April 17, 1965: South Carolina racing ... 30 minutes apart

On April 17, 1965, the NASCAR GN teams - at least the ones that fielded factory Fords and several independents - raced at Greenville-Pickens Speedway. Li'l Bud Moore claimed the pole, and Dick Hutcherson qualified alongside him in his Holman-Moody Ford.Buck Baker and Tiny Lund comprised the second row. Hutch dominated the event by leading 191 of the 200 laps to claim the win.

Fin	Driver	Car
1	Dick Hutcherson	'65 Ford
2	Ned Jarrett	'65 Ford
3	Buddy Baker	'64 Dodge
4	Bud Moore	'65 Plymouth
5	Fred Harb	'64 Pontiac
6	Paul Lewis	'64 Ford
7	J.T. Putney	'64 Ford
8	Henley Gray	'64 Ford
9	Clyde Lynn	'64 Ford
10	Wendell Scott	'63 Ford
11	G.T. Nolen	'64 Pontiac
12	Doug Cooper	'64 Ford
13	Neil Castles	'65 Plymouth
14	Larry Frank	'64 Ford
15	Bob Derrington	'64 Ford
16	G.C. Spencer	'64 Ford
17	Buck Baker	'65 Oldsmobile
18	Elmo Langley	'64 Ford
19	Jeff Hawkins	'64 Dodge
20	E.J. Trivette	'63 Chevrolet
21	Roy Tyner	'63 Chevrolet
22	Cale Yarborough	'64 Ford
23	Tiny Lund	'64 Ford
24	Bernard Alvarez	'64 Ford
25	Jabe Thomas	'64 Ford

Meanwhile, about a half-hour to the west, the straight-line bunch gathered for some drag racing. The expected feature match was to be between Richard Petty in the Petty Enterprises 43Jr Plymouth Barracuda and Don Nicholson. During practice runs, however, Nicholson had issues with his car. He then totaled a borrowed sub and was done for the event.

A surprise entrant to the day's races was Spartanburg's own David Pearson. Like Petty, he was on the sidelines from a GN perspective because of Chrysler's boycott of NASCAR. The King-to-be had already begun drag racing earlier in the year, and Pearson dabbled in it a bit himself. But all were surprised when Pearson arrived in Spartanburg with a quickly-built Dodge Dart wagon built by his NASCAR car owner, Cotton Owens, and dubbed The Cotton Picker.

Between the two on-track rivals and GN Mopar 'teammates', Pearson laid down the quicker ET of the two. According to the following article, Pearson's Dart was finished by Owens' just the previous day.

From Spartanburg Herald

From  Bill Rankin's photos

The car was featured on the cover of the September 1965 issues of Rodder & Super Stock magazine.

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 04/16/17 09:22:53PM

Man, The Cotton Picker was one ugly looking ride!

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

My first car was a hand-me-down black 1965 Dodge Dart that already had 150,000 miles on it. My grandfather bought it new in 64 or 65. My grandmother gave it to me after he passed away. I had my sights on a Camara ... or a Firebird ... or a Mustang. But my dad who wanted me to be gracious to my grandmother for her offer AND who was paying my car insurance insisted I take the Dart.

He and I had to change just about everything on it except the paint and the VIN. My dad insisted it would be good for me to learn how to change points, a timing chain, valve cover gaskets, a fuel gauge, the transmisssion, the exhaust manifold, the carburetor, etc. because I'd then know how to do my own car maintenance as an adult. Umm, have you SEEN underneath a hood these days?

I nicknamed it "The Black Flash". But unlike The Cotton Picker, the Flash had little flash. That little slant six was durable, but let's not kid anyone. Set low ET? Right. I'm betting the alien critter E.T. could outrun the Flash. But ... it did get me through HS and most of college. I finally sold it for $75 - enough to cover my share of the deposit I had to pay for my first post-college apartment.

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.

Great story.

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"