pictures

Hey guys happy to be a member. My name is Billy Mann and my dad is Coleman Mann . As they used to say Coleman Mann from Powhatan. He owned and drove the 00 stock car in the late sixtys and seventy's. The car was also driven by Bill Dennis and Al Grinnan. I do have pictures of the cars etc. but years my dad lent a sports writer lots of pics and they were never returned.. "LONG STORY". I was just looking to see if anyone had pics of any of his 00 cars. He would love to see them. Thank you guys and love that you have this club... Please let me know. You can also call or text me at (757) 376-8467. Again thanks, Billy

Billy, I feel your pain about loaning photos that you never got back. That happened to me with all my photos and movie film from 1964 - 1997.

I well remember watching your father at Southside Speedway and we always loved the way P.A. announcers Eddie Anderson and Joe Kelly would dramatically stretch the introduction of " Colemannn Mannnnnnnn frommmmmmm Powhatannnnnnn !"

Saw your dad make a really strong run in his '57 Chevy on June 26, 1971 at Old Dominion Speedway against the Chevelles in the big Bill Bogley Gold Trophy race. I'm posting that result below from Ultimate Racing History.

Al Grinnan driving your dad's #00 Chevelle was always a crowd favorite. If I'm not mistaken, it was your dad's car that he or Al had the gorilla likeness put on the car up near the front fender with the name "Sonny" below it, referring to Sonny Hutchins!

Below is a photo posted by our RR member Brian Yezierski of Al Grinnan in your dad's car at Old Dominion Speedway, year unknown:

Below is a photo posted by RR member Tom Knox taken at Martinsville on October 14, 1974. We wondered if this car was driven by Al and if it were your dad's car?

Below are the results from the 1971 Bill Bogley Gold Trophy Race at Old Dominion. That was a heck of a field of cars. Your dad is shown with a top-10 finish in 7th place against all those Chevelles and that Sam Sommers Ford out of Georgia. Your dad finished 14 spots ahead of the only other 1957 Chevy in the field... Harry Gant of Taylorsville, NC in 21st place!

Bill Bogley Gold Trophy

NASCAR Late Model Sportsman race
Old Dominion Speedway, Manassas, VA
June 26, 1971
267 laps on 0.325 mile paved oval; 100.125 miles

Fin St Driver # Owner Car Laps Money Status Laps Led
1 Ray Hendrick 11 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle 267 1,500 running
2 Jimmy Hensley 63 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle
3 Ted Hairfield 04 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle
4 Paul Radford 44 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle
5 Lennie Pond 1va 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle
6 Charlie Wierman 65 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle
7 Coleman Mann 00 1957 Chevrolet
8 Sonny Hutchins 01 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle
9 Joe Westerman 9 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle
10 Bobby Ballentine 21 Ford
11 Melvin Bradley 39 1965 Pontiac
12 Joe Thurman 5 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle
13 Rhea Greenwell 32 1963 Ford
14 Bob Glass 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle
15 Vincent McWhirt 02 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle
16 Ronnie Fones 79 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle
17 Bubba Tatum 27 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle
18 Benny Kerley 70 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle
19 Sam Sommers 27 1964 Ford
20 Carlton Coleman 7 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle
21 Harry Gant 77 1957 Chevrolet
22 Bobby Wilcher 66 1964 Mercury
23 Eddie Card 21 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle
24 Tommy Ellis 4X 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle
25 Red Farmer 26 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle
26 Satch Worley 21 Chevrolet Chevelle
27 Herman Wells 99 Chevrolet Chevelle
28 Joe Faulk 40 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle
29 Jimmy Mairs 0 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle
30 Reds Kagle 02 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle

Race Purse: $ 25,000

I sure hope you can come up with more photos. Will be interested to hear if the photo from Martinsvill is your dad's car. Welcome to RacersReunion.

Also... Billy...

Photographer Ray Lamm from Richmond is a member here and probably took thousands of photos at Southside during that time period. He may be able to help.

Here's an address for Southside P.A. announcer and former promoter Joe Kelly & wife, Ruth who may have photos:

Joe & Ruth Kelly

P.O. Box 9704

Henrico, Virginia 23228

Billy... here's an Associated Press news clip from 1973 that ran in the Fredericksburg newspaper. I'll try to find more in a few days. I'm keeping two grandsons today and gonna watch Carolina Panthers football and next week is shaping up as very busy. I'm confident there are lots of news clips out there.

By the way... it is wonderful to have you as a member here at RacersReunion. Your family is real stock car racing royalty.

its great to have you join rr i remember your dads cars racing at wilson nc they were always a threat to win when they showed up and thanks for the post

Al Grinnan wins the 1973 NASCAR Virginia State Late Model Sportsman Championship driving for Coleman Mann of Powhatan, Virginia:

A few more clips from the Fredericksburg (Va.) Free Lance Star chronicling the exploits of stock car drivers Al Grinnan and Bill Dennis in the Coleman Mann Chevelle in the early 1970s:

From June 1973:

From April 1974:

From April 1975:

From June 1975:

From June 1974:

In 2009, NASCAR did a feature news release on champion, Phillip Morris. The release was accompanied by a table showing various NASCAR Virginia State Champions through the years.

The tables show your dad, Coleman Mann as 1969 Virginia State NASCAR Hobby Division Champion and his championships in the Late Model Sportsman division as car owner with Al Grinnan and Bill Dennis in the 70s. There are many great names in the tables that I remember watching at Southside, South Boston, Langley and Old Dominion:

PAST NASCAR VIRGINIA STATE CHAMPIONS

All-American Whelen Series

Year	Driver	Hometown
2008	Philip Morris	Ruckersville, Va.
2007	Philip Morris	Ruckersville, Va.

Late Model Sportsman

Year	Driver	Hometown
1981	Geoff Bodine	Pleasant Garden, N.C.
1980	Sonny Hutchins	Richmond, Va.
1979	Bill Dennis	Richmond, Va.
1978	Tommy Ellis	Richmond, Va.
1977	Tommy Ellis	Richmond, Va.
1976	Bill Dennis	Richmond, Va.
1975	Bill Dennis	Richmond, Va.
1974	Tommy Ellis	Richmond, Va.
1973	Al Grinnan	Fredricksburg, Va.
1972	Lennie Pond	Petersburg, Va.
1971	Lennie Pond	Petersburg, Va.
1970	Paul Radford	Ferrum, Va.
1969	Sonny Hutchins	Richmond, Va.
1968	Carlton Coleman	Fredricksburg, Va.

Modified

Year	Driver	Hometown
1981	Richie Evans	Rome N.Y.
1980	Maynard Troyer	Rochester, N.Y.
1979	Paul Radford	Ferrum, Va.
1978	Buster. Walters	Rockbridge Baths, Va.
1969	Bill Hensley	Ridgeway, Va.
1968	Ray Hendrick	Richmond, Va.

Grand American Stock Car

Year	Driver	Hometown
1980	Neil Bonnett	Hueytown, Ala.

Limited Sportsman

Year	Driver	Hometown
1981	George L. Smith Jr.	Chesterfield, Va.
1980	Jimmy Lawson	Lynchburg, Va.
1979	Louie Littlepage	Richmond, Va.
1978	Roy Groome	Sandston, Va.
1977	Charlie Ford Jr.	Richmond, Va.
1976	Jerry Taylor	Richmond, Va.
1975	Jerry Taylor	Richmond, Va.
1974	Ronnie Stone	Midlothian, Va.
1973	Lester Gupton	Hampton, Va.
1962	Robert Berrier	Winston-Salem, N.C.

Late Model Stock Car

Year	Driver	Hometown
1981	Charles Doyle Jr.	Norfolk, Va.

Hobby

Year	Driver	Hometown
1974	Bennie David	Canton, N.C.
1973	Richard Rice	Mars Hill, N.C.
1972	Jimmy Scott	Amelia, N.C.
1971	Wyman Buel	Woodbridge, Va.
1970	Wyman Buel	Woodbridge, Va.
1969	Coleman Mann	Powhatan, Va.
1968	John Sampson	Vienna, Va.
1967	James Crow	Williamsburg, Va.
1966	Harvey Farmer	Sandston, Va.
1965	Harvey Farmer	Sandston, Va.
1964	Charles Shank	Newport, Va.
1963	Warren Green Jr.	Richmond, Va.
1962	Johnny Reece	Rocky Mount, Va.
1961	Dickie Layne	Richmond, Va.
1960	Johnny Reece	Rocky Mount, Va.

Sportsman

Year	Driver	Hometown
1967	Jimmy Parker	Madison Heights, Va.
1966	Frank Burnham	South Mills, N.C.
1965	Lennie Pond	Ettrick, Va.
1964	Dennis Zimmerman	Glastonbury, Conn.
1963	Lionel Johnson	Unionville, Va.
1962	Joe Bill Adams	Mt. Airy, N.C.
1961	Clay Eastridge	Fredericksburg, Va.
1960	Runt Harris	Richmond, Va.
1959	Wendell Scott	Danville, Va.
1958	Wes Henley	Hylas, Va.
1957	Ned Jarrett	Newton, N.C.
1956	Gordon Snead	Roanoke, Va.
1954	Bud Palmer	Nassau, N.Y.
1953	Bud Palmer	Nassau, N.Y.
1952	Pepper Martin	South Norfolk, Va.

Billy, there was an interesting post in August 2013 on the Race Rap message board by Emanuel Zervakis' son, Butch Zervakis about a Chevelle he built for your dad driven by Al Grinnan and Bill Dennis:

Posted by: Butch Zervakis on August 11, 2013 at 7:05pm
In Reply to: A question for Butch Z. by Old Bars Man on August 11, 2013 at 5:10pm

my dad (Emanuel Zervakis), Melvin Bradley and Billy Oglesby started building front end conversion kits for chevelles, that's when we started selling Stock Car Products parts from Calif, the next move we started building complete cars, while doing so an engineer named Garland Rickets came on board and we starting building cars with planned roll centers and spindles that we designed that are still being used in cup cars today, during that time we meet Greg Deeth and he came to work for us and went on to start building his own cars, then add Tommy Ellis to the list of chassis builders, our chassis design was so successful Mike Laughlin used it for a base line of tubular chassis that is the standard that is used in cup racing now, the first late model my dad and myself built together was a 1965 chevelle to help promote late models at Southside Speedway to attract a younger fan base that didn't know what a modified was, Ray was the first driver that drove that car, Bill Dennis, Melvin Bradley, Ted Hairfield and then Sonny Hutchins all drove that Zero One car to many wins, our car building really did well to due to Sonny winning so many races and when we built a new car for a customer that felt like we wasn't giving them the same thing, we would get Sonny to drive it and the stop watch would prove that they had a good car, the 57 chevy you are talking about was my Limited car that came from Jack Ingram, that was my first car, my second car was a 66 chevelle I built all by myself to prove to my dad that I could build a complete car.

Our cars were so good that a car we built a car for Coleman Mann that Bill Dennis and Al Grinnan drove gave us fits while driving that car which made it easy to sell cars

thanks dave for the additional info you posted it was very intresting i allways reading about cars and drivers that i watched race