Other September 4 Southern 500 winners

1961 - Nelson Stacy

From Ray Lamm collection

1967 - Richard Petty

A re-run of my blog post about this race from 2011:

http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2011/09/september-4-this-day-in-petty-history.html

Sam McQuagg - "and he walked away" - Photo sequence from Ray Lamm collection

Dick Hutcherson close up view ( Lamm )

Sam: Hit, flip, skid, stop, exit. No big deal. ( Lamm )

Leftovers ( Lamm )

from Ray Lamm collection

1972 - Bobby Allison

from Colbert Seagraves collection

1978 - Cale Yarborough

King saddling up in only his third race in a Chevy (from Tim Leeming collection)

RP leading Coo Coo Marlin (from Jeff Gilder collection)

The King watches from the pits as Dave Marcis races the 43 in relief. (from Jeff Gilder collection)

Some video footage.

1967

1972

1978

Some other trivia nuggets from these races:

• 1961 - Jim Paschal -4th in Julian Petty's Pontiac
• 1967 - G.C. Spencer finished 3rd in a 2nd Petty Plymouth (REALLY need a pic of G.C.'s time in a Petty car)
• 1972 - Buddy Baker's final start in the #11 STP Petty Dodge before moving the #71 K&K team
• 1972 - Bobby Isaac's last start in the K&K Dodge
• 1972 - Fred Lorenzen finished 4th - his final career top 5
• 1978 - Terry Labonte's 1st Cup start
• 1978 - Dale Earnhardt's first Darlington start - in Will Cronkrite's #96 Ford
• 1978 - King Richard finishes 3rd despite TWO relief driving stints by Dave Marcis. Three driver swaps after the start, and the 43 still finishes 3rd. Amazing.

1961 - Nelson Stacy leading over Marvin Panch (from Jerry Bushmire collection)

Awesome posts Chase! Awesome. Love the pics and the videos.

Remember earlier this year at the (World) 600 when a TV camera cable fell and was snagged by several cars? Well, it wasn't the first time. In the 78 500, Neil Bonnett snagged a TV cable along pit road after contact with DW. (begin at 5:30 of the video if it doesn't start there automatically.)

Also in the 1978 Southern 500, RR's D.K. Ulrich was involved in an accident with David Pearson and Grant Adcox. The car was towed to the garage, and the crew tried to cover it. Not so fast said NASCAR. They found a nitrous system on board hidden where sheet metal once was. D.K. was bounced for the remainder of the 1978 season. Annnnd his appeal was unsuccessful. Source: Spartanburg Herald Journal

As a follow-up, I guess D.K. let the whole deal roll off his back and waited for another day. But he got busted yet again at North Wilkesboro in September 1986. And yep, he lost the rest of THAT season too.

That D.K. accident happened right under my nose coming out of the old turn 2. My wife's cousin's husband was the South Carolina manager for Gate Oil Company which operated large convenience stores / gas stations. He lived in Summerville, SC and had been given 4 box seat tickets by Winston to the old manufacturer boxes atop the old backstretch stands. My brother-in-law, wife's uncle and myself drove down to Summerville from Wilson, NC and spent the night, then drove over to Darlington Labor Day morning.

I vaguely remember Winston supplying beverages and a box lunch. That was the only time I ever sat on the backside, but those boxes had a great view. I remember Jim Foster down in Daytona telling me after ISC bought the track that those backstretch stands and boxes should have been condemned and that it was a wonder they hadn't collapsed one year and killed every spectator in them.

The King had to surrender his ride to Dave Marcis a couple of times during the 1978 race because he was still nursing rib injuries suffered in a wreck 2 races earlier when he wrecked his Monte Carlo in its debut at Michigan.

Coincidentally, Marcis spelled Petty a year earlier in the 1977 Southern 500 after Petty also raced with injured ribs. He suffered the injury that year in a wreck a week earlier at Bristol. Marcis was available because car owner Roger Penske had withdrawn Marcis' regular CAM2 ride from several races. - Gadsen Times