Advance to around 12m mark for start of race. Listen to those 6-cylinder Busch cars whine too.
I remember Front Row Joe calling out Mike Wallace on-air about his punting of Shawna. Advance to 23:50 to hear his remarks.
While not MY most embarrassing moment, we had the pleasure of watching someone ELSE embarrass themselves. In the early 90s, we went to Talladega, camped behind turn 2, parked just outside of the family camp area, and walked to our seats. Bad parking strategy.
After the race, we tried to blend in traffic as we went past what I called hooligan row - the wild bunch area that used to congregate behind the back stretch area. We got to just about turn 3 when we hit a dead stop. The traffic goobers opened the turn 3 gate and had all sorts of motorhomes crossing in almost a perpendicular direction to us. Terrible.
Then this good ol' boy - mullet, skinny, wife-beater t-shirt, sagging Levi's, bare feet, a Marlboro red between his fingers - stormed up between the multiple lines of cars. He was flailing his arms and cussing the motorhomes. Suddenly, the door to one of them opened and out stepped ... Bobby Allison.
The Bubba's jaw dropped and he started jumping for joy. He turned back towards his boys stuck somewhere behind us I guess and yelled with glee "Its Bobby Allison! Its Bobby Allison! Hee, hee" as if he were Earnest T. Bass. Bobby pulled him close and whispered something. The guy said something back & next thing you know someone showed up snapping pictures of the two of them.
Then the guy went into work mode like a highway patrolman. He parted traffic like Moses parted the Red Sea. Bobby got back in his camper & off it went. I'm guessing he was headed for the airstrip behind the track. And I'm guessing the guy traded his cooperation for a photo-op.
While an embarrassing moment for him, I guess he still made the most of it.
Still remarkable to me year after year that Lee and Beauchamp landed in 1961 where souvenir trailers are located today.
1961
2015
A couple of fellow Petty fans have this discussion about every year or two -especiallyas we considered those 200 wins:
We don't try to focus too much on the darkness of racing's wrecks and fatalities. Yet, we still think how history and racing records would have been different.
What nearly became the end of Petty Engineering became the start of the greatness of Petty Enterprises.
In the first 100-mile Daytona qualifying race, Richard left the yard - sailing over the wall. For the most part, he escaped unscathed. But shortly after leaving the infield care center, he heard that his dad and primary breadwinner for Petty Engineering, Lee Petty, had also sailed out of the track.Coincidentally, Johnny Beauchamp - who Lee battled to the finish line 2 years earlier in the inaugural Daytona 500 - sailed over the wall with him.
Lee was critically injured and required months of hospitalization and therapy. Richard, Maurice, Dale Inman, and the crew had to haul home 2 wrecked race cars, no purse winnings from the 500, no hands-on leadership from Lee, and little clue as to where to go from there.
The Petty team could have folded right then and there. But with encouragement by Lee and hard-work ethic by Richard and Maurice, the team pressed on. Other experienced drivers including Jim Paschal and Buck Baker were instrumental in racing as teammates with Richard who was still trying to develop as a racer. Over time, Petty Enterprises thrived.
The Daytona crash ended for the most part the competitive racing of Lee AND Beauchamp. Lee only raced a couple of times after healing. And from what I can tell, Beachamp never did return - at least not to NASCAR Grand National racing.
Richard's car on the wrong side of the track (Jim Wilmore picture)
Lee and Beauchamp in their "Uh oh - this is bad, this is bad" moment (TMC picture):
Scrap left of Richard's car (CharginCharlie Putzer's pic)
Scrap of Lee's car (Ron Wetzler picture)
And what was left of the 42 to haul back to Level Cross (CharginCharlie Putzer pic)
I'm always stunned to see those 2 cars sail over the turn 4 wall. Having been to Daytona (though not since 1997), I can envision hospitality areas, parking, souvenir trailers, etc. perhaps being there now where Lee and Beauchamp came to rest back in 1961. Just amazing.
TMC
One I've seen on YouTube in the past and simply can't find now as I need it is The King's spot for STP's Son of a Gun. To this day, a regular testosterone-beer-fueled guttural chant from us on race weekend is "Shoot da dash, shoot da tars."
I did find a picture of a shirt influenced by the spot - now I just need to find it on ebay to buy and wear!
And I did find a picture of this guy. Its not a video. And its not Richard Petty. But it is funny to me.
One curious thing to me was that KP didn't have a Winston Cup patch stitched on his uni. They had to slap one on him on an impromptu basis once he hit victory lane. In the last few years, Nextel & Sprint are on everyone's uni - dictated by NASCAR I'm sure. And before Nextel, I recall Winston being on just about everyone's uni in some form or fashion - but apparently not everyone had it in mid 80s.
Interestingly, VL folks also had to slap a patch on Adam Petty's uniform after HE won his first major race - the ARCA event at Charlotte. He wore his ASA uniform, and ARCA and Hoosier patches were quickly (but sloppily) stuck to his uniform.
Source: http://www.timesleader.com/fivemountaintimes/sports/Petty_rsquo_s_charity_motorcycle_ride_starts_in_Lake_Placid_05-08-2011.html
And here ya are in VL at Richmond Dave.
Source: http://www.racintoday.com/archives/12643
1964 Daytona 500 - The King's 1st of Seven:
http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2012/02/february-23-this-day-in-petty-history.html
1975 Richmond 500 - A day of domination:
http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2012/02/february-23-this-day-in-petty-history_23.html
Today is also the anniversary of Kyle's first Cup win at Richmond in 1986.
February 22, 1959 - Lee Petty narrowly wins the inaugural Daytona 500 over Johnny Beauchamp. Joe Weatherly, who was about a lap down, is right there with them as the 3 cars sweep over the start-finish line.
Rookie Richard Petty starts 6th but ruins an engine and finishes 57th in the FIFTY-NINE car field. Good grief. An early exit may have been a blessing in a disguise for the future King because he was racing a convertible. I simply can't imagine hauling the mail at 150+ MPH in a big ol' ragtop. After he left the race, Richard went to Lee's pit stall to help with stops and rally his dad to a win.
Ticket stub for the preliminary qualifiers (Dargan Watts picture)
Ticket stubs for the 500 (Dargan Watts picture)
The start of what would become The Great American Race (Tiger Tom Pistone picture)
Richard in traffic with other convertibles (Ray Lamm picture)
Beauchamp, Weatherly & Lee Petty mixing it up (J.C. Hayes picture)
Some moving pictures!
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
Each night beginning about a week ago, I started trying to tag a couple of dozen photos. Tough to put a dent in the number that still need tagging. Kind of like Cool Hand Luke trying to get the dirt out of boss' hole - or put it back in. But I'm still a'diggin. And yes, it makes the process much easier going forward if the photos have reasonable titles, descriptions, and tags.
The tags really make it nice for quickly searching for other like-type photos: drivers, tracks, year, era, car owner, etc.
For my tagging, I'm trying to add/edit those that may make most sense for searching. Some tags lend themselves to a single name or word. Examples: daytona, rockingham, yarborough, paschal, firecracker.
Others may need more than one word to adequately tag. Just remember to add the multiple words in quotation marks. Examples: "richard petty", "wendell scott", "watkins glen". If you don't use the quotes, you'll get a series of single word tags (i.e. richard, petty, wendell, scott, watkins, glen).
Now TAG, you're it!
