Thanks, Tim. Just imagine what Colvin could do with our "modern" All-Star race! He'd have come up with scenarios that on his best day Humpy Wheeler never thought to include.
I always remember that anyone who had one, always wore their Rebel 300 shirt at the track like the uncredited photo of Joe Weatherly with Bud Moore posted at littlejoeweatherly.com. I believe they were originally given to Rebel 300 winners.
I know most of us wouldn't trade our Mom for any other. They are special folks. My wife has been a great mom and so have my daughters. I could get just about anything in the world accomplished through my father, so long as I let Mom grease the skids first! Next week happens to be the anniversary of both of their passings. Dad 10/1/1915 - 5/14/2001; Mom 10/3/1916 - 5/16/2002. They were born a year and two days apart and died a year and two days apart - each living the exact same number of days.
Next week is also my wife's birthday, so with that, Mother's Day and the anniversary of the passing of both parents, it is a very sentimental week for me.
40 years ago, on Mother's Day 1973, we were scheduled to race our Limited Sportsman car in a rare Sunday afternoon race in Wilson, NC.
HOWEVER, on that same date, my maternal grandmother was being honored at the long gone Calvary Baptist Church (it is now a restaurant) on Cary Street in Richmond, Virginia as the "Mother of the Year."
I helped work on the car on Saturday morning, then drove to Richmond and spent Saturday night with my parents. We drove separate cars to the church, behind which stood the home where my mother had been raised on Parkwood Avenue.
My grandmother was honored during the church service and just as soon as the preacher completed the benediction I headed for a side door out of the church to my car, skipping the reception for my grandmother in the church's fellowship hall and incurring the everlasting wrath of my mother.
I hustled out of Richmond to I-95 South and drove as quicky as I could the 150 miles to Wilson County Speedway. When I got to the now gone track, across U.S. 301 from the NC DOT Truck Scales, I found our car loaded on the trailer.
Seems "someone" didn't properly tighten a drain plug and during practice our new engine had seized due to a lack of oil.
40 years later I continue to have the nagging thought that a higher power had punished me for skipping out on my mother and grandmother on Mother's Day to go racing. Atlanta International Raceway got a dose of that same medicine when they agreed to run "The Winston" on Mother's Day and nobody showed up.
My advice to anyone who cares to hear from an old goat - don't ever forsake your mother and/or grandmother on Mother's Day to go racing.
My Dad and I after a number of years of pleading, finally coerced my straight laced mother into accompanying us to a Friday night race at Richmond's weekly NASCAR track - the then still pretty rough crowd and rough racing Southside Speedway one weekend in the early 70s when I was back home visiting.
My favored modifieds by then had been replaced with the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman cars, so she never got to see those fire belching, fuel injected, open wheel monsters under the dim ochre lights of Southside on a Friday night. What she did get to see, though, were Ray Hendrick, Sonny Hutchins, Tommy Ellis, Jimmy Hensley, Paul Radford, Al Grinnan, Bubba Tatum and others in the fairly new for us LMS division put on a great, if slower show than the old modifieds.
Mom had nothing to say all evening. She did manage to cast wary glances at many of the Southside characters surrounding us in my favorite turn one seating location (later condemned and torn down) as they pulled pints of whiskey from their coat pockets on the cool April evening.
On the ride back from Southside Speedway, crossing the James River from the Midlothian area to our home in Richmond's west end that Mom & Dad had bought in 1948 and moved into one month before I was born, I finally broached the question.
"So, Mom.... what did you think of racing?"
Answered Mom.... "Son, I would just as soon be in Hell with a broken back as to ever go to another car race." There was nothing subtle about Mom.
That was Mom's first, last and only race.
A decade later, when I took the helm of the Wrangler Jeans NASCAR program, she expressed her frustration that I would give up a nice job as a Division Personnel Manager to associate with "those people."
Mom never got it and sure didn't like it. But, I sure do miss her (and Dad) like all get out, especially on Mother's Day. For the past 11 years I have worn a white rose signifying my mother has passed, rather than the red one I used to wear on the special day.
Thanks for recognizing the special ladies Johnny. Most of them did pretty damned good by us.
Cool find on linking the photos. Your theory makes sense to me.
Tom Pistone at Fonda in 1966 with the two 4-barrel carburetors 1964 #59 Ford Galaxie that led 32 laps:
Photo by John Grady as posted on Dave Dyke's Racing Through Time Web Site
Being reminded by Tim's post of Tiger Tom Pistone's strong showings in 1966 driving his 1964 Ford #59 with the two 4-barrel carbs led me to a very interesting 1966 photo (photographer not identified) I found posted online. The poster is identified as MikeF9 in 2009 at a website named Henry Raymond's Fairfax, Vermont Information Website. The poster says he bought the photo several years earlier at a motorsports show in Plattsburgh, NY.
The photo is taken in the infield of the Fonda, New York track on the occassion of the July 14, 1966 Fonda GN race on what was commonly referred to as the "Northern Tour."
The race was won by David Pearson in a Cotton Owens Dodge, enroute to the 1966 NASCAR Grand National Points Championship. Two #6 red & white Cotton Owens Dodges are clearly visible in the photo behind and beside the Cotton Owens Garage tow truck. Wonder which one was driven by Pearson that night?
The box truck with Plymouth on its side is, of course, the Petty Enterprises truck with Richard's #43 behind it. Just beyond Richard's car is the blue & white #19 Chevy of J.T. Putney.
Pistone led 32 laps that night before engine failure.
Richard Petty won the pole that evening, but the story for me was that my Grand National racing hero, J.T. Putney charged from the #2 starting slot, took the lead and outraced the King for the first 31 laps. That's when J.T. became part of racing lore when he ran off the track, cruised through the adjacent graveyard and reappeared just in time to crash into Tiny Lund, taking them both out of the race. For his troubles, J.T. received a punch in the nose from Tiny.
Somewhere in that infield, also, is the #96 Ford owned by Homer O'dell and driven that evening by Charlotte's Sonny Lamphear. O'dell only entered cars 16 races - all in 1966, with 4 different drivers. He was better known for being seen on television and at ringside as the tuxedoed "Manager" of the bad boy wrestling tag teams of Rip "The Chicken" Hawk and Swede Hanson, as well as the evil team of Aldo Bogni and Bronco Lubich.
Tim... your history minutes just lead to more and more interesting finds every time I read one. Thank yo so very much.
Here's the Fonda field and results from Racing Reference:
Fin St # Driver Sponsor / Owner Car Laps Money Status Led
1 12 6 David Pearson Cotton Owens '65 Dodge 200 1,100 running 114
2 1 43 Richard Petty Petty Enterprises '66 Plymouth 200 675 running 23
3 26 03 Rene Charland Ed Ackerman '64 Ford 199 450 running 0
4 10 144 Roy Hallquist Roy Hallquist '64 Ford 196 300 running 0
5 9 87 Buck Baker Buck Baker '66 Oldsmobile 193 275 running 0
6 16 48 James Hylton Econo Wash (Bud Hartje) '65 Dodge 192 240 running 0
7 15 70 J.D. McDuffie J.D. McDuffie '64 Ford 191 200 running 0
8 14 20 Clyde Lynn Clyde Lynn '64 Ford 191 175 running 0
9 23 34 Wendell Scott Wendell Scott '65 Ford 181 150 running 0
10 24 97 Henley Gray Henley Gray '66 Ford 181 140 running 0
11 27 93 Blackie Watt Harry Neal '64 Ford 179 130 running 0
12 19 88 Ray Hill Buck Baker '65 Chevrolet 177 120 running 0
13 20 78 Nick Rampling '65 Plymouth 176 110 running 0
14 21 31 Al White Al White '64 Mercury 175 100 running 0
15 7 64 Elmo Langley Elmo Langley / Henry Woodfield '64 Ford 172 100 running 0
16 13 4 John Sears L.G. DeWitt '64 Ford 147 100 axle 0
17 22 53 Jimmy Helms David Warren '64 Ford 133 100 overheating 0
18 31 94 Don Biederman Ron Stotten '64 Chevrolet 127 100 crash 0
19 6 00 Buddy Baker Emory Gilliam '65 Dodge 117 100 axle 0
20 5 59 Tom Pistone Tom Pistone '64 Ford 114 100 overheating 32
21 25 9 Roy Tyner Truett Rodgers '66 Chevrolet 92 100 engine 0
22 18 86 Neil Castles Buck Baker '64 Dodge 78 100 axle 0
23 11 06 Johnny Wynn John McCarthy '64 Mercury 68 head gasket 0
24 28 73 Bub Strickler Joan Petre '64 Ford 57 overheating 0
25 3 15 Tiny Lund Lyle Stelter '64 Ford 33 crash 0
26 2 19 J.T. Putney J.T. Putney '66 Chevrolet 32 crash 31
27 8 2 Bobby Allison J.D. Bracken '65 Chevrolet 32 crash 0
28 17 55 Lyle Stelter Lyle Stelter '64 Ford 31 crash 0
29 4 11 Ned Jarrett Larry Hess (Bernard Alvarez) '64 Ford 21 crash 0
30 30 96 Sonny Lamphear Homer O'Dell '64 Ford 4 overheating 0
31 29 44 Larry Hess Larry Hess '66 Rambler 1 engine 0
Lap leader breakdown:
Leader From
Lap To
Lap # Of
Laps
J.T. Putney 1 31 31
Richard Petty 32 44 13
David Pearson 45 83 39
Tom Pistone 84 115 32
Richard Petty 116 119 4
David Pearson 120 156 37
Richard Petty 157 162 6
David Pearson 163 200 38
Ford's factory boycott, led by Ford racing boss Jacques Passino had started on April 15, 1966. He had pulled the Ford factory cars over Bill France's refusal to allow their single overhead cam engine (SOHC). France claimed it wasn't a readily available production item to the general public.
France then allowed Ford to use two 4-barrel carburetors on its existing 427. Tiger Tom took full advantage of that new rule, as evidenced by his stout run at Middle Georgia. Just 5 days later, on May 15, 1966, Tom set the all-time, never to be broken NASCAR Grand National qualifying record on the 1/2-mile Richmond dirt track (it was paved in 1968) and led the 30 car starting field for that race to the green flag.
In that 49 race 1966 Grand National season, the Tuesday night, May 10th Middle Georgia race and a Friday night, May 13th Monroe, NC event were sandwiched between two Virginia races - the Saturday May 7th Langley Field race at Hampton on May 7th and Sunday afternoon Richmond race on May 15th.
Hampton, Macon and Monroe all paid $1,000 to win, whereas Richmond paid $2,050.
Pretty cool. Hope all the tweeters checking in realize they're seeing updates on a 23 year old race, or they'll really be confused!
