Racing History Minute - November 5, 1967

The half-mile paved track known as Asheville-Weaverville Speedway was the scene of several memorable events in the 50s and 60s. Today we are going back to November 5, 1967. The 1967 season belonged to Richard Petty. He won 27 of 46 races as I recall and won 10 in a row at one point. The subject of today's Minute, the 1967 "Western North Carolina 500" would go down as a bashing battle between Richard Petty and Bobby Allison.

Allison captured the pole in a Holman-Moody Ford with a speed of 90.407 mph. Richard Petty would start his Plymouth on the outside front row, just a tick of the stop watch slower. David Pearson put another Holman-Moody Ford in third starting place, with Dick Hutcherson in yet another Holman-Moody entry rolled off fourth. Cale Yarborough in a Bud Moore Mercury would round out the top five.

Allison led the first 121 laps before giving way to Hutcherson for 2 laps. It was then David Pearson who would stay out front until lap 214. Petty took over on lap 214 and the last half of the race was a battle for position with the lead changing often between Allison, Petty, and Pearson. In fact, the lead changed hands 22 times during the race with the main battle raging between Petty and Allison.

From the very start of the race, neither Bobby or Richard would give the other an inch. It was paint-swapping,, rubbing is racing mentality. With 22 laps to the checkers, Richard made a move to the inside of Allison's car that sent Allison into the marbles and almost resulted in a dance with the guard rail,but Bobby gathered it in and set said after the blue Plymouth disappearing down the straight.

With just sven laps remaining, Bobby caught Richard going into the turn and muscled his way to the inside to absolutely smash Richard's Plymouth towards the rail. Just as Allison had done earlier, Petty regained control and took off in hot pursuit. When the checkered flag fell, Petty was only 1 car length behind the Allison Ford. There was no chance to retaliate which would probably have been the scenario had the two entered the final turn together.

After the race Richard said "I guess when you've wont as much as I have, everyone takes pot shots at you". Allison responded with "We were racing for the win. He (Petty) put me out of the groove more than one and I did the same thing to him". The pit crews of Petty and Allison were ready to fight it out with fists and tire irons to settle the matter in the pits that wasn't settled on the track.

The crew chief for Allison was bubbling with enthusaism over the win as this made two races for which he had served as Allison's crew chief and the team had won both races. Oh, that crew chief? Fred Lorenzen. Lorenzen said "as far as I'm concerned, Allison has a life-time job".

There were only 3,500 spectators in attendance on that very chilly afternoon. After all, it was November in the North Carolina mountains outside of Asheville. Of the 30 starters, only six cars finished the race. In fact, the car finishing in 8th place was 150 behind the winner, but was still running. The 5th and 6th place "finishers" did not actually finish the race.

Finishing Order:

1. Bobby Allison, Holman-Moody Ford, winning $3,250.00

2. Richard Petty, Petty Enterprises Plymouth, winning $2,300.00

3. David Pearson, Holman-Moody Ford, winning $ 1,500.00

4. Dick Hutcherson, Holman-Moody Ford, winning $900.00 (10 laps down)

5. Friday Hassler, Red Sharpe Chevrolet winning $700.00 (29 laps down)

6. John Sears

7. Max Ledbetter

8. Doug Cooper

9. Clyde Lynn

10. Tom Pistone

11. Roy Tyner

12. Cale Yarborough

13. G. C. Spencer

14. Don Sschisler

15.J. T. Putney

16. Bill Seifert

17. Don Biederman

18. Neil Castles

19. Boscoe Lowe

20. Bob Cooper

21. Elmo Langley

22. Darel Dieringer

23. Harold Fagan

24. Wendell Scott

25. Watson Gardner

26. LeeRoy Yarbrough

27.Jim Paschal

28. PAUL LEWIS

29.Henley Gray

30. No listing

The odd thing in the run down is that it lists 30 entries but skips the 20th finishing position so we are left to wonder if this was a numerical error or what happened, but this is the information in the reference source I use.

PERSONAL NOTES: I had attended races at the Asheville-Weaverville track several times prior to this race but was not in attendance for this one. This was another of those Allison-Petty slugfests which caused me, at the time, to have a strong dislike for Bobby Allison. Over the years, I learned to respect Bobby for all he gave to the sport and, in the end, what he and Richard were doing on the track in that era, brought a lot of partisan fans into the sport. Seems to me that the contrived rivalries NASCAR attempts to promote these days fall far short of what was the norm back then.

Oh, and I had the opportunity to say, right to Bobby Allison's face, in front of dozens of witnesses, that "I used to hate Bobby Allison". The momentary look on Bobby's face was the fire of the competiveness of that race in Asheville-Weaverville. I went on to explain I felt that way because he was "beating my guy" and I didn't like that. I like to think that today I can call Bobby Allison a friend as he and I, along with his brother Donnie, have shared some great conversations as a part of the times we get together with RacersReunion events or events at The Memory Lane Museum in Mooresville, NC.

Bobby Allison, as did Richard Petty, left his mark on the sport and the sport grew as the result of that. It is great to see Richard and Bobby as such good friends today. But, I want to tell you what I consider one of the most emotionally touching scenes ever in all my years around racing. When Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500 in 2011, Richard walked over to the Wood Brothers pit and escorted a shocked Wood brother to Victory Lane. Two of the toughest competitors in the business in the old days walked together to a great victory. There is no other sport on the planet where fierce competitors become close allies at times.

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

Richard and Bobby did engage in some serious "have at it boys" moments. I have a feeling today's superstars would be screaming on their radios for their spotter to talk to the other guy's spotter and all that silly stuff.

The race was originally scheduled for August 20th - right in the heart of The King's winning streak.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

Race preview from August 10th Post Weekender

Qualifying was held, and the 43's hot streak continued with King Richard winning the pole. Source: News And Courier

But heavy rains postponed the race, and it was rescheduled for August 27th. Source: Spartanburg Herald

The teams were ready to roll on August 27, and the race was again previewed in the paper. Petty was clearly the race favorite with his growing winning streak. Source: Spartanburg Herald .

But again, rains dominated the weekend. The race was then moved to the end of the season. Source: Robesonian

When the teams returned about 2+ months later, NASCAR decided a "do-over" was necessary for qualifying. Petty's pole run and the rest of the qualifying results were tossed, and everyone tried again. This time, Bobby Allison nabbed the pole in his Fred Lorenzen-fielded Ford. Petty went from the top spot to 6th. Source: News and Courier .

Race report from News And Courier

Here is a good thread about the race at Randy Ayers Modeling Forum started by Russ Thompson. Includes a couple of good photos and an article from Stock Car Racing magazine.

http://www.randyayersmodeling.com/modelingforum/viewtopic.php?p=387384&sid=d14a0583fc028f7ffb62659551f20825

And here is a pic of Allison racing Petty from Russ's Flickr collection.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/56156044@N00/1715336932/

Here's another one from that race.

More photos from the race.

The pace lap before the start.

Wendell Scott crashed out at lap 52.

Ol' Blue going high side on the high banks of A-W.

Petty battling his career rival, Pearson.

Stand corrected. I now believe this one may be from May 5, 1968 Fireball 300 at A-W. Pearson was on the pole, King started 2nd, and Tom Pistone timed 3rd in the #12 Mercury. Sorry for mix-up - succumbed to tagging info included on Getty Images. But hey, one can never have too many 43 images, right?

Bobby receiving his trophy. I was reluctant to post this because I wasn't certain at first if it was indeed from the 1967 A-W race. He only won 1 GN race there - but I still wanted to make sure I'd had the right year, track and race. The car in the background had me confused too. But with some help from Russ Thompson and other skunking around, I do believe this is Bobby collecting his hardware. I wonder if the trophy queen's plum-and-black, conservative, houndstooth outfit doubled as a firesuit like Miss Sprint Cup wears today?

Russ suggested the car in the background is that of G.C. Spencer who finished 13th. Based on his knowledge and my comparison to this Dave Fulton pic from 1967 Bristol, I think he is correct.

I also compared Bobby's trophy to the one I spotted at the Richard Petty Museum. His was from the Fireball 300

in the same season. The base of it looks identical to the one Bobby is holding.

Sure looks to me, too, like Bobby is standing in front of the same G.C. Spencer #49 I shot at Bristol in March 1967 - the now very faded photo you posted.

Two more from SCR.

Note the Firestone decal and Goodyear tire:

Bosco Lowe leads Lee Roy Yarbrough around Harold Fagan and John Sears.

I didn't realize until Russ posted the photo above that Bosco Lowe had ever driven for the "Speed Costs Money... How Fast Do You Want to Go?" team, but I see he actually made a total of 3 career starts for his neighbor in 1967 and 1968.

The current top six drivers in the 2013 NASCAR Cup standings are named Jimmie, Matt, Kevin, Kyle, Dale and Jeff. Don't those names sound pedestrian when you look at the names and nicknames of the drivers and owners represented in Russ' photo above?

Between those 4 cars, we have a Frog, a Big John, an L.G., a Bosco, a Banjo, a LeeRoy and a Junior. My, how things have changed in NASCAR.

Also, not every year that Asheville-Weaverville could boast an "International" field. This event had two Canadians - Don Biederman of Port Credit, Ontario and Frog Fagan of Willowdale, Ontario. Ocassionally saw Frog's widow when she visited with her children at a former business partner's home on Lake Wylie near where she was living.

Birth:	Mar. 11, 1940 Willowdale Ontario, Canada
Death:	Aug. 6, 1993 Charlotte Mecklenburg County North Carolina, USA
NOTED RACE CAR BUILDER HAROLD FROG' FAGAN DIES: -August 8, 1993 For 32 years, Harold P. ''Frog'' Fagan loved race cars and he built some of the fastest, the sleekest and the best. Just ask NASCAR drivers Darrell Waltrip, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough and Bobby and Donnie Allison, who drove them. Mr. Fagan died Friday, Aug. 6, 1993, at Carolinas Medical Center of cancer. He was 52. ''He loved his cars,'' said Denise Reynolds-Fagan, his wife of nearly 18 years. ''He was known for having meticulous, exceptionally well-built cars. He was always very innovative in design and fabrication.'' He once sent his wife to Kmart to buy pie pans that he used to redesign headlight covers on a car body he was building. At Daytona, NASCAR inspectors told him one of his body designs was too far advanced. ''This is NASCAR, they told him, not NASA-CAR,'' she said. Wearing a headphone set, the stocky Mr. Fagan was a familiar sight in pits from Pocono to Darlington to Riverside to Charlotte. As a Winston Cup crew chief, he would listen to the driver describe how the car was handling, then advise him what do to and when to pit for gas and tires. He knew that a fraction of a second could win or lose a race. He once changed a tire in 13 seconds flat. A Toronto native, he was tagged ''Frog'' in the 1960s by an acquaintance who thought all Canadians were of French descent. The slang nickname for Frenchmen stuck. Funeral is 11 a.m. Tuesday at Williams-Dearborn Funeral Home, with burial in Forest Lawn East, both in Matthews. Visitation is 10 to 11 a.m. Tuesday. Survivors are his wife, Denise; daughters, Kirsten Fagan, Lindsay Fagan, Tiffany Fagan; mother, Mrs. Yvonne DePew of Toronto; brother, Alan Fagan of Toronto. Memorials may be made to Winston Cup Racing Wives Auxiliary, P.O. Box 15123, Charlotte, N.C. 28211.
Burial: Forest Lawn East Cemetery Weddington Union County North Carolina, USA

The photo of Wendell Scott's misfortune at the 67 A-W race was used for the cover of the book about Wendell, Hard Driving.