There were actually several options from which to choose for the History Minute for August 10th, but I chose to go to Bowman Gray Stadium for the race there in 1968. Bowman Gray has been in the news quite a bit lately and with the recent approval by the N.C. Legislature to sell the property to a University, I thought I would use this opportunity to throw out a memory of a good race.
The event, 62.5 miles on the quarter mile paved track was known as the "Myers Brothers Memorial". Many younger fans of today may not recognize the names associated with this memorial, and that is sad. But most will recognize the names, Randy Myers and "Chocolate" Myers for their involvement in racing. Each is a son of one of the Myers brothers from whom the event was named. Do a little research on the names Bobby Myers and Billy Myers to see what they contributed to the sport and what a part of the heritage they are.
A total of 20 cars arrived at the track to qualify for the event. Richard Petty put his Plymouth on the pole with David Pearson starting second in his Holman-Moody Ford. Bobby Isaac would start third, James Hylton fourth, and Bobby Allison fifth. This was the 75th time in his career that Richard Petty would start from the pole.
Petty took the lead at the drop of the green flag and would hold on to the lead, although usually by a couple car lengths or less, for the first 139 laps of the 250 scheduled laps. It was on lap 139 when Richard was running behind Bobby Allison to put the Hueytown, Alabama driver a lap down, that Bobby's Chevrolet blew it's engine putting Bobby into the wall. In an effort to miss the Allison car, Richard brushed against the wall just enough to allow Pearson, who was five car lengths behind at the time, to take the point. Pearson would lead to the checked flag.
There were a total of five caution flags for a total of 38 laps. keeping the average speed to 42.940 mph for Pearson. At the flag, Pearson had a 3.0 second lead on Petty. Bobby Isaac, finishing third, left the track trailing Pearson by only 9 points in the race for the Championship.
Top five finishers were:
1. David Pearson, Holman-Moody Ford, winning $1,000.00
2. Richard Petty, Petty Enterprises Plymouth, winning $850.00
3. Bobby Isaac, K&K Insurance Dodge, winning $400.00
4. James Hylton, Hylton Engineering Dodge, winning $300.00
5. Elmo Langley, Langley-Woodfield Ford, winning $275.00
Sixth through tenth were Clyde Lynn, John Sears, Wendell Scott, Jabe Thomas and Bill Seifert. Roy Tyner would finish 11th, Ed Negre 12th, Wayne Smith 13th, Bobby Allison 14th and Neil Castles 15th. The remaining five finishers, in order, were J.D. McDuffie, Paul Dean Holt, Ben Arnold, Earl Brooks, and Henley Gray.
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
