It took Richmond 3 days to Run 125 Miles in 1964 - My 1st race

The date is forever etched in my brain.

March 8, 1964 . I was 15.

That was the day I first heard the late announcer Ray Melton for the first time intone the " Most Famous Words in Sports " (not just motorsports, as the come latelys say it today):

"Jellllyyymennnnnnnnnnnnnnnn..... START YOUR ENGINES!"

That was the day I attended my first race.

Richmond 250 - NASCAR Grand National Race

1/2-Mile Dirt Track on the Virginia State Fairgrounds at the Atlantic Rural Exposition's Strawberry Hill in Richmond, Virginia.

It was the first time I'd see Richard Petty, who'd just won his first Daytona 500. Didn't get to see my uncle's favorite, Joe Weatherly, a terror on the Richmond dirt with both stock cars and motorcycles because he'd been killed in January at Riverside.

Dad dropped me off after church on Sunday. I paid the entire $5 I had in my pocket for a 4th turn bleacher seat.

The first time Tiny Lund came by me in practice with his Ford kicking up a rooster tail of dirt sideways, I was hooked for life.

After the parade of visiting pace cars, Ray Melton told me to clap my hands, stomp my feet, whistle and cheer as my favorite driver passed in review ( I didn't have one yet ).

Ray said these were the stars and cars of NASCAR's elite Grand National Racing division .

He said the cars were painted in all the colors of the rainbow and the drivers came from country stands and crossroads strands .

No announcer since has ever gotten a stock car crowd so worked up as Ray Melton did in his prime.

I had heard all about the new "Hemis" and decided I'd pull for them. Billy Wade replacing Joe Weatherly in Bud Moore's potent Mercury had other ideas.

Hot Damn ... I never knew two cars could run side by side sideways while broadsliding through Richmond's wide sweeping dirt corners!

And the sound... the heart throbbing, bleacher shaking sound and the smell of the rubber and gasoline and the dirt clods..... and those good ole boys rooting each other out of the groove ( much better than bump drafting ).

All the way across the track in the dust of the first few laps one car stood out... the announcer said it was painted electric blue, but that famous color was Petty Blue carried on the # 43 .

Unfortunately, before the race was at the halfway point, the rain began to pour. The race was postponed.

The track was too muddy to race on Monday and even during the day on Tuesday.

Finally, the race resumed on a cold Tuesday night in March under the lights (sorry, Bristol, they were running Grand National races at Richmond under the lights back in '64. )

When all was said and done, David Pearson in Cotton Owens' Dodge #6 put a whipping on the field. David was awesome at Richmond and he'd win there many more times as would Richard Petty.

So, that first race I ever saw started on Sunday afternoon and finished on Tuesday night. 

It was wonderful!

David Pearson at Richmond in 1964

1964 Richmond 250

NASCAR Grand National race number 9 of 62
March 8 & 10, 1964 at Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds, Richmond, VA
250 laps on a .500 mile dirt track (125.0 miles)

Time of race: 2:07:51
Average Speed: 60.233 mph
Pole Speed: 69.07 mph Cautions: 2
Margin of Victory: 0.5 lap
Attendance: 15,000
Lead changes: 5

Fin St # Driver Sponsor / Owner Car Laps Money Status Led
1 10 6 David Pearson Cotton Owens '64 Dodge 250 1,500 running 36
2 6 43 Richard Petty Petty Enterprises '64 Plymouth 250 1,000 running 29
3 2 1 Billy Wade Bud Moore '64 Mercury 250 750 running 81
4 13 3 Junior Johnson Ray Fox '64 Dodge 249 600 running 0
5 7 45 Doug Yates Louis Weathersbee '63 Plymouth 249 450 running 0
6 3 21 Marvin Panch Wood Brothers '64 Ford 249 375 running 0
7 4 41 Maurice Petty Petty Enterprises '63 Plymouth 248 300 running 0
8 17 09 Larry Manning Bob Adams '62 Chevrolet 241 250 running 0
9 20 60 Doug Cooper Bob Cooper '63 Ford 239 200 running 0
10 11 62 Curtis Crider Curtis Crider '63 Mercury 232 200 running 0
11 16 78 Buddy Arrington Buddy Arrington '63 Plymouth 232 175 running 0
12 22 97 Joe Clark Al McCline '64 Ford 232 175 running 0
13 1 11 Ned Jarrett Bondy Long '64 Ford 224 175 engine 104
14 14 5 Jim Paschal Cotton Owens '64 Dodge 223 150 cylinder 0
15 24 92 Jim Cook Ray Osborne '63 Ford 222 150 running 0
16 18 19 Cale Yarborough Herman Beam '64 Ford 218 125 crash 0
17 23 7 E.J. Trivette Jess Potter '62 Chevrolet 216 125 engine 0
18 25 83 Worth McMillion Worth McMillion '62 Pontiac 176 125 a frame 0
19 19 32 Tiny Lund Graham Shaw '63 Ford 170 125 rear end 0
20 12 54 Jimmy Pardue Burton-Robinson (Charles Robinson) '64 Plymouth 140 125 crash 0
21 9 36 Larry Thomas Wade Younts '63 Dodge 116 125 a frame 0
22 5 31 Ralph Earnhardt Tom Spell '63 Ford 73 125 rear end 0
23 21 20 Jack Anderson Jack Anderson '63 Ford 22 125 engine 0
24 15 34 Wendell Scott Wendell Scott '62 Chevrolet 9 125 camshaft 0
25 26 86 Neil Castles Buck Baker '62 Chrysler 1 125 con rod 0
26 18 71 Bunkie Blackburn Roscoe Sanders '63 Plymouth 0 125 crash 0
27 0 61 Bob Cooper Bob Cooper '62 Pontiac 0 125 did not start 0

Lap leader breakdown:
Leader From
Lap To
Lap # Of
Laps
Ned Jarrett 1 104 104
Billy Wade 105 137 33
Richard Petty 138 162 25
Billy Wade 163 210 48
Richard Petty 211 214 4
David Pearson 215 250 36

Very Nice Dave! Thanks!

And one of the few to see Maurice Petty compete as a driver!

Awesome piece!

Today is the 51st anniversary of attending my first automobile race. Note to Scott Baker and TMC Chase: David Pearson - 1st place; Richard Petty - 2nd place, lol!

Total prize money.

Petty

Daytona - P1 - $33,300

Richmond - P2 - $1,000

Total $34,300

Pearson

Daytona - P30 - $725

Richmond - P1 - $1,500

Total $2,225

AND... the "real time" Associated Press race report for the 1964 Richmond 250 carried in the next day's Spartanburg paper shows Richard earning $350 more than the listing in Racing Reference and winner Pearson with $800 more than the Racing Reference figure. Interesting to see that Buck Baker ran the Tuesday night portion of the race for Ray Fox when Junior Johnson didn't return to Richmond.

I was helping Worth McMillion at this race and I don't recall if NASCAR impounded the cars or not, they may not have been doing that then but anyway a bunch of the guys. Worth included took the race cars to that round brick building outside the race track where they were left until the race was resumed. When we came back on whatever day it was, i think you said it was Tuesday Worth and i and Doug and Bob Cooper and I seem to remember Buddy Arrington was with us but we were the first ones to go in the brick building to get our car out and there were no lights on in the building. That was so long ago that I forget but I guess we found someone that knew how to turn the current on in the building but I remember you couldn't see you hand in front of your face it was so dark in there and we couldn't find the race cars. Funny how after all these years the silly things that you remember.

This is the dark brick building where G.T. remembers the cars being stored:

It is the "Old Dominion" building, for many years the site of Friday night Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. The Richmond building that once housed Worth McMillion's Pontiac is now on the National Historic Register... take that Daytona, Charlotte and Martinsville!

Bump.

Here is my blog post from 2016 about the 1964 Richmond 250 - a chunk of which reflects Dave's memories from the 2-day event.

http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2016/03/march-10-1964-richmond-250.html