The late Martinsville Speedway promoter H. Clay Earles in November 1970 gambled, and deferring to the popularity of the emerging NASCAR Late Model Sportsman Division, switched his Cardinal 500 - previously a 500-lap NASCAR Modified test - into a twinbill. The race would feature both the NASCAR Modifieds and NASCAR Late Model Sportsman cars in separate races scheduled for 250 laps each on Sunday, November 8, 1970 - 52 years ago.
It didn't matter to Richmond, Virginia's "Rapid Ray" Hendrick - "Mr. Modified" - whether you put him in a Late Model Sportsman, a Modified or a goat cart pulled by Ruby. In the 60s-70s, the results were likely to be the same.
Hendrick didn't disappoint his huge fan base on the beautiful Sunday that dawned in Martinsville on November 8, 1970. In time trials that began on Thursday for the huge number of NASCAR race cars that showed up from the two divisions, Hendrick drove to the pole position for each race, wheeling vehicles owned by two different car owners.
For the new Late Model Sportsman division Martinsville race, Richmond Heating & Air entrepreneur, Bob Adams had prepared a cherry red 1965 Chevelle sporting the familiar winged "Flying 11" carried on Hendrick's Jack Tant / Clayton Mitchell Modifieds fielded out of Littleton, North Carolina, not far from Roanoke Rapids near the Virginia border.
It took Ray 1.179 seconds longer to navigate the paper clip shaped Martinsville layout in the shoebox Bob Adams Chevelle than in the sleek Tant/Mitchell Late Model Modified Camaro. But, the results were still the same - #1 starting position for each race.
Starting behind Hendrick in the Late Model Sportsman go would be two familiar competitors and fellow Virginians, the ever popular duo of Al Grinnan and Jimmy Hensley. Neither would be a factor in the race's outcome.
A staggeringly huge crowd filled the Martinsville grandstands on that gorgeous Sunday 52 years ago. Of course my buddy, Frank Buhrman and I were among them, as were hundreds of Canadians who'd come down in a fleet of tour buses to see Dennis Giroux and others. We were not disappointed.
When the checkers waved on the first run Late Model Sportsman 250-lapper, only Roy Tranthan of Asheville, North Carolina, wheeling a 1957 Chevy, had been able to stay on the lead lap with Hendrick. Winston-Salem's Hank Thomas brought his Chevelle home third, ahead of Baton Rouge's Warren Hughes in a Chevelle and Don Israel of Asheville in another '57 Chevy.
Our Legend, Tim Leeming, will be happy to know that the driver with the best nickname - Tootle Estes of Tennessee, manhandled a 1967 Dodge Charger home 6th. Allen Rankin, Lou Austin, Hendrick's fiercest rival - Sonny Hutchins, and Joe Westerman - driving for master car builder, Tiny Slayton of Baltimore - completed the top-10 in Martinsville's first 250-lap Late Model Sportsman race.
In the scheduled 250-lap Modified go, Hendrick was able to shake all but Jerry Cook and defending National Modified Champion, Fred DeSarro, the only two drivers to finish on the lead lap with the Richmond flyer. Former Virginia National Sportsman titleholder, Joe Henry Thurman of Rocky Mount posted an 8th place finish.
During the Modified race, a bad fueling accident on pit road sent three crew members for New Hartford, New York's Dick Fowler to the hospital. As his car was engulfed in gasoline flames, Fowler dove to safety on pit road through the window of his modified Falcon.
The Modified race was restarted after a lengthy delay. Impending darkness caused the checkers to be waved 50 laps short of the scheduled distance. The only thing that could stop Ray Hendrick at Martinsville was darkiness!
By now driving a limited schedule of "big money" events only, the twin Martinsville victories upped Hendrick's 1970 ante to 15 NASCAR Modified wins and 13 NASCAR Late Model Sportsman wins.
20 years after sweeping the first-ever Martinsville doubleheader, Hendrick's chief career rival, Sonny Hutchins, also of Richmond, threw a huge party in September 1990 for Hendrick in Richmond's west end during the Richmond International Raceway Cup weekend. Hutchins' old rival was dying of cancer. Headling the guest list was superstar, Richard Petty - #2 on the all-time Martinsville win list to Hendrick. Not long after, Hendrick would be buried in Richmond wearing his white driving uniform with the red stripe, Firestone insignia and name misspelled with an "s" added to the end.
Cardinal 500 Classic
NASCAR Late Model Sportsman race
Martinsville Speedway, Martinsville, VA
November 8, 1970
250 laps on 0.525 mile paved oval; 131.25 miles
Fin St Driver # Owner Car Laps Money Status Laps Led
1 1 Ray Hendrick Bob Adams 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle 250 2,500 running
2 Roy Trantham 1957 Chevrolet 250 1,250 running
3 Hank Thomas 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle 248 950
4 Warren Hughes 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle 247 600
5 Don Israel 1957 Chevrolet 245 450
6 Tootle Estes 1967 Dodge Charger 245 400
7 Allen Rankin 1957 Chevrolet 240 312
8 Lou Austin 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle 238 270
9 Sonny Hutchins 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle 237 260
10 Joe Westerman 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle 236 270
Time of race: 02:09:10
Average Speed: 59.571 MPH
Pole Speed: 22.836 seconds
Cardinal 500 Classic
NASCAR Modified race
Martinsville Speedway, Martinsville, VA
November 8, 1970
200 laps on 0.525 mile paved oval; 105 miles
Fin St Driver # Owner Car Laps Money Status Laps Led
1 1 Ray Hendrick Jack Tant Chevrolet Camaro 200 2,500 running
2 2 Jerry Cook Chevrolet Camaro 200 1,250 running
3 Fred Desarro Chevrolet Corvair 250 950 running
4 Leo Cleary Ford Mustang 199 600
5 3 Bugs Stevens Chevrolet Camaro 199 550
6 Bernie Miller Chevrolet Corvair 198 550
7 Roy Parker Chevrolet Camaro 197 450
8 Joe Thurman Chevrolet Camaro 197 270
9 Bob Santos Ford Mustang 196 260
10 John Bryant Chevrolet Camaro 195 300
Notes: Scheduled for 250 laps; shortened by darkness.
Time of race: 01:43:58
Average Speed: 60.592 MPH
Pole Speed: 21.657 seconds
WSLS television of Roanoke, Virginia captured some spins and other action in the Late Model Sportsman half the 1970 Cardinal 500. Here's a link to the video:
http://search.lib.virginia.edu/catalog/uva-lib:2218587
The script below accompanied the film report of the race by WSLS:
I remain flabbergasted that Ray Hendrick is not in the NASCAR Hall of Fame, although he is in nearly every other hall that acknowledges stock car racing. In 1998, NASCAR named Hendrick one of its 50 greatest drivers of its first 50 years and recognized he had won more NASCAR feature events than any NASCAR driver in history.
Eli Gold did a touching film tribute to Ray Hendrick, using footage from Martinsville Speedway.
Stock Car Driver Loses Four-year Cancer Battle
September 29, 1990
By AL PEARCE Staff Writer
Newport News Daily Press
Ray Hendrick, who thrilled stock car fans throughout the Southeast and Middle Atlantic states for four decades, died Friday morning in Richmond.
The 61-year-old racer died after a four-year battle with cancer. Burial will be Monday from Woody Funeral Home in Richmond.
Hendrick won more than 500 NASCAR races and achieved near-legendary status among the Modified and Grand National drivers who faced him weekly for almost 35 years.
During the '50s and '60s he teamed with car owners Ira Smiley, John Tadlock and Jack Tant-Clayton Mitchell to win hundreds of Modified races from South Carolina to New England.
Among the most important were the 1969 Langhorn (Pa.) Race of Champions, a 100-miler at Dover Downs (Del.) the same year and the Trenton Race of Champions in 1975. Little wonder he was dubbed "Mr. Modified" in the mid-'60s.
Hendrick didn't miss a beat in the early '70s when Sportsman cars replaced Modifieds at most Southern tracks.
He drove the Tant-Mitchell "Flying 11" for years, then spent several seasons driving the long-distance, better-paying races for New Englander Dick Armstrong.
He was a frequent competitor and long-time favorite at Langley Raceway in Hampton. Joe Carver, who ran the track between 1974 and 1983, still calls Hendrick "the best Virginian I ever saw and one of the best three or four drivers in the whole country."
Among Hendrick's brightest moments were 300-mile Late Model victories at Charlotte, N.C., in 1976-77 and a 300-miler at Talladega, Ala., in 1977. He holds the record of 20 career victories at Martinsville Speedway.
Hendrick began racing at Richmond's Royal Speedway (since renamed Southside) in 1950. His son, Roy, won 23 races and the track's Late Model title this season.
Many fans consider the Modified battles among Ray Hendrick, Sonny Hutchins, Bill Dennis, Ted Hairfield, Lennie Pond and the late Runt Harris and Gene Lovelace the best weekly racing ever seen in Virginia.
Later, he scrapped on and off the track with Sportsman foes Hutchins, Dennis, Tommy Ellis, Jimmy Hensley, Geoff Bodine and the late Butch Lindley.
Despite glowing credentials, Hendrick never actively pursued a Winston Cup ride and never won a NASCAR national chamnpionship.
His last competitive race was in the early '80s. He came back briefly several years ago in an emotional race in his son's car at South Boston Speedway.
Weak and pale, Hendrick made a sentimental trip to Langley for "Ray Hendrick Appreciation Night" on April 21.
Survivors include his wife, Janet; sons Raymond, Roy, and Ronnie; a daughter, Lindsey Rae; a brother, Stuart; and nine grandchildren.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W1x5zx_U-s
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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 11/08/22 12:45:49PM
