The 1964 season actually got underway with a 125 mile race on the half-mile dirt track in Concord, NC on November 10, 1963. Ned Jarrett won that race over second place Joe Weatherly and third place Richard Petty. Next stop, race number 2 of the season, was on the newly constructed 3 mile, 21 turn road course known as Augusta International Speedway. The race, originally set for 510 miles, was changed to a 417 mile event because times on the track were too slow to make the 510 mile distance before the 5:00 p.m. curfew for the track. There was also the issue of darkness which came to the Augusta area not much after 5:00 p.m. on the shortened November days The race had been long anticipated in the area around Augusta as that was going to be some big time road course racing.
Thirty-six cars qualified for the event with Buck Baker putting putting a Petty Engineering Plymouth on the pole with a speed of 89.584 mph. Fireball Roberts in a Holman-Moody Ford would start second, Marvin Panch in the Wood Brothers Ford third, David Pearson in a Cotton Owens Dodge fourth and Billy Wade in a second Cotton Owens Dodge rounded out the top five starters.
Fireball led the first three laps before David Pearson slung that white Dodge around the lavender colored Ford. David held on until lap 23 and it was then Junior Johnson's turn in the white number 3 Holly Farms Chevrolet. Richard Petty slipped into the lead for one lap on lap 28 before being overhauled by Johnson on lap 29. On lap 35 it was Petty blue and the number 43 going back on point where he would stay until lap 48. Johnson took over from lap 49 to 51 and then Petty literally blew by him and started to build up a huge lead as he slung the Plymouth through the twisting layout.
On lap 94, the pinion gear broke in the number 43 and Richard coasted into the pits through for the day. Marvin Panch assumed the lead upon Richard's departure, and was holding what appeared to be a comfortable lead until his Ford exploded its transmission on lap 129. Fireball was in the right place at the right time as he took over the lead from a disappointed Marvin Panch. Fireball would lead the remaining 10 laps and claim his 33rd win in the Grand National Division. With that win, Fireball was the first NASCAR driver to win twice on a road course, having accomplished that feat the first time on December 30, 1956, in a 100 miler on the road course at Titusville, Florida.
There were only 16 of the 36 starters running at the finish of this race as the track was brutal on engines and transmissions. The NASCAR boys that built the cars were not that well versed in handling left AND right turns in 1963.
Finishing order:
1.Fireball Roberts, Holman-Moody Ford, winning $13,190.00
2.Dave McDonald, Holman-Moody Ford, winning $6,745.00 (1 lap down)
3.Billy Wade, Cotton Owens Dodge, winning $3,730.00 (2 laps down)
4. Joe Weatherly, Bill Stroppe Mercurcy, winning $2,650.00 (2 laps down)
5. Ned Jarrett, Burton -Robinson Ford, winning $1,675.00 (7 laps down)
6. Jimmy Pardue
7. Larry Thomas
8. Curtis Crider
9. Marvin Panch
10. Buddy Baker
INTERESTING NOTE HERE IS THAT BY THE TIME THIS DATE CAME AROUND IN 1964, SIX OF THE TOP TEN DRIVERS WOULD HAVE BEEN KILLED. Only Ned Jarrett, Curtis Crider, Marvin Panch and Buddy Baker lived more than one year after this race. Larry Thomas was killed in a highway accident while all the others were killed in racing accidents. 1964 was not a kind year to stars of our sport.
11. Graham Shaw
12. Tiny Lund
13. Frank Warren
14. Jack Anderson
15. Cale Yarborough
16. Doug Cooper
17. David Pearson
18. Wendell Scott
19.Richard Petty
20. Johnny Allen
21. Junior Johnson
22. Neil Castles
23. Larry Frank
24. G. C. Spencer
25. Roy Tyner
26. Rex White
27. Darel Dieringer
28. Fred Lorenzen
29. Buck Baker
30. Jim Bray
31. Elmo Henderson
32. Jack Smith
33. Joe Penland
34. Ed Livingston
35.Bobby Johns
36.Weldon Adams
PERSONAL NOTES: The newly Chartered "Richard Petty Fan Club of Columbia", Charter signed on August 8, 1963, eagerly anticipated this race in Augusta. We had been hearing stories of the track for months and actually rode over to Augusta a month or so before the race but when we got to the track it was, of course, locked up at every gate. We parked on the highway and walked through the woods to get a look at one of the turns. We considered climbing the fence and exploring the track but my sense of adventure in those days was not quite up for that. But, I suppose, the real reason we didn't climb the fence is we had a guy with us who was afraid of his shadow and he would always present us with the worse case scenario for every thing we attempted. We left him home more than we took him with us for just that reason. Anyway, he told us how rough it was in those Georgia jails and that we would surely be arrested if we climbed the fence. It did not occur to me until much later to wonder how he knew anything about Georgia jails. After all, he was the quintessential Southern Baptist goody-goody who wouldn't utter so much as a "gosh darn". Oh well, he was probably right so I'll compliment him now after all these years.
We left Columbia early Sunday morning, race day. Four of us in my Dad's 1956 black and white Plymouth Station wagon. We journeyed down US 1 from Columbia to Augusta as there was no Interstate 20 in those days. Rather than the hour it takes me to make the track now for the annual AIRPS event every September, it took about an hour and 45 minutes. Traffic was light as we entered the track almost as the sun came up and sought a parking place against the fence in one of the turns, although I could not tell you today which of the 21 turns that may have been.
It was quite exciting to watch the cars come around on the pace laps as they snaked their way through the three turns we could see. For a moment or two after they had left our line of vision, we could still hear the roar of the engines which soon faded to a far distant sound liken to that of a thunderstorm far away. The rolling rumble of 36 powerful racing engines. When the green flag fell and the pack came roaring before us with Fireball in the lead, it was an incredible sight to behold. I can feel the excitement as I type this recollection because I had never seen a road course race before and it was quite different from the oval tracks.
After the first five or six laps, our little group began to walk around the track right up against the fence to view the race from different vantage points. There was one turn which was highly banked where, in practice, Joe Weatherly had left the track and went into the "swamp". Lil Joe swore there were "alley gaters" down there. We never spotted an "alley gater" on our walk around the track.
When the race was over, as we always did, we headed for the pits. Pit road was wider and longer, it seemed, than any other track we had visited. Seems most all of the drivers were around and we ended up getting quite a few autographs. We also hung out with Richard for quite sometime and there was something about his demeanor that day that gave us the impression that he liked to race a road course. Not sure he ever confirmed that, but that was the feeling I got from talking with him that day. In future years, he would have some success on road courses so maybe he truly did like them.
This past September I attended the annual AIRPS event for the fourth or fifth consecutive year. One of the young members of that group asked me if I would like to drive around the old track. I told him I was not aware of much of the track remaining but he assured me that it was there and he had the key to the gate. Never once did I think about my timid friend or the Georgia jails because this time I was an invited guest to tour the track. Luke led me to the gate in his pick up and then he took off down the rutted dirt remains of the track exiting pit road.
I drove the entire 3 mile distance, much of which is only a path, more or less, through the pine trees and brush of eastern Georgia, but some of which still remains visible as the track, especially the high banked turn of Weatherly fame. I drove the track slowly, taking in each and every detail and trying to remember the 50 years before when I was a teenager walking the other side of the fence to watch my heroes race. The feelings I had as I got back to the pit road were such that a lump was in my throat and almost, I repeat "almost" a tear in my eye, to think of that sunny November afternoon when the best of the sport raced around that track. It is a shame that only one race was fun there and the track disappeared. I do thank the Augusta International Raceway Preservation Society (AIRPS) for keeping the spirit of the place alive.
I had no way of knowing, in 1963, that Augusta International Speedway, the half-mile asphalt track located a stone's throw from the road course, would play an important part in my life. On August 23. 1969. in my second ever race behind the wheel of the number 83 Plymouth, I started fourth and took the lead on the first lap to lead seven laps of that feature race. Just another part of the Augusta legacy that makes my memories glow when thinking of that place.
Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future
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What a change! It's been awhile since I've checked in and I'm quite surprised. It may take me awhile to figure it our but first look it's really great.
updated by @tim-leeming: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
