June 14, 1970 - Ramo Stott wins at Talladega

On June 14, 1970, King Richard won going away in the Falstaff 400 at Riverside as he glided his Plymouth Superbird around the southern California road course. About 2,000 miles to the east, another Plymouth Superbird driver had his way with the field at Alabama International Motor Speedway.Ramo Stott won the Vulcan 500 ARCA race at Talladega. - Warbird7

As with the Riverside GN race, the crowd was much lighter than expected. Stott had won the 300 mile ARCA race at Daytona in February, and he was the favorite to win at Talladega in his sleek Bird. ARCA owner John Marcum, however, had other ideas. Showing he and Bill France Sr were cut from the same cloth, he arbitrarily decided to make a rules change to tighten the competition and lessen Stott's anticipated advantage.Marcum gave Stott 2 options: lose the Bird's wing and nose piece or run a smaller engine. Stott's team opted for the former and kept the Hemi big block in place. - Gadsden Times

Ramo just seemed to roll with the punches and had a bit of fun displaying his Superbird that had been turned into Averagebird.

Having watched some ARCA races at Nashville as a kid, a few at Talladega in my 20s, and plenty on TV the rest of my adult years, you can generally count on plenty of wrecks and other attrition. I'm amazed to think of what it would have been like to have the cars race for 500 MILES - at Talladega on less in only its 2nd year of existence.

Stott started from the pole but not because he was the fastest on the clock. He won an ARCA qualifying race at Talladega a month earlier, and one of the rewards was the top starting spot in the June 500-miler. Bobby Watson finished 2nd in the qualifying race and started 2nd alongside Stott. Ron Grana, Ben Arnold and Red Farmer rounded out the top 5. Other notable starters included Coo Coo Marlin, Ron Keselowski, Iggy Katona, Andy Hampton, Jimmy Crawford, Dick May, Dave Dayton, and Blackie Wangerin.

Racing the 'clipped wing', blunt-nosed Plymouth made no difference to Ramo. He still won handily over the field. I remember him best for having won the pole for the 1976 Daytona 500, and never really followed his career otherwise.

Ramo's wingless, beakless Bird - Getty

Victory lane with crew - Getty

But he looks like he was a genuine good-time-haver when it came to victory lane celebrations. In my opinion, the pure joy of nailing a win is generally lost in today's high stakes racing. - Getty

From Gadsden Times

Race report from Gadsden Times

Great report, Always enjoyed the times I got to chat with Ramo at the old Dayton Speedway....

Thanks, enjoyed reading. Even though Stott still won despite the wing and nose clip, was the race any closer? Like Marcum expected?

Thanks injoyed that good story

might be the Vulcan Materials Company that is head quartered in B'ham Alabama and is the leading supplier of construction aggregates in the world.....

Had a lap on the field by mid-way. What Marcum expected? Don't know. Perhaps if Ramo had full aero package, he may have lapped the field 4 or 5 times. Ha.

The race was named the "Vulcan 500" to honor the city of Birmingham, Alabama. Birmingham was a big steel city in the first half of the 20th century. The largest cast iron statue in the world is located on Red Mountain in Birmingham. It is Vulcan Statue, named after the Greek god of fire and forge.

Who knew! So there ya go. Good reply Blane!

http://www.visitvulcan.com/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_statue

Of course, Alabama is also the home of the Boll Weevil statue in Enterprise. I have been to it though I haven't been to the Vulcan statue. I got to see the sho-nuff original before it was repeatedly vandalized. It's since been moved elsewhere and replaced with a replica.

http://weevilwonderland.blogspot.com/p/vandals.html

Looks like it worked about the same as most of NASCAR 'fixes' in the present day. Same guy still wins the cash and prizes, just by a smaller margin than before.