gal
Average home$68,700$435,000
Average income$21,023$67,500
Minimum wage$3.10$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$2.69$11.95
Postage stamp$0.15$0.73
Population227.2M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Driver Database. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.