You said it would never happen,well he said it too. Only thing is he has no plans for 2014.

But as he also said he has an open spot with Tony Stewart starting with testing at Daytona..And as quoted by him, The cool thing about that is Ill be kind of doing it on my terms. We havent gone solid with the level of commitment or duties that I will have. I told them I wanted to get this year behind me. Im kind of tired and might not make the best decisions right now. I want to stay focused on these races. Were improving and that feels good. Its been a lot of hard work by all these guys to start improving, and were there now, so Im digging that.

A lotta races have gotten the checkers for Mark since this 1981 interview at Raceway Park. Wish the best for him however it shakes out.

Johnny, Mark won the pole as a youngster in September 1981 at the first race I ever sponsored. It was his 2nd pole, including Nashville in just five 1981 starts.

And dave did you notice the different brands of cars in the race? A Buick of all things and some character out there in a Pontiac! Next thing you know those guys in Daytona will have one of those little Japanese cars out there trying to run with those Detroit cars.................... memories

I've also heard that Bobby Labonte and Jeff Burton have no plans for next year. And plus Schrader is done too! However, as you see in late models and in the truck series....there is alot of young talent that will be Cup stars within the next 5 years.

well those kids running around in the trucks spinning each other out then getting out and slapping another driver, slapping is for the, well the kiddies. if thats the new breed we waiting for we in a heepa trouble

Hey there, Dave

Thanks for posting that newspaper clipping. That car was one of my early scratch built cup cars that came out of my White Crown Engineering shop in Fort Mill, S.C. Ray Dillon sent a front clip that I got approved by NASCAR, and we build the rest of the car from that start. If you are OK with it, I would like to add this picture to my own website? Do you have any other pictures of this car at Richmond?

This car had many 'innovative' features. Instead of using sheet metal to go between the existing frame width and the lower edge of the body side panel,I added another length of 4" x 3" rectangular tubing over the entire length. It initially went un-noticed, but after the race, some one got to looking and they made us uncover the ends to find what they considered an excessive amount of lead, and after more investigation they re-weighed the car and found out that we were running 60-1/2 % left side weight. The rule book was subsequently changed to specify a maximum left side weight. (around 52% if I recall correctly). This car was extremely responsive to wedge and track bar adjustments, allowing for a lesser degree of stagger to be needed.

I have never liked stagger as I always felt that while it made the car feel better in the turns, one of the reartires was 'dragging' going down the straight sections of the track, negatively effected brake bias when entering a turn and contributed to premature heat build up and wear in the right rear tire.

Will, by all means, please use the clip. I captured it using the Google News Archive search.

A very quick seach turned up these 3 photos of Mark's Sept. 1981 pole winning Richmond car:

Above photo from www.mantiquesto.com

above photo from RR member, Ray Lamm

Above photo from RR member, Woody Delbridge

Will, I think you may have partially answered a question posed back in January by our RR member, Woody Delbridge of Richmond responding to an earlier post I had made about the 1981 race:

Permalink Reply by Woody Delbridge on January 25, 2013 at 2:34pm

I do not recall the non-starting issue because of a shop rag, but that would have been my responsibility as I was the crew chief.

Regarding the single rear spring: I also recall hearing about Marks car possibly having extreme left side weight that allowed the left rear spring to be quite heavy, say 450 pounds/inch, along with a terribly weak right rear spring, say 110 pounds/inchthat was suspended from the top spring bucket. That would allow the car to have an extreme amount of bite, both entering and exiting the turns, but cause extreme front tire wear if not re-arraigned before the start of the race. That setup would also allow the crew chief to change the bump steer to have almost two degrees of anti-Ackermann to allow for the increase of slip angle caused by the increase in right front tire down force caused by apparent loss of weight at the right rear tire.

However, this remains only a rumor!

I definitely remember the rag and the car not firing because our Wrangler New York ad agency (Dancer, Fitzgerald, Sample) had brought executives of Skippy Peanut Butter (Best Foods) to Richmond to observe Mark, as they were considering going racing in 1982. They didn't. This clip is from the Fredericksburg paper:

Hey Dave, that is an interesting newspaper report. I know I am getting old, but this does not ring a bell with me going down this way. I do vaguely remember the rag, but not the name Bobby Jones? There were several of Marks friends from his short track group there at the track. Getting old perhaps???

Woody, he over doses on 7-11 Blueberry Slurpee's. Southland Corporation gave it to him as a going away present. Just kidding I know a lot about Southland back in that period of time.

Chased with a Big Gulp!

Looks like Bobby Jones was still involved with Mark in spring 1982 after reading this clip:

Bobby Jones was still fielding cars as late as 2007, but has since passed. Bobby was around pit road for a long time. I have not been able to figure the year of his passing, but ARCA carried the news on its web site:

This was a 2006 News Release:

Bobby Jones Racing opens new shop

New Shop Open and Ready to Race MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Bobby Jones, a veteran in the world of racing, has opened the doors to his 40,000 sq. foot race shop to do what he knows best, race. Currently running 3rd in points with driver TJ Bell in...

New Shop Open and Ready to Race

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Bobby Jones, a veteran in the world of racing, has opened the doors to his 40,000 sq. foot race shop to do what he knows best, race. Currently running 3rd in points with driver TJ Bell in the ARCA Series, Jones is committed to his new goal of team owner operator.

"We want to let everyone know about our facility and the commitment we have made and how serious we are about the future of developing two solid ARCA programs and a NASCAR Busch program," commented the 60-year-old Jones. "We also have Ron Neal on board. He will be a large part of the future of BJR as we will begin to build our own engines."

The three and one-half acre complex is on Rolling Hills Road in Lakeside Park in Mooresville, N.C. Equipment is moving in daily to the facility once owned by Ricky Rudd, Robert Yates and Wood Brothers Racing. The chassis dyno is used daily by Dodge, and a new engine dyno area is slated to be completed in four weeks. The building houses a complete paint shop, fabrication area, machine shop, parts department, etc., everything a multi-car team needs for success. Bobby Jones Racing uses Dodge chassis and Mike Eggy Engines.

"The plan is to continue to run TJ and go for the championship because we are right in the thick of it and I should mention we are looking for sponsorship to finish that out," continued Jones. "Next year, I would like to take TJ to the Busch Series and keep my ARCA program going to bring young talent in to the sport. We have cars available to run this year so I welcome calls from drivers or sponsors."

Bobby Jones started fixing his Dad's cars as a teenager and over the last 43 years has worked with a long list of motor sports icons such as Junior Johnson, Mark Martin, and Rick Hendrick. Jones has been behind the scenes for most of these years and looks forward to his opportunity to be out front contributing to the sport he loves.

Former crew chief and FOX TV analyst Larry McReynolds has known Jones personally and professionally for many years, "Bobby is a racer and the key to being a successful owner is relating to everything that happens to the car and team," said McReynolds. "Nobody has handed Bobby anything; he has worked hard for it and his commitment is obvious when you see what he is building over at Lakeside."

- www.bobbyjonesracing.com

A few interesting Bobby Jones clips, including the first naming both Bobby Jones & Will Cronkrite each fielding cars out of Spartanburg in 1973:

And this from a 1993 Tom Higgins column:

Jones' AJ Foyt 1993 Daytona 500 entry didn't make the show, having overheating problems in the 125-miler:

Fin	St	#	Driver	Sponsor / Owner	Car	Laps	Money	Status	Led
1	4	3	Dale Earnhardt	GM Goodwrench (Richard Childress)	Chevrolet	50	35,200	running	34
2	16	15	Geoffrey Bodine	Motorcraft (Bud Moore)	Ford	50	22,200	running	0
3	1	18	Dale Jarrett	Interstate Batteries (Joe Gibbs)	Chevrolet	50	15,200	running	0
4	11	4	Ernie Irvan	Kodak Film (Morgan-McClure)	Chevrolet	50	10,200	running	1
5	12	7	Alan Kulwicki	Hooters (AK Racing)	Ford	50	8,400	running	0
6	3	5	Ricky Rudd	Tide (Rick Hendrick)	Chevrolet	50	5,100	running	15
7	18	8	Sterling Marlin	Raybestos (Stavola Brothers)	Ford	50	4,800	running	0
8	20	41	Phil Parsons	Manheim Auctions (Larry Hedrick)	Chevrolet	50	4,650	running	0
9	5	27	Hut Stricklin	McDonald's (Junior Johnson)	Ford	50	4,500	running	0
10	8	26	Brett Bodine	Quaker State (Kenny Bernstein)	Ford	50	4,250	running	0
11	10	16	Wally Dallenbach, Jr.	Keystone (Jack Roush)	Ford	50	4,100	running	0
12	17	40	Kenny Wallace	Dirt Devil (Felix Sabates)	Pontiac	50	3,950	running	0
13	9	17	Darrell Waltrip	Western Auto (Darrell Waltrip)	Chevrolet	50	3,800	running	0
14	7	30	Michael Waltrip	Pennzoil (Bahari Racing)	Pontiac	50	3,650	running	0
15	2	12	Jimmy Spencer	Meineke (Bobby Allison)	Ford	50	3,500	running	0
16	24	48	James Hylton	De's LP Gas (Stavola Brothers)	Ford	50	3,250	running	0
17	15	89	Jim Sauter	Evinrude (Mueller Brothers)	Ford	49	3,100	running	0
18	13	29	Kerry Teague	Pro Cal (Jim Rosenblum)	Chevrolet	49	2,950	running	0
19	27	77	Mike Potter	Balough Racing (Henley Gray)	Ford	48	2,800	running	0
20	26	99	Brad Teague	Ball Racing (Ralph Ball)	Chevrolet	46	2,700	running	0
21	21	51	Jeff Purvis	Phoenix Construction (James Finch)	Chevrolet	36	2,500	running	0
22	23	50	A.J. Foyt	Slick 50 (Bobby Jones)	Ford	33	2,400	overheating	0
23	14	2	Rusty Wallace	Miller Genuine Draft (Roger Penske)	Pontiac	24	2,300	engine	0
24	6	21	Morgan Shepherd	Citgo (Wood Brothers)	Ford	21	2,200	engine	0
25	19	46	Al Unser, Jr.	Valvoline (Rick Hendrick)	Chevrolet	10	2,600	crash	0
26	22	52	Jimmy Hensley	NAPA (Jimmy Means)	Ford	10	2,000	crash	0