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19 Shades of (Henley) Gray Part 2

January 25, 2015, 8:19 am
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Here is part 1 of my 2-part series about Henley Gray.

Now where was I? Oh yeah...

Petty portion of the story

In mid-1978, Richard Petty made the stunning announcement that Petty Enterprises was leaving Dodge and moving to General Motors. Though the move was carefully made, the readiness for it was not. Petty made his final start in a Dodge in the Talladega 500. Then it was on to Chevy.

Without much lead time, the Pettys had to rally a car. They bought a Monte Carlo from Cecil Gordon, re-worked it, re-painted it, and hauled it to Michigan for its debut. The car ran pretty well and Petty landed a 14th place finish, but he wrecked the car - the only one he had - near the end of the race.

With only six days to spare before the following race, the Volunteer 500 (Bristol's first night race), the team arranged with Gray to borrow his Monte Carlo. The car Henley provided seems to be the same one Elmo Langley raced at Dover - though originally slotted for Woody Fisher.

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Credit: Richard Stockman of RIS Photography
The Pettys masked the blue, painted STP day-glo red over the yellow, and raced the car to a fifth place finish.

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Credit: Donald Evans at RacersReunion.com
The unfortunate part of the transaction for Gray, however, is his regular #19 Chevy was heavily damaged in a wreck with Dave Marcis and Frank Warren. Photographer David Allio captured the trio as the three cars came together.

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Source: Spartanburg Herald Journal via Google News Archive
Super Tex part of the story

When the Pettys decided to switch to GM, they purchased two cars - the Monte Carlo from Cecil Gordon and a Buick from A.J. Foyt. The Buick wasn't a popular choice for teams in 1978, but Foyt and car-builder Hutcherson-Pagan believed the body style had a favorable aero package.

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Source: Reading Eagle via Google News Archive
Foyt was lightning quick in the Buick at Speedweeks. He won his 125-mile qualifying twin (the same race in which Woody Fisher exited on lap 1 in Henley's car) and was considered among the favorites in the 500.

About a third of the way through the 500, Benny Parsons blew a tire going into turn 1 with Foyt behind him. Parsons spun down through the grass, had little damage and continued. Foyt had to check up as Parsons began to spin but then lost the car. He spun down to the grass water logged from several days of rain and then began to flip as his car caught the wet grass. He was taken from his destroyed Buick and transported to the hospital.

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Foyt spent a significant amount of time rehabbing his injury. But as he proved countless times in his decades of racing, a wreck never kept Super Tex down for long. A new Buick was constructed, and A.J. was ready to run again - this time at Talladega.

He qualified second but started at the rear of the field after pitting on the pace lap to fix an issue with his in-helmet radio. Once the green dropped, however, he served notice the Buick was back in business. In short order, he was up front with the Cup regulars. He finished third proving yet again the Hutcherson-Pagan built Buick was a hoss. It was logical Petty would be interested in the car.

The Petty team examined their new purchase and apparently ran some aero tests on it to compare to the numbers for other makes. At the time, they may have considered running it in superspeedway events in 1979 as A.J. had done in 1978. Instead, the team made the decision to build a new Olds Cutlas 442 speedway car to take to Daytona. The decision was a good one as the King won his sixth Daytona 500. Coincidentally, Foyt was third in his own, new Olds.

Back to Henley

Once the decision was made to build an Olds, the Pettys had no need for the Buick. The sheet metal was removed and given to Henley - perhaps as thanks for letting Richard borrow the Monte Carlo at Bristol. (What Petty Enterprises did with the Foyt chassis remains unknown.)

Henley and his son Steve re-skinned one of their cars (perhaps the one Dick May wrecked at Bristol) with the hand-me-down Buick sheet metal. Dick May raced the 'new' Buick at Martinsville and North Wilkesboro, and Elmo Langley was back behind the wheel of it at Rockingham - still painted in Foyt's Poppy Red paint.

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With the 1979 season underway, Henley relied primarily upon the Monte Carlo as the car of choice for the drivers he hired. The Buick was brought to the track only a couple of times for back-to-back races at Nashville and Dover in May. Steve Spencer - Nashville's 1977 late model sportsman division champion - got the opportunity to make his Cup debut in the 1979 Sundrop Music City 420. He drove Henley's Buick, still painted Poppy Red, to a respectable 12th place finish.

The Monte Carlos continued to be painted yellow-and-blue - the scheme that began when it seemed Woody Fisher would be Gray's regular driver in early 1978. Virginia's Lennie Pond, the 1973 Winston Cup Rookie Of The Year, raced the #19 Monte Carlo in the 1979 Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan. Coincidentally, Richard Petty won the race - one year after he debuted his newly purchased Monte Carlo at the same track

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Courtesy of Ray Lamm
As the 1980 season began, NASCAR's teams faced a mandated obsolescence deadline. NASCAR had announced all cars would be downsized to a 110-inch wheelbase chassis beginning in 1981. The teams had one remaining year to get all they could out of their 1970s era cars. Gray's team again used the Buick - presumably the same one used since getting the old Foyt sheet metal - but focused its use on the superspeedways. J.D. McDuffie raced it in the Daytona 500. John Anderson and Dick May raced it in the two Talladega races - now painted yellow-and-blue.

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Source: Rome News-Tribune via Google News Archive
Dick May raced the Buick again at Texas World Speedway, and Henley's son - Steve Gray - raced the #1 Buick for what seems to be the final time in the CRC Chemicals 500 at Dover. (John Anderson raced Henley's #19 Chevy.)

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Credit: Steve Gray Facebook
Though 1981 brought new cars and the shorter wheelbase, it didn't bring a new car make or colors for Henley Gray's team. As did many other Cup teams in 1981-1982, Gray chose to run the Buick Regal. He kept the blue and yellow scheme and hired many familiar names to drive it including Dick May.

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Credit: John Betts of RacersReunion.com
Henley dramatically cut back the number of races in which he fielded cars beginning in 1981. He continued to build cars on his own - as he'd done from the beginning - and entered a few races each year until he finally called it a career in 1993.

Gray is still around today. He runs his own trucking business in Rome, Georgia.

Thanks to John Evanich, Mark Agee, Jeff Droke, Chris Hussey and Russ Thompson for their assistance. 

TMC
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Presidential Racing

February 16, 2015, 5:44 am
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Over the last half-dozen or so Presidential elections, pundits seem to focus on who'll get the "NASCAR dads" vote - as if all NASCAR fans are male and are fathers and vote the same way.

Fans aside, NASCAR's leadership and participants have often courted the resident of the White House - whoever it may be or whatever party he represents.

Richard Petty was among a large contingent of athletes who visited the White House in 1971 for a swanky dinner and a meeting with President Richard Nixon. The difference with the King vs. the other athletes, however, is he took his car with him.

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Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers
President Jimmy Carter didn't hob nob with the NASCAR contingent much, but his brother Billy was a guest of honor at the 1977 Daytona 500.



President Carter did, however, carry through on a campaign promise to stay connected to racing. About 25 drivers and 500 total guests went to the White House in September 1978. Included in the night's events was a private concert from Willie Nelson - one of a multiple number of trips the Red Headed Stranger made to the Big Beer Joint.



As it turned out though, the President couldn't meet with the guests. He was detained at Camp David as he had his little negotiation thing going on between Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Menachem Begin of Israel.



With Jimmy away, first lady Rosalynn Carter represented the White House in the photo-ops.

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Source: Lakeland Ledger via Google News Archive
Perhaps the most famous POTUS visit with NASCAR was on July 4, 1984. President Ronald Reagan gave the command to start engines from aboard Air Force 1. His plane landed just as eventual race winner Petty passed by on the backstretch creating the opportunity for one of the most iconic racing photos.

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The Gipper went to the press box to watch the remainder of the race and the epic finish between Petty and Cale Yarborough. Following the race, Reagan then then went to the garage area for a 4th of July picnic with the drivers and other guests.



Eight years later in 1992 - again on the 4th of July - King Richard made his final Daytona start. I was in the stands that Saturday morning as President George H.W. Bush visited the track and offered some pre-race comments about Petty and his career.

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President George W. Bush was the guest of honor for the Daytona 500 in 2004. Again, look who was right in the thick of the photo action!



Two years later, Bush 43 visited Victory Junction Gang Camp, the camp for chronically ill children founded by the Petty family.



Interestingly, years before W. was elected the 43rd President, many fans were lobbying for The King to run for President.

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More recently, Barack Obama welcomed 2013 Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports team to the White House in June 2014.


And Darrell Waltrip offered the keynote address at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington earlier this month on February 5th.


In addition to NASCAR drivers meeting a President, some drivers shared a name with a President.

George Bush started five Grand National races in 1952 for car owner S.J. Lorenzo. He best finish was a seventh and averaged a 16th place finish in Lorenzo's Oldsmobiles.

Bill Clinton made six Grand National starts from 1961-1964. All of his races were in California with four of them at Riverside. Clinton is shown here in #25 in the 1963 Riverside 500.

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Credit: Henry Ford Flickr Collection 
John Kennedy raced in eighteen GN / Winston Cup events from 1969-1979. Kennedy raced car number "0" in 10 of his 18 starts. The number was perhaps appropriate as it equaled the percent chance he had of winning. He did not finish in 12 of his 18 starts and averaged a 19th place finish in the 6 races he did complete.

Kennedy in his #0 Ford before the start of the 1977 CAM2 Motor Oil 400 at Michigan.

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Credit: Gwadagone on Fotki
Kennedy in a #0 Chevy Monte Carlo at Michigan - Two of his six completed races were in both Michigan races in 1979.

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Fred Thompson started two GN races, one in 1951 and other in 1963. Though Thompson's name matches only a short-lived Presidential candidate....

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...his name also matches the actor's name who portrayed a President - Big John as the President of NASCAR in Days of Thunder.

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Other 'presidential' drivers may be in NASCAR's record books. If so, I haven't found them yet. I feel pretty confident, however, that no one named Grover Cleveland, John Quincy Adams or Teddy Roosevelt ever hustled a car around North Wilkesboro, Langhorne or Bowman Gray.

TMC
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March 1, 1970: An 1ndependent Has H1s Day

March 1, 2015, 5:48 am
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Some folks who have become a NASCAR fan only within the last 20 years or so may have tuned in to the most recent NASCAR Hall Of Fame induction ceremonies just to see Bill Elliott. Some may have heard of Wendell Scott or Fred Lorenzen, but they may not have known some of the others - including the presenters.

James Harvey Hylton is one man I suspect many contemporary fans didn't recognize that night. Hylton wasn't inducted into the Hall, but he was there to present the Hall of Fame ring to his friend and former employer, Rex White.


If you saw that night's events, you'll recall poor ol' James didn't get to say much. White was so excited about being inducted that he pre-empted Hylton's remarks before James even got a chance to begin! Hylton didn't seem to mind though. He stood quietly and patiently by his friend's side - biding his time until the moment was right.

In some respects, that typified Hylton's driving career. Hylton began his racing career as a mechanic. He crew'd for drivers such as White, fellow NASCAR HOFer Ned Jarrett and Dick Hutcherson. He joined the Grand National ranks as a drive and was named NASCAR's 1966 Rookie of the Year. He finished second to David Pearson for that season's title - despite not winning a race.

Hylton knew his way around a car and around a track, but the promising young driver just could not find his way to victory lane. Not in 1966 or 1967 or so on. Hylton was an independent driver. He bought and built his own stuff and did not have financial advantages of being associated with a factory-supported race team. Yet he rolled in to the track each race and gave it all he had.

The 1970 season began in Riverside, California in mid-January. Super Tex A.J. Foyt won the race, but Hylton trekked back east with a 35th place finish after losing an engine in his Dodge. In late February, folks were stunned when a Petty Plymouth Superbird won the second race of the season, the Daytona 500 - but without The King at the wheel. Pete Hamilton pulled off the surprising victory to become a first-time GN winner.

As the Petty team celebrated, Hylton's Speedweeks was pretty only so-so. He wrecked his recently acquired Ford during practice before the qualifying twins and had to borrow a year-old #23 Plymouth from owner Don Robertson to race to a 22nd place finish in the 500.

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One week after Daytona, the GN circus rolled into Richmond, Virginia for the season's third event. After racing the winged Superbird in the first two races of the season, Richard Petty went to his bread-and-butter, short-track special, Plymouth Roadrunner. With the ease that Petty got around Richmond, no one was all that surprised when he won the pole.

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Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive
Fellow Mopar driver, Bobby Isaac, timed second in his short-track #71 K&K Insurance Dodge. Hylton was perhaps a mild surprise in qualifying with the third quickest time in his Ford. His Blue Oval, however, wasn't just any Ford.

Perry Allen Wood interviewed Hylton for his book Declarations of Stock Car Independents:
I had just bought a Holman Moody Ford, an ex-David Pearson car. I run it under Pearson’s colors. It was pretty. We just had time to put the 48 decals on it... Picked it up at Holman Moody, Ralph Moody set the car up, took it up to Richmond, unloaded it, qualified either second or third... Petty had the hotrod. He was the fastest car there. He was factory backed, I was independent. Havin’ a Holman Moody car kind of put us on an equal basis temporarily anyway. ~ p. 229
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Courtesy of Ray Lamm
Though Hylton was excited to have his new ride, it was business as usual for the big boys. When the green flag dropped, Petty leveraged the top starting spot to begin his domination of the race. He led 303 laps and buried the field by lapping every competitor multiple times. As the race hit the 300 lap mark, he had second place running Isaac pinned down three laps and third place Hylton six laps.

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Courtesy of Ray Lamm
But racing luck can be fickle. With the race solidly in hand, the 43 developed electrical issues. The King hit pit road - yet the #43 stayed as P1 on the leader board for the next few laps as Isaac circled to make up lost ground.

Petty's problem could not be solved quickly, and his huge cushion quickly evaporated. Meanwhile, Isaac took over the top spot and paced the field for about the next 40 laps. It seemed Petty's misfortune became a gift to Isaac who had a multi-lap lead on Hylton. As with Petty's Plymouth, however, Isaac's Dodge experienced an unexpected problem. An oil line came loose, and the 71 was forced from the lead to the pits.

Hylton then found himself in the lead with the top two Mopars having issues. He went from being six laps down to Petty to having a three lap lead on the 43. Yet, the Dale Inman-led Petty crew didn't crater. With the electrical issues resolved, Petty resumed his assault on the track. He clicked off lap times far better than Hylton - yet he was running out of time.

Remarkably, Petty made up the three laps on Richmond's half-mile bullring. He then tried to track down Hylton's Ford to get the win I'm sure he felt he'd earned. Hylton, however, didn't waver either. He hit his marks, kept a good pace, and led lap after lap after lap for the final 160 circuits.

With Petty within range, Hylton kept the big picture in mind. Finally the white and then the checkered flags fell over him, and James Hylton was able to notch that elusive Grand National victory - the second first-time winner in two weeks.

Hylton continued in Wood's book:
Richard had trouble early with his ignition. They lost several laps gettin’ his car runnin’ again. He was unlappin’ himself to the point where at the end I won the race by 15 seconds, which on a track of that size was a good half a lap. He was within 15 seconds of havin’ a shootout… That’s the hardest I probably ever drove in my life. That was before we had power steering. And 500 laps! It wasn’t no 300 or 400, it was 500 laps. At the end of the race, you had to pry my hands off the steerin’ wheel. Had gloves on of couse, and blisters through the blisters. My hands were like raw steak or somethin’…  In the end, it was Petty and myself and was, without question, the best race I ever drove. ~ p. 229
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Courtesy of Ray Lamm
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Source: Times-News via Google News Archive
Hylton had to wait two more seasons to see victory lane again. He won the Talladega 500 in 1972 - a track five times the size of Richmond. But that was it - those were his two GN/Cup wins. He continued racing and ended his driving career with 602 Cup starts. Hylton continued to stay active in racing with almost 200 ARCA starts as well as fielding cars for up-and-coming young drivers.

Yet on that winter Virginia day in 1970, Hylton's independence prevailed. He was finally able to convert the 48 into a #1.

TMC
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March 6, 1977 - Jimmy Insolo wins Ontario

March 6, 2015, 5:50 am
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Through much of the 1970s, NASCAR's Winston Cup Series began its season in January at Riverside's road course in California. When Ontario Motor Speedway closed in the early 1980s, Riverside's season opener was moved to the end of the season. Then began the tradition begin of starting the season in February with the Daytona 500.

USAC had its own stock car division for about three decades from the mid-1950s through the mid-1980s. Though the division had several name drivers, many of them were 'double-dippers' - Indy car drivers who also raced in USAC's other divisions - including the stock car one.

USAC started its 1977 season with a twin-bill event at Ontario, another southern California track. Modeled after Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Ontario was a track ahead of its time, but it was woefully underfunded. From the early 70s through 1980, Ontario was the site of NASCAR's season-ending race.

On March 6, 1977, the track promoted the Datsun Twin 200, a pair of 80-lap, 200-mile races for USAC's stock cars and Indy/Champ cars.

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A couple of drivers - Bobby Unser and A.J. Foyt - were looking to turn the double by entering both events. Foyt threw down the gauntlet early by winning the pole for the stock car event in his #51 Chevelle. Making his first USAC stock car start, west coast regular, Jimmy Insolo, qualified on the front row alongside Super Tex in his Chevelle. Unser lined up behind Foyt in the third spot in his Camaro.

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The 30-car field was a hodgepodge of cars. Some were from the muscle-car class of Detroit such as Unser's Camaro. Others ran full-size sedan models such as Foyt and Insolo in their Chevelles and the 8th place starter, Ohio's Woody Fisher in his 1974 Schlitz Beer Dodge Charger.

Fisher's Charger was built by Petty Enterprises and was the same one he raced to victory in the 1977 ARCA 200 at Daytona about a month earlier.

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Foyt set the early pace and let the field know who was boss.

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Source: Bakersfield Californian
Unser's day nearly ended before it really got going. With a nudge from Insolo, he spun off turn 3 on lap 16. Bobby sent up a plume of white tire smoke, but his car was otherwise unharmed. After a stop to replace his flat-spotted tires, he went back on the track and was a contender as the race neared its conclusion.

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Source: Corona Daily Independent
Foyt was in control of the race though Unser had rallied. With 5 laps to go, however, Super Tex cut a tire and began to fade. Foyt's misfortune quickly became a huge opportunity for others. Insolo's hulking Chevelle and Unser's small Camaro hooked up in the race to the finish. The duo swapped the lead eight times in the final four laps.

Unser took the white lap with Insolo in tow. With the checkers in sight, the two drivers came upon a slower car. Unser went to the inside, and Insolo jumped to the outside putting the lapped car in the middle of a 3-wide sandwich. Insolo carried the momentum off the corner and won by less than a car-length over Unser.

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Photo courtesy of Jerry Bushmire
Though the race was Insolo's first USAC stock car race, it was not his first Ontario race nor his first close win. A year earlier, he narrowly defeated L.D. Ottinger in a 250-mile NASCAR late model sportsman race.

Foyt managed to keep his ride under him and came home a disappointing third. Chuck Bown - who later won NASCAR's Busch Series championship in 1990 - finished fourth, and Ron Hutcherson rounded out the top five. Full-time beer distributor and part-time racer Woody Fisher brought home the Petty-built Charger tenth.

Foyt's day wasn't a complete loss. After finishing third in the day's opener, he dusted the field to easily win the Indy car main event race.

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The two winners

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Photo courtesy of Jerry Bushmire
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Source: Corona Daily Independent
Two years later, Insolo played a significant role in Richard Petty's seventh Winston Cup title. When The King needed relief help in the NAPA 400 at Riverside, Insolo was called upon to belt into the 43. He rallied the STP Monte Carlo to a third-place finish behind second-place finisher Darrell Waltrip. Considering Petty won the title over Waltrip by a razor-thin margin, Insolo was instrumental in Petty getting his seventh Cup.

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TMC
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March 26, 1989: A dismal day for Petty Enterprises

March 26, 2015, 2:43 pm
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On March 26, 1989, Rusty Wallace won the Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond. His win was the second of six victories that season as he eventually earned his first and only Winston Cup title.


But Rusty's win was not the story of race weekend...

About a year earlier, Richard Petty had an awful wreck in the 1988 Daytona 500. Before a national TV audience, Petty's 43 pirouetted on its nose before getting t-boned by Brett Bodine. Fortunately, the King was more bruised than broken. Some speculated Petty would immediately retire.

Retire?? No way. Instead, Petty did what racers do. He belted in the next week to run 400 laps on the bullring of Richmond. Following a third place finish in the Pontiac 400, a tired and sore King Richard climbed aboard an STP-emblazoned bulldozer for a celebratory tearing up of the old half-mile speedway.


It was the first visible step in converting Richmond's facility to the modern 3/4-mile track still raced today. Though worn out from a tough race and a body bruised from the 500, he smiled after the race and took a seat in the dozer as the all time winner at Richmond.

Six months later, the new facility was in place for its September debut. The second race on the new surface, the Pontiac Excitement 400, was again scheduled for late February 1989.

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Mother Nature, however, had different plans. With the teams already in town, winter weather arrived and forced track promoter Paul Sawyer to cancel the weekend's events because of ice and snow. 

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With a packed schedule in the early months of 1989, Sawyer and NASCAR were forced to reschedule the race for the not-so-desirable Easter weekend. The scheduled was condensed to a two-day event with qualifying on Saturday and the race on Easter Sunday, March 26th.

Geoff Bodine won the pole and Wallace timed second during Saturday's qualifying session. Davey Allison swept the pole and the race on the new surface's debut the previous September. In February, however, his get-up-and-go got up and went. The #28 Havoline car had to settle for a provisional to make the field.

Once the dust settled on the single day of qualifying, the story turned out to be about the driver who would not be racing on Sunday. After 513 consecutive starts dating back to 1971, the King Richard's 43 failed to post a fast enough speed to make the show. Petty wasn't able to take advantage of the available provisionals, he elected not to run in a "hooligan" race with other non-qualifiers, and he chose not to buy a ride to continue the streak.

The Petty bunch tried to point out a technicality with Davey's provisional start. Harry Ranier sold his #28 team to Robert Yates after 1988 season. The team marched forward into 1989 with the understanding Yates "bought" Ranier's owner points along with the shop and equipment. Petty contended that shouldn't be the case and that the change in ownership meant Davey didn't have enough owner's points to earn the provisional. NASCAR reminded Petty that he entered his cars under the name of John Carrington in 1988 (a North Carolina gubernatorial candidate) before switching back to his own name in 1989. That point pretty well ended the discussion.

Dave Fulton recalls:
I'll never forget that day. My old friend, Paul Sawyer, the Richmond promoter, implored Bill France, Jr. to do anything to let Richard race. He offered to increase the purse and number of starting positions. I honestly believe Paul went to his grave hurt that it was at his track, where Richard was the all-time winner, that his string of consecutive starts would end. 
So just like that, *poof* the streak was over. Petty returned to the hauler, told his crew to load the car, and everyone headed back to Level Cross to enjoy Easter from the couch instead of at the track. Adding insult to injury was that Kyle Petty also failed to qualify at Richmond - his second time in four races with his newly formed team, SABCO Racing.

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Photo courtesy of Brian Hauck    
I believe Petty Enterprises was all but finished as far back as 1982 or 1983. When Richard returned to Petty Enterprises in 1986, he nor the team could ever put the pieces back together to successfully recapture past glories. The sport had passed them by. PE continued its struggle to return to old glories but without a tremendous amount of success over the next 20 years - 3 more seasons with King at the wheel and the others with a rotating list of drivers. Ultimately, the team was absorbed into a 'merger' with Gillett Evernham Motorsports to form what has since become known as Richard Petty Motorsports.

One could argue, however, PE hit rock bottom when the King was unable to wring enough speed out of his Pontiac to qualify at a track that had been among his best (albeit on different configurations and surfaces).

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Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire
After the race, Pontiac execs likely exhaled slowly and ran their fingers through their hair. Granted, Wallace won the race in his Kodiak Pontiac. Otherwise, the race was a dismal showing by the the rest of the fleet. King and Kyle missed the race - as did Jimmy Means, J.D. McDuffie, Hut Stricklin and Ken Bouchard. For the Pontiacs other than Wallace that did make the show, the last 4 finishers all drove Pontiacs: Morgan Shepherd, Greg Sacks, Derrike Cope, and Jim Sauter.

The race was successfully completed on its make-up date as Rusty Wallace won comfortably over Alan Kulwicki and Dale Earnhardt. The drivers did what racers do - they raced. No one was going to bay at the moon at the King's absence because there was work to be done.

Fans, however, are wired much differently than drivers. For the Petty faithful, the DNQ by the 43 was a body blow as many finally recognized how fragile the once-dominant team had finally become.

TMC
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March 28, 1971: Rivals Battle At Bristol

March 28, 2015, 5:17 am
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After more than two decades as the Grand National division, NASCAR's top series was re-branded as the Winston Cup Grand National Series in 1971. The importance of R.J. Reynolds' infusion of financial support and marketing cannot be overstated.

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With the exception of Chrysler Corporation's backing of Petty Enterprises' two-car Plymouth and Dodge effort, all other teams were on their own to find the needed level of sponsorship dollars to compete. Even Holman Moody, the long-supported Ford Motor Company team, was on its own - and on its last legs.

The ninth race of the inaugural "Winston Cup" season was the Southeastern 500 at Bristol International Raceway. David Pearson won the pole with his now-independent Holman Moody team. Rival Richard Petty timed second in his pre-STP, all-Petty blue Plymouth. Petty arrived at Bristol on a hot streak of 3 consecutive wins at Richmond, Rockingham and Hickory.

From 1967 through 1970, Pearson's team was backed almost exclusively by Ford. The quarter-panels would occasionally sport the name of a local car dealer; otherwise, factory-backing toted the note. With the loss of factory dollars, Holman Moody (or perhaps Pearson) secured the support of Purolator Oil Filters. Purolator also sponsored the part-time effort of the Wood Brothers Mercury driven in 1971 by Donnie Allison. (Side note: how did that ever come to be?) Allison's car was painted in the traditional Wood Brothers white and candy apple red colors - which complimented Purolator's logo. Pearson's #17 Ford was distinctly different with a red roof, white hood and blue sides (and red wheels in a few races).

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At the drop of the green, Pearson set sail from his top starting spot. He then proceeded to lead about the first 10% of the race. After 48 laps, third place starter Bobby Allison went to the point in his self-owned, Coca-Cola sponsored Dodge Charger. Allison then set the pace for 78 of the next 79 laps.

After Allison's time out front, true independent and 1966 GN Rookie of the Year, James Hylton, took the lead and spent several dozen laps out front. Pearson stayed near him and finally decided to make a move to re-take the lead. Rather than smoothly glide by Hylton's Ford, Pearson squirrelled as he attempted the pass. He hooked Hylton's #48, and both spun. Hylton got the worst end of the incident and was done for the day at only lap 180.

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Source: National Speed Sport News
With Hylton parked, Allison's set-up fading, and Pearson recovering from his self-induced spin, The King seized control of the race. Over his career, Bristol wasn't one of Petty's better tracks as compared to other shorties such as Richmond, Martinsville, Nashville and North Wilkesboro. On that day, however, he took off and led almost half the race - 233 of the next 238 laps - to build a pretty comfortable, quarter-to-half lap lead on Pearson. Until.

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Source: The Times-News via Google News Archive
The fickle finger of fate can touch anyone, anywhere and at anytime during a race. With solid command of the race and about 80 laps to go, Petty suddenly felt a vibration through turns 1 and 2 and realized he had a problem with one of his front wheels. He was carrying too much speed, however, and was unable to duck down the backstretch pit road to his stall (back when Bristol had two separate pit entrances). Sure enough, as he sailed through turns 3 and 4, the center hub broke loose from his right front wheel. The steel doughnut took off with a mind of its own, and the King limped down the front stretch with a not-so-graceful tricycle approach. The second time around, he had slowed sufficiently to hit pit road to replace the wheel.

Though the 43 soon had new shoes, his lead was gone. He went back on the track and set sail in pursuit of Pearson. But the Silver Fox would have none of it. He began to end the race just as he had started it - out front. Petty continued his chase of the 17, but could draw no closer than 3 to 4 seconds of the Purolator Ford as it took the checkers.

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Source: Bristol Motor Speedway by David McGee & Sonya Haskins
Had it not been for a broken wheel, Petty could possibly have 201 Grand National / Cup wins in the record books. But he doesn't. Instead, Pearson notched his 60th career victory - and his final win with Holman Moody.

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Source: The Times-News via Google News Archive
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Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive
After the mid-race incident with Hylton, Pearson re-grouped, instinctively thought fuhgetaboutit, and raced for the win. Hylton, however, didn't get over it quite as easily. Once he parked his wrecked Ford, he made his presence known in the Pearson pits. Co-owner Ralph Moody went on record as saying he - and Pearson - would cover the costs of Hylton's repairs. I'd be interested to know if those checks were ever written.

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Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive
Pearson won two championships and a boocoodle of races in Holman Moody's #17 Ford from 1967-1970. By 1971, however, the in-fighting between John Holman and Ralph Moody combined with the cessation of Ford's monetary support resulted in a tenuous situation for Pearson. His tenure with the team lasted only five more races following Bristol. He raced a handful of times the rest of the season with Ray Nichels with very little success. In 1972, he replaced Donnie Allison as the driver of the Wood Brothers' Mercury - a move Petty fans eventually exclaimed you've GOT to be kidding me!

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After his 1971 Bristol win, Pearson didn't race at the track again for seven more years. He returned to run a final time in 1979 in a substitute role in the Rod Osterlund #2 Chevy as rookie Dale Earnhardt recovered from injuries suffered at Pocono.

TMC
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Uncle Julie

April 1, 2015, 5:49 am
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As Richard Petty began his career and long before he became known as The King, he was generally recognized simply as "Lee Petty's son". In the late 1950s, Lee's name and reputation was right up there with Fireball Roberts, Curtis Turner, Tim Flock and Junior Johnson.

Lee had eight siblings - most of whom from what I've gathered weren't involved in racing. One older brother, however, Julius Hilton (Julian) Petty was a NASCAR regular.

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Born April 1, 1916, Julian (also known to some as J.H. or Uncle Julie) drove a few Grand National races in the early 1950s without much success. As a car owner, however, he notched 23 wins with a handful of drivers behind the wheel in NASCAR's Grand National and short-lived convertible divisions.


In addition to the three starts he made as a driver, he fielded a car for NASCAR pioneer Jimmie Lewallen in the early 1950s. The garage he owned and operated also sponsored Lewallen for a couple of races in 1953 when Jimmie ran the car number later made famous by Julian's nephew.

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Julian's best year as an owner was 1958. Though others won races for him before and after, Bob Welborn rang up thirteen victories in cars fielded by Julian in NASCAR's Grand National and Convertible divisions. Welborn also won in Julian's Chevy in NASCAR's short-lived Short Track Series division. Records for the division are poor; consequently, I'm unsure how many additional trophies the duo may have claimed.

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Near the end of 1958, Julian interestingly sold all his equipment to Roy Tyner. It's interesting to me because (1) Julian's pairing with Welborn was BANK in 1958 - a trend likely to have have continued into 1959 and (2) Julian married Roy's mother - Grace Tyner - in 1959 after her first husband passed away in 1958.

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Source: Wilmington News via Google News Archive
Perhaps the sale to his step-son was a strategic or family play - or perhaps Julian was just done with racing. Either way, he didn't step away from NASCAR permanently. He returned in the early 1960s and enjoyed a bit more success with driver Jim Paschal.

Julian's son and Richard's cousin - Gene Petty - was involved in racing as well. Gene was instrumental in helping Mike Skinner get his start in NASCAR.

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Lee was two years older than Julian. Lee passed away in 2000 - just a few weeks after his 86th birthday. Julian died in 2003 - just a few weeks before his 87th - and was laid to rest without a grave marker next to his parents in a Greensboro, NC cemetery.

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Source: FindAGrave.com
Over the next few months, I plan to blog about as many of Julian's wins as I can. Each will be posted on the anniversary date of the race. Articles, photos and stories from those 1950s races are pretty hard to come by. Please email me at toomuchcountry(at)gmail(dot)com if you have something from that era to share, and I'll be happy to include the info in my posts with full attribution.

TMC
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April 5, 1958 - Welborn Wins Fayetteville

April 5, 2015, 5:38 am
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The 1958 NASCAR Grand National season began in November 1957 with a race at the 1/3 mile Champion Speedway in Fayetteville, NC. Interestingly, two of the next six races were also scheduled at the track.

Gwyn Staley - whose brother Enoch owned and operated North Wilkesboro Speedway - ran his final career Grand National race at Champion on March 15, 1958 - the second of the three races. Eight days later on March 23, he entered a NASCAR convertible division race at Richmond. He flipped on the first lap and was tragically killed. His car owner for both races was Julian Petty.

Two-time NASCAR convertible division champion Bob Welborn finished 8th in the March Fayetteville race in a second #49 Chevrolet for Julian. Following Staley's death, he became the sole driver. On April 5, 1958, Welborn raced Julian's #38 Chevrolet - likely the same car Staley had driven to a 2nd place finish at Fayetteville a month earlier.

Julian's brother got the initial upper hand. Lee Petty qualified quickest in his Oldsmobile to win the pole. Welborn had to settle for second and on the front row with Lee.

At the drop of the green, Lee set sail and led the first 24 laps of the 150-lap race. Eleventh-place starter Buck Baker was effective in moving towards the front, and he went after Lee for the lead. The two NASCAR Hall of Famers banged fenders as each wanted the lead. Lee got the roughest of the duel as he broke an axle. He dropped from the lead on lap 25 and then out of the race two laps later.

Baker showed the way for the next 52 laps. As the race reached half-way, however, Baker couldn't hold the lead. Welborn passed Baker, and the #38 Chevy led the rest of the way. Perry Allen Wood recapped the race in his book Silent Speedways of the Carolinas:
This third visit of the young season to Champion saw 29 speed demons take the green with Bob Welborn...climbing into Julian Petty's Chevy... As if weird things do not happen often enough, in this, the first race since Staley's death, Welborn won in Staley's old car. And guess who was flailing away at his back bumper? Frankie Schneider, the man that punched Staley's ticket to the hereafter at Richmond a fortnight earlier! ~ p. 191
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Source: Greensboro Daily News
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April 7, 1958 - Welborn Wins Winston-Salem

April 7, 2015, 5:49 am
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Two days after racing in the Grand National race at Champion Speedway in Fayetteville, NC, Bob Welborn continued his successful new alliance with car owner Julian Petty. The duo dominated the NASCAR convertible series race at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, NC on "Easter Monday", April 7, 1958.

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After two years as the champion of the convertible series, Welborn sold his equipment to Petty and hired-on as his driver. The two won their first Grand National race together and followed up with a win in their first convertible race together.

The race was promoted as the season opener for the track by co-promoters Bill France Sr. and Alvin Hawkins. Yep, Big Bill controlled the sanctioning body as well as a handful of races on his schedules.

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Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive
Welborn claimed the pole in qualifying in his #49 Chevrolet now owned by Julian. He then led all of the race's 150 laps and claimed the win. Possum Jones (one of racing's greatest names) finished second, and Julian's brother, Lee Petty, brought home his Oldsmobile fourth. Ken Rush finished fifth in a second #38 Chevrolet fielded by Julian. The car had been previously driven by Gwyn Staley who was killed two weeks earlier in the previous convertible race at Richmond.

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Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive
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April 13, 1958 - Welborn Wins Weaverville

April 13, 2015, 5:49 am
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The location was different, but the result was the same. For the third consecutive race since joining owner Julian Petty's racing venture, Bob Welborn claimed the checkers. After winning the Grand National race at Champion Speedway in Fayetteville, NC and the convertible race at Bowman Gray Stadium, the team headed for another convertible division race on April 13, 1958, at Asheville-Weaverville Speedway.

Welborn left little doubt his car was the one to beat. He set a track record in qualifying to claim the pole in his #49 Chevrolet. Banjo Matthews - a rare entrant to convertible races - timed second. Matthews had been hired by Lee Petty to drive his #42 Oldsmobile. I'm unsure how the arrangement came to be. The promoter may have paid Matthews show money and arranged for Lee to provide the car. Lee may have arranged the deal himself since he had just raced in a Grand National race in Spartanburg, SC the previous night.

Whatever arrangements were made, they didn't matter. Julian again got the better of his brother. Welborn led flag-to-flag to win the 200-lap race. Matthews finished second in Lee's Olds. Julian's second team car driven by Ken Rush finished fourth. The car was re-numbered #44 as a change from #38 that had been used by Gwyn Staley before his death a few weeks earlier.

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Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive
After carrying on after Staley's death at Richmond, drivers again had to race with heavy hearts at Asheville-Weaverville. Fellow competitor Billy Myers died of a heart attack during a sportsman race at Bowman Gray Stadium the night before the convertible race. Myers was leading the race with only 4 laps to go when he passed away at the wheel. He was a two-time convertible division winner with Lee Petty Engineering.

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April 20, 1958 - Welborn Wins Martinsville

April 20, 2015, 5:04 am
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Driver Bob Welborn and owner Julian Petty won their fourth consecutive race together on April 20, 1958 in the Virginia 500 Grand National race at Martinsville Speedway.

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Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers
NASCAR Hall of Famer and two-time defending race winner Buck Baker let the field know early he planned to extend his win streak to three. He won the pole in his #87 Chevrolet and was joined on the front row by another future NASCAR Hall of Fame member, Glen Wood. Welborn's Chevy was not quite right during qualifying, and he had to settle for a 20th place starting spot in the 47-car field.

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Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive
Baker's top starting spot didn't yield him much of an advantage. He did lead the first lap once the green was dropped, but he soon gave way to Wood. The #21 Ford driven by Wood led the next 138 laps before giving way to Julian Petty's older brother, Lee. Papa Lee piled up 58 laps out front as Welborn continued working his way through traffic.

Welborn went to the point for the first time around lap 200. Baker had developed an issue with his car's wiring several laps earlier and was done for the day. After his stint out front, Lee Petty no longer challenged for the lead, When the day was done, he had to accept his 11th place finish. Wood got back by Welborn around the 300-lap mark  to lead for another 30 laps or so. But as with Petty, Wood's car began going away, and he cruised the final 200 laps to finish 9th.

With Welborn's top competition out of the race or sliding back through the field a bit, he settled into his rhythm and clicked off one lap after another. In time, he built a 5-lap lead over the second place car and seemed to be on his way to an easy win.

With about 30 days to go, however, Welborn's Chevy cut a tire. Fortunately for him, he was able to nurse his car back to the pits and have the tire changed. He gave back a couple of his laps he'd built on second place Rex White, but the remaining ones he'd accumulated seemed to be an insurance policy for a victory.

As the checkers fell, Welborn was indeed fortunate to win the race. White and third place finisher Jim Reed managed to get back on the lead lap with Welborn, but they couldn't get past him for the win.


After joining Julian Petty's team a month earlier, Welborn could seemingly do wrong. Their 1958 win streak stood at four following Martinsville:
  • April 5 GN win at Champion Speedway in Fayetteville NC
  • April 7 convertible win at Bowman Gray Stadium
  • April 13 convertible win at Asheville-Weaverville Speedway
  • April 20 GN win at Martinsville
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Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive
Following the race, Welborn was congratulated by the top two party drivers on the circuit - Curtis Turner and NASCAR Hall of Famer Joe Weatherly. My guess is one of two things happened - well maybe both:
  • The two may have gotten Welborn likkered up that night as part of a long celebration, and/or
  • They may have taken Bob up in Turner's plane and barnstormed it enough to scare Welborn into giving up his trophy - with them laughing the whole time.

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April 26, 1958 - Welborn Wins Hickory

April 26, 2015, 5:49 am
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Two-time defending NASCAR convertible division champion Bob Welborn continued his 1958 hot streak in tact on April 26, 1956. The Denton, NC driver won his fifth consecutive race with car owner Julian Petty.

Twenty-three ragtops showed up for a 150-lap, 60-mile race at Hickory Speedway's dirt track. Jimmy Massey snagged the pole position in a Petty Engineering 1957 Oldsmobile, and Welborn timed second in Julian's Chevrolet.

NASCAR Hall of Famer and co-founder of the legendary Wood Brothers Racing team, Glen Wood, parked his Ford after only one lap with a blown engine. Fellow NASCAR Hall of Fame member, Buck Baker - making only his second convertible start of 1958 - exited the race three laps later when of all things his seat broke loose. Joe Weatherly, making his first convertible start since his win at Richmond a month earlier, suffered the same fate as Wood and Baker. Unlike the two of them, however, Little Joe made it to the half-way point of the race. But he then lost the steering on his Holman Moody Ford and was done for the day.

With some of his toughest competition sidelined early, Welborn set sail as he'd done over his past few races. He took the checkers with only one other car on the lead lap with him. Ken Rush was the runner-up in in a second Julian Petty-owned #44 Chevy. Julian's third entry driven by Possum Jones wasn't as fortunate. The throttle in Possum's #48 Chevy played dead on him, and Jones finished 19th after completing only 33 laps.

Pole-winner Massey finished third in Lee Petty's Oldsmobile, one lap down in his only convertible start for Petty Engineering. (Lee likely didn't attend the race as he was probably on his way back home to North Carolina after having raced in Manassas, VA on April 25th.) Though I don't have absolute proof, it stands to reason the Olds raced by Massey was the same car Richard Petty raced in his racing debut at Columbia Speedway on July 12, 1958. Two years later, Massey was behind the wheel of a Wood Brothers Ford and was chasing Richard Petty's Plymouth for the win at Martinsville. I blogged about Massey's Run back in 2012.

Welborn and Julian seemingly could not be stopped in the spring of 1958. The Hickory win was their fifth consecutive NASCAR win in a series of Grand National and convertible races entered. (Julian didn't field a car in a few GN races during that streak.)

The streak ended with the Hickory win. Welborn continued, however, with quality top 10s in the next three races before returning to victory lane twice more to complete his month of May.

04/05/58   Fayetteville (GN) - win
04/07/58   Winston-Salem (CV) - win
04/13/58   Weaverville (CV) - win
04/20/58   Martinsville (GN) - win
04/26/58   Hickory (CV) - win
05/02/58   Columbia (CV) - 3rd
05/04/58   Wilson (CV) - 2nd
05/10/58   Darlington (CV) - 6th
05/11/58   Greensboro (GN) - win
05/24/58   Winston-Salem (GN) - win

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May 11, 1958 - Bob Welborn Wins Greensboro

May 11, 2015, 5:44 am
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Greensboro Speedway in North Carolina hosted only three Grand National races. Paul Goldsmith and Buck Baker won the first two in 1957. The final one was run on May 11, 1958.

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Source: Greensboro Daily News
A year earlier, the track was the site of an epic yet apparently (mostly) true story involving driver Tiny Lund and the full Petty family. Many times legendary motorsports beat writer Tom Higgins has told and written about the turn of events that took place before the start of the April 1957 race including in this column he wrote for the Charlotte Observer.
Lund had driven five races for the Petty team in 1957, and the association ended bitterly.

Prior to a race in Greensboro, a flatbed from a trailer truck was being used as a stage for driver introductions. So happened that [Lee] Petty and Lund were starting in fairly close proximity, so they passed on the stage.

An obviously disparaging remark was made, and knuckles started flying.

"The deal was, Tiny and Daddy had a falling out," said Richard Petty. "To spite Daddy, Tiny was telling the other teams about some special, secret things we did to our cars. Daddy confronted him about it, and they went to it right there in front of everybody. I think Daddy took the first swing."

"Tiny" was a joke of a nickname for Lund. He stood 6'5" and weighed between 250 and 275 pounds.

Lee Petty stood 6'3" and weighed about 175.

"Daddy and Tiny scuffled onto the deck of that flatbed, and he was whipping Daddy pretty bad. Me and my brother Maurice, both still teenagers, jumped in to try and help Daddy. Well, Tiny was whupping all three of us.

"This is when my mother got involved. She came on that stage and started pummeling Tiny in the head with her purse. She was raising pump knots on poor ol' Tiny.

"The reason is, she had a .38 caliber pistol in that purse!"
Back to 1958's edition - where I'm sure some fans arrived earlier than usual just in case a fracas erupted again.

Greensboro's local feller, Bob Welborn, qualified in the top spot in a #44 1957 Chevrolet. Sources I've checked suggest Julian Petty was Welborn's car owner of record; however, I'm not entirely convinced of that stat.

Throughout 1958 (and for much of the rest of his career), Welborn raced car #49. Recent NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Rex White made 16 GN starts in car #44 in 1958. Some records indicate White made most of those starts in Julian Petty's cars. In speaking with White in October 2014, however, he insisted he never raced for Petty. Max Welborn, Bob's brother, fielded GN cars in that era - some numbered #44.

Bob Welborn raced full-time in 1958 with Julian in the convertible division, but they raced only part-time in the GN series. The day before the Greensboro race, Welborn finished 6th in the Rebel 300 convertible race at Darlington. With Greensboro being only one day later and a "hometown" track for Welborn, I'm thinking Bob may have hitched a ride in his brother's car as Julian took the ragtop home to tweak it for its next event.

Regarding the race itself, Perry Allen Wood noted in Silent Speedways of the Carolinas:
They dropped the curtain on the little dirt track on Sunday afternoon, May 11, 1958. A gorgeous day saw 19 entries take the spring green for a quick 150-lap, 50-mile war. Hometowner Welborn, at the peak of his career, went wire-to-wire winning handily over [Lee] Petty, [Junior] Johnson, [Speedy] Thompson and Doug Cox. The event took just over 65 minutes, then Greensboro's speedway slipped into the misty memory of how it was. ~ p. 239
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Source: Greensboro Daily News
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May 19, 1974 - Three laps short in Dover

May 19, 2015, 5:11 am
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Generally speaking, there is such a thing as an "insurmountable lead" in football, basketball, hockey and baseball. I've been to events where folks head for the exits well before a game is officially over.

I've also seen folks leave races early with the belief that the winner is a foregone conclusion because of his dominance. I'm pretty sure I've only left one race before it was declared official - and that was because of rain. We rolled the dice the rain would continue, but it didn't. I want to see the official end of a race because too many times things have happened with the checkers in sight.

One such day - before my era as a race fan - was May 19, 1974 at Dover Downs International Raceway.

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Future NASCAR Hall of Famers claimed the top 4 starting spots for the Mason-Dixon 500. David Pearson won the pole with Richard Petty alongside him in second. Cale Yarborough laid down the third quickest lap, and Bobby Allison timed fourth.

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As an on-going goodwill gesture by NASCAR to acknowledge the country's energy crisis, 10 percent of the race was cut. The first 50 "laps" were not scored, and the 500-lap race (now 450) officially began on lap 51.

Pearson leveraged his top starting spot to lead the first 18 laps. Cale then asserted his dominance in the race by leading the next 179 laps. The next 100 laps was a back-and-forth effort between Cale and the King.

As the race hit about the two-thirds mark; however, the #43 STP Dodge Charger seized control. Petty re-took the lead on lap 341 and found his groove. Corner by corner, lap after lap, the King hit his marks and let everyone know the win was soon to be his. I have to believe many non-Petty fans headed for the parking lot to get headstart on the traffic.

But then...

With less than four laps to go and a comfortable lead, the Maurice Petty-built engine in Richard's Dodge went POOF. Cale slipped by to take the lead, and Pearson also passed the 43 to move into second. In a flash, it was Yarborough's #11 Junior Johnson Chevy claiming the trophy vs. Petty's Dodge that finished third despite not completing the final two laps.

Cale in victory lane...

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Source: NBC Sports
Even Stock Car Racing magazine knew Cale inherited the win. Yet as is frequently the case in racing, the adage "It's better to be lucky than good" prevailed.

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Source: Observer-Reporter via Google News Archive
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May 24, 1958 - Welborn Wins Winston-Salem

May 24, 2015, 5:49 am
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Greetings from the tailgating grounds of Charlotte Motor Speedway. TMC is here once again enjoying the weekend festivities leading up to tonight's Coca-Cola 600.

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After driver Bob Welborn joined forces early in 1958 with owner Julian Petty, the duo was almost unstoppable in the spring races of NASCAR's convertible and Grand National divisions.  Welborn won five races in a row followed by Top 5s and a sixth in the next three convertible races with another GN win by Welborn at Greensboro (though he wasn't driving for Julian in that one).

On May 24, 1958, the Grand National drivers traveled to Winston-Salem, NC to race at Bowman Gray Stadium. The track opened in 1949, but the May 1958 race was the first GN event at the Stadium.

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The race was officially sanctioned as a Grand National event; however, many convertible division regulars joined the field. They didn't need a separate car - just a top. The drivers brought their regular ragtop cars and simply bolted on a roof piece to race in the GN event.

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Source: Greensboro Daily News
Rex White won the the pole. Lee Petty started 3rd, and Welborn timed 10th in Julian's #49 Chevy. Ken Rush started seventh in #44A in a second Julian Petty entry. White raced #44, and some records indicate he also raced for Julian Petty - though White insists he never drove for him.

White leveraged his top starting spot to lead the first two-thirds of the 150-lap race. Welborn then got by Rex and led the remaining 49 laps to match his car number. His victory was his 4th consecutive Grand National win in a series of four races entered.

Although Welborn won the race in a full-bodied sedan, he was not awarded GN points. Why? Despite having a roof over his head, Welborn's Chevy did not have rear glass in place. It's hard to see how the absence of the glass would have provided an aero advantage on the quarter-mile, Winston-Salem bull ring. But that was the ruling. As a GN part-timer, the trophy likely meant more to Welborn than "a good points day" anyway.

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Source: Greensboro Daily News
Remarkably, with the momentum Welborn and Julian had built, Welborn wouldn't win another GN race until late August - his fifth and final win of the 1958 season.

Though Welborn and many of the other drivers had the day off Sunday after Saturday night's race at Bowman Gray, others had no time to sit still. Trenton Speedway was to host its first Grand National race on Memorial Day, May 30th. Qualifying began a week earlier on Sunday May 25 meaning several had to hustle to travel overnight from Winston-Salem, NC to Trenton, NJ.

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Source: Reading Eagle via Google News Archive
Drivers who raced at Bowman Gray and then trekked to Trenton for qualifying were Buck Baker, Cotton Owens, Eddie Pagan, Lee Petty, Jack Smith, Jim Reed, and 1958 rookie of the year candidate Shorty Rollins. With Lee's participation in both races, I'm curious if 19 year-old Richard was tasked to drive the car home from Bowman Gray - or take a car to Trenton. Hmm.

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May 30, 1964 - Tiring Night at Greenville-Pickens

May 30, 2015, 5:43 pm
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Six days after a tough race at Charlotte where Fireball Roberts was critically burned in an early race accident and on the same day Dave MacDonald and Eddie Sachs died from injuries suffered in a second lap accident in the Indianapolis 500, NASCAR's Grand National drivers did what they always do following a tragedy. They raced the next event.

The drivers rolled into Greenville-Pickens Speedway for the 200-lap, 100-mile Pickens 200 on a South Carolina Saturday night.

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Marvin Panch won the pole in the Wood Brothers #21 Ford. David Pearson - who'd become the driver of the Woods' 21 less than a decade later - timed second. Cale Yarborough and Richard Petty made up the second row, and Buck Baker rounded out the top 5.

Panch led 55 laps - presumably from the beginning of the race and his top starting spot. Then the 1964 Daytona 500 winner, King Richard, took over. He led 129 laps and had the checkers in sight. But then...

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Source: Spartanburg Herald-Journal via Google News Archive
As the two cars battled one another to the line with blown tires, the flagman waved the checkered flag instead of the white one as the two drivers completed lap 199 - one lap early. Nonetheless, Lee Roy Yarbrough in a year-old, independent Plymouth was declared the winner with Petty finishing second - two car lengths behind.

Instead of Petty pocketing what would have been his 31st (and ultimately 201st) victory, Yarbrough banked his second career GN win.

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June 2, 1961 - Paschal Wins Spartanburg

June 2, 2015, 5:14 am
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Julian Petty's greatest success as a car owner took place in 1958 with Bob Welborn at the wheel. At the end of the season, Petty apparently sold his racing equipment and disappeared from the track. He returned, however, within a couple of years paired with Jim Paschal - who later would drive for his brother Lee as a teammate to rising star Richard Petty.

NASCAR's Grand National drivers rolled into Spartanburg, SC's Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds on June 2, 1961 for a 200-lap, 100-mile race. A Who's Who of NASCAR legends made up most of the top 10 starters.
  •  Joe Weatherly in Bud Moore's Pontiac won the pole. 
  • Cotton Owens started alongside Little Joe. 
  • NASCAR Hall of Famer Buck Baker and Jack Smith made up row 2.
  • Another pair of NASCAR Hall of Famers, Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson, timed 5th and 6th.
  • Yet another NASCAR Hall of Fame duo, Rex White and Richard Petty, started in the 4th row.
  • Doug Cox and Darel Dieringer rounded out the top 10.
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Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive
When the race began, Owens beat pole-winner Weatherly to the first turn. He was able to power around Little Joe, and Cotton led the first five laps. Weatherly got his groove back, and he passed Owens on the sixth lap and built a comfortable lead as he paced the field for about the first third of the race.

Hometown hotshoe Cotton continued his pursuit of Weatherly. Around lap 70, Owens put a bump-and-run on Weatherly as he took the lead. Weatherly spun, and he then wiped out Richard Petty as he attempted to get going back in the right direction. Both were done for the night.

Once Weatherly and Petty parked their cars, Cotton began his domination of the remainder of the race. With a few laps to go and the checkers in sight, however, Owens broke a wheel - likely related somehow to the earlier incident with Weatherly. Maybe, maybe not.

Either way, Cotton's misfortune meant good times for Jim Paschal in Julian Petty's #14 Pontiac. Paschal took the lead from Cotton and nabbed his first victory in three years. Prior to Spartanburg, Paschal's last GN win was in July 1958 in a Chevrolet at McCormick Field in Asheville, NC  - coincidentally fielded by Julian.

Cotton limped along to settle for second - two laps down to Paschal. Maurice Petty finished third for his best career finish as a driver. Chief started near the end of the field, and his 3rd place finish came with an assist from his older brother. Richard took over Maurice's #41 Plymouth in relief after his own Plymouth was sidelined following the wreck with Weatherly.

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Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive
TMC
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NASCAR's Homeless Drivers

June 15, 2015, 9:07 am
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The first couple of Mötley Crüe albums were instant, hair-metal classics. Then commercial success set in, and we got schlock ballads such as Home Sweet Home.


Speaking of Home Sweet Home, the PR machine of NASCAR's multiple teams, sponsors, and media partners seem hellbent on forcing upon us the schlock idea every driver must have a home track.

At one time, one could argue this was a truism. Drivers who started their careers in late models on the bullrings of America often found themselves back at that track in a next-level NASCAR ride.

Some of those tracks included places such as:
  • Fairgrounds Speedway - Nashville
  • Birmingham Speedway
  • Hickory Motor Speedway
  • Soldier Field - Chicago
  • South Boston Speedway
  • Myrtle Beach Speedway
  • McCormick Field - Asheville, NC
  • Bowman Gray Stadium - Winston-Salem, NC
  • Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds - Spartanburg
  • Stateline Speedway - Busti, NY
NASCAR itself promotes a number of home tracks that host annual racing schedules under NASCAR sanctioning - none of which currently host a Cup race.

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Matter of fact, I can't think of any race on NASCAR's top three series' schedules held at a track that also hosts a regular slate of racing for the locals. On the Cup side, I believe the last "home track" to host a Cup race was Nashville - and that relationship ended in 1984.

The home track branding has progressed from illogical to silly to now absurd.

I understand NASCAR wants to showcase the expanded range from which it now draws its drivers.
  • The Busch brothers are from Vegas
  • Denny Hamlin is from Virginia
  • Carl Edwards is from Missouri
  • Jimmie Johnson is from California
But Kyle and Kurt did not cut their teeth on the 1.5 mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

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Carl Edwards was a substitute school teacher and part-time racer in Missouri. He never raced at Kansas Speedway until he hit the big time.

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I was elated when Richard Petty Motorsports visited victory lane again in July 2014 when Aric Almirola won the rain-shortened Coke Zero 400. But I hung my head when I read Daytona was his home track simply because it was a two-hour drive on I-4 from his Tampa home.

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On Friday before qualifying for the 2015 Michigan race, Richard Petty Motorsports tried to have us believe Ohioan Sam Hornish, Jr. claims Michigan Speedway as his home track.

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Jimmie Johnson raced off-road trucks before jumping into a Busch Series car in 2000. He didn't bang around on Saturday nights at California Speedway.

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But what really blows my mind is that JJ's crew chief, Chad Knaus, apparently has a home track of his own: Chicagoland Speedway.

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Dale Jr.'s home track is obviously Kannapolis Motor Speedway. Right? Wait. I'm pretty sure Cup ... and the X-Series ... and the trucks do not race in Kannapolis - and never have. So I guess it makes perfect sense Jr.'s home track would be Charlotte Motor Speedway an hour or so down the road. Hold on a sec - but then wouldn't that be the case for everyone who lived in the Charlotte / Lake Norman corridor?

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Ahhh. Richmond International Raceway. Home of the multi-time track champ Denny Hamlin. No? Well, maybe he was a multi-time winner on those sweltering summer Saturday nights at RIR. Didn't happen either? Hmm. Hamlin began racing at the 3/4-mile Richmond track only after he joined Joe Gibbs Racing.

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Oh Little Joey - ye Logano of Connecticut well-heeled lineage. Did you realize the 2015 Daytona 500 winner proudly claims New Hampshire Motor Speedway as his home track? Never mind JoLo - like Denny at Richmond - didn't race on the surface of his home track until joining Joe Gibbs Racing.

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Tony Stewart's home track is of course the Brickyard. Why? Because he is from Columbus, Indiana - an hour south of Indy. And because he is among the double-handful of NASCAR drivers who have raced in the Indianapolis 500. What other reasons do you need?

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Matt Kenseth claims Madison International Speedway in Wisconsin as his home track. What a prepost... Oh, never mind. Kenseth is a former track champ at MIS so this one is actually legit.

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Jersey boy Martin Truex, Jr. is unique in that he has at least two home tracks according to the lemmings: 
  • Dover because Delaware is a few hours from Jersey.
  • Loudon because well ... you get the picture.
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Even Busc ... I mean Nationw... err X-Series drivers get a home track. Chris Buescher's: Texas Motor Speedway. Number of races on the track: five.

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Home tracks aren't limited to just drivers. Teams - corporate entities - equity ventures - apparently claim them too. Roush Fenway Racing's home track is Michigan. I'm not exactly sure why. I'm pretty sure Roush Fenway didn't grow up racing dirt late models or quarter-midgets. Perhaps the company's corporate charter is registered in Michigan. Umm, somehow I doubt that too.

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Furniture Row Racing is based in Denver, Colorado. Their home track - logically of course - is Kansas Speedway. Wait. What?? Yes, it seems because NASCAR no longer sanctions a race in Colorado that FRR claims the next closest track: Kansas Speedway. Yes, the track that is 600 miles away with zero attachment to the team's owner, crew or driver gleefully raises its hand and proclaims "Yep, that one's ours!" I think whoever came up with that connection inhaled way too much on a trip to Boulder.

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Is the home track phenomenon limited to NASCAR? Absolutely. Positively. Not. Even the straight-line crowd gets to cling to a track they never ran as their racing careers evolved. Take Antron Brown from the NHRA for example...

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I expect the home town nonsense to continue. If you read it on Twitter, hear it on TV, see it in article, etc., feel free to borrow King Arthur's great line in replying to the individual.
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Racing's Home Tracks: Part 2 of a IV-part Trilogy

June 29, 2015, 5:43 pm
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NASCAR's insistence everyone have a "home track" has metastasized into a full-blown epidemic.

After bringing awareness of this crisis to the masses two weeks ago, I wanted to continue with many more cringe-worthy examples.

During the recent Save Mart 300 in California, we were led to believe by PRN Radio and FoxSports1 on-air folks that at least four drivers claimed Sonoma as their home track. Though to be fair, the persistent matching of Cup drivers ... and teams ... and sponsors ... and manufacturers ... to a home track isn't limited to just PRN and FOX.

We were told Jeff Gordon began his racing career at Sonoma - despite having moved to Indiana when he was 14 years old.

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The Dinger - A.J. Allmendinger - obviously claims Sonoma as his home track.

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Never mind his home town of Los Gatos, California is 90 miles away.

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Sophomore Cup and Target Racing driver, Kyle Larson, also claims Sonoma as his home track...allegedly.

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I guess it's irrelevant his home track before making the transition to NASCAR was Calistoga Speedway.

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Oh. Wait. Maybe it's Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California.

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Finally, Target Racing's former driver (and current GEICO discounted participant), Casey Mears, has claimed Sonoma as his home track...

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...when he wasn't claiming Auto Club Speedway in Fontana as his home track.

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Mears isn't the only driver confused about his home track - nor the only Chip Ganassi Racing driver to be confused. Nashville's Fairgrounds Speedway was (and still is) indeed the home track for two-time Daytona 500 winner, Sterling Marlin. After all, he was a multi-time track champion at Nashville, made his first Cup start there, piled up tons of late model wins, helped his dad Coo Coo Marlin at the track, etc. He was able to make the transition to Cup after cutting his teeth at Nashville, and he continues to race at Nashville.

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But Nashville fell off the Cup schedule after 1984. No problem. Sterling was assigned Bristol as his replacement home track. The facts of (1) his never running a weekly series at the track and (2) the 5+ hour driving distance from his home made little difference to the PR folks.

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The city of Chicago was poetically labeled by Carl Sandburg as The City of the Big Shoulders. That statement needs to be true to hold aloft the legacy of all the drivers who claim Chicagoland Speedway as their home track - regardless that it isn't for any of them. (The fact Chicagoland isn't even in Chicago is a different thought altogether.)

Future NASCAR Hall of Famer (tongue deeply in cheek), Danica Patrick, is originally from Roscoe, Illinois - 2 hours from Joliet, IL. Such the sweetie, she kindly adopted Chicagoland as her home track as if it were a puppy.

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Danica has long since left Roscoe, and apparently now calls Scottsdale, Arizona home. I think. Regardless, Phoenix International Raceway is now her home track - simply because she bought some real estate nearby.

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Paul Menard's home track is the Milwaukee Mile in his home state of Wisconsin.

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Whoa, easy there you wild and crazy guy. Milwaukee isn't on NASCAR's Cup schedule and never has been. You should know better than that. Looks like his PR team learned that factoid, and NardBurns was assigned Chicagoland as his true home track.

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The roots of Venturini Motorsports go back to the 1950s. The team's drivers have been stalwarts of the ARCA circuit for decades. So where is its home track? Chicagoland of course - the track that opened in 2001.

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Whew, time for a sanity break.

I've never a particularly big fan of Jamie McMurray. Haven't jeered him - I just haven't pulled for him either. Normally my response to him during driver intros is a tepid ehhh. But I may now become a Big Mc fan. Jamie recognizes just because he IS from Missouri doesn't mean Kansas Speedway is his home track. Kudos Jamie, well done.

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But just because Jamie Mc gets it doesn't mean others do. Let's continue...

Yuengling, the country's oldest brewery, has only been involved with NASCAR since 2014. Yet, the beer - BEER! - has a home track.

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Hell, not only is it absurd for a beer to have a home track, Yuengling isn't even the original beer sponsor at Pocono. What brand was? Oh yes: Schaefer.

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Speaking of a sponsor for Ty Dillon, he let loose an eye-rolling whopper in 2014 by stating Atlanta Motor Speedway is his second home track. 

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Why? Because he went to AMS as a kid and it's "so close to my house in North Carolina." The distance between Atlanta and Dillon's NC home is approximately 350 miles. Ty, you were so close in your estimate of distance...or not.

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The absurdity continues with this beauty from Auto Club Speedway. They announced themselves as the home track for Rusty Wallace's driving school. That "news" was about as goofy as Rusty posing as an analyst on ESPN broadcasts and MRN Radio.

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Sticking with the southern California track, ACS is always stated by the lemmings as the home track for Toyota. TRD builds engines nearby, crates them, and then ships them to North Carolina.

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This news asserts Martinsville Speedway was former driver Jeff Burton's home track. Burton and his brother Ward are from South Boston, Virginia. Early in their racing careers, both ran the half-mile South Boston Speedway regularly. South Boston still hosts races today. From 1960 through 1971, 10 10 Grand National / Cup races were held at the track. Until 2000, least one Busch ... errr, Xfinity Series race each year was scheduled at South Boston. Jeff raced in eight of those events and could rightfully have called South Boston his home track - but not Martinsville.

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I'll close with a Triple Crown of head-scratching, home track, hilarity courtesy of Chevrolet.

The brand has been involved with racing for decades. Drivers from coast to coast and north to south have raced a Bowtie. Yet, Chevy itself has a home track? Sure, why not. And where else would it be but Michigan International Speedway.

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Wait - we talkin' NASCAR or Indy car? Indy? Oh then I'm sure Chevy meant that other Michigan track - the Raceway at Belle Isle. Yes, the track where CART hosted races beginning way back in ... well, not that far back ... in 1992.


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And to reinforce Chevrolet's enduring love for its home track, it has yet a third one - the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

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TMC
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July 1, 1961: Richard Petty's 'Lost' Firecracker Win

July 1, 2015, 5:43 am
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In the summer of 1961, NASCAR's Grand National division raced on back-to-back days - June 23rd in Hartsville, South Carolina and a day later on June 24th at Starkey in Roanoke, Virginia. Then the teams turned south to head for Daytona Beach to run the third annual Firecracker 250 ten days later on July 4th. Well, most of them anyway.

Several GN regulars - including Elmo Langley, Wendell Scott, Richard Petty, Jim Paschal, Jim Reed and Doug Yates - continued their trek north to race in a NASCAR Eastern Late Model division race a Lincoln Speedway in New Oxford, PA on July 1st. Two-time NASCAR GN champ Buck Baker was also expected to race, but there is no indication he ended up making the trip.

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Source: Gettysburg Times via Google News Archive
The Eastern Late Model series - as can be inferred from its name - raced tracks primarily in the Atlantic corridor states. Originally, the cars were similar to Grand National cars - which is why some of the GN regulars opted to race at Lincoln.

Over time, the cars became more closely akin to NASCAR's touring late model sportsman division. When Anheuser-Busch beer reformed the LMS division, first into the Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series and later as the Busch Grand National Series, dollars were also invested in remodeling the Eastern Late Model division into the Busch North Series.

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Over time, the Busch North Series was re-branded as the Busch East Series ... and then the Camping World sump'n, sump'n ... and now the K&N Pro Series East.

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Though records are not clear about how qualifying went, two heat races were held to apparently set the starting order. Petty and Hoss Kagle won the two heats to put them on the front row for the 100-lap feature.

The wins by Petty and Kagle in the preliminary heats were indicative of how things would go in the main event. Kagle pursued Petty's 43 Plymouth for much of the race. With 11 laps to go, however, Kagle blew a tire and hit the pits for service.

With Kagle's late race misfortune, the King cruised the remaining laps to claim the win. Jim Paschal, likely driving for Julian Petty - his regular GN car owner, took over second from Kagle and stayed there. Jim Reed, a multi-time NASCAR Short Track Division champion in the 1950s, finished third. Langley and Scott rounded out the top five finishers.

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Source: Gettysburg Times via Google News Archive
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Courtesy of Jerry Bushmire
As the above article referenced, Richard claimed the trophy at another track on which his dad had won previously. Lee Petty won a Grand National event at Lincoln Speedway three years earlier

The final paragraph of the second article also referenced raising funds to assist Reds Kagle for his injuries suffered at Charlotte. About five weeks earlier in the second annual World 600, Kagle was running second to leader and eventual race winner David Pearson. He then blew a tire, sailed up the track and pierced the guardrail. The good news was the guard rail prevented Kagle from sailing out of the track. The bad news was that he broke through the rail which in turn impaled Kagle's car and severed his leg. He survived the accident and even raced for years afterward, but his leg had to be amputated following the accident.

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Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive
After Petty's win, the team headed back home to Level Cross to prepare for their next event. Interestingly, the next event was not at Daytona. In February, Lee and Richard both sailed over the wall in their qualifying races for the Daytona 500. Lee was critically injured, and his racing days were all but over.

Richard, Maurice Petty and Dale Inman were left to move forward to keep the race team in business. Perhaps rather than risk another wreck for a nominal purse return, they took book-it money by racing at Lincoln. The other GN regulars - Paschal, Reed, Langley, Scott and Yates - also passed on racing at Daytona.

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Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive
Though Richard opted not to race at Daytona, the Pettys still had a presence at the beach. Lee felt well enough to return to the track that nearly took his life 4+ months earlier. He was all smiles as he served as the honorary pace car driver.

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Source: Daytona Beach Morning Journal via Google News Archive
Lincoln Speedway hosted seven GN races with the last one in 1965. The track (web | Twitter), however, continues to host a regular slate of races each year.

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