Racing & Rasslin'

I have no idea what made me think of this other than my aging brain starting to remember strange old things but not where I put something I had in my hand yesterday. Anyhow, I remember in 1966 how excited my buddy, Frank and I were when we got our copy of Bob Hoffman's / Benny Phillip's Southern MotorSports Journal in the mail and it had a picture of a 1964 Ford at Darlington's Rebel 400 driven by Sonny Lamphear that had engine failure on the first lap and was credited with no laps and a last place finish. It wasn't Sonny's dismal finish that excited us, it was the fact that the car owner was listed as HOMER O'DELL! Well any high school senior in Richmond ,VA could have told you that Homer O'Dell was the "Manager" of the famous bad boy Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling tag team duo of Swede Hansen and Rip "The Chicken" Hawk, promoted by Charlotte, NC's Crockett Promotions. His stock in trade in the wrestling promotions of the mid-60s was dressing in a tux and tophat and carrying a dandy cane. Well, that just was a really neat thing to us. Don't know anything about Homer at all and never heard of any racing exploits. Don't know anything either about Sonny Lamphear. I did look up some stats and found that Homer O'Dell was listed as car owner for 16 Grand National races in 1966. Lamphear started the car 12 times, Billy Stiles once, Jack Sopher once, Jimmy Helms once and Neil Castles once. The only name I knew of the bunch was Soapy Castles. Anyway, if it hadn't been for that photo in that wonderful publication way back in 1966, I'd have never known that the much hated Homer O'Dell of wrestling promotions was moonlighting as a NASCAR car owner. I'm curious if any of you know anything about Homer O'Dell or any of the other drivers named besides Neil Castles?

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 02/28/19 06:22:54PM

An old image of Homer O'Dell from a wrestling website.

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

Sonny Lamphear is a former NASCAR driver from Charlotte, NC. He competed in twelve Nextel Cup events in his career, earning one top-ten.

All of those events came in the 1966 season, when Lamphear entered his Fords in the events. In his debut at Bristol Motor Speedway in the spring, he didn't even complete five laps before falling out with oil pressure problems. That left him 31st. Then came more DNFs at Martinsville and Darlington Speedway . In fact, by the end of the year, Lamphear did not finish any of the twelve events he raced. Despite that, Lamphear earned his best career start (7th) and best career finish (9th-only top ten) at Spartanburg . He did not complete the last forty-four laps of that event. After not being able to improve later in the season, Lamphear disappeared after a 30th place effort at Fonda late in the season and did not return to racing.

A Racers Reunion Member

Jimmy Helms (August 7, 1935- ) is a former NASCAR driver from Charlotte, NC. He competed in eighty-eight Nextel Cup Series events in his career, spanning from 1964 to 1967. Helms earned seven top-tens in his career, bested by a 6th at Langley Field in 1965. 1965 was also his best year in points, coming home 18th.

Thanks

S.T.A.R.S. Radio said:

Sonny Lamphear is a former NASCAR driver from Charlotte, NC. He competed in twelve Nextel Cup events in his career, earning one top-ten.

All of those events came in the 1966 season, when Lamphear entered his Fords in the events. In his debut at Bristol Motor Speedway in the spring, he didn't even complete five laps before falling out with oil pressure problems. That left him 31st. Then came more DNFs at Martinsville and Darlington Speedway . In fact, by the end of the year, Lamphear did not finish any of the twelve events he raced. Despite that, Lamphear earned his best career start (7th) and best career finish (9th-only top ten) at Spartanburg . He did not complete the last forty-four laps of that event. After not being able to improve later in the season, Lamphear disappeared after a 30th place effort at Fonda late in the season and did not return to racing.

A Racers Reunion Member

Jimmy Helms (August 7, 1935- ) is a former NASCAR driver from Charlotte, NC. He competed in eighty-eight Nextel Cup Series events in his career, spanning from 1964 to 1967. Helms earned seven top-tens in his career, bested by a 6th at Langley Field in 1965. 1965 was also his best year in points, coming home 18th.

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"