UVa Library needs help with 1970 stock car racing ID
Stock Car Racing History
If Jeff Gilder still has a contact to Morris Stephenson, I bet he would know. He was around all the southwest Virginia tracks in the 70s.
Forum Activity for @dave-fulton
Stock Car Racing History
UVa Library needs help with 1970 stock car racing ID
Stock Car Racing History
I don't know the answer, but since it is a Roanoke TV station I assume it was someone who raced around that area. Only John who comes to mind at all is Delana Harvick's late father, John Paul Linville - and, I don't even know what he looked like. Harlow Reynolds & NB Arnold are from this neck of the woods, or maybe Margaret Sue Turner encountered "John."
Racing History Minute - July 19, 1958
Stock Car Racing History
How's this for some more killer trivia?
State of Nevada v. Orenthal James Simpson, et al
On October 3, 2008exactly 13 years to the day after he was acquitted of the murders of his wife, Nicole Brown, and Ronald GoldmanSimpson was found guilty of all ten Las Vegas robbery charges. On December 5, 2008, Simpson was sentenced to 33 years in prison.
Racing History Minute - July 19, 1958
Stock Car Racing History
This race was held at Buffalo's Civic Stadium (War Memorial Stadium) which also held weekly midget and NASCAR races. The stadium was home to the Buffalo Bisons AAA Baseball team. Racing stopped in 1959 when the AFL Buffalo Bills football team moved in.
Buffalo traded NASCAR Stock Car racing for O.J. Simpson.
Unexpected Petty trivia of the day
Stock Car Racing History
And, On November 25, 1987, still pre-Max Helton and MRO, in the Sumter, SC The Item :
Maybe one of the folks with a better memory who were there, like Mike Sykes, might recall what happened between November 1987 when the NASCAR group above agreed to continue funding Brother Bill Baird and the beginning of Motor Racing Outreach and preacher Max Helton in 1988. I'm pretty sure it was something stinky.
Motor Racing Outreach History
Motor Racing Outreach (MRO) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1988 to serve the NASCAR Sprint Cup racing community.
Over the years, MRO has evolved due to the requests for our services from other forms of motor sports like stock car, motorcycle, and powerboat racing. Our efforts and resources are directed towards four opportunities of ministry; touring series ministry, fan outreach and evangelism, in-homes and race shop discipleship, and lastly, the development of the Motor Racing Outreach Association (MROA).
Motor sports are pressure filled and can place stressful demands on drivers, crewmembers, officials, media, husbands, children, wives and the many other people groups that make up racing communities. For MRO, and those who partner with us, our opportunity is to support these racing communities so that they may enjoy a more wholesome life together and, in turn, become role models for millions of motor sports fans around the world.
Unexpected Petty trivia of the day
Stock Car Racing History
Chase, I had to rack my brain something fierce, but I finally recalled the other "Brother Bill" who used to also hang out with Richard. He was "Brother Bill" Baird from Asheboro, NC who started preaching on the circuit in the late 70s at the suggestion of Cale Yarborough's mother at a Lake City, SC revival. He is the "Brother Bill" I most especially remember always flying first class out of the Greensboro airport when I flew out of there with Wrangler.
The Miami News on July 3, 1981 did a feature story on Brother Bill Baird, titled AND THEN THE LORD SENT BROTHER BILL . That story tells of how the original "Brother Bill" Frazier found souvenirs more lucrative than preaching. Interestingly, I seem to recall Brother Bill Number 2, who preceded Max Helton and his Motor Racing Outreach, suddenly disappearing amidst questions of where the money was going.
Of particular interest to me is that the Miami News story begins with a scenario involving a very young Doug Richert and our Wrangler Jeans/Dale Earnhardt pit crew at Daytona.
AND THEN THE LORD SENT BROTHER BILL
And in 1980, PEOPLE MAGAZINE did a feature story on Brother Bill #2 .
June 09, 1980
Vol. 13
No. 23
Stock Car Preacher Bill Baird Brings Uplift to the Tracks but No Talk of Hellfire or Dying
By Joyce Leviton
His pulpit is in front of the scorer's stand, his congregation sits not on pews but tires. His parish is literally the pits, but Bill Baird wouldn't have it any other way. As the chaplain of NASCAR, the association of stock car racing drivers, Baird, 38, tends to the spiritual needs of their families and crews, as well as the stars themselves. At the electrifying command, "Gentlemen, start your engines!" the burly (6'5", 265 pounds) chaplain moves quickly among the starters, their 600-hp engines roaring, and offers each a final word of encouragement. "There's a real need for Bill," says driver Joe Booher. 'He reminds us of things in life we might forget."
Though Baird is on close personal terms with many of the drivers, he is not a racing buff who combines preaching with pleasure. During his early years as a minister, he crusaded through the U.S. and South America and never gave racing a thought. Then, one day in 1977, he was preaching in Timmonsville, S.C. and met the mother of driver Cale Yarborough. "Racing meant nothing to me," he says, "but she talked about how much Cale loved going to church on Sunday and how a ministry for racers would be an opportunity to do something beautiful. Ole big-mouth me said, 'Why can't I do that?' Cale, Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip, Benny Parsons and a lot of the other drivers talked it over and came to me and said, 'We want you with us,' " Baird continues. "I saw my first race in the best seats with the Yarboroughs, but to be honest, it didn't interest me."
Nonetheless, he accepted the call. His new interdenominational ministry, known as Chapel 500, started slowlyonly 30 people showed up for his first serviceso drivers appealed to their fan clubs for donations. When that wasn't enough, Parsons called a drivers' meeting. "Bill has never asked us for anything, but if we want to keep him we've got to support him," he said. The drivers passed the plate and Chapel 500 was rolling. It is now headquartered in the education building of the First Baptist Church of Asheboro, N.C. Baird's wife, Eunice, does the bookkeeping at their mountainside home but misses most of the circuit, because their daughter Michele is just 8.
Bill and Eunice both grew up around Asheboro. As a Quaker, he attended nearby Guilford College and graduated in sociology and psychology. He was a football star but failed his tryout with the Minnesota Vikings. "I thought of sulking," he says, "but then I felt the call of God. A lot of churches had heard of me, and I went around speaking to youth groups." Nowadays, though, he makes a point of not lecturing his more hard-bitten parishioners (and never mentions death or dying). "These people know right from wrong," he explains. "My mission is to get them to realize that God loves and cares about them, and that I care. The worst thing I could do would be to tell them they're going to burn in hell. So someone is living with someone else's wife. It might be wrong, but I still care about them." As for their education, Baird notes "a wide range of intellect among drivers. Some are Bible scholars and some couldn't find Genesis 1:1. But I think we have built up something beautiful and positivesomething that's not chrome-plated."
The racing clan seems equally devoted to Baird. "I used to want my family home on Sundays," says Judy Ranier, a car owner's wife, "but when we got Bill I realized we could grow spiritually even though we weren't in a traditional church." Adds Joe Booher: "If you crash, things always look better after you've talked to Bill. You always think of danger on the track. You don't dwell on it, but it's there. Bill means a lot to the families, and he never thinks of himself."
Knowing the men as well as he does, Baird would say the same for his flock. "People have the idea that race drivers are mean," he says, "but they're the most tenderhearted people in the world. Last year in Nashville a rookie blew an engine, crashed into a pole, and was in surgery for three hours. I was at the hospital with his wife, and they had $27 to their name. When I got back to the track, the drivers were taking up a collection, and in 10 minutes they had $1,500. This is practical Christianity. So you see why these drivers are dear to my heart."
Unexpected Petty trivia of the day
Stock Car Racing History
I recall two different "Brother Bills." I remember them both flying first class while most of us were back in coach. I guess preaching and souvenirs paid pretty good.
With God book debuts at NASCAR Day
By Kathi Keys
RANDLEMAN The personal recollections of the man who introduced Gods ministry to stock car racers and their families have been compiled into a book which is officially being released at NASCAR Day in Randleman on Saturday.
The book is With God Youre Always a Winner The Chaplain of Stock Car Racing.
It was written by Richard Guy of Pennsylvania, who worked with stock car racings first chaplain, Bill Frazier, a former Randolph County resident, to publish the book. Guy also interviewed several individuals, including Bobby Allison, Larry Davis, Roy Hill and Maurice and Richard Petty for the publication. There are also several photographs of local residents, including the Pettys, Fraziers and Davis.
Without him, there wouldnt be a MRO (Motor Racing Outreach), local resident Lisa Huffman said of her father, Bill Frazier.
The book is coming out at the same time she and her brother, John Frazier, are getting the Ethans Heart foundation off the ground. Theyre in the process of acquiring nonprofit status for the foundation, which is planned to help troubled individuals, especially in the Randleman area.
Its named after John Fraziers son, Ethan Garrett Frazier, who died last November, at the age of 21, as a result of a traffic accident in Alamance County.
Lisa Huffman said her nephew had drug-related and other problems, leading a troubled life. She and her brother decided they wanted to do something positive in Ethans memory, helping individuals in crisis.
Their proceeds from the book will go toward the foundation, as will the sale of Ethans Heart T-shirts, hats and wristbands, which will be sold, with the book, at NASCAR Day, being held from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday in downtown Randleman. At booth Nos. 6 and 8, on South Main Street in front of the former Security Savings Bank, theyll also sell hot wings, corn dogs, cakes and drinks for the foundation.
Bill Fraziers ministry began at the new Talledega speedway in 1970, where he had taken a homemade chapel built on a trailer frame at his nearby home. He continued to visit other race tracks over the years, introducing Gods Word to the drivers. The Frazier family moved in 1973 to the Randleman area; Bills first wife, Barbara, and two children, Lisa, and John Frazier, still live in Randolph County.
One will need to read the 134-page paperback, published by Xulon Press, to find out details of the evolution of Bill Fraziers full-time ministry to what is MRO today. It also provides an interesting look at stock car racing of the past.
Bill Frazier, who now lives in Thomasville, Ga., and the author will be in Randleman Saturday to promote the book.
The book will on sale for $12 (its $14.99 through the publisher); T-shirts, $10; hats, $8, and wristbands, $1.
Anyone desiring more information about the book or to purchase one can contact Lisa Huffman at (336) 328-5241.
Wood Brothers' Shops Through the Years - Happy 88th Birthday Glen Wood
Stock Car Racing History
Today, July 18, 2013 is Glen Wood's 88th birthday. Last week, NASCAR.com ran the story below by Kenny Bruce tracing the history of the famed Wood Brothers racing shops in Stuart, Virginia.
GARAGE SERIES: RACING HISTORY IN RURAL VIRGINIA
July 09, 2013, Kenny Bruce , NASCAR.com
Tucked away behind the trees of a small town, the Wood family history is rooted
Second in a series: NASCAR.com traces the evolution of race shops throughout the years.
Garage Series Evolution of race shops 1950s: Petty Enterprises 1960s: Wood Brothers 1970s: Junior Johnson More: Mobil 1 Technology Hub
STUART, Va. -- A branch of the Mayo River flows behind the building here on the corner of Mayo Court and Dobyns Road.
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| The 'creek-side shop.' (Courtesy of Wood Brothers Racing) |
The proximity of the easy-flowing waterway led its owners and employees to refer to the structure simply as the creekside shop.
Officially, it was known as Wood Brothers Racing to anyone and everyone in and around this tiny area tucked away in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
From 1956 through the summer of 1995, cars rolling out of its doors won 96 times in what is now the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Leonard (L) and Glen Wood (R) roll a car from the garage. (Getty Images)
Legendary drivers wheeled the familiar red and white No. 21 Ford into Victory Lane through the years. Foyt, Panch, Gurney, Yarborough and Pearson to name a few.
It is a shop like few others.
I traded 68 acres of mountain land for it, says Glen Wood, 87, the founder of the legendary NASCAR team and a talented driver in his own right. If we had kept the land, well, its grown enough timber to pay for the shop.
It was a simple transaction, but laid the groundwork for one of the most successful organizations in the sport today.
Like many teams that can trace their lineage back to the early days of NASCAR, Wood Brothers Racing had humble beginnings.
The roots of the legendary team are found elsewhere, about a 10-minute drive from the corner the team called home for so long. Just out the Woolwine Highway, past an area known as Buffalo Ridge and then left on Ivy Road.
Its here that youll find the beech tree still standing guard at the edge of the yard, its towering presence softened by the sounds of the stream that runs alongside.
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| Cale Yarborough (C) with (from left to right) Clay, Glen, Leonard and Delano Wood. (Getty Images) |
The home it watches over, a simple white frame house, sits in the background at the foot of the hill.
When we pulled the engine out, wed swing a chain over that big limb there, says Glen. That tree doesnt seem to have grown that much since then
All five Wood brothers -- Glen, Leonard, Delano, Clay and Ray Lee -- grew up here. Ray Lee still calls it home.
Racing intrigued Glen Wood, a sawmill operator who eventually took the plunge and, with the help of boyhood friend Chris Williams, became a co-owner and a driver.
We only worked here a year or two, he says. And at one time, we had a two-car garage here by the tree.
My daddy worked at a garage we took the car over there sometime. You actually raced the car sort of like it was, you didnt do a whole lot to it and it wasnt that hard to keep up.
His first car number was 50 because it was 1950 and we paid $50 for it, Wood says.
In one of the more memorable beginnings in the sport, Wood wrecked in his first start. His car caught fire and burned as it was being towed home.
Wood might have been discouraged after his fiery beginning, but he was equally determined. He eventually bought out his partner, and the check -- for $2,500 and dated Nov. 12, 1958 -- can be seen in the Wood Brothers Racing museum.
In 1958, Glen Wood became the sole owner of the shop and team. (Courtesy of Wood Brothers Racing)
The split was amicable. Racing was far from lucrative. It wasnt enough money for two people to live on, Wood says of the early buyout.
I guess I just asked him if he wanted to sell his part (and) he agreed. A few months after I had bought it, I wondered to myself, What did I do that for? When I had him as a partner, he had to pay half of what we lost. All of a sudden it was just me.
By the 1960s, NASCAR had taken hold, and the sport of stock car racing was changing. What had begun more than a decade earlier as an eight-race series had grown into a series that often consisted of 50 or more races a year sprinkled across the country.
Dirt was slowly giving way to asphalt, both on the track and in the race shop.
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| Working in the Wood Brothers Racing shop. (Getty Images) |
And race cars were no longer taken straight from the dealership to the track without any preparation. Parts that couldnt withstand the furious pounding were either strengthened or replaced with heavy-duty pieces. It would be a few years before teams began building the cars from the ground up, as is the case today. Roll bars had yet to give way to roll cages.
In and around the South, new teams and new owners were sprouting up, joining others that had already become established. Holman-Moody, one of the most dominant organizations of its era, had launched in 1957, and by the 1960s cars fielded by the Charlotte-based team had begun to show up in the winners circle on a consistent basis.
Over in Spartanburg, S.C., Bud Moore Engineering was up and running, while the Daytona Beach area had seen the arrival of fabled teams run by such men as Smokey Yunick and Ray Fox. And by the mid-'60s, a fellow named Junior Johnson was setting up shop in his Ingle Hollow, N.C., backyard, having given up driving for ownership.
Corporate America hadnt taken notice and what sponsorship existed at the time often came from local businesses. Detroit, on the other hand, had slowly begun to return after a brief flirtation with the sport some years earlier. The automakers werent cash cows, but their growing supplies of parts and pieces helped keep the sport moving forward.
A transformation was underway. And Wood Brothers Racing was doing everything it could to keep up.
At that time, Wood says, I guess most everybody that was in racing had something similar.
The original creek-side shop, at roughly 2,400 square feet, would be considered modest by todays standards. But over time, as the sport continued to grow, Wood Brothers Racing grew as well.
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| The old Wood Brothers Racing shop. (Courtesy of Wood Brothers Racing) |
Before the team packed up and moved across town in the fall of 1995, the shop had been expanded some 17 times, according to Wood, and the floor space topped out at 17,000 square feet.
Although they didnt start running a full schedule until much later, the Wood Brothers team didnt lack for the necessary equipment required to race competitively.
See that opening? asks Len Wood, Glens youngest son. On the other side of that wall was the dyno room. We had what was called a Go-Power Dyno. And we just ran the tailpipes out through the wall there. You could hear it two miles from here.
There arent a lot of houses nearby, but the roar of a dyno running wide open didnt go unnoticed.
It wasnt but one (neighbor) that complained about it but she really did, Glen Wood says. She done some of the worst cussing you ever heard anybody do.
Today, Len and siblings Eddie and Kim oversee the Wood Brothers Racing effort.
The team has moved its racing operation twice since leaving the old creek-side site, and currently operates just outside of Charlotte.
Stuart, however, will always be home.
A lot happened at that creek-side shop, Len says. In 1979 we had a flood. It was Martinsville race weekend and it rained and rained and rained. It washed out the back wall the water probably got 10 feet high. Basically it washed everything out of the basement.
There was a car parked out there, just up the road, Glen Wood adds. And we just watched it go floating down the river.
The skies have darkened and a light rain has begun to fall as the car pulls back out onto the highway, away from the once-plain block building. History fades in the rearview mirror.
We had a lot of winners, the elder Wood says, come out of this place.
NASCAR.com writer Kenny Bruce is the president of the National Motorsports Press Association. For more of the Garage Series return to the Mobil 1 Technology Hub in the coming weeks.
MORE FROM THIS SERIES: Before they were palaces
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
THERE IS A NEW OWNER ON THE HORIZION FOR AN OLD TEAM
Current NASCAR
Side note. My first encounter with Mr. Finch was when he brought Jeff Purvis to Richmond in February 1990 for his 3rd ever NASCAR race - the Busch Series Pontiac 200.
I had an immediate appreciation for Mr. Finch's taste in music. My encounter was in the lounge of the Hyatt Regency on West Broad Street in the Richmond suburb of Glen Allen (home of 3-time Permatex 300 winner, Bill Dennis) where the famed beach music group Bill Deal & the Rhondells of Virginia Beach were playing. Lots of brass - saxophones, trumpets, trombones and lots of shagging. Coastal Jack Walker would have approved!