Racing History Minute - October 26, 1980

Thirty-five years ago today as I post this, NASCAR took two of its touring series back to Martinsville Speedway for the fall classic, The Cardinal 500.

Woody Delbridge has shared a boat load of photos from that day's dual set of races. And a big thanks to Chris Hussey for providing me several other pics to include in this post.

The modifieds ran first with their 250-lap opener. Maynard Troyer was the top qualifier. He was followed by Greg Sacks and perennial winner, Richie Evans.

Evans found the front as he frequently did. Here he is pulling the field through turn 4.

But his afternoon wasn't drama free. A spinner right in front of the butterscotch 61 could well have ended his day.

The Cup drivers didn't race at Martinsville that weekend. But the unmistakable Petty Blue and day-glo STP red painted Dodge van was present. Perhaps Dick May was in town doing a bit of palm shaking for STP.

Ron Bouchard - Photo by Bryan Holeman

Evans continued on and took the win over Bouchard. Geoff Bodine finished 3rd. After Evans' win, it was time for the 250-lap late model sportsman portion of the day.

Before the LMS race could begin, a unique event unfolded before the witness of fans. Morgan Shepherd and his fiance Debbie were married at the track, and his crew had a good time decorating the 'honeymoon' car.

Geoff Bodine won the pole for the LMS race, and Sam Ard lined up alongside him on the front row.

Bob Pressley and The Ironman Jack Ingram made up row 2.

Rick Mast's crew was working on a little sumpn-sumpn as the car sat on the grid. An eagle-eyed NASCAR inspector hovered nearby. Whatever needed to be tweaked before the race may not have been completed. Mast had a short day, suffered a failed oil pump, fell out after only 39 laps, and finished 36th with a DNF.

The day was a short one for the pole winner. After nabbing a third place finish in the modified race, Bodine lost an oil pump and finished 37th after falling out of the race after only 29 laps.

The biggest incident of the day happened at lap 43. Caught up in the accident were Tommy Houston, Michael Barry, Roy Hendrick, and Eddie Falk.

Sam Ard out in front of the newlywed as they tear through 3 and 4. The two spent the latter laps running 1-2 just like this. When the checkers fell, it was 00 finishing P1. Shepherd capped off his memorable day with a 2nd place finish. Though Shepherd didn't win the race on his wedding day, his runner-up finish was enough to clinch the 1980 NASCAR LMS title.

Sam poses with crew chief Jesse Coke - who was sporting a hat whose bill was shaped just the way Richard Petty liked his.

The two winners celebrating together.

Coincidentally, the two second place finishers had memorable years in Cup in 1981. About six months after the Cardinal 500, Morgan Shepherd won his first Cup race - the Virginia 500 back at Martinsville - with car owner Cliff Stewart. Bouchard went the opposite extreme. He too found himself in victory lane at the Cup level for the first time. But his 1st Cup win was on a superspeedway after a remarkable, three-wide win in the 1981 Talladega 500.

Bump

Dirt track racer Bud Elliott (uncle of Elliott Sadler and Hermie Sadler) posted an unusually high 8th place finish on the asphalt Martinsville layout in the LMS half. Elliott was a former dirt Wilson County (NC) Speedway champ. Perrenial Martinsville champ Ray Hendrick was in the red & blue #33 fielded by Robert "Blue" Burton of Mechanicsville, Va. - a car formerly driven by Hendrick's son Roy. Roy had stepped into the #59 Viking Tire Stores car out of Wilson formerly driven by J.E. Beard who went on to become a noted engine builder for Jack Tant,  Lake Speed and Morgan-McClure. The Geoff Bodine #99 and Sonny Hutchins #01 were team cars from the Richmond shops of Emanuel "The Golden Greek" Zervakis, while the #1 of Bill Dennis was fielded by Richmond Circuit Judge John Dodson. These were the waning days of the Late Model Sportsman division which ceased to exist after 1981.

16th place finisher Joe Fields raced under a made up name in a sparse LMS and Cup career. For the life of me I can't recall his real name. What I do recall is that his family operated Richmond Printing in Mechanicsville, Virginia. The print shop became the target of a United States Secret Service investigation. Federal indictments charged one of the family members wth operating an after hours business printing counterfeit U.S. currency. All other family members denied knowledge of the after hours printing jobs.

Driver Joe Fields real name was Joe Liesfeld. In 2007 the Richmond paper did a where is he now update:

http://www.richmond.com/sports/catching-up-with/article_5d71bc63-276b-53a3-977e-86c98d231758.html