Career
Born in Conewango Valley, New York, he made his name driving stock cars in the region. When National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing introduced its "strictly stock" series, Rexford appeared in three races that were held in the Northeast, with a best finish of 3rd. He became the first of two Northern drivers to regularly drive in the series in 1950, when it became known as the Grand National division, the other driver being his teammate, Lloyd Moore.
By the end of the year, Rexford managed to involve himself in the race for the championship.
He would end up benefitting from the misfortunes of three other contenders. Two contenders, Fireball Roberts and Curtis Turner, went through major late season slumps at the same time that Rexford was at his best.
A third contender, Lee Petty, had more controversial problems, as he was stripped of 809 points (at that time, the equivalent of winning 4 races or 5 third-place finishes) by National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing for racing in non-National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing sanctioned races. At the final race of the year in Hillsboro, Rexford had a slight lead and battled with Roberts for the championship.
Rexford nearly cost himself the title, when he had an early engine failure.
His own engine gave out with less than 50 laps to go, giving Rexford a dramatic, and controversial championship. Following his championship, Bill returned to racing in the Northeast in 1951, making a handful of appearances at some of National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing"s bigger races in the southeast and a few northeastern Grand National events.