I get it. US Weekly appeals to the grocery store, check-out line, impulse buying crowd. Young, hip, and targets of Nielsen and Arbitron. The magazine doesn't have the space or the reader interest for pics of ALL things in Danica's purse. But I'm pretty connected - and I have it on good authority that Danica totes around a deck of RacersReunion playing cards as well.
Always liked those boots. Miss Winston in them - nothing better.
Contrast the original with how the photo ran in the paper. Decal? What decal? Legs? What legs?
The 1972 Nashville 420 was messed up on multiple levels:
But the race was indeed held on Saturday night, August 26th, under the lights not on Sunday the 27th.
King Richard came to town acouple of days before the race for a press conference at the Airport Hilton to help promote the race. Coincidentally, I attended my one and only Blue & Gold Banquet as a Cub Scout at the same Hilton a year or two later - before I'd even learned about racing or Richard Petty.
Joining Petty were Coo Coo Marlin and Miss Fairgrounds Speedway Deborah Jett.
Among the questions answered and opinions given, Petty suggested the Saturday race would be a rough and tough one. On the one hand, that could have been a typical response at any promotional presser. As it turns out though, King's observation was spot-on for how qualifying and the race would unfold. 
Three years earlier, the track had been re-configured with super steep banking. Speeds escalated witheach Cup race from then through 1972. Most expected that trend to continue for the 72 420.
The Richard Howard-owned, Junior Johnson-fielded, Herb Nab-crewed, Coca-Cola sponsored, Bobby Allison-driven Chevrolet was the car to beat. He won the pole in the Friday night qualifying session.
Starting alongside him was King Richard in his STP Plymouth. The 43 team made a transitional change to Dodges in the spring of 1972 (teammate Buddy Baker was already driving one); however, the team continued to race Plymouths the rest of the season on short tracks, at Dover and on Riversides road course. - Russ Thompson
Local driver and 3-time track champion, CooCoo Marlin, started third a career second-best starting spot next to a P2 start at Talladega in 1976. Cecil Gordon and Bobby Isaac rounded out the top 5.
The field gets ready to take the green. - Facebook
Starting back in 12th was a relative unknown to the Cup regulars but a familiar face at Nashville. Darrell Waltrip, the tracks 1970 late model champion and frequent winner, was starting his fourth career Cup race in a former Holman Moody Mercury - the same one Mario Andretti raced to his win in the 1967 Daytona 500. - Russ Thompson pic
As noted in the article from The Tennessean, the condition of the track had already become an issue during qualifying. A pothole had developed, and the cars tried to dodge it during time trials. The drivers blamed the NASCAR. NASCAR blamed track officials. Track promoter Bill Donoho Sr. blamed the paving contractor.
Yet NASCAR and Donoho forged ahead with the 420. Apparently nothing was done to the track during the day on Saturday arguably a mess-up. Yet when race time arrived, the start was delayed almost 90 minutes as track officials THEN rallied to make repairs. In a repair effort that may have even made Billy Biscoe smile, a steam roller was tethered to the winch of a tow truck on the high side of the track. Hey y'all, watch this! - photo: Marchman Family Collection
The race got off to a messed-up start. After taking the green flag, Marlin and Isaac wrecked on the first lap. They squandered their prime starting spots and finished 26th and 27th respectively in the 28-car field.
So who finished 28th and dead last? Lee Roy Yarbrough. Without even taking the green. Lee Roy slowed on the pace lap, pulled off the track at the start, and parked his #45 Bill Seifert Ford without explanation a truly messed-up situation. It was Yarbroughs second and final start at Nashville. - Russ Thompson
After the lap 1 wreck was cleaned up, the race returned to green. Allison led the first 10 percent of the race 42 laps. Cecil Gordon managed to lead lap 43, and then car 43 went to the point. Petty led the next 124 laps. Allison then reclaimed the lead and set sail for over 157 laps.
Petty then reclaimed the lead for 3 laps before needing a pit stop. As the 43 screamed off the tracks quarter-mile inner track used as pit road and prepared to blend into traffic, a NASCAR official held up the stop paddle because of on-track traffic coming out of turn 4. The King already had a head of steam and was likely looking over his right shoulder to find a place to blend in. Consequently, he missed the stop paddle and was on his way back up to speed.
Bill Gazaway wasnt interested in reasons why Petty missed the paddle just that he did. The 43 was called to pit road to serve a 1 lap penalty. The mild-mannered King blew a fuse in the car barking at Gazaway, and the Junior Johnson and Petty crews barked at each other and Gazaway as well.
Petty eventually got back on the lead lap with Allison but could never track him down again to take the lead.
Allison took the win, and an angry Petty finished second. The two were SIXTEEN laps ahead of third place finisher Waltrip. Despite the large deficit from 2nd to 3rd, the finish was easily the best of DWs brief career.
Jeff Droke - RacersReunion member, owner of Nashville420.com and long-time James Hylton crewman - attended his first Cup race that night. He suspects the August 27th mess-up in Fielden's book and a multitude of websites may be the result of NASCAR's official race report. Because of the delay in the start of the race and other cautions during the race, the 420 likely ended after 11PM local time - still early enough to make the deadline for The Tennessean. But 11PM local time Saturday the 26th was 12M Sunday the 27th in the eastern time zone used by NASCAR's office in Daytona Beach.
Following the race, Allison offered to help Donoho and his team re-design the track. And he made good on his offer by visiting the track again in November 1972.
The track - whose turns were banked as steeply as we now know Bristol - was re-designed for a third time. The banking was lowered to 18 degrees the same configuration the fairgrounds track has to this day.
| Fin | Driver | Sponsor / Owner | Car |
| 1 | Bobby Allison | Coca-Cola | '72 Chevrolet |
| 2 | Richard Petty | STP | '72 Plymouth |
| 3 | Darrell Waltrip | Darrell Waltrip | '71 Mercury |
| 4 | Benny Parsons | Pop Kola | '71 Mercury |
| 5 | Elmo Langley | Elmo Langley | '71 Ford |
| 6 | Cecil Gordon | Collins & Aikman | '71 Mercury |
| 7 | Henley Gray | Henley Gray | '71 Ford |
| 8 | James Hylton | Pop Kola | '71 Ford |
| 9 | Walter Ballard | Ballard Racing | '71 Mercury |
| 10 | J.D. McDuffie | J.D. McDuffie | '71 Chevrolet |
| 11 | D.K. Ulrich | D.K. Ulrich | '71 Ford |
| 12 | John Sears | J. Marvin Mills Heating & Air | '70 Plymouth |
| 13 | Earl Brooks | Earl Brooks | '71 Ford |
| 14 | Frank Warren | Frank Warren | '70 Plymouth |
| 15 | David Ray Boggs | David Ray Boggs | '70 Dodge |
| 16 | Richard Childress | Richard Childress | '71 Chevrolet |
| 17 | David Sisco | Charlie McGee | '72 Chevrolet |
| 18 | Raymond Williams | Raymond Williams | '71 Ford |
| 19 | Charlie Roberts | Charlie Roberts | '71 Ford |
| 20 | Ben Arnold | Ben Arnold | '71 Ford |
| 21 | Robert Brown | Allan Brown | '70 Chevrolet |
| 22 | Jabe Thomas | Don Robertson | '70 Plymouth |
| 23 | Dean Dalton | Dean Dalton | '71 Mercury |
| 24 | George Altheide | George Altheide | '70 Dodge |
| 25 | Bill Champion | Bill Champion | '71 Ford |
| 26 | Coo Coo Marlin | Cunningham-Kelley | '71 Chevrolet |
| 27 | Bobby Isaac | K & K Insurance | '71 Dodge |
| 28 | LeeRoy Yarbrough | Bill Seifert | '71 Ford |
Race report - after score cards were reviewed and decision was made. - Spartanburg Herald
Ha! Love race sponsor name. Spent early part of my career working for firm in Chattanooga that went by same initials.
Seems Hamilton's win didn't merit mention in most newspapers - at least the ones I was able to check on-line.
However, the Gadsden Times did reference Pete's back to back wins at Stafford and Thompson in its September 9th notes column.
Seems Hamilton's win didn't merit mention in most newspapers - at least the ones I was able to check on-line.
However, the Gadsden Times did reference Pete's back to back wins at Stafford and Thompson in its September 9th notes column.
Normally I enjoy sharing articles BY Tom Higgins. But here is a good 'un ABOUT him from the Citizen-Times of Asheville
http://www.citizen-times.com/story/sports/2014/08/24/catching-nascar-journalist-tom-higgins/14545207/
Catching up with ... NASCAR journalist Tom Higgins
Keith Jarrett
August 24, 2014
ASHEVILLE He came out of Burnsville a teenage baseball and basketball player, competing in both sports at Brevard College, a proud member of the 1955 Toe River Conference champion basketball team at Burnsville High.
Two years later he first got ink on his hands Tom Higgins initial sportswriting gig came at the Canton Enterprise in 1957, his second at the Asheville Times.
While employed in Asheville, he covered his first auto race at Asheville Weaverville Speedway, an assignment he didn't want.
But then the intoxicating mixture of oil, gas and Kentucky bourbon got into his blood, and into his brain, and the result is a hall of fame career in racing journalism.
When the NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony is held Jan. 30, 2015, in Charlotte, Higgins will receive the Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence and be featured in the hall.
His 33-year career at the Charlotte Observer included 18 years as the NASCAR beat writer, the first journalist to cover every race on the schedule, until his retirement in 1997.
Higgins dream of being a big league baseball player ended at Brevard College, when he couldn't solve the aerodynamics of the curve ball.
BC basketball coach and mentor Chick Martin encouraged Higgins to become a sportswriter, as did legendary Citizen-Times writer and author Bob Terrell.
After covering fast-pitch softball in Canton, Higgins joined the staff in Asheville.
Once I got to Asheville and heard the clacking of those teletype machines and was part of the excitement of putting out a daily newspaper, I was hooked, he said.
In fall 1957, Higgins got his first taste of racing at Asheville Weaverville Speedway and his introduction to NASCARs King. (TMC: My RacersReunion post)
I thought it was the wildest thing I had ever seen, he recalled with a laugh. Those people were crazy.
I really didn't want to cover a race, and I was lost. I ended up on a rickety, three-story, wood-framed tower on the infield side of the start-finish line.
I went to the top and there were two guys up there in slacks and sport shirts, which is what drivers wore back then. They were drivers, and they were passing a bottle of Jim Beam back and forth, drinking right out of the bottle.
They didn't have rides that day, but if somebody had offered them one, they would have gotten into a car.
I thought to myself, Damn! This is a hairy-chested sport. I believe I'm going to like this.
Wandering around the pits, Higgins talked to pole sitter, Lee Petty and his son, Richard.
That's where I met Richard, and turns out he and I are the same age, he's five weeks older. I hit it off with them after I told them I was just getting started in this racing thing, Higgins said.
I asked a lot of dumb questions, and they graciously answered them, and that was my first race.
Quickly the questions got better and more informed, and Higgins career and NASCAR grew together.
He was a good ol' country boy sportswriter covering a good ol country boy sport, and he and the drivers bonded.
They ate and drank together and learned to trust each other, a rare marriage in sports journalism.
When I started, the drivers and I were the same age, and they had the same background as me. Small towns, just regular fellas, and we hit it off, he said.
Tom Higgins helped establish what it means to be a NASCAR beat reporter, NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France said.
For more than five decades, his words have told the story of NASCAR. ... He has been much more than a reporter to those in the NASCAR industry, serving as a friend and confidant to competitors, administrators and his fellow journalists.
Charlotte Observer columnist Tom Sorensen covered his first NASCAR race with Higgins and learned the sport from him.
To thousands of readers, Tom was NASCAR, Sorensen wrote. They'd watch the race from the grandstands, or from their living room. But the results weren't official until they read Tom.
At age 77, Higgins memory remains fresh and his stories deep in details. There was the time at Asheville's McCormick Field when Banjo Matthews was almost unbeatable and Ralph Earnhardt (father of Dale, grandfather of .Dale Jr.) punched out a Matthews crew member while still in his car. And the time a riot broke out at Asheville Weaverville Speedway when a race was cut short and a deputy sheriff was thrown into a pond. (TMC: My RacersReunion post)
He still watches the races every week, still writes a weekly fishing report for the Observer and until budget cuts earlier this year continued to write a NASCAR nostalgia column from his home in Mooresville.
But he hasn't attended a race since his retirement, not wanting to deal with the traffic and crowds. And the sadness of losing close friend Neil Bonnett in a wreck at Daytona still weighs heavy.
But the love of racing and the memories remain of a sport that captured his heart in Weaverville more than 50 years ago.
I really, really enjoyed the people, he said. I'm tickled to say I got invited to a lot of (drivers) parties and poker games, and not many people in the press were afforded that opportunity.
They trusted me, and they did throughout my career, and I'm proud of that.
I originally blogged about the August 24, 1975 Champion SPark Plug 400 at Michigan three years ago here:
http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2011/08/august-24-this-day-in-petty-history.html
But I can't find that I ever posted about it here. So I'll add a post about it to RacersReunion today.
Richard Petty narrowly wins his 173rd career race over rival and fellow future NASCAR Hall of Fame member, David Pearson, in the Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan. Program from Motor Racing Programme Covers
Pearson won the pole in the Wood Brothers Mercury. Buddy Baker qualified alongside him for an all-FoMoCo in Bud Moore's Ford. - John Betts photo
A.J. Foyt timed 3rd in Hoss Ellington's Chevy. - John Betts photo
Petty and Bobby Allison rounded out the top 5 starters.
Pearson & Petty swapped the lead five times during the final five laps. When the checkers fell, the King won by half a car-length.
Race report courtesy of Jerry Bushmire
The [ MRN radio broadcast ] is available for streaming and download FREE as part of Motor Racing Network's series of Classic Races and is also available on iTunes.
| Fin | Driver | Sponsor / Owner | Car |
| 1 | Richard Petty | STP (Petty Enterprises) | '74 Dodge |
| 2 | David Pearson | Purolator (Wood Brothers) | '73 Mercury |
| 3 | Cale Yarborough | Holly Farms (Junior Johnson) | '75 Chevrolet |
| 4 | Bobby Allison | Coca-Cola / AMC (Roger Penske) | '75 Matador |
| 5 | Dave Marcis | K & K Insurance (Nord Krauskopf) | '74 Dodge |
| 6 | Buddy Baker | Bud Moore Engineering (Bud Moore) | '75 Ford |
| 7 | Darrell Waltrip | Terminal Transport (DiGard) | '75 Chevrolet |
| 8 | Bruce Hill | Dixie 500 (Bruce Hill) | '75 Chevrolet |
| 9 | Terry Bivins | Moyer Chevrolet (Billy Moyer) | '75 Chevrolet |
| 10 | Dean Dalton | Belden Asphalt (Dean Dalton) | '73 Ford |
| 11 | Walter Ballard | Clyde Lynn Auto Parts (Walter Ballard) | '75 Chevrolet |
| 12 | David Sisco | Reliable Plumbing (David Sisco) | '75 Chevrolet |
| 13 | Cecil Gordon | Bob Stott Motors (Cecil Gordon) | '75 Chevrolet |
| 14 | Grant Adcox | Adcox-Kirby (Herb Adcox) | '75 Chevrolet |
| 15 | Bruce Jacobi | Opal's Truck Stop (Opal Voight) | '75 Chevrolet |
| 16 | Ferrel Harris | Dan Walters Forever (Ferrel Harris) | '74 Dodge |
| 17 | James Hylton | Nitro 9 (James Hylton) | '74 Chevrolet |
| 18 | Elmo Langley | Independent Auto Salvage (Elmo Langley) | '73 Ford |
| 19 | Dick May | Joli Boutique (Hiram Handy) | '75 Chevrolet |
| 20 | Dick Brooks | Truxmore Industries (Junie Donlavey) | '73 Ford |
| 21 | D.K. Ulrich | Garden State Auto Body (D.K. Ulrich) | '75 Chevrolet |
| 22 | Buddy Arrington | Pagoda Motel (Buddy Arrington) | '73 Plymouth |
| 23 | Jabe Thomas | Thomas Racing (Don Robertson) | '74 Chevrolet |
| 24 | Harold Miller | Miller Racing (Harold Miller) | '75 Chevrolet |
| 25 | Richie Panch | Grey-Rock Brake Products (Bettie Panch) | '75 Chevrolet |
| 26 | Frank Warren | John 3:16 (Frank Warren) | '74 Dodge |
| 27 | Henley Gray | Gray Racing (Henley Gray) | '74 Chevrolet |
| 28 | J.D. McDuffie | Butler's / Glenn's Landscaping (J.D. McDuffie) | '75 Chevrolet |
| 29 | Carl Adams | Adams Racing (Richard Mummert) | '73 Ford |
| 30 | A.J. Foyt | Gilmore Enterprises (Hoss Ellington) | '75 Chevrolet |
| 31 | Richard Childress | L.C. Newton Trucking (Tom Garn) | '75 Chevrolet |
| 32 | Earle Canavan | Kava Instant Coffee (Earle Canavan) | '74 Dodge |
| 33 | Ed Negre | 10,000 RPM Speed Equipment (Ed Negre) | '74 Dodge |
| 34 | Benny Parsons | King's Row Fireplace (L.G. DeWitt) | '75 Chevrolet |
| 35 | Coo Coo Marlin | Cunningham-Kelley (H.B. Cunningham) | '75 Chevrolet |
| 36 | Jackie Rogers | Viglione Racing (Lou Viglione) | '75 Chevroletb |
