Our "Minute" for today takes us to Nashville, TN for a 200 mile (scheduled distance) on a half-mile paved track. This would be a 400 lap contest cut short to 350 laps through a set of circumstances that can now be appreciated as almost comical only to the extent that no one was seriously injured in the race.
Twenty-one cars entered and qualified with Richard Petty in his Plymouth on the pole. Rex White would start second in his Mercury, and Jim Paschal third in another Petty Plymouth. Fred Lorenzen started fourth and Joe Weatherly fifth. Richard Petty led the first 96 ;laps before Tiny Lund took over. On lap 194, Tiny was involved in a spectacular crash. Whether or not Jim Paschal actually took over the lead at that point is not really specified, but it was Paschal out front when the race was stopped and called official on lap 350 of the scheduled 400. Let's explore the reason for the shortening of the race.
A severe thunderstorm hit the track which caused the red flag to stop the action for an extended period. There were 98 laps run under caution. In one accident, Tiny Lund, leading at the time, blew the engine in his Ford and clipped the rail which threw the car into two billboards outside the track. Hitting the billboards threw the car back towards the the track where it landed ON TOP OF the Mercury of Rex White. The roll bars in White's Mercury were crushed but Rex had the forethought to duck down inside the car and escaped injury. At 5'4" tall, White was fortunate to be able to get low enough in the seat to escape injury.
Tiny's car then burst into flames. Lund, the physical opposite of White at 6'5" was fighting to get out of the burning car. His seat belt release was stuck and he had to force it loose to get out. He finally freed himself and stumbled from the burning car onto the track where he ran into the side of the Herman Beam car driven by Cale Yarborough. Cale had been charging hard all race with Herman standing in the pits with the "E-Z" sign on the blackboard communicator but Cale paid him no mind. When Tiny walked into the side of the car, under caution, it put a huge dent in the door. Herman told Cale after the race that if he had slowed down as instructed, the Tiny "would have missed you and the car wouldn't be dented". Cale claims not to have understood the meaning of that remark.
So, Rex was short enough not to be injured when a car lands on top of him. Tiny was big enough to dent a moving race car. Funny how that worked.
Finally at the end of 350 laps, with darkness making visabilty non-existent, NASCAR flagged the race as over with Jim Paschal a full lap ahead of second place. It was Paschal's 5th win of the year in 39 races.
Top five finishers were:
1. Jim Paschal, Petty Engineering Plymouth, winning $2,500.00
2. Billy Wade, Cotton Owens Dodge,, winning $1,350.00
3. Joe Weatherly, Bud Moore Pontiac, winning 1,025.00
4. Richard Petty,Petty Engineering Plymouth, winning $675.00
5. Buck Baker, Baker Pontiac, winning $475.00
Sixth through tenth were Stick Elliott, Ned Jarrett, Cale Yarborough, Jimmy Pardue, and Larry Thomas. Wendell Scott was 11th, Neil Castles 13th, Bobby Isaac 14th, Tiny Lund 15th, David Pearson 16th, Rex White 17th, Fred Lorenzen 18th and G.C. Spencer 21st.
Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future.
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What a change! It's been awhile since I've checked in and I'm quite surprised. It may take me awhile to figure it our but first look it's really great.
updated by @tim-leeming: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
