1972 Bowman Gray 100

Dennis Andrews
@dennis-andrews
7 years ago
835 posts

BOWMAN GRAY 100

Bowman Gray Stadium

Saturday, April 8, 1972

The second stand alone race for the Grand American Challenge Series in 1972 was the Bowman Gray 100 at the historic Bowman Gray Stadium ¼ mile paved track in Winston-Salem. It was the 3 rd race where drivers could earn championship points.

The event was broadcast live nation-wide, with a 100 mile radius black out, by ABC’s Wide World of Sports hosted by Jim McKay and sportscaster Bill Flemming. Commentary was provided by the editor of National Speed Sport News Chris Economaki. The 40 lap modified race was videotaped.

42 drivers filed entries for 24 starting spots. In addition to the GA drivers GN drivers Bobby Allison, David Pearson, Buddy Baker (in his dad’s Firebird), Lee Roy Yarbrough (in #10 Camaro) and Pete Hamilton (in the #92 Camaro, I think the same one Hylton drove at Daytona) made qualifying runs. Stadium standouts Max Berrier drove Reid Shaws Mustang and Don Miller drove a Camaro. Stick Elliott and Mike Humphries also landed rides for the event. Former GT Champ and stadium regular Ken Rush returned to action as well. Track manager Joe Hawkins expected a large crowd designating it “Ladies Day” with women getting in free but the cold weather hurt the attendance with an estimated gate of 8,000 but the stands did not appear to be half full.

Time trials set the starting grid for three 10 lap heat races. The top seven finishers in each heat moved on the 100 lap feature. The final 3 spots were determined by qualifying times of those finishing outside to top seven in the heat races. David Pearson sat on the pole with a record time of 16.49 sec. in one of H.B. Bailey’s Firebirds and won the first heat. Ken Rush won the second heat and started on the outside front row and Bobby Allison started third by winning the last heat in the Melvin Joseph Mustang.

Racing at the Stadium has always been an up close affair involving contact like the game played inside the bull ring and it became apparent at the drop of the green. Ken Rush started on the outside of the front row but did not make it out of the first corner when contact from H.B. Bailey sent him into the guard rail ending his day. “Bailey just plowed right through me, he was driving like he had lost his mind.” Rush commented later. Third place starter Bobby Allison was also involved but was able to continue after going to the back of the field. When they went back under the green it was Pearson out front soon to be followed by Jim Paschal who had avoided the opening lap crash and moved up from the 9 th place starting position. As the leaders came off turn four to complete lap 40 Randy Bannister was in the outside lane passing slower traffic when his Camaro blew the engine going down the front stretch. Bannister ended up in the turn one fence as the outside lane got jammed up, Pearson could not get to the inside because of traffic but Paschal just behind him found a hole and jumped to the inside and clipped a little grass getting past the crash and taking the lead. Pearson ended up at the tail end of the lead lap cars and Paschal built up a good lead on the restart. By lap 81 Pearson had made his way to second when Lee Roy Yarbrough spun in turn 2 bringing out the yellow for the fourth time allowing Pearson to make up the gap on Paschal. They only ran a few laps under green before turn 2 was again the site of a spinning car, this time it was Pete Hamilton. Hamilton’s Camaro stalled bringing out the 5 th and final caution which set up a duel to the finish between Paschal and Pearson. Paschal kept his Firebird in the groove and never gave Pearson a chance to make a move and they finished bumper to bumper. Gary Myers was third in a Mustang and Max Berrier brought his Mustang home in 4 th on 7 cylinders. Bobby Allison recovered from the first lap mishap to finish 5 th with a lot of wrinkled sheet metal but not before rubbing Tiny Lund the wrong way. Allison had no comment on Lund saying he had one coming. On a lighter note Yarbrough joked “I didn’t know whether to run or pass so I just punted. They should play football here and forget the racing.” Pearson may have enjoyed the race more than Paschal as he commented “I had a ball. I could have won by spinning him out but I did not want to be dirty. I did bump him a time or two to make sure he knew I was there. It was a lot of fun.” Paschal said “I wasn’t too worried about him. It is hard to pass at this place, I figured I could keep him behind me.”

Paschal collected $2,500 of the $16,365 purse. 

Fin.       St.            Driver                               #                Car                       Laps       Status

1             9            Jim Paschal                      14           ’71 Firebird             100         Running

2             1            David Pearson                  96           ’71 Firebird             100         Running

3             8            Gary Myers                      41           ’70 Mustang            100         Running

4             23          Max Berrier                      15           ’72 Mustang            100         Running

5             3            Bobby Allison                   49           ’70 Mustang            100         Running

6             15          Stick Elliott                       57           ’72 Camaro             100         Running

7             4            H. B. Bailey                      36           ’71 Firebird             100         Running

8             10          Bobby Watson                  11           ’70 Camaro             100         Running

9             22          JaPete Hamilton                92           ’72 Camaro             99           Running

10           20          Mike Humphries                94           ’72 Camaro             99           Running

11           21          Don Miller                         99           ’70 Camaro            99           Running

12           17          Pee Wee Wentz                   5           ’69 Camaro            99           Running

13           16          T. C. Hunt                         88           ’69 Camaro            99           Running

14           7            Buddy Baker                      87           ’71 Firebird            99           Running

15           13          Tommy Andrews                21           ’69 Mustang           99           Running

16           5            Jimmy Vaughn                   7             ‘69 Camaro            98           Running

17           11          Lee Roy Yarbrough             10           ’69 Camaro            97           Running

18           24          Randy Hutchison                1             ’69 Camaro            96           Running

19           18          Finley Henderson                19           ’69 Camaro            82           Running

20           6            Tiny Lund                          55           ’72 Firebird            64           Flat tire

21           14          Randy Bannister                 26           ’69 Camaro            37           Engine

22           12          Wayne Andrews                 97           ’70 Mustang           30           DNF

23           19          Jeff Haar                           67           ’69 Camaro            30           Heating

24           2            Ken Rush                          44           ’69 Camaro            0             Wreck

The national exposure brought out some big names but it also cost some GA regulars some points. Al Straub, Bob Williams and Ernie Shaw did not make the field and Glenn Brewer put Finley Henderson in his car.

Personal Note: There were 5 cautions for 29 laps but not all incidents resulted in a yellow flag. Wayne Andrews spun off the bumper of Buddy Baker. The car came to rest on the grass on the inside of the racing surface. The car stalled with a flat tire and would not re-fire. Wayne was a spectator until the next caution putting him so far behind it was not worth continuing.

bgswws1972.jpg

bgstadium1972randy.jpg

Randy Bannister watches track clean-up around his race car as Jim Paschal goes by under caution. It was this event that gave Paschal the opening to get by Pearson.

Point Standings after Bowman Gray

  1. Wayne Andrews 372.25
  2. Bobby Allison 183.75
  3. AL Straub 246
  4. Max Berrier 243.25
  5. Glenn Brewer 219.75
  6. Bob Williams 209.50
  7. David Boggs 208.25
  8. Ernie Shaw 204.25
  9. Jeff Haar 198.25
  10. H.B. Bailey 181.75
  11. Tiny Lund 180.50
  12. Joie Chitwood Jr. 175.25
  13. Jimmy Capps 173.25
  14. Stick Elliott 168
  15. Paul Tyler 164.75
  16. Baxter Price 160.75
  17. James Hylton 156.25
  18. Herb Adams 153
  19. Pee Wee Wentz 144.75
  20. Jerry Hufflin 142
  21. Mike Humphries 141
  22. Jim Hailey 140
  23. Gary Myers 130.75
  24. Bill Chevalier 123.50
  25. Buck Baker 115
  26. Vic Elford 107
  27. Randy Bannister 99
  28. Roy Stamey 91.25
  29. David Boggs 83
  30. Jim Paschal 75
  31. Charlie Blanton 70.75
  32. Bob Jusola 68.75
  33. Bobby Watson 68
  34. Pete Hamilton 66.75
  35. Don Miller 64.75
  36. T.C. Hunt 67.75
  37. Tommy Andrews 60.75
  38. Jimmy Vaughn 59.50
  39. Dave Dayton 52
  40. Tom Lilly 39.25

* Points calculated using written description of 1972 points system for both Daytona races (assuming all drivers were awarded points for their finishing position) and results that included points for the Bowman Gray race. Note that posted result that listed points awarded for the BG race listed no points for David Pearson, Stick Elliott, Mike Humphries, Buddy Baker, Lee Roy Yarbrough, Randy Hutchison, Finley Henderson, Tiny Lund and Ken Rush. They were not listed as a post entry so I don’t know why they got no points.


updated by @dennis-andrews: 01/18/20 05:20:38AM
johnny bowen
@johnny-bowen
7 years ago
15 posts

I have searched for a video of this race with no luck. Does anyone know if it is available anywhere ?