For Tim Leeming
In memory of his Uncle Bobby, d. October 29, 2013
The Grand National teams readied for the next to last race of the Petty-blue dominated season of 1967 with their final superspeedway race of the season - the American 500 at Rockingham.
Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers
Two storylines of the race were:
- Could Richard Petty get back to his winning ways? He'd won 27 races in the season - including 10 in a row AND the Carolina 500 at Rockingham in June. But his winning streak ended a week earlier at Charlotte with an engine failure and a victory by Buddy Baker.
- Bobby Allison entered the race with an unexpected pairing with Fred Lorenzen in a Holman Moody prepared Ford.
THE storyline of the race, however, was the announced entry by Formula 1 great and 1965 Indy 500 winner, Jimmy Clark. Source: 10-24-1967 Spartanburg Herald.
The story behind Clark's Rockingham entry is excerpted from this post at Formula1Blog.com :
On October 22, 1967, Jimmy Clark won his twenty-fourth Grand Prix, tying him for the all time lead with Juan Manuel Fangio. While vacationing in the Bahamas immediately afterwards, Clark received a phone call from NASCAR founder, Bill France... Upon showing interest in what France had to say, Jimmy then received a Western Union telegram from John Holman of the ultra successful Holman & Moody team, guaranteeing him a seat in one of their stock cars for the coming weekends race.
Jimmy immediately accepted the offer, though the original idea was for Jimmys fellow vacationer, Jackie Stewart, to share the drive. Stewart declined, but luckily there was yet a third holiday maker amongst the Grand Prix fraternity; Clark would share a Ford Fairlane at Rockingham... with Jochen Rindt! The F1 entries did not stop there, however. Italian Ludovico Scarfiotti, former Ferrari ace and winner of the previous seasons Italian Grand Prix at Monza, would also be on hand attempting to qualify in a Plymouth.
Clark was apparently very humble and respectful about trying his hand in NASCAR. He looked forward to matching his skills against The King, the best in NASCAR, and Super Tex, the overpowering figure of Indy Car.
Source: Spartanburg Herald
Qualifying for the pole was held on Wednesday before Sunday's race. A driver who became very accustomed to grabbing the top spot over the next decade did so at Rockingham - David Pearson in the #17 H&M Ford. Source: Spartanburg Herald
Paul Goldsmith top the speed charts on Thursday's second round of qualifying as Clark continued to find the balance with the set-up of his car.
Source: News And Courier
Things went from bad to worse for Clark during Friday's 3rd round of qualifying. Not only was his set-up way off, but he wrecked the car.
Source: News and Courier
But Clark's team repaired the car, and he was indeed able to qualify for the race.
Source: Spartanburg Herald
When the green dropped, Pearson took advantage of his top starting spot and led the first lap. However, he soon surrendered it. A hodge podge of drivers spot the lead for a varying number of laps from lap 2 through the middle stages of the race. In a race ultimately dominated by Fords, King Richard was still able to lead a chunk of 58 laps in his Plymouth. But about 190 laps into the 500 lap event, Petty oddly doinked the rear of Pearson's Ford during routine pit stops. The accident caved in the radiator of the 43, and the Level Crew gang loaded Ol' Blue to try again the next race.
Red Farmer made a rare Grand National start and spun. Frank Warren had to swerve to miss him. Farmer made a nice recovery and finished 11th.
Cale Yarborough led about 20% of the race in the Wood Brother #21 Ford - but in small batches of laps during the race. He ultimately lost an engine and finished 16th after starting 4th.
Pearson continued on after the incident with Petty and finished 2nd. But he was no match for Allison in Lorenzen's Ford. Bobby lapped the field and won the race by a lap over Pearson and 3rd place Goldsmith. Everyone else was 2 or more laps down. Foyt made a great showing in his Rockingham debut with a 4th place finish. Fellow Indy and USAC stock car driver, Gordon Johncock, also made a great showing as an interloper with a 5th place finish in Bud Moore's Ford.
As for Clark's weekend of qualifying and racing, here is another excerpt from this post at Formula1Blog.com .
Practice and qualifying for the Sunday race began on Wednesday, October 25th, though drivers could make an attempt to get into the field right up until Saturday. Jimmy spent the first couple of days learning the car before making his first qualifying run on Friday. As he entered the first turn on the first of four flying qualifying laps, the right front wheel came completely off of the car, sending the Scot hard into the outside wall. Though Jimmy was uninjured, the Ford was badly damaged.
The Holman-Moody team spent all night repairing the car and, on Saturday, Clark was able to put the car 25th on a grid of 44 starters. Scarfiotti had qualified a very respectable 29th in his lone NASCAR outing, but the Plymouth would fail scrutineering due to insufficient ground clearance and he would not be allowed to take the start. Just a week following his season-ending win in the Mexican Grand Prix, however, the two time World Champion and 1965 Indianapolis 500 winner, Jimmy Clark and his co-driver and future World Champion, Jochen Rindt were now going to be stock car drivers.
The plan was for Clark to hand the Fairlane over to Rindt halfway through the American 500, but the Austrian would never get to see a race lap. Clark had steadily worked his way up to 12th position by lap 144 when the Fords 427 engine blew, leaving the pair in 30th position. Curiously enough, NASCAR regular Bobby Allison would win the event in another Holman-Moody Team Ford; the same car that Andretti had won that years Daytona 500 with.
Jimmy Clark
And at speed racing Wendell Scott.
G.C. Spencer made this third and final start in a #42 Petty Enterprises Plymouth - all in 1967. He was successful in his 1st start - qualifying 4th in the Southern 500 and finishing 3rd. His 2nd start was pretty good too - a 5th place finish in the National 500 at Charlotte. Sadly, the streak ended at Rockingham. He qualified a decent 17th but a wreck relegated him to 37th in the 44-car field.
Race report from 10-30-67 Spartanburg Herald
The happy winner
Bobby in victory lane - from Dennis Andrews collection
Allison and Lorenzen were obviously elated about their collective win.
Source: 10-30-67 Spartanburg Herald
As for Clark, he left disappointed yet proud of his accomplishment and respectful of the racing done by NASCAR's elite. Had he not been killed less than a year later, its not unreasonable to think he would have been invited to participate in the inaugural IROC series of 1973-74.
Source: News And Courier
Fin | Driver | Sponsor / Owner | Car |
1 | Bobby Allison | Holman-Moody | '67 Ford |
2 | David Pearson | Holman-Moody | '67 Ford |
3 | Paul Goldsmith | Nichels Engineering (Ray Nichels) | '67 Plymouth |
4 | A.J. Foyt | Banjo Matthews | '67 Ford |
5 | Gordon Johncock | Bud Moore | '67 Mercury |
6 | Bud Moore | Activated Angels (A.J. King) | '67 Dodge |
7 | John Sears | L.G. DeWitt | '66 Ford |
8 | Tiny Lund | Lyle Stelter | '66 Ford |
9 | Elmo Langley | Elmo Langley / Henry Woodfield | '66 Ford |
10 | Bill Seifert | Bill Seifert | '65 Ford |
11 | Red Farmer | Henley Gray | '66 Ford |
12 | Ed Negre | G.C. Spencer | '67 Plymouth |
13 | Dick Hutcherson | East Tenn. Motor Co. (Bondy Long) | '67 Ford |
14 | LeeRoy Yarbrough | Junior Johnson | '67 Ford |
15 | Whitey Gerken | Whitey Gerkin | '67 Ford |
16 | Cale Yarborough | Wood Brothers | '67 Ford |
17 | George Davis | George Davis | '67 Chevrolet |
18 | Wendell Scott | Wendell Scott | '66 Ford |
19 | Buddy Baker | Ray Fox | '67 Dodge |
20 | J.T. Putney | Buck Baker | '66 Ford |
21 | Neil Castles | Neil Castles | '65 Dodge |
22 | Darel Dieringer | Cotton Owens | '67 Dodge |
23 | Clyde Lynn | Clyde Lynn | '66 Ford |
24 | Friday Hassler | Red Sharp | '66 Chevrolet |
25 | Donnie Allison | Jon Thorne | '67 Ford |
26 | Bill Champion | Bill Champion | '66 Ford |
27 | Don White | Nichels Engineering (Ray Nichels) | '67 Dodge |
28 | Richard Petty | Petty Enterprises | '67 Plymouth |
29 | Frank Warren | Harold Rhodes | '66 Chevrolet |
30 | Jimmy Clark | Competition Proven CP (Holman-Moody) | '67 Ford |
31 | Bobby Johns | Shorty Johns | '66 Chevrolet |
32 | Charlie Glotzbach | K & K Insurance (Nord Krauskopf) | '65 Dodge |
33 | James Sears | L.G. DeWitt | '66 Ford |
34 | Doug Cooper | Buck Baker | '67 Oldsmobile |
35 | Jim Paschal | Friedkin Enterprises (Tom Friedkin) | '67 Plymouth |
36 | Bobby Isaac | K & K Insurance (Nord Krauskopf) | '67 Dodge |
37 | G.C. Spencer | Petty Enterprises | '67 Plymouth |
38 | James Hylton | Econo Wash (Bud Hartje) | '65 Dodge |
39 | Wayne Smith | Archie Smith | '66 Chevrolet |
40 | Roy Tyner | Truett Rodgers | '66 Chevrolet |
41 | Jabe Thomas | Don Robertson | '67 Ford |
42 | Jack Bowsher | Jack Bowsher | '67 Ford |
43 | Bobby Wawak | Bobby Wawak | '65 Plymouth |
44 | Earl Brooks | Don Culpepper | '66 Ford |
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 10/30/17 10:23:16AM