Fans at Hickory got quite the chuckle when the track's PA announcer came over the speakers with a bit of an ill-timed add for the local Silver Moon restaurant.
Articles from Statesville Record & Landmark
In 2014, Tim Leeming posted about the March 25, 1967 Greenville 200 GN race at Greenville-Pickens Speedway.
http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/stock-car-racing-history/31461/racing-history-minute-march-25-1967
Eleven years earlier, all sorts of NASCAR racing was happening on March 25, 1956.
Ralph Earnhardt won a late model feature at Hickory Speedway. Fans got to see 12 lead changes in the 40-lap race!
NASCAR Hall of Famer, Cotton Owens, won the modified-sportsman race at Charlotte Speedway.
Orange Speedway in Hillsboro NC hosted NASCAR's convertible division for a 100-lap race. - Poster from Don Smyle photos.
Curtis Turner won the pole and led 85 of the race's 100 laps to take the win. Gwyn Staley led the remaining 15 laps during the middle portion of the race, but brake issues forced him to whoa up a bit. Joe Weatherly took second as Staley faded to third.
The GN drivers raced at Lakewood Speedway near Atlanta. Tim Flock captured the pole for the 100 lap race, and he led the first 49 laps in his Cark Kiekhaefer Chrysler. But engine failure ended his day and dropped him to 18th place with a DNF.
Flock's teammate, Buck Baker, had a poor starting spot. But he rallied from 23rd at the drop of the green to take over the race when Flock had his problem. Baker led the remaining 51 laps to take the win.
Agree on a couple of points:
But I'm going to take issue with you - and many others - who believe he should have been fined, parked, or penalized in other ways for calling out NASCAR.
Yes, his comments were harsh and sarcastic. Par for the course for Busch - both of them actually. But they were made in the car and over his radio. Say the same thing out loud but without keying the mic: no one ever knows. Say the same thing out loud but in the garage area, motorhome, plane, shop office, etc.: no one ever knows. But he said it over the radio whose primary function is to keep the driver, crew chief and spotter in touch with one another. As fans (and media), we've glommed onto radio chatter as public conversation.
Had Kyle appeared at the post-race presser and made those accusations, then NASCAR's blood would have boiled even quicker. But radio chatter has to be off limits for fines in my opinion. By and large, NASCAR has NOT fined too many drivers or teams for radio conversations. If they begin doing so, however, the teams will lobby even more heavily for encrypted, private communication channels. If that day comes, it will be a loss for the fans. Until then, fans, media, and NASCAR should adhere to a paraphrase of the Latin phrase caveat emptor - let the [listener] beware.
Amazing the difference of focus folks have in today's microscopic coverage of racing vs. about 40 years ago. Even the King himself spouted off a bit following a loss at Pocono in 1975 - during the post race presser! He didn't have the sore loser rep Kyle Busch has, but his comments were equally as strong.
While the fledgling Grand National East series raced at Hickory Speedway on March 19, 1972...
...NASCAR's modifieds and late model sportsman cars raced at Martinsville Speedway in the Dogwood 500 spring classic.
From Motor Racing Programme Covers
Racing action from Dave Fulton's photos
Field lined up for the start of the LMS race
Ray Hendrick
The mods in action
Sonny Hutchins won the LMS portion of the event, and Bugs Stevens won the 250-lap modified race.
Race report from Burlington NC Times-News
Posted to my blog earlier today here:
http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2016/03/march-18-1962-oh-so-close-at-orange.html
Will also post at RR.
After Fireball Roberts' win in the 1962 Daytona 500, NASCAR's GN drivers prepared to jump into the meat-and-three of their short-track schedule. About half the field from Daytona raced a week later at the half-mile, dirt Concord Speedway in North Carolina and watched helplessly as Joe Weatherly led flag to flag in the 78-lap race.
The following week, the teams headed west about 3 hours to the half-mile, paved Asheville-Weaverville Speedway for a 200-lap race on March 4th. Winner: Joe Weatherly. Again.
A week after Weaverville, the drivers were scheduled to reverse course and head east for Orange Speedway in Hillsboro, NC. A 110-lap race on the .9-mile dirt track was slated for Sunday, March 11.
As has often been the case over the years, then and in recent years, rain can wreak havoc on a racing schedule - especially during a Southern spring. The race was rained out and rescheduled for a week later on March 18.
The teams were already scheduled to race in Savannah, Georgia in the St. Patrick's Day 200 on Saturday, March 17. No time remained for (much) post-race St. Paddy's celebration because the teams had to hump it overnight to Hillsboro for Sunday's make-up date.
Little Joe kept his hot streak rolling by winning the pole at Hillsboro. (Weatherly started and finished third in Savannah.) Richard Petty qualified second followed by Rex White. Maurice Petty started 8th, and Ralph Earnhardt rolled off 13th. The race was the second of only eight times Chief and Ralph started in the same GN race.
At the drop of the green, Weatherly commenced to puttin' a whoopin' on the field. He grabbed the lead from Richard Petty and then paced the field for the first 24 laps. Petty didn't go anywhere though. He stayed near Weatherly and managed to get by him on the 25th lap. The 43 Plymouth then led 23 laps of his own before Weatherly decided it was time for him to be lead dog again.
Little Joe reclaimed the lead, towed the field around the track for 50+ laps, and was headed for his third win in four starts. But then...
With nine to go, Weatherly's drivetrain went south in his Bud Moore Pontiac. As he faded, Petty went to the point and positioned himself to win his sixth career Grand National race. With five to go, however, Rex White gave Petty a maybe later but not today battle for the win. White's #4 Chevy pulled alongside the Petty Blue Plymouth, and they raced to the end. At the finish line, Rex (Latin for King) narrowly defeated NASCAR's future King by a couple of car lengths.
White's win was the 21st of an eventual 28-win, one championship and NASCAR Hall of Fame career. Lee Petty still had a decent day at the bank on Monday as Maurice finished sixth to go along with his older brother's P2. Dale Jr.'s granddad finished in 7th - one spot behind Maurice's #41 Plymouth.
Promoter Bruton Smith scheduled a 100-lap NASCAR modified sportsman race for the speedway at Charlotte's Fairgrounds for Sunday, March 9. Several heavy hitters planned to race including Ned Jarrett, Ralph Earnhardt, Banjo Matthews, Billy Myers, Dink Widenhouse, Cotton Owens and Fireball Roberts.
A race fan's worst nightmare - rain - affected the race. It was postponed to the following Sunday, March 16th. (The Grand National race scheduled for the same day at Champion Speedway in Fayetteville was also rained out. It was rescheduled for Saturday, March 15th meaning the GN teams raced on back-to-back days in Fayetteville and Wilson.)
The re-scheduled modified-sportsman race put it head-to-head with two other marquis NASCAR events in North Carolina on the 16th: a convertible race at North Wilkesboro and a Grand National race in Wilson . The top drivers returned for the show, and Cotton put a hurtin' on the field.
Fireball and Bobby Waddell won the two preliminary 10-lap races, but Owens claimed the trophy for his win in the Big Show.
Also, David Pearson won the Bold City 200 in Jacksonville, FL on March 14, 1972. The race was the inaugural event for the short-lived Grand National East series. Charlie Blanton was second. Both drivers piloted Camaros field by owner Toy Bolton.
March 14 - or 3/14 or "Pi Day" for many - has had it's share of racing (or at least racing stories) over the decades. A couple of them have been discussed here previously including:
1971 - a dominant performance by the King in the Carolina 500 at Rockingham
1993 - a race that wasn't - the snowed-out "spring" race at Atlanta
A recap of several other Pi Day races.
In 1954, Troy Ruttman won the 100-lap AAA stock car race at the half-mile, dirt Carrell Speedway in Gardena, California.
Eleven years later on March 14, 1965, stock car races were held pretty much coast to coast.
Out west, Bill Amick won the 200-laps, 50-miles NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model division race at the quarter-mile San Jose Speedway in California. The race was the second of two PCLM races at the track in the 1960s. NASCAR returned to San Jose in the 1970s for a multi-year run with its Winston West Series cars.
In one of the stranger racing stories I've ever read or heard, Ron Hornaday Sr. couldn't race because his car was sold out from under him. Apparently the car's new home was at Paramount Studios for use in the movie Red Line 7,000. Coincidentally, Hornaday himself was involved in an unscripted wreck in 1964 while doing stunt work for the same film.
As noted in the article, Cliff Garner, a veteran of many PCLM races throughout the 1960s, spun and flipped. He finished the race 17th - dead last - after completing only 3 laps.
Moving to the central U.S., Jack Bowsher won the ARCA race at Meyer Speedway in Houston, Texas. Bowsher was on a tear in early 1965 as he won ARCA races in Corpus Christi, Austin and Houston. He returned on March 21 to notch another ARCA win at Meyer - his 4th in a row and 4th in seven days.
In the east, NASCAR's Grand National regulars raced at Orange Speedway in Hillsboro, NC in the second annual Joe Weatherly Memorial race.
The field during a pace lap as the drivers await the green. - from Ed Sanseverino collection
Junior Johnson started P1 and dominated the race. He led the first 137 laps and was in great shape to lead the rest of the way. But then.
Johnson blew a tire with 30 laps to go. Ned Jarrett slipped by Junior and led the rest of the way to pick up the win.
The only caution in the race was the result of a wreck and flip by RR's own Gene Hobby. Some photos from Gene's collection:
I'm embarrassed to say I didn't realize Bobby Johns was still alive until earlier this week. I thought he'd passed away many years ago. Sad to learn about this news. He drove the only #46 GN car fielded by Petty Enterprises.
From 1941...
...and from 1973.
