after 45 years worth McMillion pontiac 83 who finish 5th at hillsborough 1968 will be at 65th anniversary occoneechee /orange speedway spet.28,2013

ray lamm
@ray-lamm
11 years ago
214 posts

updated by @ray-lamm: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
11 years ago
9,137 posts

Ray, that is just way too cool to see Worth's #83 NASCAR Grand National car being pulled out of the woods where it has sat for 45 years. Thank you so much for posting.




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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
LAVERNE ZACHARY
@laverne-zachary
11 years ago
117 posts

Great job Ray.I am as excited as you.To actually have a car that ran and finished 5th in the final race at at Hillsborough is going to be fantastic!! Thanks to everyone involved in making this possible

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
11 years ago
9,137 posts

In 1962, Bunkie Blackburn wheeled a #83 Worth McMillion Pontiac to a 4th place finish in the National 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.




--
"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
Tim Leeming
@tim-leeming
11 years ago
3,119 posts

Just more excitement to add to the event which is always excellent. I'm so looking forward to being there.




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What a change! It's been awhile since I've checked in and I'm quite surprised. It may take me awhile to figure it our but first look it's really great.

G.T. Nolen
@gt-nolen
11 years ago
17 posts

I am so happy to see Worth get a little recognition. I onlywish he was able to be at the show. I have a couple of photos of the car to add, one of the photos shows the car at Martinsville in the fall of '68. I believe this may have been the last race the car was run in. It has the yellow paint scheme with no sponsor. The other photo was taken when the car was new, in the infieldof the old Fairgrounds Raceway at Strawberry Hill, now RIR. The car was originally white with red lettering.Look closely at this photo,wonder how many people remember the old Oak tree that stood in the third turn of the infield??Brings back lots of memories

Oh yeah, that's Larry Manning in the 66 Chevrolet

LAVERNE ZACHARY
@laverne-zachary
11 years ago
117 posts

From Southern Motorsports September 1968.The last Hillsboro race

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
11 years ago
9,137 posts

G.T. - I well remember that old oak tree in the Richmond infield, as well as the trees behind the backstretch wall that accounted for numerous broken arms and legs during Richmond races, requiring caution flags to send out the ambulance when a spectator fell and was injured.

It just about killed Paul Sawyer to have to cut down that tree, but for many years he saved the little cedar tree down near turn 1 where the old victory lane stood.

I sent a link to Ray's video to my buddy Frank Buhrman in Pennsylvania and he recalled us as teenagers back in the 60s talking to Worth about a sheet metal change on the #83. I got this note back from Frank last night after he viewed the video:

That is absolutely unbelievable. I remember in the spring race at
Richmond the car's last year when NASCAR wasn't impressed by Worth's
makeshift effort to upgrade the car's sheet metal to use it for
another year. "What happened?" one of us asked. "Too old," he said.

The car started off as a '65 Pontiac, replacing McMillion's '64 model,
which he ran as a second car from time to time (#80, wasn't it?). I
wonder what it's overall record was?

Thanks for sending this one.

Of course, you, yourself, G.T. wheeled that #80 Pontiac Frank recalls numerous times.




--
"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
G.T. Nolen
@gt-nolen
11 years ago
17 posts

Of course, you, yourself, G.T. wheeled that #80 Pontiac Frank recalls numerous times.

I did, I don't want to distract anything from Worth at a time when he is getting some recognition but he let me drive the car quite a bit during the 65, 66, 67 time frame. Sometimes he drove the '64 and I drove the '65 and sometimes the other way around, just depended on which motor was in which car. Worth was my hero and still is. My Dad was theABC officer in Amelia and when he had a stoke and retired in1960 Worth got his job. I was a 19 year old kid helping Worth in the shop andwhen I turned 21he let me start driving thecar some. To this day I don't know why he did it but I will always be indebted to him. He taught me everything I know (which isn't a lot!!) and he gave me a chance to do something that very few people have ever had the chance todo and that's drive a race car in the GN division.

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
11 years ago
9,137 posts

G.T. - my friend, Frank - whose memory is much better than mine - had this recollection when he saw your photo of Worth and Larry Manning in the #66 side-by-side at MartinsvIlle:

Couldn't have asked for a better shot than of him racing Larry
Manning. (That was the car he was later accused of having stolen from
Wayne Smith AND the car we saw him run in a late model race at
Langley, when Bill Champion also entered his #10 GN Ford.)




--
"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
G.T. Nolen
@gt-nolen
11 years ago
17 posts

Here are a few more, these were taken before and during the Richmond race on May 15th, 1966. Worth drove the # 80 '64 Pontiac and I drove the # 83 '65 Pontiac that day. He finished 10th and I finished 12th.

One photo was taken before the race of me with the '65, another was taken waiting to qualify, that's Curtis Turner in Smokey's '65 Chevrolet behind me. Look at the detail in that photo, reck'n the MRN guys could deal with that kind of radio equipment? LOL

The other photo is Worth during the race in the 80 car beside Turner

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
11 years ago
9,137 posts

Awesome photos.

The radio equipment shot looks like it was taken from the long gone pagoda. Ray Lamm & I were trying the other year to remember when it disappeared.

Directly behind the Richmond flagstand in your color photo is the old concrete scoring platform where the scorers sat on park benches from the fairgrounds and where Bobby Allison almost landed on top of wife, Judy in the 1967 Capital City 300 as seen in the photo found by our member TMC-Chase:




--
"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
11 years ago
9,137 posts

G.T. - looks like both you and Curtis were wearing short sleeve sports shirts to drive in when I blow up the pit road photo.




--
"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
11 years ago
9,137 posts

Just realized that's the tail end of Tiny Lund's orange #55 Lyle Stelter/ Hallmark Homes 1964 Ford across from your #83 on pit road.




--
"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
G.T. Nolen
@gt-nolen
11 years ago
17 posts

Yeah, I never had a drivers uniform. Oh, I forgot about the Bobby Allison deal with the scores stand.....my wife was in that scorers stand also. She told me after the race that she had no idea where anybody finished. She said clip boards went flying in the air!!!

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
11 years ago
9,137 posts

I guess it's a miracle everybody scoring didn't get killed.




--
"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
11 years ago
9,137 posts

1966 Richmond 250

NASCAR Grand National race number 19 of 49
Sunday, May 15, 1966 at Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds, Richmond, VA
250 laps on a .500 mile dirt track (125.0 miles)

Fin St # Driver Sponsor / Owner Car Laps Money Status Led
1 4 6 David Pearson Southside Dodge (Cotton Owens) '64 Dodge 250 2,050 running 216
2 10 43 Richard Petty Plymouth (Petty Enterprises) '66 Plymouth 248 1,250 running 9
3 6 19 J.T. Putney J.T. Putney '66 Chevrolet 244 950 running 0
4 7 0 Darel Dieringer Reid Shaw '64 Ford 242 700 running 0
5 12 99 Paul Goldsmith Nichels Engineering (Ray Nichels) '65 Plymouth 241 550 running 0
6 9 4 John Sears L.G. DeWitt '64 Ford 241 375 running 0
7 20 86 Neil Castles Buck Baker '65 Plymouth 231 300 running 0
8 18 97 Henley Gray Henley Gray '66 Ford 219 250 running 0
9 15 20 Clyde Lynn Clyde Lynn '64 Ford 216 200 running 0
***10 23 80 Worth McMillion Brauer Pontiac Co. (Allen McMillion) '64 Pontiac 216 200 running 0
11 27 9 Roy Tyner Truett Rodgers '66 Chevrolet 216 175 running 0
***12 24 83 G.T. Nolen Allen McMillion '66 Pontiac 215 175 running 0
13 19 70 J.D. McDuffie J.D. McDuffie '64 Ford 207 175 running 0
14 22 34 Wendell Scott Wendell Scott '65 Ford 200 150 running 0
15 16 65 Larry Manning '65 Ford 175 150 engine 0
16 1 59 Tom Pistone Tom Pistone '64 Ford 151 150 engine 22
17 3 64 Elmo Langley Woodfield Ford (Elmo Langley / Henry Woodfield) '64 Ford 137 125 differential 3
18 8 87 Buck Baker Buck Baker '66 Oldsmobile 125 125 engine 0
19 25 30 Bob Derrington '64 Ford 114 125 engine 0
20 2 48 James Hylton Econo Wash (Bud Hartje) '65 Dodge 101 125 engine 0
21 26 60 Ernest Eury Joan Petre '64 Chevrolet 93 125 a frame 0
22 17 69 Mack Hanbury '64 Ford 28 125 driveshaft 0
***23 13 22 Curtis Turner Smokey Yunick '65 Chevrolet 27 125 engine 0
***24 14 55 Tiny Lund Lyle Stelter '64 Ford 27 125 engine 0
25 29 95 Gene Cline Gene Cline '64 Ford 24 125 differential 0
26 21 72 Bill Champion Bill Champion '64 Ford 19 125 overheating 0
27 5 02 Doug Cooper Bob Cooper '65 Plymouth 14 125 transmission 0
28 11 06 Johnny Wynn John McCarthy '64 Mercury 8 125 oil pressure 0
29 28 45 Jim Tatum Bill Seifert '64 Ford 6 125 overheating 0
30 30 93 Bill Seifert Harry Neal '64 Ford 1 125 oil pressure 0

Lap leader breakdown:




--
"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
Frank Craig
@frank-craig
11 years ago
71 posts

That is what it is all about.You feel it in your heart! The old soldier comes home !!

Dennis Andrews
@dennis-andrews
11 years ago
835 posts

Great news Ray, looking forward to seeing the car at Occoneechee. I had the pleasure of meeting Worth a couple of years ago.

Dennis  Garrett
@dennis-garrett
11 years ago
560 posts

G.T. Nolen,
Thanks for posted the old race photos.
I like to enlarged old race photos and see what's in the them.

photo 1. tommy.04 Martinsville enlarged photo
#66 has an big green painted Chevy emblem on rear fender. #66 number and the wheels were painted green. Could the photo colors are faded??
On the left side of back gate is flying the big red/white/red "FIRESTONE" race tire flag.
On the right side of back gate is flying the big blue/yellow "GOODYEAR" race tire flag.
Boxer bushes plants that was planted around the outside the concrete wall and back wooded fence areas and the grandstand areas

.

photo 2. tommy.07 Sept 1966 Richmond enlarged photo
I remember the Oak tree located near the 3rd turn and back gate of old Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds (1966) race track.
At the April 13,1969,Richmond 500 race, Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway (1969).
At least a group of 4 race fans per pick-up truck or car was allowed through the race track backgate and into infield to watched the race.

I don't know the cost or remember being given an race ticket for watching the race from infield.
Pick-up trucks was allow sheets of plywood/2x4 wooden scaffold build no higher than its Pick-up truck's cab to stand on and watched the race from.

Car race fans could used sheets of plywood on car roof, car hood, or car trunk to stand on and watched the race from.
My father's 1958 Chevy pick-up with it's home-made plywood/2x4 wooden scaffold got to the backgate before sunrise and got an prime viewing spot.
It was located at back infield fence area under the shade of dang old Oak tree.
While my parents and cousin was watching the race from he wooden scaffold, I was trying take photo slides pictures on my new 35MM YASCHIA Japan camera.
I found out will quick that I "suck real bad" as first time photogragher that didn't know how to used an new camera and didn't have enough film.
I had (1) roll of (36) 35MM color slide film that you have to make sure it is being loaded properly or you will get a long blue/black strip of undeveloped film from the Photo Dept.
So when the (36) 35MM color slides came back, I found out first (5) messed up and last (5) messed up.
Over half (14) photos of the remaining (26) 35MM color slides came back with that dang old Oak tree in them.
I have race cars racing in/out of that dang old Oak tree. LOL
I was so excited to take my first race car photos, I didn't think about that dang old Oak tree in front of me.LOL
I'm thinking of Photo Shop David Pearson's #17 number on the photo of dang old Oak tree and said it won the race!! LOL

Thanks for any information or photos posted.
Dennis Garrett
Richmond,Va. USA

Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
11 years ago
9,137 posts

A great Richmond infield oak tree memory, Dennis!




--
"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"