Racing History Minute - March 12, 1972

By the time the Cup teams rolled into the sandhills of Rockingham, NC in mid-March of 1972, they'd already been to California - twice, south to Daytona and to the mid-Atlantic area of Richmond. A roadie, a high banked superspeedway, the flat Indy of the west, and the Virginia bullring - all before spring officially arrived!

The race was a bit surprisingly thin on heavy hitters. Laying out of the race were teams such as the Wood Brothers, Bud Moore and Cotton Owens as well as drivers such as David Pearson, Donnie Allison, Dick Brooks & Charlie Glotzbach. Most apparently didn't like the size of the purse being offered. But the race went on as scheduled.

As the teams got ready for qualifying, Papa Lee apparently gave The King (or perhaps to him Richard was still "the kid") a pointer or two. - Spartanburg Herald

Bobby Allison won the pole in his Junior Johnson-owned, Herb Nab-maintained Coca-Cola Chevy. Bitter rival King Richard lined up alongside him in his STP Plymouth - one of last remaining ones before the Pettys switched the 43 over to Dodge. The surprise of qualifying had to be Buck Baker. The old man belted into a Chevy owned by Harold Furr that supposedly had been parked since the previous summer when it may have been last raced by Dub Simpson in the Talladega 500.

From Gadsden Times

Starting line-up from Jack Carter

Alison was forced to move, however, from the penthouse to the outhouse when NASCAR officials discovered he'd bolted left side tires to the right side of his car. He was forced to start shotgun on the field. Bobby Isaac was moved from his 3rd qualifying spot on the inside of the second row to the top spot alongside Petty.

When the green fell, Allison let it be known he had qualified up front for a reason. The #12 Monte Carlo cut through the field like a hot knife through butter. On lap 68 of the 492-lap race, he took the lead from Isaac. From that point, he led big chunks of the race at a time and surrendering the lead only on occasion. Despite starting last, he managed to race his way past everyone - twice . But after lapping the field and leading 260 laps, *poof* a blown engine put the Coke Machine on the trailer early after only 345 laps.

Buddy Baker had a good track record at Rockingham and figured the trend would continue - especially with a Maurice Petty hemi under the hood. He led 10 laps early (before Allison blew by everyone), but Buddy's engine broke a valve spring and was done for the day after only 90 laps. He finished 34th - only 2 spots better than his dad. After a strong qualifying run, Buck parked his car with engine woes after only 59 laps.

Raymond Williams finished one spot lower than Buck after losing a water pump. He was then summoned to Joe Frasson's pit to drive a while in relief. But he didn't last long!

Perry Allen Wood writes in his book Declarations of Stock Car Independents :

With Allison and Baker out, the race boiled down to the 2 Mopars of Isaac and Petty. Once Allison exited, Petty managed to lead 3 laps. Otherwise, it was all Isaac the rest of the way. Except for the 3 circuits Petty led, Isaac paced the field for 144 of the race's final 147 laps. He took the checkers with a 1-lap win over the 43. RR member Jim Vandiver finished third - matching the great finish he had in the Daytona 500 three races earlier.

From Lexington NC's The Dispatch

It's often hard for me to believe Isaac didn't win on the superspeedways any more often than he did - especially when paired with Harry Hyde. His win at The Rock was only his 4th superspeedway win of his career - the others being a 1964 Daytona 500 qualifier, the 1969 Texas 500, and the 1971 Firecracker 400. The win also turned out to be the final GN/Cup victory of his NASCAR HOF-deserving career.

About 18 months later, Isaac pulled off the track at Talladega and said he was done with racing. He returned to run a few more Cup races though was rarely in the hunt for a top finish. And 5+ years after his Rockingham win, he was gone.

Race report from Spartanburg Herald

Needless to say, Allison was down in the dumps. I hope he and Buddy Baker were buds because as is often said "misery loves company". Buddy exited early in his #11 STP Petty Enterprises Dodge. - Spartanburg Herald

And although no one realized that this race would be Bobby's last win, it was also the last top-10 for Neil Castles.

Of those in the race that had raced Late Model Sportsman in Augusta included Bill Shirey, Johnny Halford, Bobby Allison ,Cecil Gordon, Fran Warren, Lee Roy Yarborough and Bobby Issac

The starting lineup confirms my memory of the NASCAR Cup fields of that era lining up the two fastest non-qualifiers behind the starting field on pit road on race day morning as 1st Alternate and 2nd Alternate. If a starter didn't fire (which happened quite often back in the day) or had any other problem, the alternate(s) (J.D. McDuffie and Roy Mayne at Rockingham) got the nod to start at the rear of the field:

This was also the first of 7 Cup starts in 1972 for English Formula One driver, Jackie Oliver in Richmond car owner, Junie Donlavey's #90 Ford "Rent-A-Racer." NASCAR czar, Bill France was behind and financed putting the 10th qualifying Oliver in the Donlavey car in an attempt to add "international flavor" to the series.

After Rockingham, Oliver would also run Donlavey's #90 Truxmore Ford at Darlington, Talladega, Charlotte, Dover, and College Station.

Oliver returned to England in 1973 and started 13 Formula One events, including a podium finish in the 1973 Canadian Grand Prix behind cosmetics heir, Peter Revson and Emerson Fittapaldi.

And now we've gone from a cosmetics heir to a cosmetics wearer in racing...

Here's Jackie Oliver (above) wheeling Junie Donlavey's Richmond based Truxmore Ford (below) in the 1972 Firecracker 400 at Daytona on July 4, 1972.

Here's betting that high dollar Danica doesn't buy drugstore Revlon cosmetics. Heck, she ain't even blonde!

Not blonde...yet. But if she loses GoDaddy as her sponsor and signs with Clorox.

whewwwwwww.... she'll probably have "sister" Nicki hanging out with her....

Never mind the cosmetics she had surgically added to her body.

Bump