A Racing History Minute - April 10, 1971

Do you remember the 1979 Daytona 500 telecast by CBS?. Remember the last lap crash when Ken Squier so eloquently intoned the "they know they have lost" comment? NASCAR still uses the visual replay of that event although they don't usually include Ken's audio. This was the race touted as the first flag-to-flag coverage of a NASCAR event and is credited with putting NASCAR "in the mainstream". Credit is given to the crash and some credit to a blizzard that had half the country confined to their homes looking for something to watch on television and just happened to discover their CBS channel.

Today, I'm here to tell you that the 1979 Daytona 500 was NOT the first race shown on national television,live, flag-to-flag. But, just as I did not see the 1979 Daytona 500 on television but, instead, from the top or our motorhome in the Daytona infield, I did not see the first live telecast either because I was sitting in the top row of a packed grandstand because there was literally no room in the infield of the track for a spectator by the time I got there. Let me tell you about that very first race shown live to the world.

It was actually the ABC television network who decided to use their "Wide World of Sports" time slot on a Saturday afternoon (April 10, 1971) to televise a Grand National (now Sprint Cup) race live from Greenville-Pickens Speedway in the Piedmont of South Carolina. This half mile asphalt track is one of the most historic tracks in the country where so many legendary drivers either got their start or raced there at some point in their career. The last time I was up there, the outside walls around the track contained the names of so many NASCAR pioneers as track champion that reading the walls would be a lesson in racing history.

The race was scheduled for 100 miles, 200 laps. Starting time was set for 5:00 p.m. to accommodate the Wide World of Sports time slot. Now read this closely: Sixty-two entries showed up for that short track event. Forty-seven of those attempted to qualify for the alloted twenty-six starting spots. One very notable name missed the field when LeeRoy Yarbrough failedto qualify.

David Pearson, in his Holman-Moody Ford sat on the pole with Bobby Isaac in the K&K Insurance Dodge on the outside. When the green flag dropped, Pearson put his Ford out front where he would remain for 20 laps. On lap 21, Bobby Isaac literally blew by the blue and gold Ford and was gone! Bobby led the rest of the way and actually won the event by two laps. Funny side to Bobby's story is that he had not intended to even compete in that race. He said that Nord Krauskorf, the head man at K&K Insurance called the morning of the race and told them to run it because of the television coverage, so they loaded up and went to Greenville Pickens.

The total purse for the event was $20,000.00 which, it was reported, was a record purse for a race of that length. Out of that total purse, Bobby received $1,430.00. A total crowd of 15,000 was reported and having been there I can tell you there was not a vacant spot in the infield nor an empty seat in the grandstands. I don't remember reading anything at the time as to how ABC assessed the event so I don't know whether the ratings were so dismal that it caused the networks to stay away until 1979 when CBS got the rights to Daytona. I have seen some clips from the coverage of the race that day but the quality is not that great. I have great memories of many trips to Greenville Pickens and although this race stands out as a special event in my memory, it doesn't hold my "favorite" spot in my memories.

Top five finishers in the event were:

1. Bobby Isaac, Dodge, winning $1,430.00

2. David Pearson, Ford, winning $1,030.00

3. Dick Brooks, Dodge, winning $830.00 (Mario Rossi Dodge)

4. Dave Marcis, Dodge, winning $780.00

5. Benny Parsons, Ford, winning $755.00

James Hylton was sixth. It was noted in the press that the then current points leader, Richard Petty, struggled to finish 7th, four laps off the pace. Other finishers of interest were Neil Castles 9th, Jabe Thomas 14th, Charlie Glotzbach 18th, Bobby Allison 20th, Wendell Scott 21st and Roy Mayne 22nd.

As I think back to that special day for NASCAR, the fact that Greenville-Pickens hosted the first flag-to-flag coverage on a major network and has been swept "under the rug", so to speak, for whatever reason, it only reinforces my desire to continue this series for the year so those too young to know these things may read about it and the older folks like me can have their memories refreshed.

Thanks for reading.

Honor the past, embrace the present, and dream for the future.

Nice piece, Tim! You are so lucky to have been able to attend so many of the races during that era! I vaguely remember seeing this after being reminded by this Youtube video of the race.

Thanks for adding the video Jeff. Yes, as I say so many times, I have been one fortunate man to have been so involved in this wonderful sport. And these days, thanks to you and RacersReunion, it's even better. Thank you for that.

As you noted Tim, Isaac wasn't originally scheduled to race at G-P. Its truly interesting considering he was the defending NASCAR Grand National champion competing in the first year of what then became known as the Winston Cup Series. Perhaps Bill France and the G-P folks called Nord to strongly suggest the NASCAR champion participate - especially with ABC in town.

So he did race - and he did win. But because of his last minute entry, he missed the deadline for earning points in the race. He lead the most laps, dominated the day, and won the race - but fell a spot in the standings because he earned zero points.

Source: Ocala Star Banner

And here is a link to the longer race recap article penned by Gene Granger for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal. Its a bit too long to easily screen cap and upload here.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=13wsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=uswEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6130%2C1915236

That's a really neat piece Jeff!!! Only thing is, I've never heard of "Bobby I-Zach" lol

Thanks Tim and the other contributors. Always like to see credit given where it is due.

Thanks for the post, Tim. ~Jan~

The pace lap before the green.

Bringing back a post from the past. Here are Raymond Williams, Dave Marcis and Walter Ballard on the starting grid. Can anyone help me with the sponsor on Williams' 47? Looks like it could be a ketchup or barbecue sauce bottle - or maybe it is some sort of oil or fuel additive.

Thank you Jeff for supplying us with this video! I have watched it now for two times this weekend and I enjoyed it very , very much. You may be on to something here. Every Sunday maybe SCRR should have a video of race from years past available to watch instead of the junk that's passed off as stock car racing today. This might be an avenue to get people back into watching racing that have been turned off by what is available today. And if enough people watch maybe it would build up to a critical mass that NASCAR might see this andreturn to its roots and produce a product that we could all be proud of. This is probably a pipe dream of a old man past his prime and not living in today's world, but a dream never less.

Bump