Racing History Minute - June 23, 1961

Our "Minute" for this date takes us to a .333 mile dirt track located in Hartsville, SC. Being from Columbia, the reputation of the Hartsville facility is well known. Word, back in the day, was that Hartsville was a tough track to run, even tougher to win, and was often the site of those well remembered fights so many folks remember from the short track days. If I'm not mistaken, that is the track where the opening dirt track racing scenes for the movie "Thunder in Carolina" starring Rory Calhoun and Alan Hale were filmed.

Eighteen cars showed up to race the 50 miles/150 laps. Emanuel Zervakis put his Chevrolet on the pole with a speed of 54.97 mph which was really moving for a track that size. Ned Jarrett would start second, Buck Baker third, Junior Johnson fourth and Fred Harb fifth.

An interesting fact here is that this was the 13th Grand National (now Cup) event staged at the Hartsville track, and Buck Baker would win to become the thirteenth different winner. A different winner every time the Grand Nationals raced there, which was, at the time, and without further research my guess is that it may still stand as 13 races, 13 different winners. Perhaps one of our more astute researchers will solve that issue for us.

Pole winner, Zervakis, went into the wall on lap 101 when his Chevy lost steering. Richard Petty was taken out on lap 69 with engine failure. By winning in a Chrysler, Buck gave that brand it's first win since the 1956 season finale. It was also Buck's first win since the 1960 Southern 500 and his 43rd Grand National win overall.

Top five finishers were:

1. Buck Baker, Baker Chrysler, winning $760.00

2. Jack Smith, Smith Pontiac, winning $520.00

3. Rex White, White-Clements Chevrolet, winning $460.00

4. David Pearson, Pearson Chevrolet, winning $265.00

5. Junior Johnson, Holly Farms Pontiac, winning $260.00

Sixth through tenth were Ned Jarrett, Jimmy Pardue, Harry Leake, Wendell Scott and Lee Reitzel.

Eleventh place went to Herman Beam with Homer Galloway 12th in a Curtis Crider car, beating Curtis Crider in another Crider car finishing 13th. Fourteenth was Bob Barron with Joe Jones 15th, Emanual Zervakis 16th, Richard Petty 17th and Fred Harb 18th.

Each time I read about one of these dirt track races, I remember the many nights I would be in the infield at a dirt track after the race was over and the cars were being loaded on their open trailers. Drivers were usually over at the "pay window" in line waiting to get paid. I would always hang around to talk with Richard Petty but would have time to talk to many of the crew folks. It still amazes me that back in those days, those guys worked for nothing, some maybe for a hot dog and a coke at the track, but it was a labor of love. Same can be said for the drivers for the most part. Look at the payout amounts. Even in 1961 dollars, the few hundred dollars the winner got couldn't have gone far. I treasure my memories of those days and treasure the memories of all the guys I met back then, though, granted most of the names have long since been lost in my memory, but the faces and the smiles remain.

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

Race report from Spartanburg Herald Journal

On the same day Baker won at Hartsville, NASCAR ruled against Rex White and in favor of Emanuel Zervakis. White had protested EZ's win in the Yankee 500 at Norwood Arena in Boston, MA a week earlier. It was the only GN race ever held at that venue.

Pretty amazing there were no fan injuries when the car of Richmond's "Golden Greek" - Emanuel Zervakis went into the grandstand at Hartsville in 1961. None of those 1900 fans must of been in the front rows, or else they were just plain fast.

Tim, for the 1982 Talladega 500, my old buddy Jim Freeman's marketing and advertising campaign at Alabama International Motor Speedway (remember A.I.M.S.???) was "13 RACES, 13 FACES." There had been thirteen Talladega 500s and thirteen different winners, beginning with Richard Brickhouse, through 1981.

Too bad for Jim that a fellow whose initials are D.W. killed his marketing campaign for the future by becoming the first two-time Talladega 500 winner in 1982. Jim had to come up with something new for 1983. Leave it to DW to mess up a good thing, right?!

Ever one to self promote, DW showed up at Talladega in 1983 with a new tee shirt as covered in this Associated Press excerpt from the Wilmington, NC newspaper:

Yep, Hartsville Speedway was the scene of Mitch Cooper's bad wreck in "Thunder in Carolina". Believe that Buck was the 13th different winnerin 13 consecutive races in 1961, not 13 races at Hartsville. Pretty sure that the 1961 Baker win was the only Grand National ever at Hartsville.

Robert, I was just about to ask that question. I couldn't find any record of any other NASCAR Grand National or Convertible event ever being held at Hartsville. I thought there might have possibly been 13 NASCAR Modified or Sportsman races at Hartsville with different winners.

Our member, Perry Allen Wood of Spartanburg has a section on Hartsville Speedway in his book Silent Speedways of the Carolinas . A few passages from that chapter are available on-line at the link below:

http://books.google.com/books?id=hrbAEBnGgS4C&pg=PT150&lpg=...

TRIVIA:

Thunder in Carolina was the only movie credit for actress Connie Hines. She did, however, go on to star on television as the wife on the show with the talking horse... Mr. Ed. She shared her Dedham, Massachusetts hometown with future racing star, Pete Hamilton, who'd make it to the Southern 500 in 1968 wheeling A.J. King's Dodge.

She also starred in this 1961 Studebaker Commercial!

The 1959 Southern 500 video has a nice shot of Ms. Hines riding in the '500' parade. In my opinion,Les Yorkand Wilbur Post both did all right!

That shirt should have said "14 races, 2 ugly faces and both were the same guy". Lol. Ok, I'm in trouble again.

Ok, folks, MY error (again). When I was putting this Minute together late last night, I read the record as thirteen different winners at Hartsville. You very competent gentlemen are very correct. The race on which I reported is the only Grand National Race I could find at Hartsville. The Thirteen different winners WERE winners of the 12 races previous to the Hartsville race, and Buck Baker at Hartsville. For the record, the thirteen races and winners were:

April 30, 1961, 250 miles at Martinsville Speedway, won by Junior Johnson

May 6, 1961, 300 miles at Darlington, won by Fred Lorenzen

May 21, 1961, 100 miles at Charlotte Motor Speedway won by Richard Petty (Qualifying race for 600)

May 21, 1961, 100 miles at Charlotte Motor Speedway won by Joe Weatherly (Qualifying race for 600)

May 27, 1961, 100 miles at Ascot Speedway won by Eddie Gray (Los Angeles, California)

May 28, 1961, 600 miles at Charlotte Motor Speedway won by David Pearson

June 2, 1961, 100 miles at Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds, Spartanburg, won by Jim Paschal

June 4, 1961, 100 miles at Alabama State Fairgrounds, Birmingham, won by Ned Jarrett

June 8, 1961, 100 miles at Greenville-Pickens Speedway won by Jack Smith

June 10, 1961, 50 miles at Bowman-Gray Stadium won by Rex White

June 17, 1961, 125 miles at Norwood Arena in Norwood, MA, won by Emauel Zervakis

June 23, 1961 50 miles at Hartsville Speedway, won by Buck Baker (as reported in the History Minute)

Before that streak started, Richard Petty had won at Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds in Richmond on April 23rd and the end of the streak was on June 24th when Junior Johnson repeated as a winner. I'll make that a History Minute on June 24th as it is interesting that the race was 150 laps constituting 37.5 miles. I think I walked that far on my last hike with my church group.

I do apologize for the error in reporting this. I do get things wrong at times and I truly appreciate all of you who watch over these History Minutes to make sure we get it right. This history is important and we must, repeat MUST get it right. So thank you so much.

I'd say that was pretty amazing to have 13 consecutive races in NASCAR's top series each with a different winner. I have no stats, but I'm sure we don't see that very often. Pretty amazing stuff, Tim. Thanks to you and Robert.

The only other one I could think of was Texas Motor Speedway having 12 different winners until Jeff Burton became the first repeat winner after beating Matt Kensethat the 2007 spring race.

Hartsville Bump