Bobby Allison/Ray Hendrick Raced Where Easter Monday 1976? Any RR Members Race There That Day?

If you guessed that 37 Easter holidays ago on Monday, April 19, 1976, that Rapid Ray Hendrick and Bobby Allison would headline Trico Speedway's NASCAR Late Model Sportsman show, you'd be correct. Trico is now Rougemont, North Carolina's Orange County Speedway. I wouldn't be surprised if our RR member, Ed Sanseverino doesn't have photos of the advertised race. We could well have had some of our RR members racing at Trico that Easter Monday in 1976. How about it Robbie Watson or Billy Biscoe ... either of you race at Trico on Easter Monday 1976?

The late John Linville in the ad is Kevin Harvick's father-in-law (Delana's dad) and today's C.E. Falk's family was also represented in the ad.

The thought occurred to me that back in 1976, "southern" businesses during the holiday period primarily observed "Easter Monday" as a day off for employees, while "northern" businesses primarily gave employees a day off on "Good Friday."

With the homogenization of workforces and national chains now operating around the country, I wonder if enough employers give their workers the day off on Easter Monday to justify that date as a race date in 2013.

Anybody know of any current "Easter Monday" races?

What a great story! Thanks for sharing, Billy. Hope you and Karen can find the photos and share.

Dave, i was there on that Easter Monday in 76 helping Wallace Smith. I ran my car in September and October of that season. Here are some photos from 76 at Trico Speedway but not on Easter Monday. The photos were taken and given to me from a great friend Jim Crabtree.

Thanks for sharing the memory and photos, Robbie.

Noting the "Lloyd's Body Shop Efland" sponsorship on the #22 brings back a strong memory for me.

Around January/February 1982 (could have been '83), my wife was driving in early evening from Greensboro to Raleigh and was on I-85 when she encountered one of those severe North Carolina ice storms.

At Efland, NC, two cars spun in front of her and she braked and slid into the outside guardrail right where the old I-85 bridge crossed the highway at Efland. A NC State Trooper stopped to assist her and she got in his patrol car just before it was hit from behind by another spinning car, driving it through my wife's car parked ahead of it, totaling her vehicle. The injured officer ordered her out of the car, over the guardrail and down the embankment while he radioed for assistance.

When I took her phone call from the little BP station on the road under the bridge at Efland, she told me she was ok, but the officer had a broken leg and was being transported to the hospital. He possibly saved Joyce's life getting her out of her compact car that night. Then the poor fellow's ambulance ran off the road on the ice while transporting him to the hospital. He later helped with our insurance claim when State Farm tried to give us a hassle.

Amazing memory for me seeing the sponsor on your car. Thanks.

I was there and i seem to remember Ray in the Flyng 11 winning.Jerry Rector was there Lennie Pond and Al Grinnan just to mention a few.Those races on Easter Monday were some of the best i have ever seen!!! Man i miss those days when racing was at its Best !!!!

Thanks, Frank.

I was most likely there also, during the seventies I owned the #83 Fidelity National Bank car driven by Bubba Tatum. We ran Friday nights at Southside Speedway in Richmond then would go to Rougemont or South Boston on Saturday night. I remember running those Easter Monday races too. I also remember running Bowman Gray twice on Easter Mondayduring my time behind the wheel back in the sixties as mentioned in another thread. One of those times they ran those little sports cars in with us. That was an experence in itself, those sporty car guys drove the cars to the race track, taped the headlights up then raced them. I was driving one those big old Pontiacs for Worth McMillion, you could heard their little motor screaming but you couldnt see the damn thing.

G.T., I had no idea you owned those sharp looking Fidelity Bank Late Model Sportsman cars driven by Bubba Tatum. Learn something new every day!

That must have been quite an experience driving Worth's big Pontiac against the little sporty cars at Bowman Gray.

Great Story BB Thanks for posting

Yep, sure did. Bubba drove for me most of the seventies, Charlie Ford drove a year in the late seventies and then when NASCAR made the Sportsman cars a touring division I sold everything and took a year off. Then in '81 I teamed with Ronnie Staples to run the late models at SoBoand Rougemount until 91 when we finally give it up totally. Working for Worth was probably some of the best years of my life. He was and still is my hero

Only reports about the race I've found so far.

More Easter Monday short track races were held on April 19, 1976. Southern Race Track in Altamahaw, NC, about 45 minutes west of Rougemont, hosted a slate of races.

My buddy, Frank Buhrman has a great photo sequence of Hendrick going over the wall at Trico as reported above and landing beside a pond.

In 1974, Bobby Allison won the Easter Monday Late Model Sportsman race at Trico over Tiny Lund and Sam Ard:

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19740416&id...

robbie, im back gene mincey here, im still looking for more pictures of trico and articles of drivers donnie watson , kent fogleman ect. thanks buddy.