Racing History Minute - April 29, 1962
Stock Car Racing History
The 17th event on the calendar for the 1962 season was the Second Annual Volunteer 500 on the half-mile asphalt track in Bristol, TN. The banking on the track was much lower in those days, but racing was good.
Thirty-six cars qualified for the 500 lap event with Fireball Roberts on the pole in a Pontiac. Fred Lorenzen would start his Ford alongside Roberts. When the green flag fell, Roberts, not suprisingly, shot out front to lead the first 61 laps. It was then that the rapid Pontiac had ignition problems (coil) and Roberts lost 12 laps in the pits replacing the coil. Meanwhile, out on the track, Bobby Johns from Miami, FL was pacing the field in his Pontiac wrenched by his father, Shorty Johns. On lap 160, Richard Petty took the lead when Johns pitted but two laps later it was Richard's turn to pit and Johns went back into the lead.
Petty gunned the blue Plymouth back into the lead on lap 321,once again, thanks to a pit stop by Bobby Johns, but six laps later, Johns would put his blue and white Pontiac back out front. Bobby would lead the rest of the race and win his second Grand National (now Cup) race. Petty blew the engine in his Plymouth on lap 368 so he was no longer a threat to the Johns Pontiac. However, Fireball was clicking off the laps in his Pontiac making up 6 laps UNDER GREEN, which equals 3 miles on the Bristol track. That fact is often overlooked.
The race was slowed four times by caution flags for a total of 37 laps. The most serious incident occurred when Maurice Petty (yep, the younger Petty was racing) t-boned Nelson Stacy. The crash was serious enough to send Stacy to the infield medical center where he was examined and released. Although I do not recall from personal memory, I don't remember drivers back in those days being required to go to the medical center to be examined after an accident unless there was a reason to believe an injury could have happened.
Top five finishers were:
1. Bobby Johns, Shorty Johns Pontiac, winning $4,405.00
2. Fireball Roberts, Banjo Matthews Pontiac, winning $2,500.00
3. Jack Smith, Jack Smith Pontiac, winning $1,635.00
4. Ned Jarrett, B.G. Holloway Chevrolet, winning $1,400.00
5. Tom Cox, Ray Harlocker Plymouth, winning $850.00
Sixth through tenth were Herman Beam, David Pearson, Wendell Scott, Bill Morton and Curtis Crider.
To make note of the remaining drivers worthy of mention would require listing the entire 36 participating drivers as folks like Joe Weatherly, Jimmy Pardue, Nelson Stacy, Darel Dieringer, Tiny Lund, Rex White, Marvin Panch, Junior Johnson, Johnny Allen, G.C. Spencer, Marvin Panch, Slick Elliott, Jim Paschal, Ralph Earnhardt, Fred Lorenzen and Larry Frank were all in the field. You readers may want to explore this race further as it was truly a composite of the best drivers of 1962.
A side note on the Maurice Petty career, when Jeff and I interview The King in April, 2009, we discussed Maurice's driving. Richard said that Maurice was actually the better driver. Maurice claims his trip off the outside of turn of Columbia Speedway made him decide to give up driving and handle other duties at Petty Enterprises. The rest, as they say, is history, but imagine if Maurice was the better driver.
Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future
updated by @tim-leeming: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
