I originally blogged about this race back in 2011. I'll update it a bit and share it here. Original post is here:
http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2011/08/august-18-this-day-in-petty-history.html
On August 18 1962, Richard Petty picked up career win number 11 by winning the International 200 at the quarter-mile track in Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, NC. Petty had pretty good success at Bowman Gray with four wins and 20 top 5's in 26 total starts.
In March 2011, NASCAR.com [ published an article ] about Bowman Gray under its Hometracks section - including a photo from the 1962 race of Petty leading Larry Thomas. The article gets a +1 bump for being written by Paul Schaefer .
Jack Smith won the pole and was flanked by Joe Weatherly in Bud Moore's Pontiac. Petty and Jimmy Pardue made up row two, and Dick Getty rounded out the top 5. Getty had 26 career GN starts. In 5 of those starts, the field had Dick Petty and Dick Getty. Richard and his mother were probably not the only ones who insisted he be referred to by his given name. The PA announcer at various tracks likely wanted some relief as well!
The race was unique in that the 24-car field included several foreign car makes. Nine of the 24 starters drove cars such as an MG, Austin-Healey, Sprite and Alfa-Romeo. Seven of the drivers in these cars made their one and only GN start in this race:
- Bill Block
- Doug Duvall
- Bill Faulkner
- Steve Garrett
- Kelly Ryan
- Herbert Scott
- Jim Street
Smith was the lap bully of the day. He led about 3/4 of the race's 200 laps. But after leading a shorter lap segment earlier, the 43 found the lead again with 45 laps to go. He led the rest of the way to collect the checkers.
Petty's win continued a hot streak for the Petty Engineering team. Between Richard and Jim Paschal, the duo had won 5 straight at Nashville (JP), Huntsville (RP), Asheville-Weaverville (JP), Starkey Speedway in Roanoke (RP) and Bowman Gray (RP). Paschal also won at Bristol two races before Nashville. Only Joe Weatherly's win at Boyd Speedway in Chattanooga kept the Plymouth team from rattling off 7 wins in a row. Paschal was a key pick-up by the Petty team in 1962 after having started the season with Cliff Stewart.
Smith initially decide to protest the Petty Plymouth after the race. If he did, apparently the protest was not successful. I haven't found anything more detailing Smith's complaint - nor the resolution. But the record books say the 43 was the winner so the protest was either never filed or rejected.
| Fin | Driver | Car |
| 1 | Richard Petty | '62 Plymouth |
| 2 | Jack Smith | '61 Pontiac |
| 3 | Joe Weatherly | '61 Pontiac |
| 4 | Jimmy Pardue | '62 Pontiac |
| 5 | G.C. Spencer | '62 Chevrolet |
| 6 | Ned Jarrett | '62 Pontiac |
| 7 | Dick Getty | '62 Chevrolet |
| 8 | Curtis Crider | '61 Mercury |
| 9 | Wendell Scott | '60 Chevrolet |
| 10 | Ray Hughes | '60 Plymouth |
| 11 | Herman Beam | '60 Ford |
| 12 | Bill Whitley | Corvette |
| 13 | Tom Cox | '62 Pontiac |
| 14 | Fred Harb | '61 Ford |
| 15 | Robert Berrier | MG |
| 16 | Larry Thomas | '62 Dodge |
| 17 | Herbert Scott | Austin Healey |
| 18 | Doug Duvall | Sprite |
| 19 | Bill Faulkner | MG |
| 20 | Steve Garrett | MG |
| 21 | Kelly Ryan | Sprite |
| 22 | Bill Block | Alfa Romeo |
| 23 | Paul Lyons | Sprite |
| 24 | Jim Street | MG |
--
Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM