Forum Activity for @tmc-chase

THE HUGE POPULARITY OF CURRENT NASCAR

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I have several notebooks chock full of 1970s-1980s era news clippings from The Tennessean and Nashville Banner. Back in the day, reporters such as Larry Woody and Joe Caldwell covered Daytona, Talladega and the Nashville fairgrounds racing scene. Unlike The State, Spartanburg Herald, Charlotte Observer, Richmond Times Dispatch and a few others who wrote first hand account race reports, the Nashville papers generally carried wire service reports for the other races - including Bristol's events which always puzzled me.

Caldwell passed away decades ago, and the Banner is no more. Woody retired from The Tennessean as have scads of others following the acquisition and aggressive cost cutting "synergy" moves by Gannett Corp. My wife still pays for a subscription to The Tennessean - mainly for coupons and circulars on Sunday (:roll eyes:). Otherwise, I have little need for it.

Any racing coverage the paper has is simply a rehash of USA Today content from Jeff Gluck or AP reports from Jenna Fryar - all of which I've already read on-line long before it hits the Tennessean's presses.

The fairgrounds continues to defy the critics. When we were all about to begin shoveling dirt on it (some of us with a tear in our eye), the track stood firm. They hold about 8 races a season out there. Yet, I rarely see an ad, a preview, results, or any features about the track and racers in the paper. Admittedly, a lot of that falls to track management's unwillingness or inability to get the word out to the press. (The track's Facebook and Twitter use isn't very effective either.) Nonetheless.

It is a indeed tough quandary. Papers are dying because ad content has gone elsewhere and folks want to get their news in other ways. Yet folks still also want a rich, free press to cover the issues of the day and all the news that's fit to print. No easy answers.

I've really enjoyed my research efforts over the past few years since I've joined RR. I've plowed through more old newspapers the last 5-6 years than in all my previous ones combined. Looking to the future, I weep for those who would also like to crawl back through old webpages of "newspapers" only to get a 404 error because it is no longer available, because webpages aren't archived, or someone has edited / redacted the content after its original publication.

Racing History Minute - April 28, 1963

Stock Car Racing History

A pace lap from the race published in the July 1963 issue of Motor Trend magazine.

Racing History Minute - April 28, 1963

Stock Car Racing History

The 1963 Yankee 300 was mentioned by Reb Wickersham in Perry Allen Wood's book, Declaration of Stock Car Independents .

Racing History Minute - April 28, 1963

Stock Car Racing History

Overlooked the fact Dave Fulton posted a bit about this race a couple of years ago:

http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/stock-car-racing-history/30065/nascar-gets-chance-at-indy-race-says-1963-daytona-news-headline

updated by @tmc-chase: 04/27/18 02:22:15PM

Racing History Minute - April 28, 1963

Stock Car Racing History

It's well documented Richard Petty sat out the first half of the 1965 NASCAR Grand National season because of the Chrysler boycott over NASCAR's rules. What is perhaps not as well known is that the King still raced a stock car race in the first six months of the year. He raced in the third annual Yankee 300 USAC stock car race at Indianapolis Raceway Park's road course on May 2nd.

The first annual Yankee 300 was held April 28, 1963.

The race drew a boocoodle of big names including:

• The Captain - Roger Penske
• A.J. Foyt
• Parnelli Jones, who would go on to win the Indy 500 about a month later.
• Eddie Sachs who tragically perished in the 1964 Indy 500
• NASCAR's Fireball Roberts and Darel Dieringer
• "Free agent" Curtis Turner who was in the middle of a 4-year "lifetime" NASCAR ban
• Andy Hampton who later won several ARCA races

The winner was to receive the L. Strauss trophy. The "L." wasn't short for Levi as in the San Francisco jeans company. It's possible, however, Levi Strauss products were sold by L. Strauss. The latter was an old school retail chain in the Indianapolis area. Before the Borg-Warner trophy became THE signature winner's trophy in motorsports, the winner of the Indianapolis 500 received the first round of L. Strauss trophies.

The company created a second version of the trophy to award the winner of IRP's Yankee 300.

Though the race was a stock car vs. roadster race - and though it was held on IRP's 2.5 mile road course vs. IMS 2.5-mile rectangular "oval", the cream still rose to the top. Parnelli won the pole in Bill Stroppe's Mercury. Fireball showed the USAC regulars how the southern guys hustled a car by qualifying on the front row alongside Jones. Penske and Paul Goldsmith made up row two.

Parnelli led 27 laps, but a failed transmission doomed him to a 27th place DNF. Fireball led a a chunk of laps as well, but 14 laps out front didn't matter much when the engine in his Holman Moody Ford went south. He went home 15th in the 31-car field. The Captain was the lap leader of the day. Penske led 53 of the race's 120 laps, but like Parnelli a failed transmission in the Ray Nichels' Pontiac sent Penske home early with a disappointing 13th place finish. - Getty Images

A couple of Texans and a crazy Virginian stayed with it and captured the top 3 spots. Super Tex - A.J. Foyt won the race in a Plymouth. Fellow Texan Lloyd Ruby finished second in a Pontiac, and Pop rounded out the top 3 in his Holman Moody Ford.

updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM

Does NASCAR have a next generation of fans?

Current NASCAR

Certainly an interesting consideration for me. And should be a troubling one for the suits and flip-flop execs in central Florida. In my particular case, NASCAR fandom ends with me. My son turns 21 tomorrow, April 28th. I had hoped he would grow to enjoy racing. Heck, he was destined to become a Kyle Petty and/or a Wood Brothers fan as he was 21" long and weighed 7-11!

I have racing stuff everywhere around here. I've consistently gone to 2-3 Cup races per year since he was born. In recent years, I returned to Nashville's fairgrounds a couple of times per season to watch the local guys battle. I park myself in front of the TV many Saturday nights or Sunday afternoons to watch many laps. But I never pushed any of it on him. Figured he might eventually absorb the passion and ask to go some time. So far, it hasn't happened.

The closest he came to being "bitten" was when we battled hard against each other and the field in the Xbox NASCAR game. Even then, he got to where he enjoyed stopping, turning around, wrecking the field in a pixeled mess, and laughing heartily each time.

I've resigned myself that he probably will not develop much interest much less a passion for racing. On a broader scale, I've now begun to wonder what I should do (or wish done) with all my racing stuff I've collected. My wife sure won't want to keep it. Left to her, it'll likely find its way to a dumpster. Will my kids want it? Ehh, maybe because it belonged to their pop. Beyond the sentimentality of that, however, they won't have the racing connection as part of it.

On the flip side, however, all is not negative. My long-time racing bud and fellow Schaefer HOF co-founder has had a different experience. His son has gone to a few races with us since he was an early teen. He turned 21 last year, we took him to Daytona, and as odd as it was we treated him like a man and one of us. I won't say he is all-in with racing itself though he was partial to Jeff Gordon and now claims Logano as his fave. But he really gets into the race day experience when he goes - something that seems to be lost even from today's fans.

Racing History Minute - April 27, 1958

Stock Car Racing History

This post is about a convertible race ... that wasn't.

On Sunday, April 27, 1958, NASCAR's Grand National drivers raced at Old Bridge Stadium in New Jersey. Native New Yorker Jim Reed took the win in the neighboring Garden State.

That same weekend, the Convertible Division stayed south. Driving for Julian Petty, Bob Welborn won 150-lap race at Hickory Speedway 250 on Saturday, April 26th. Tim Leeming's RHM:

http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/stock-car-racing-history/22955/racing-history-minute-april-26-1958

The next day, the ragtops headed east for a 110-lap, 100-mile race at Orange Speedway in Hillsboro.

When the drivers arrived, however, rain met them there. Qualifying and the race were rained out, and NASCAR opted not to reschedule the race. Had the race been held and Welborn won, it would have been his sixth consecutive win across the GN and Convertible divisions.

The convertibles didn't return for another race in Hillsboro in 1958 - the only gap for the track in the four-year history of the division.

updated by @tmc-chase: 04/26/17 11:25:52PM

Lug Nuts

Stock Car Racing History

1979 CRC Chemicals Rebel 500. Shameless plug for my blog post about the race:

http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2016/04/april-8-1979-legendary-darlington-battle.html

A challenge to RR members

Stock Car Racing History

We've got a 60+ thousand photos, a ton of posts and comments, and a handful of videos. Most activity - at least in recent years - has centered around GN and Cup races. Probably rightfully so. Has drawn the most fans and coverage by fans, sponsors, and media.

But there has been a ton of other stock car racing over the decades. USAC, ARCA, IMCA, Late Model Sportsman, NASCAR Short Track Division, local paved and dirt tracks, etc. Would enjoy seeing folks post many more memories, pics, articles, behind-the-scenes stories, etc. about those forms of racing.

Obviously, a lot of those races may not have received a ton of media coverage. But you might be surprised what a lot of old newspapers included. Let me know if there is a particular race you have in mind, and I'll try to dig up something.

updated by @tmc-chase: 12/16/16 07:54:05AM

Racing History Minute - April 13, 1969

Stock Car Racing History

After reading my blog post this morning, fellow lifelong Petty fan and RR member Brian Hauck sent me several pics from the 1969 race.

Ed Hessert in Lyle Stetler's #56 car raced frequently by Tiny Lund in the mid 1960s.

Worth McMillion in Roy Tyner's #9 Pepsi Pontiac.

The oddity of 1969 - a Petty Blue Ford

What remained of Cecil Gordon's #47. Cecil was in a second car owned by Bill Seifert.

James Hylton

J.D. McDuffie's bruised but unbroken Buick

Sonny Hutchins in Junie Donlavey's Ford

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