Racing History Minute - September 26, 1954
Stock Car Racing History
Cool clips & photos, Chase.
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Racing History Minute - September 26, 1954
Stock Car Racing History
With Autumn here and the car racing season nearly over, September 26, 1954 was a big day on the auto racing calendar.
A number of drivers who might have been expected to be among those at Langhorne, competed in the prestigious Dayton 500 MARC event (ARCA) in Dayton, Ohio that afternoon, including Fonty Flock who needed relief from two other drivers.
Dayton 500
ARCAStock Carrace
Dayton Speedway ,Dayton,OH
September 26, 1954
500laps on 0.5 mile paved oval;250 miles
| Fin | St | Driver | # | Owner | Car | Laps | Money | Status | Laps Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JackHarrison | 1954 Ford | 500 | running | |||||
| 2 | ErnieDerr | 1953 Oldsmobile | |||||||
| 3 | RedDuvall | 1954 Packard | |||||||
| 4 | JimRomine | 1953 Oldsmobile | |||||||
| 5 | BobHunter | 1954 Oldsmobile | |||||||
| 6 | BriarJohnson | 1951 Ford | |||||||
| 7 | JuneOsborne | 1952 Hudson | |||||||
| 8 | RussHepler | 1952 Hudson | |||||||
| 9 | FontyFlock | 1952 Hudson | |||||||
| 10 | BuckieSager | 1953 Hudson | |||||||
| 1 | IggyKatona | ||||||||
| DonOldenberg | |||||||||
| HaroldSmith | |||||||||
| LloydMoore | |||||||||
| DickDunlevy | |||||||||
| LloydChick | |||||||||
| NormSawl | |||||||||
| JimWard | Hudson | ||||||||
| KenNetzel | |||||||||
| HarryRanier | 1954 Mercury | ||||||||
| TomBoyd |
Notes: Lloyd Moore and Don Oldenberg both drove in relief for Fonty Flock.
Pole Speed: 23.71 seconds - Ultimate Racing History
And in Muskogee, Oklahoma, Herschel Buchanan won the IMCA stock car feature.
Pennsylvania has always been racing country. Just 126 miles from Langhorne, Johnny Thompson won the AAA Eastern Division Sprint Car race in Mechanicsburg, PA at Williams Grove. The same day Pat O'Connor scored in the Midget feature in Ft. Wayne, Indiana and Bill Eldridge took a Rhode Island Midget feature. It was indeed a big date for auto racing.
Racing History Minute - September 26, 1954
Stock Car Racing History
64 is an amazing number of cars!
Put Richard Petty in Charge of a Mandatory Meeting with Whining Drivers Says Tom Higgins
Current NASCAR
I never knew you could do such an outstanding Bill McPeek impression!!!
Put Richard Petty in Charge of a Mandatory Meeting with Whining Drivers Says Tom Higgins
Current NASCAR
In case you missed it, columnist Tom Higgins took a group of whining NASCAR drivers to task yesterday and suggested NASCAR have Richard Petty explain the facts of life to them. I say "Bravo" to your idea, Tom. Gosh... does this make me a hater? I guess it does... because I have always hated whining drivers.
Higgins' Scuffs: A case of tunnel vision
A reliable, well-placed official at a top NASCAR track tells me that he is being badgered by a few star drivers.
They want his speedway to construct either a tunnel or skywalk between the area where they park their motorhomes during race weekends and the garage area.
The purpose?
So that they wont have to mix with those pesky fans that are hoping for an autograph or to snap a photo.
Excuse me. Have you glanced into the grandstands lately?
Some times more than half the seats dont have fannies in them! You ought to be doting on the paying customers, not dodging them.
Just as it did a couple weeks ago to address a fixing scandal, NASCAR needs to convene another mandatory meeting among the competitors and put Richard Petty in charge.
The subject: Being sweet to the people who pay the purses that enable the swanky motor coaches, private planes and other perks many drivers command.
Petty has reigned as the sports King for more than 50 years, and not just because of his record 200 victories and seven championships, a mark he shares with the late Dale Earnhardt. The ever-smiling Petty has a vast following of loyal subjects because hes nice to them.
Some examples:
In the early 1990s I coincidentally was booked with Richard on a commuter flight from Baltimore to Salisbury, Md. We were heading to a race in Dover, Del.
As we waited to board the plane a pack of about 25 Cub Scouts came through on a tour of the airport. They spotted Petty and with squeals of delight a rush was on for autographs.
As a gate attendant repeatedly ordered him to board or else the door is gonna close Petty kept signing, elaborately and deliberately penning that distinctive autograph with all its swirls. Only when every kid had been accommodated did The King stride to the plane, which could have been no more than five minutes late in leaving.
Other passengers who had seen what was happening applauded him in appreciation.
When NASCAR went to Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1994 for the inaugural Brickyard 400, I needed to talk with Petty for a story I had been asked to ghost write in his name. He was taking a break in his modest-by-comparison motorhome behind the garage area.
Pettys personal manager, Jimmy Martin, accompanied me to see him. It was a mob scene around that coach. Hundreds awaited an audience with The King. Jimmy had to beg fans who thought we were pushing to the front of the line to let us through.
After about 15 minutes I had the necessary notes. Richard stretched and said, Well, Tom, if you have what you need, Im going out and sign some more autographs.
With that he voluntarily waded into a crowd that went wild at the sight of him.
Years ago I asked Pettys wife, Lynda, if she ever had seen him really mad.
She laughed and related this tale:
Back when electric windows first became available on cars we were at Martinsville Speedway. Richard won the race and, as always, sat on the pit road wall afterward and signed autographs.
Me and the kids waited for him in the car, which was parked in the infield. Kyle and his sisters were very young then and they were fascinated by those windows. Up and down the windows went, over and over.
At about dark, Richard finally finished signing autographs and posing for pictures and came to the car.
It wouldnt start! The kids had run down the battery by playing with those windows.
He was not happy.
The experience never deterred Petty for a second from his practice of being pleasant to the fans.
Weve got to think where we would be without them, he says.
I realize that there are occasions when drivers are in a hurry to get to the garage and havent the time to stop and scribble or say cheese for fans. I know the car might not be running well and frustration has set in. Further, I know that some autograph or photograph seekers might be inebriated and obnoxious. I know that within hours some of them will be selling the autographs and/or pictures on the internet.
But to demand, as if you are lords, a tunnel or skywalk to avoid all of them altogether at a time when attendance is down and the sports popularity appears to be plummeting?
Its way past time to reconsider and instead do some courting.
I am not holding my breath.
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/09/24/4339243/higgins-scuffs-a-case-of-tunnel.html#.UkMwddKsjTp#storylink=cpy
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:04:08PM
Racing History Minute - September 25, 1966
Stock Car Racing History
From the archives of Roanoke, Virginia television station WSLS stored at the University of Virginia Library, here is footage of Fred at Martinsville.
Link below to clip of sports footage:
Racing History Minute - September 25, 1966
Stock Car Racing History
Tim, I sure didn't take your comments as disrespectful to Lin Kuchler. My observation is he was probably the one with the clear head who thought NASCAR had done something really stupid by disqualifying Lorenzen and worked behind the scenes to correct that call.
Racing History Minute - September 25, 1966
Stock Car Racing History
Lin Kuchler was one of the most capable and admired officials I ever met in motorsports.
The late Lin Kuchler
He was in great demand by both NASCAR and the American Motorcyclist Association, where he served two stints as their top official, bookending his service with NASCAR as Bill France Senior's personal selection to bring some professionalism to NASCAR. I had the extraordinary pleasure of being seated next to Mr. Kuchler at the November 1983 AMA Awards Banquet at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California the same evening as the November Riverside stock car race I had to work. It was my great good fortune to get to know Mr. Kuchler. He had a cool head and was able to calm others.
Many folks say it was Lin Kuchler who kept the Petty / Allison feud from escalating totally out of control as pointed out by Bobby Allison in the clip below:
Below are several clips reporting the Martinsville reversal from The Robesonian and the Charleston News & Courie r , with an ad for Cooper River Speedway from the Charleston paper on the same page thrown in for good measure!
Two years later, Cooper River Speedway was out of business, as reported in the July 25, 1968 edition of the Charleston paper:
Ironically, in May 1965 it was a lack of water that kept Crider from opening Cooper River Speedway as scheduled as reported in the Charleston paper. Then too much water killed the track according to Crider.
Racing History Minute - September 24, 1950
Stock Car Racing History
I counted 12 drivers in the field of 26 whose names I don't know, including the winner. Now I want to look up each of those 12 names and see what I can find.