In 1968 Southport, North Carolina was hardly the focus of the NASCAR world; forty years later, not much has changed. The quaint little town at the mouth of the Cape Fear river, where palm trees naturally grow, has a rich and colorful past, rum runners, and pirates, Blackbeard and Stede Bonnett.............................. Jimmy Buffett kinda stuff............... but its about the most unlikely place on earth to have launched a NASCAR Grand National team and a driver's carreer that would forever be etched in the annals of racing lore and history."Dub" Clewis was a quintessential, self made, old school, post World War II businessman. Clewis had migrated to Southport from the legendary Crusoe "islands" of eastern Columbus county, North Carolina. The Crusoe Island community (the state of North Carolina attempted, unsuccessfully, to re-name Crusoe "River-View" in the 1960's) is surrounded by mystery, wild tales, and the Waccamaw river. The original settlers, French Hugenots, had fled pesecution in Canada, much like the accadians or "cajuns" of the Louisana bayou, and settled in this very isolated region of coastal North Carolina. Progress has come very slowly to Crusoe, and it's not a whole lot different, today, than its ever been. Strangers and outsiders usually keep their distance.But, Dub Clewis left the Islands, and by 1964 had established "Brunswick Motor Sales" a Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth dealership in Southport. Ever the salesman/promoter/businessman, Clewis and a few partners built and operated the (dirt-what else?) Leland Raceway in 1967. Leland, North Carolina ,was and is, a suberb of Wilmington, it's just accross the Cape Fear river. Leland Raceway picked up right where the wild and wooly sandy and dusty Carolina Beach Speedway had left off. WILD! However, back in those golden days, the fans could not get enough of it. They came by the thousands. The grandstands were so packed on opening night, 1971, until they COLLAPSED! I'm not making this up. I was there, in the pits (fortunately). They came for the racing and the wrecks and the fights..............and there were lots of them, FIST-FIGHTS, on the track, in the pits and in the stands!Leland Raceway had served to re-launch and re-kindle the racing carreer of Rocky Point, NC's Richard Brickhouse. Three years prior, in 1964, Brickhouse had begun racing in the hobby stock division at Wilmington's short-lived Carolina Beach Speedway. Driving like a seasoned veteran, Brickhouse had promptly won THE first two events (ever) at CBS. Born on a farm, Brickhouse seemed to come out of nowhere, and had that special and rare racing talent............the ability to go fast while making it look easy............... almost slow................ a David Pearson type of driver. Although Rocky Point was "just up the road" in Pender county, Brickhouse was not a member of the Wilmington racing establishment. Hardly, the establishment was his primary competition: Hoss Ellington, Spud Long, and Jackie Rogers, and all being wrenched by future three-time Daytona 500 winning engine builder: Sheldon "Runt" Pittman. Richard Brickhouse, with less support and less finances, more than made up the difference with more talent. When Clewis' brand-new Leland Raceway was being dominated by SOUTH Carolinian, "Hop" Holmes, it was Brickhouse who would break Holmes' stranglehold. Clewis, the ever-keen observer, had paid close attention.Most casual NASCAR historians are aware that Richard Petty has won 200 major events, and that he won 27 of them in 1967, including the famous 10-in-a-row streak. A lesser known fact is that all of those victories were won with two race cars. Incredibly, one of these two workhorse Plymouths was (actually) a 1966 Plymouth retro-fitted with a '67 grill, to look "new". In 1968 Chrysler re-designed the Plymouth body style forcing the sale of the 1967 Petty racing Plymouths.Dub Clewis, Plymouth DEALER, had an idea.