April 15, 1963 - Jim Paschal bags Bowman Gray
Stock Car Racing History
Those tire busters had it easy. Jerry Steppe came to work for Huggins in 67 so he remembers well how tough it was then. My first races were for the distributor from Miami who worked the 24 hour races (Bill Robinson I think was his name) in 66 and stuck around for the GN stuff thanks to "Crash" Grant. We had to "stuff" the liners back then. Big Jim McElroy and I did the majority of them. Leon Lyndon, Coy Whitt, Pete Pearson and a handfull more did most of the mounting along with Jim and me (on old Coats 10/10 machines) after the liners got stuffed at the big speedways. Jerry and a couple more balanced on "bubble" type balancers. The Goodyear/Firestone tire wars made the Hoosier/Goodyear days look like childs play. I remember during the "600" that Paschal won (66) for Freidkin that the Firestones were blazing fast for about 10-15 laps before they blistered and came apart. All the Fords were on the "Flintstones" as we called them and most of the Chrysler guys were on our stuff. We mounted over 350 tiresAFTER the race started to be able to switch over the Ford guys. Paschal "smoked" em that day.You are correct about the guy in the little trailer. Thatwas Thurman Huggins. Brother company owner, Ross.Some of you other old-timers might also remember Ross as a sign painter from High Point, NC.
