Racing History Minute - April 30, 1961

Yes, it is true. We are visiting Martinsville often during the month of April, and, as the coming months unfold, we will find repeat visits to many tracks. This happens, of course, because NASCAR has managed to keep certain race dates at certain tracks within certain months. Enough "certains" for you? In the world of NASCAR racing there is not much "certain" so I feel good about using the word often in this opening statement.

Today we are going back to 1961. In honor of Chase and his "Petty History", I stayed away from Darlington, 1966! In 1961, NASCAR and Martinsville encouraged the entry of convertibles as well as hardtops in the "Virginia 500 Sweepstakes". Of the thirty entries showing up for the race, eight were convertibles. I know the 1959 Daytona 500 combined convertibles with the hardtops, and that convertibles continued to run Darlington in the spring through 1962, but a quick reference search this morning didn't show me any races after Daytona that combined the two cars. With the exception of Darlington, the convertible series virtually faded away after the 1959 season.

Rex White started on the pole in his hardtop Chevy with Fred Lorenzen second in his hardtop Ford. Buck Baker was the highest convertible qualifier, starting 5th in his big '61 Chrysler. Rex White took the lead from the start, but he was dogged, lap after lap, by Fred Lorenzen until lap 32 when Freddie blew around the gold and white Chevy to put the Ford in front. Fred would hold that lead, through pit stops and everything else, until lap 365 when the fast Ford developed engine problems forcing him to pit for 37 laps. Junior Johnson, running second to Lorenzen at the time, was four laps back. When Lorenzen's engine was repaired, he returned to the track and was burning up the asphalt eventually making up two laps under the green flag to finish 11th.

Junior, as was his style, was flat-footing his Holly Farms Pontiac, owned by Rex Lovette. Junior had a four lap lead and Lovette had the crew repeatedly flashing the "E Z" instruction on the blackboard (communication with driver before radio) but Johnson refused to lessen his pace. On the last pit stop, Lovette met Junior in the pits with a sledge hammer and told him if he blew this race with his hard driving, he was going to get up close and personal with that sledge hammer. Although he wasn't happy about it, Junior backed off a little and proceeded to win the race with a four lap cushion over second place Emanuel Zervakis. Zervakis was driving a convertible so it appears the mixing of the two types worked out for Martinsville.

Top five finishers were:

1. Junior Johnson, Holly Farms Pontiac, winning $2,315.00

2. Emanuel Zervakis, Monroe Shook Chevrolet, winning $1,200.

3. Fireball Roberts, Smokey Yunick Pontiac, winning $825.00

4. Tommy Irwin, Tom Daniels Chevrolet, winning $625.00

5. Buck Baker, Baker Chrysler Convertible, winning $550.00

Sixth through tenth were Ned Jarrett in a convertible, Tim Flock, Harry Leake, Rex White and Nelson Stacy.

As already written above, Lorenzen was 11th. Others of note were Herman Beam 12th, G.C. Spencer 13th, Doug Yates 14th, Wendell Scott 15th, Johnny Allen 16th, Glen Wood 22nd, Richard Petty 23rd, Curtis Crider 24th, PAUL LEWIS 26th, Reb Wickersham 28th and Fred Harb 29th.

Some 16,000 fans witnessed the race. The caution flag was waved only once for six laps. Pretty good for 500 laps on that track, huh?

Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future

5.

Just an addendum to this History Minute. This was 1961 and Lee Petty had been seriously injured at Daytona in February when he and Johnny Beauchamp left the speedway over the turn 3-4 guard rail. I'm sure most of you have seen the clips. I remember Richard talking about how difficult the 1961 season was for Petty Enterprises.

For what its worth, here is a re-visit link to the blog entry I posted a year ago about Richard Petty's win in the 1966 Rebel 400 to claim his 43rd career victory.

http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2012/04/april-30-this-day-in-petty-history-part.html

This was the Part 2 race of what became the Martinsville Sweepstakes that year. Part 1 was controversially ended earlier in the month as Tim posted back on April 9.

http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/stock-car-racing-history/22333/a-racing-history-minute-april-9-1961

Tim Flock's 7th place finish was his next to last top 10 finish of his career - and the final one in a full-fledged GN race. He notched his final top 10 in a World 600 qualifying race a month later that was recorded as an official race - much like the Daytona qualifiers were until the early 70s.

The AP and UPI had reporters at Martinsville to cover the race. The Sumter Daily Item ran the AP wire copy...

... and Lexington, NC's Dispatch paper ran the UPI copy.

Another fun read. Almost like being there.

While reading these accounts, the biggest thing that strikes you compared to today is how many laps difference there were between each position. Pierre deBries wasn't around back then.

Dennis Andrews will be pleased to see that the AP racing roundup posted by Chase includes a Saturday night win by Bobby Webb at Rockingham Speedway!

Imagine threatening Junior Johnson in his priome with a sledgehammer!

Thanks for painting that picture, Tim.

Pierre's dog, Le Chien de Chanceaux and Pierre's girlfriend, Madamoiselle Wavaround were absent, also!

LOL Dave!

The cover of the race program. Guessing a 2nd batch was quickly printed after the original date was rain-shortened. Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

The pace lap - looks like at least the top 4 starters running convertibles:

Rex White

Fred Lorenzen

Richard Petty

Ned Jarrett

Wish I could find this shot without the Getty watermark.

And I think this is Rex White getting congratulated by Big Bill on his pole position win. (from Harlow Reynolds collection)

Great story, Tim

Andrew

That would appear to be absolutely correct about the top four being convertibles. That is strange considering the source I used and the designation for each of the cars. Thanks for posting that. Now we know more and we get to see those beautiful 1961 cars! Awesome picture.

That would certainly appear to be the case! Way to go Rex!

Thanks, Andrew. I appreciate you reading and commenting.

Tim

Hey Dave, I saw that! Went back and looked it up, that made it 2 in a row for Bobby to open the '61 season and I found that Tommy Bostick won the first 2 Amateur division races.

Someone forgot to tell that artist the track's not dirt anymore.

One of those photos is incorrect (possibly one from each of the two attempts to run the race). The pole position photo clearly shows a hardtop while the Getty photo has a convertible. My guess is that the Getty photo is wrong. Tim's report says that Baker was in 5th in a Chrysler; there's a Chevy there. He also expressed surprise that the book didn't mention the front four were ragtops.

The April 9th rainout went event went into the books as an official race, even though it was rescheduled for April 30. Here's the finish of the April 9th go from Ultimate Racing History :

NASCAR Grand National race
Martinsville Speedway, Martinsville, VA
April 9, 1961
149 laps on 0.5 mile paved oval; 74.5 miles

Fin St Driver # Owner Car Laps Money Status Laps Led
1 2 Fred Lorenzen 28 Holman Moody 1961 Ford 149 1,150 running 31
2 1 Rex White 4 Rex White 1961 Ford 149 1,275 running 118
3 3 Glen Wood 21 Wood Brothers 1961 Ford 147 500 running 0
4 16 Emanuel Zervakis 85 Monroe Shook 1961 Chevrolet 147 325 running 0
5 5 Ned Jarrett 11 B.G. Holloway 1961 Chevrolet 147 450 running 0
6 6 Junior Johnson 27 Rex Lovette 1961 Pontiac 146 315 running 0
7 23 Johnny Allen 69 B.G. Holloway 1961 Chevrolet 146 245 running 0
8 9 Richard Petty 43 Petty Enterprises 1961 Plymouth 146 175 running 0
9 8 Tim Flock 15 Beau Morgan 1961 Ford 146 215 running 0
10 22 Tommy Irwin 2 Tom Daniels 1960 Chevrolet 146 215 running 0
11 7 Bobby Johns 72 Shorty Johns 1961 Ford 145 150 running 0
12 13 Buck Baker 86 Buck Baker 1961 Chrysler 144 160 running 0
13 21 Cotton Owens 6 Cotton Owens 1960 Pontiac 143 300 running 0
14 12 Buddy Baker 87 Buck Baker 1961 Chrysler 142 120 running 0
15 25 G.C. Spencer 48 G.C. Spencer 1960 Chevrolet 141 95 running 0
16 15 Ernie Gahan 55 John Koszein 1959 Chevrolet 141 60 running 0
17 10 Jimmy Pardue 54 Jimmy Pardue 1959 Chevrolet 140 110 running 0
18 11 Doug Yates 23 Raeford Johnson 1959 Plymouth 139 85 running 0
19 17 Herman Beam 19 Herman Beam 1960 Ford 136 50 running 0
20 20 George Green 35 M.J. Black 1959 Plymouth 136 50 running 0
21 27 Harry Leake 97 Harry Leake 1960 Chevrolet 134 50 running 0
22 4 Reds Kagle 66 Ratus Walters 1960 Ford 117 150 fuel tank 0
23 24 Fred Harb 17 Fred Harb 1959 Ford 113 75 running 0
24 14 Wendell Scott 34 Wendell Scott 1960 Chevrolet 109 50 running 0
25 18 Curtis Crider 62 Curtis Crider 1960 Ford 102 50 running 0
26 19 Roy Tyner 9 Roy Tyner 1960 Ford 77 50 brakes 0
27 26 Bob Barron 71 Bob Barron 1960 Dodge 21 75 engine 0

Notes: The race was originally scheduled as the Virginia 500.
Due to rain, it was declared to be an official 200-lap race and the Virginia 500 was rescheduled for April 30.
Time of race: 01:05:23
Average Speed: 68.366 MPH
Pole Speed: 25.61 seconds
2 cautions

I don't understand what your point was.

Your results match the pace lap photo for positions 1,2 and 5 (and maybe 7th and 9th), but the wrong car in position 3 (and probably 4). Tim's story has the correct cars in position 1 and 2 but the wrong car starting 5th.

Either the Getty photo is an early lap but not the pace lap, or it's not from either of the Spring Martinsville races.

Thanks, Dave, for taking the time to research and add all of that information in the comments. I appreciate it.

Andy, this is the problem we run into with the history in the sport. It is unfortunate that no better records were kept than what we have available. My admiration for Greg Feilden and what he did putting together his series of books knows no limits. He did an admirable job. This particular race is one situation where he researched and used the information available, as did I. I have found two, and only two, slight errors in what is contained in Greg's books, and those only because I was at those particular races and remember most vividly how things went down. The errors are not the fault of Greg Fielden, but the fault of records as they were, or were not kept.

What we have started here, with these History Minutes, is a venue for everyone who has personal memories, pictures, videos, or any contribution, to chime in and add to what we already have. Since it was started on April 5th, several pictures I have never seen before have been made available to the members here and I love that!

Thank you, Andy, for reading, commenting, and contributing to our continuing efforts to ensure the history of the sport is not glamorized out of existance by current day statistics and media heads.

For the Getty image, I feel certain the caption is correct. While Fielden's write-up may have been off (and subsequently Tim's column) about hardtops and convertibles, the line of the 1st four in the photo - White, Lorenzen, Petty, and Jarrett - match exactly the line-up noted at Racing-Reference.info:

http://racing-reference.info/race?s=2&series=W&id=1961-18

And you have a keen eye about a Chevy starting 5th. According to the line-up, Emanuel Zervakis started 5th in a Chevy.

I too questioned the car in the photo of Rex shaking hands with Bill France at first. I thought it was a hard top. The back window brace makes it seem as its a hard top. But look at the steering wheel and front seat. The lighting is such that both are pretty visible leading me to believe the sun was shining in a convertible. If it was a hard top, I'm not sure the camera would have captured anything but dark shadows when shooting through the windshield.

Also a question for those who may be in the know from that era. Since the race was officially sanctioned as a GN event but with convertibles permitted, is it possible some of the cars may have Q'd as hard tops but then unbolted them for race day to race as convertibles?

Tom Pistone wasn't in this race. But it would be interesting to know if that practice was permissible. To hear from Rex White, Paul Lewis and others would be great too.

My only point, Andy, was that the April 9th event also went into the record books as an official race. I have no answer for the discrepancy in the photos.

Having compared the photo to your racing reference link, I'll concede that everything matches up. Either Fieden made a mistake in saying Baker qualified 5th, or Tim made a mistake in transcribing the event. Everyone agrees that Baker finished in that position.

I see your point about the dash and seats in the Bill France photo, but there definitely appear to be window braces on that car. I also think that I see the c-pillar sticking out beyond the windshield header. It's possible that the team bolted the top back on after qualifying and the sun was in the right position to light up the interior in that way. So it's a mystery and I'm content to let it remain so.

According to the Associated Press report filed the day of qualifying, it was Zervakis in the Monroe Shook Chevy who posted 5th fastest time of the 2nd race. Wish the report mentioned convertibles, but it doesn't. Here's the link:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1876&dat=19610429&id=...

That same page from the Spartanburg Herald has a separate story listing David Pearson as one of the drivers seeking victory Saturday night at Greenville-Pickens.

Just found this one. The King-to-be racing eventual winner Lorenzen. And I believe that is Tim Flock in the 15 trailing them - on his way to his final top 10 finish in a full-length GN race.

Great stuff, Chase.

Re-opening this Racing History Minute from the spring. Tom Higgins posted a neat column on October 23rd recapping some funny stories involving Junior Johnson and this race.

Source: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/10/23/4410625/higgins-scuffs-junior-johnson.html

Higgins Scuffs: Junior Johnson 'hammers out' a victory

Quite an addition to this April 30th post. Thanks, Chase.

Was hoping to find new info to add to this post as I bump it up. I couldn't. But I'll bump it back to the top on April 30 anyway. Ha.

Ask and ye shall receive.

From the University of Virginia Library collection of Roanoke, Virginia television station WSLS comes film of the race in question (with Miss Firebird leading the parade lap ) along with the sportscaster copy. When Andy, Chase and Tim watch the film the question will be answered of hardtops vs convertibles. The film clearly shows Rex White in a convertible making the Getty Images photo posted by Chase caption correct.

Link to film below :

http://search.lib.virginia.edu/catalog/uva-lib:2244503

And here's the sportscaster copy that accompanied the film:

The headline writer on the Fredericksburg, Va. paper keyed on Richmond's Emanuel Zervakis to top their AP transmission:

By the way.... I saw Junior Johnson win a race at Martinsville in the early 70s. It was on riding lawn mowers and Junior's mower was noticeably faster than the rest, leading to charges of cheating!

Photo shared by Chris Hussey

That's it, Chase! Thanks to you & Chris.