Racing History Minute - April 13, 1969

For Dave Fulton - our RacersReunion colleage who may have the most passion for the history of Richmond Raceway and all its various surfaces, lengths and names.

I originally blogged this today here and will re-post to RR:

http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2016/04/april-13-1969-richmond-500.html

Richmond's spring race has bounced around a good bit over the decades. Throughout the 1970s and most of the 1980s, the race was scheduled for late February or early March. At the opposite end of the season, the race was scheduled a few times in June. Nowadays, the race floats from mid-April to early May - which seems ideal for that area of the country. The 1969 Richmond 500 was slotted in that optimal time frame on April 13th.

After more than a dozen years as a dirt track, track promoter Paul Sawyer paved Richmond following the first Grand National race of 1968. In doing so, the track was lengthened ever so slightly from a true half-mile to a .542 mile oval. David Pearson won Richmond's final 250-lap race on dirt, and Richard Petty won the first 300-lap one on the new asphalt surface.

The spring 1969 race was lengthened to 500 laps and about 250 miles - the longest race held to that point at the track. Despite the change in track surface and distance, the race featured little drama. David Pearson won the pole in his #17 Holman Moody Ford. He then set forth to puttin' a whuppin' on the field. He led a dominating 416 of 500 laps, lapped most of the field by multiple laps, and finished a full lap ahead of second place finisher Richard Petty.

From Dave Fulton's pictures:

Pearson notched his third consecutive spring Richmond win. It was also his sixth and final Richmond win - including six trophies in ten attempts - and the 33rd of 63 times Petty-Pearson finished first and second. When you're the winner, smoke 'em if ya got 'em!

From Dave's pictures and archives of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

After reading my blog post this morning, fellow lifelong Petty fan and RR member Brian Hauck sent me several pics from the 1969 race.

Ed Hessert in Lyle Stetler's #56 car raced frequently by Tiny Lund in the mid 1960s.

Worth McMillion in Roy Tyner's #9 Pepsi Pontiac.

The oddity of 1969 - a Petty Blue Ford

What remained of Cecil Gordon's #47. Cecil was in a second car owned by Bill Seifert.

James Hylton

J.D. McDuffie's bruised but unbroken Buick

Sonny Hutchins in Junie Donlavey's Ford

Your winner

It was almost more than I could bear to see both Pearson and Petty in a Ford. That was when Hylton was using that nasty orangish/yellow color on the #48.

I never saw the Tyner car with door glass ever before. This must be as the car rolled in for the race.

As the story goes, Roy crashed in practice, wiped the front end on off the car. He went to the hospital, the car went to a local Pontiac dealership that just happened to have the sheetmetal required to repair the car. With a black front end, it was driven by Worth McMillion, his last ride. And the car remained with the black front end on for the next race.

The hauler was a crew cab dodge. Never saw it before, never knew about the dual rear axles. Neat pics, are there any more of the Tyner car or the hauler available?

Coverage from Fredericksburg Free Lance Star & AP coverage in Spartanburg Herald Journal

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Seeing Pearson and Petty in a Ford was nearly too much for me to handle . At that time, Hylton was painting the #48 with a repulsive orangish/yellow colour.