I've seen a few articles where Buddy was switched to Bobby - even as late as early 70s when Tiny Lund won the memorial race at Hickory.
But based on the page for Buddy at FindAGrave, I don't think there was a Bobby Shuman - at least not one related to Buddy. Neither of his siblings listed have Bobby as a nickname or Robert or Bob as their given name.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=60464024
NASCAR's short-lived Grand National East ran the second annual Hickory 276 at Hickory Speedway. The Cup series had an open date, and several of the regulars headed to Hickory's short track - most likely for fun and a bit of pocket change show money.
As the ad noted, several of the big dogs from Cup were expected including the 1972 winner Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker, and Cale Yarborough. But the Gaffney Ledger was more interested in the local angle of noting Gaffney's Charlie Blanton planned to join the fray.
Buddy Baker won the pole in the Harry Hyde prepared #71 K&K Dodge. Late model hot shoe Harry Gant qualified second driving Junie Donlavey's #90 Mercury.
After winning the pole, Baker was about as cool as can be as he awaited the start of the race.
Blanton was no slouch. He jumped right in there amongst 'em and gave 'em hell. He raced against legend Buck Baker in the mid-stages of the race. Blanton eventually notched a P5 while Baker finished 8th.
Baker and Bobby Allison were the only lap leaders. Baker led about 2/3 of the laps, and Allison led the remainder while racing in Cecil Gordon's #24 Chevrolet.
Based on the black hood of the 24, my guess is the car Allison drove was the same one Cecil Gordon drove in the Daytona 500. It was also around this time Will Cronkrite began working for Cecil. If he was with Cecil then, I'm curious if he worked the 24 for Allison that day at Hickory.
Baker finally seized the lead for good just past the halfway point and led the rest of the way to the checkers.
| Fin | Driver | Sponsor / Owner | Car |
| 1 | Buddy Baker | Nord Krauskopf | '73 Dodge |
| 2 | Bobby Allison | Cecil Gordon | '73 Chevrolet |
| 3 | Vic Parsons | Bill Seifert | '71 Ford |
| 4 | Harry Gant | Junie Donlavey | '71 Mercury |
| 5 | Charlie Blanton | Toy Bolton | '73 Chevrolet |
| 6 | Cale Yarborough | Richard Howard | '73 Chevrolet |
| 7 | Neil Castles | Neil Castles | '73 Dodge |
| 8 | Buck Baker | Buck Baker | '72 Pontiac |
| 9 | Wayne Andrews | Jack St. Clair | '70 Ford |
| 10 | Tiny Lund | Toy Bolton | '72 Chevrolet |
| 11 | Richie Panch | '71 Mercury | |
| 12 | Richard D. Brown | William Strong | '71 Chevrolet |
| 13 | Dave Marcis | '70 Dodge | |
| 14 | David Ray Boggs | R.L. Boggs | '70 Dodge |
| 15 | Bobby Fleming | Bobby Fleming | '73 Chevrolet |
| 16 | Ernie Shaw | Ernie Shaw | '70 Ford |
| 17 | Eddie Yarboro | Eddie Yarboro | '70 Plymouth |
| 18 | Rick Newsom | '71 Ford | |
| 19 | Max Berrier | '70 Mercury | |
| 20 | Wendell Scott | William Scott | '71 Ford |
| 21 | Elmo Langley | '73 Dodge | |
| 22 | Bill Shirey | Bill Shirey | '71 Plymouth |
| 23 | Richard Childress | '73 Chevrolet | |
| 24 | Bill Dennis | Bill Dennis | '72 Chevrolet |
This 1982 article suggests the Turner Award was still in existence.
Beginning in 1972, the media covering the World 600 at Charlotte voted a driver to receive the Curtis Turner Memorial Achievement Award. I'm unclear what a driver had to do to earn votes from the press to receive the award. The only "prize" mentioned is $250 awarded to Wendell Scott in year 1.
Based on a couple of the articles I found, the award seems to have been tied to greatest improvement in the race. If so, I don't know whether that measurement was based on starting position or obstacles overcome in the race.
Here are the winners I've found so far.
1972 - Wendell Scott
1973 - Jim Vandiver
1974 - Darrell Waltrip
1975 - Richard Petty - The King seems to be the only driver who received the award with a GN/Cup win already on his rsum.
1976 - Janet Guthrie
1977 - Lennie Pond - a change in the rule to only ensure non-winning drivers were eligible for the award?
1978 - Sterling Marlin - found in this 1979 article, but Sterling's 9th place finish in the 600 was in 1978.
From there, the trail goes cold. I'm not sure if the award program was ended following 1978, morphed into a sponsor-named award, or simply not deemed news worthy by those writing about the 600.
Is it possible the one-race Turner award for ACHIEVEMENT morphed into the every-race Goody's Headache Award for the TOUGHEST break? That award was $250 per race and voted on by "the media" for ages - and later just MRN and PRN personnel I think. I don't know that the two are related - just some speculation on my part.
Anyone have any info about the award, a picture of the trophy or plaque the drivers received in addition to the $250 cash prize, etc.?
Two stock car races.
Two sanctioning bodies.
Two coasts.
Two half-mile dirt tracks.
Two Hall Of Fame drivers with memorable nicknames as winners.
Two over-the-top race promoters.
One date.
USAC's stock car division competed in a 100-lap race at JC Agajanian's Ascot Park in Gardena, California.
Super Tex, A.J. Foyt, won the race despite having a bit of pedestrian day at the track. Only three cars led the race - and two of them fell out of contention with engine problems leaving the third driver (Foyt) to take over the lead and cruise the remaining distance for the win.
Top 10 finishers:
| Fin | Driver | Car |
| 1 | A.J.Foyt | 1961 Ford |
| 2 | NormNelson | 1962 Ford |
| 3 | DonWhite | 1962 Ford |
| 4 | MiltCurcio | 1961 Ford |
| 5 | JohnRostek | 1961 Ford |
| 6 | EddiePagan | 1961 Ford |
| 7 | RonHornaday Sr. | 1962 Ford |
| 8 | RodgerWard | 1962 Chevrolet |
| 9 | LloydDane | 1961 Chevrolet |
| 10 | MarvinPorter | 1960 Pontiac |
Three time zones and 2,500 miles to the east, NASCAR's Grand National division raced on the half-mile, dirt Concord Speedway.
Race preview...
Promoter Bruton Smith and the fans were hoping for a continuation of a great race between Jack Smith and Joe Weatherly. Both battled hard in the previous race at Concord with Smith leaving town with his third consecutive win at the track.
Rather than another epic battle, the race was a ho-hum, rain-shortened affair. The race was postponed after only 78 of the scheduled 200 laps - 22 laps shy of halfway. NASCAR originally planned to resume the race and finish the remaining laps. A packed schedule, however, made finding a suitable date difficult.
Sometime later (not sure when), NASCAR decided a return date could not be booked. Rather than declare the race as a non-event because the drivers hadn't made it to halfway, NASCAR invoked its unwritten EIRI clause in the rulebook.
Little Joe Weatherly led all 78 laps his his Bud Moore Pontiac before the rain arrived. He was awarded the win, and the victory is included in his total number of GN wins - despite the race not making it to 100 laps. As quirky as the ruling was, the decision was made to only award half the number of points and pay only half the advertised purse . I'm curious to know who made that call - Big Bill or Bruton. Either way, with race being declared "official", I'm really perplexed (as were the drivers then I'm sure) why the full purse wasn't distributed. After all, the drivers may only have completed 40% of the laps - but they took 100% of risk with each lap run.
| Fin | Driver | Car |
| 1 | Joe Weatherly | '61 Pontiac |
| 2 | Richard Petty | '62 Plymouth |
| 3 | Ralph Earnhardt | '61 Pontiac |
| 4 | Jack Smith | '61 Pontiac |
| 5 | Buddy Baker | '61 Chrysler |
| 6 | Jim Paschal | '62 Pontiac |
| 7 | G.C. Spencer | '61 Chevrolet |
| 8 | Wendell Scott | '61 Chevrolet |
| 9 | Tommy Irwin | '61 Chevrolet |
| 10 | Tom Cox | '60 Plymouth |
| 11 | Curtis Crider | '61 Mercury |
| 12 | Herman Beam | '60 Ford |
| 13 | Cotton Owens | '62 Pontiac |
| 14 | Bill McDonald | '61 Chevrolet |
| 15 | Rex White | '61 Chevrolet |
| 16 | Fred Lorenzen | '62 Ford |
| 17 | Stick Elliott | '60 Ford |
| 18 | Lee Reitzel | '60 Ford |
| 19 | Bob Cooper | '60 Ford |
| 20 | Ned Jarrett | '60 Chevrolet |
A couple of years ago, I posted a Racing History Minute about the 1964 Daytona 500.
http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/stock-car-racing-history/30523/racing-history-minute-1964-daytona-500
Two parts of The King's victory lane celebration have puzzled me for some time:
Finally, I believe I have the answer. Perhaps some of you here knew about the following. But until recently, I did not.
It's well established Bill France Sr. looked to grow NASCAR as a brand through relationships with the auto manufacturers, tire companies, Pure Oil, TV, the move to larger speedways, the transition from dirt to asphalt tracks, etc. But he was also interested in creating an international aspect to NASCAR.
Naghide Mori led a group of Japanese businessmen who wished to bring NASCAR style racing to Japan, and France entered into negotiations with the group to do just that.
The original plan, apparently, was to buy aged GN cars and ship them to Japan for racing and driver development. Who knows - perhaps the long-term vision was to have a few Japanese drivers come over to race in the US - or maybe to have the GN division eventually race in Japan. Regardless of the plans, whether specific or very ill-defined, the group arranged for Miss Japan to greet the winner of the 1964 Daytona 500 in victory lane.
By the summer, construction on Fuji International Speedway began. The initial design to was to build a track similar to Daytona - a 2-1/2 mile, high-banked oval. NASCAR was to provide licensing rights and consulting and engineering assistance through Charles Moneypenny who had helped design DIS.
Moneypenny's unique last name didn't translate easily into Japanese. But at least the translated name was memorable: Mr. One Thousand Yen! The track was to be a multi-purpose facility with a road course to open in 1965 and the big oval to open in 1966.
As it turns out, however, the big vision wasn't realized. Money ran short, and the superspeedway wasn't built. Only one turn was graded before that part of the project was scrapped. And though I haven't found anything to prove it, I suspect Big Bill had his hands full with two other sizable projects: (1) planning what was to become Alabama International Motor Speedway and (2) working to resolve the conflict with Chrysler Corporation that had resulted in his newest big star - King Richard - being parked for much of 1965. It's doubtful France had much time to give to the Fuji project.
The rest of the track, however, was built. Fuji Speedway hosted its first race in 1965 on the new road course. One of the turns - a treacherous one - was the high bank originally intended to mimic one of DIS's corners before the big oval portion of the design was dropped.
Eventually, Formula 1 began racing at Fuji in 1976. The legendary Jackie Stewart won at the facility, and he later covered many NASCAR races for ABC's Wide World of Sports.
Though the DIS-esque turn was eventually removed from the track through a remodeling, the turn itself was retained as part of Fuji's history. The track is still operational today, and fans can visit the high banked corner.
For more info about the track including several photos of the NASCAR inspired turn, see this neat page at SpeedHunters:
http://www.speedhunters.com/2012/05/fuji-speedway-through-history/
Moneypenny didn't stop as a designer with DIS and Fuji. He also had a hand in the engineering for Talladega, Texas World Speedway, Michigan, and the conversion of Richmond from the 1/2 mile configuration to the 3/4 mile track we have on the NASCAR circuit today.
After a good bit of involvement from France Sr. in the mid 1960s to link NASCAR and Japan, it took another three decades and Big Bill's son, Bill France Jr., to bring NASCAR to the island. Rusty Wallace won the 1996 NASCAR Suzuka Thunder Special 100 exhibition race.
From: Motor Racing Programme Covers
The Peachoid under construction.
Almost fully skinned along with its ... ahem, unique ... peach-looking "dimples" (?)
The grannnnnd opening ... err, dedication event
And who wouldn't want to wear a Peachoid shirt?
With the Peachoid opening in 1981, I'm now left to wonder if the Big Ol' Butt may have influenced the Sunsphere structure at the Big Ol' Bust that was the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville TN.
The 1973 Daytona 500 was held February 18th. Link to TMC Racing History Minute:
http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/stock-car-racing-history/30764/racing-history-minute-1973-daytona-500
One of the preliminary events of 1973 Speedweeks was the ARCA Royal Triton 300 held on February 11, 1973. The race attracted some high profile drivers such as Red Farmer, Ron Hutcherson, Iggy Katona, and Andy Hampton.
Another driver entered was N.D. Copley, father of RR member David Copley .
Also entered was Jim Scott - son of RR member Jim Scott - in a very cool, Petty-bluish looking Plymouth Barracuda.
Ron Hutcherson won the pole - perhaps to the surprise of only a few. Hutcherson could always hustle a car around Daytona. Later, he built cars for A.J. Foyt who also got around Daytona and Talladega very fast.
One driver - Charlie Blanton - wasn't expected to have much of a say in the outcome of the race. Yet back home in Gaffney SC, the town sent the winning dirt track racer south to do the folks proud on the 2-1/2 mile superspeedway.
When I think of Gaffney, I think of the unmistakable big peach alongside the interstate - or as we frequently refer to it : The Big Ol' Butt.
But Gaffney loves it some peaches and was rightfully proud of Blanton headed for the big track. He and teammate Mike Humphries prepared matching Camaros for the 300.
Blanton didn't make much of a splash in qualifying. He could only muster the 18th best time out of 43 starters. And he was down enough after practice and qualifying, he thought about pulling a "start and park" and then just heading for home.
But he opted to stay, belted in, took the green, and pulled off pit road with the field to take the green. Hutcherson leveraged his top starting spot to take an early lead. He led the first 26 laps before exiting the race with an engine problem. Farmer, Katona and Dr. Don Tarr then mixed it up for the middle stages of the race.
The race had a couple of anxious moments with a rollover by Jeff Harr...
... and a wreck and fire by Tony Schiller's Chevelle.
Despite being slow in practice, Blanton began to settle in and work his way through traffic.
And by lap 94 of the 120-lap race, the scoreboard showed the results of Blanton's persistence. He was shown in P1 and leading second place Farmer.
Charlie Blanton held on the rest of the way and won the race by TWO LAPS over second place finisher Farmer. Upon being dragged out of the car by his excited crew, he declared winning the race was "more fun than picking cotton".
The Gaffney paper was excited about Blanton's win. And apparently the paper had a circulation small enough to know everyone. A full page of photos was run in the paper two days after Blanton's win - including some pictures of people captioned only with their first names.
| Fin | St | Driver | Car |
| 1 | 18 | Charlie Blanton | 1973 Camaro |
| 2 | 2 | Red Farmer | 1972 Ford |
| 3 | 7 | Kenny Reiter | 1973 Dodge |
| 4 | 13 | Jim Tobin | 1972 Dodge |
| 5 | 14 | Ralph Young | 1971 Ford |
| 6 | 4 | Len Blanchard | 1971 Mercury |
| 7 | 23 | Danny Byrd | 1971 Ford |
| 8 | 10 | A. Arnold | 1973 Camaro |
| 9 | 34 | Mike Humphreys | 1973 Camaro |
| 10 | 5 | Verlin Eaker | 1972 Chevelle |
| 11 | 33 | Wayne Trinkle | 1972 Chevrolet Nova |
| 12 | 30 | Frank Sandlin | 1972 Chevelle |
| 13 | 11 | Earl Ross | 1973 Chevrolet |
| 14 | 28 | Tom Dooley | 1972 Chevelle |
| 15 | 6 | Iggy Katona | 1970 Dodge |
| 16 | 22 | Don Tarr | 1970 Dodge |
| 17 | 8 | Harold Fair | 1971 Ford |
| 18 | 19 | N.D. Copley | 1972 Ford |
| 19 | 25 | Jim Scott | 1973 Plymouth |
| 20 | 21 | Bobby Watson | 1971 Mercury |
| 21 | 36 | Charlie Paxton | 1971 Mercury |
| 22 | 15 | Jeff Haar | 1973 Camaro |
| 23 | 9 | Tony Schiller | 1972 Chevelle |
| 24 | 3 | Buck Newland | 1971 Ford |
| 25 | 29 | Fred Lamp | 1972 Camaro |
| 26 | 1 | Ron Hutcherson | 1971 Mercury |
| 27 | 17 | Charlie Roberts | 1971 Ford Thunderbird |
| 28 | 42 | Blackie Wangerin | 1971 Ford |
| 29 | 38 | Hubert West | 1972 Chevrolet |
| 30 | 27 | Dave Dayton | 1973 Camaro |
| 31 | 39 | Bob Thomas | 1973 Camaro |
| 32 | 24 | Delmar Clark | 1972 Ford |
| 33 | 16 | Freddie Holbert | 1971 Ford |
| 34 | 12 | Robert Wales | 1972 Dodge |
| 35 | 20 | Andy Hampton | 1972 Chevrolet |
| 36 | 43 | Bill Clemons | 1973 AMC Javelin |
| 37 | 40 | Dick Maffett | 1970 Plymouth |
| 38 | 41 | Dick Smith | 1973 Camaro |
| 39 | 35 | David Sisco | 1973 Chevrolet |
| 40 | 31 | Mickey Flora | 1970 Dodge |
| 41 | 26 | Buddy Medlock | 1971 Ford |
| 42 | 32 | Bill Shirey | 1970 Plymouth |
| 43 | 37 | Tom Culbertson | 1971 Ford |
