December 23, 1963 - Cotton and Paschal team up

Cotton Owens signs veteran driver Jim Paschal to drive his Dodges for 1964. From Spartanburg Herald .

From Ray Lamm collection

Paschal is shown here in Cotton's #5 Dodge racing A.J. Foyt in Banjo Matthews #5 Ford. From Ray Lamm collection .

Paschal raced nine times for Cotton in the early part of the 1964 season IN 1964. (He didn't race for him as the season began in 1963 as he was still driving a part-time schedule for the Pettys.) The pair had a pretty good run together with six top 10s in the nine starts - and only one finish outside of the top 20 (a 21st at Martinsville).

By late April, however, a shuffling of driver seats began to take shape - a Springtime Silly Season. On May 1, the Herald reported Paschal was leaving Cotton's team to return to the 2nd Petty Plymouth again. Paschal's move turned out to be a good one for him and the Pettys as Jim won the World 600 in only his 2nd race back with the team.

Paschal replaced Buck Baker who moved to Ray Fox's team replacing Junior Johnson. Junior had been hired by Holman-Moody. When all the movement stopped, Larry Thomas found himself in the driver's seat of Cotton's second Dodge that had been vacated by Paschal.

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/23/19 08:39:44AM

Of course, one of the biggest stories of the 1964 season would come on September 14, 1964, when Cotton, peeved at the way David Pearson came into the pits in the #6 primary COG car, came out of retirement and drove the #5 to a win over Pearson in the Capital City 300 at Richmond.

Then Sports Editor of the Spartanburg paper, Jim Foster, was so excited by Cotton getting back in the #5 and winning as an "oldtimer" that he devoted a column to it. Although 1964 was Richard Petty's breakout year, "The King" had not yet been proclaimed "The King" and Foster titled his column about Owens "The King Is Back!"

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

Cotton Owens wins the Capital City 300 at Richmond coming out of retirement to drive his #5 on September 14, 1964. UPI photo as posted at Cotton Owens Garage web site

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

Cotton Bump

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.