Good wrap up Johnny. Good assessment overall Dave. Dave, like you, I was very impressed with the fire suppression system on the 78 car. What a wonder safety innovation. As for the 3 lap hold on Rocket Man, I was somewhat incensed by that. He couldn't get the car down to the pits with the traffic the way it was. At least next time, he gets a choice of which car he wants to take out when he cuts down across the track.
Dave, Chase, thank you both for adding so much to this post. I was hoping, when I came up with hair-brained idea, posting the little history snippets would cause some others to remember or research things to further enchance what I posted. It remains one of my priorities to do all I can to ensure the beginnings of this sport are not lost in all the glitz and glamour of today's racing.
Chase, I noticed that Ralph was driving a Petty car but I did not designate that. Shame on me!! Thank you for bringing it up AND for getting a picture to post as well. Someday (in my dreams) will be computer literate enough to do things like that. I did, just yesterday, establish a "Public Figure" page on FB under "Tim Leeming aka The Legend". Shocked the daylights out of me when it worked!
Again, thank you both for reading and for contributing so much to my Forum posts and to RacersReunion. What an awesome group of folks we have on this site.
Tim
This morning we will travel back to April 7, 1957, to the great track at North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. NASCAR abandoned North Wilkesboro when two money grabbers bought the track to split the dates between two other tracks currently on the circuit. A couple of attemtps have been made in recent years to bring at least some form of racing back to the facility, but it just hasn't happened. Sad, although it is attributed to "progress" that a track with such a rich history could be discarded and fall into such disrepair. When I was there two years ago it was hard to see the Junior Johnson grandstands fallen down with trees growing through the rotting bleachers.
There is very little written about the 1957 race in the reference I am using so I'm having to throw in some of that "Legend Imagination". In 1957, North Wilkesboro was a .625 mile dirt track. The race was scheduled for 160 laps which equates to 100 miles as was a common race length on the shorter tracks in that era.
I can imagine that such an early date in April would have the Brushy Mountains of N. Wilkesboro budding the green of spring and coming back to life after a drab winter season so common to that country side. I can't imagine the weather being warm that day but there was one driver who was HOT. Fireball Roberts started from the pole in a Pete DePaolo Ford and would lead all 160 laps. DePaolo, combining his talents with John Holman (later the first name in the Holman-Moody stable) fielded the cars for the top four finishers.
Note is made that only FIVE laps were run under caution, with the first caution attributed to Dick Beaty (recognize that name) hitting the guardrail and Speedy Thompson breaking an A-frame on his Chevy.
Although Fireball led every lap, second place was hotly contested throughout the event between Speedy Thompson, Jim Pashcal, Jack Smith, Ralph Earnhardt and Billy Myers, all of whom failed to finish the event for one reason or another.
There were 8,000 fans in attendance watching the race that took 1 hour, 19 minutes and 59 seconds to complete for an average speed of 75.015 mph. Top five finishers were:
1. Fireball Roberts, Ford, winning $850.00
2. Paul Goldsmith, Ford, winning $625.00
3. Ralph Moody, Ford, winning $450.00
4. Marvin Panch, Ford, winning $350.00
5. Buck Baker, Chevrolet, winning $310.00
Only 20 cars started the event and 15 of those finished. Other notables in the race were Lee Petty 7th, Johnny Allen 9th,, Brownie King 10th, Tiny Lund 11th, Speedy Thompson 16th, Billy Myers 17th, Jack Smith 18th, Ralph Earnhardt 19th and Jim Pashcal 20th.
In later years, after the track was paved and NASCAR racing moved into the "big time", N. Wilkesboro was a stop along the circuit twice a year which was popular with fans and drivers. The track seemed to breed to super competitive races and was also known for some real "rubbing is racing" driving. It is one of those "ghost tracks" now that Bopper talks about on our Tuesday night radio show but for those of us who remember going to a race or two there, or even if it was just listening to the radio races in the 60s and 70s and then the televised races in later years.
I do recall, with much fondness, how the glow would come to Benny Parson's voice as he would provide color coverage for the television broadcast of those races. The North Wilkesboro area was his home and the pride he felt in that track would always come through. Benny was truly someone worth accolades for driving, announcing, and most of all, for being one truly awesome human being. I miss you Benny Parsons. I miss you North Wilkesboro. But, at least, we are able to take a minute to go back in time and see what was happening there all those years ago.
Tim
If the folks at Darlington are truly that into stripping women of their titles, I am amazed. The fine, down home Southern folks of a small town in South Carolina where Scarlett O'Hara would have felt right at home. I just don't understand how things work sometimes, I guess.
Well stated Johnny. I know I always tried to race "clean" because I believed in that. Just my way of doing things. Maybe that's why I was always resigned to second or third place finishes. But we all know that it has always been a "payback is hell" situation in racing, or what is it they say about KARMA? Or the old "what goes around comes around". You can bet the cameras at Martinsville will be following the 22 all the way waiting to see who is going to take him out. Just a total guess here, but would it be beneficial for Smoke to tell the Go Girl to "take him out" since she would be the least suspected of payback? Wow, my mind works in weird ways all the time, but this early in the morning, the conspiracy theories run rampart! Have a good day!
Patsy, to answer your question, YES. YES we do. Have fun at Martinsville. Should be a great race.
Dr. Janice, thank you for the kind words. It is sort of weird when I'm reading the stories of these old races that although I may not have been at the race I'm writing about, I did attend so many races with my Uncle Bobby that all the drivers and cars I talk about are familiar to me. I take what I read from the "historic record" Greg Fielden worked so hard to put together for us and then write it in my own words. I have always believed we could not afford to lose the memories of those early days of racing and when Jeff Gilder gave me a venue to use I became determined to use it to the best advantage. I love being a part of all this. Thank you for your support of RacersReunion and your kind support of my efforts.
This trip back in the history books actually takes us to Martinsville, Virginia, where the NASCAR boys are running this weekend. In 1952, the track was a half mile dirt track and they raced 200 laps, or 100 miles.
Twenty-two cars started that race in 1952 with Buck Baker in a Hudson leading the field from the pole. On the 118th lap of the race, JIMMY LEWALLEN flipped his Plymouth and was badly shaken but not seriously injured. On lap 138, Fonty Flock's Oldsmobile threw a wheel and he dislocated his shoulder in the aftermath of that accident.
Buck Baker led the first 20 laps but broke a hub on his Hudson to be sidelined. Tim Flock took over in another Hudson and led three different times but finally broke a spindle on lap 162 and had to park it. The race then came down to a two man shoot out between BILL BLAIR driving an Oldsmobile and a driver from Los Angeles named Dick Rathman. Rathman was able to power his Hudson around the Olds of BILL BLAIR with 20 laps to go and managed to hold off the charging BLAIR for those twenty laps. My personal observation (otherwise known as a guess) is that Rathman was practicing what we now know as blocking,but that is purely my speculation.
So, all those many years ago, the boys were racing in Martinsville, albeit dirt then, and a totally different scene. But still it was racing at its very best with some really great drivers involved. I use all "caps" for BILL BLAIR and JIMMY LEWALLEN because they are two guys very close to our RacersReunion family of racers.
The top five finishers at Martinsville on April 6. 1952, were:
1. Dick Rathman, Hudson, winning $1,000.00
2. Bill Blair, Oldsmobile, winning $700.00
3. Perk Brown, Hudson, winning $450.00
4. Lee Petty, Plymouth, winning $350.00
5. Bobby Courtright, Oldsmobile, winning $200.00
Herb Thomas drove his Hudson home 8th, Jim Paschal in a Ford was 10th, Tim Flock was 11th and Curtis Turner was 12th, both driving Hudsons. JIMMIE LEWALLEN finished 16th in a Plymouth although he crashed out of the race. Pole winner Buck Baker was 20th.
When we are watching the race from Martinsville Sunday, either by television or in person, remember it was the guys back in 1952 who were paving the way (literally) for the men and women that race that track and so many others today. Without that glorious past, we would have nothing to watch today. Remember these guys and honor their contributions every chance you get.
William, Pop McGinnis was only around in the early 50s. I encountered him, I think, about 1961 or 1962 but by then he was going by "Mac", as so many of the "Mc" folks seem to do. I spent almost the entire day with him at Darlington for The Southern 500 and he was quite a wealth of information about all things of the early days. Of course, I was only a teenager then and it never occurred to me to make notes and remember all those stories. I do remember he was a really nice guy, but then I have found most folks into and around racing seem to fit that category.
Well, Patsy, from what I read, pieces of that Hudson were flying all over the place as it flipped down the track, but it was the full bodied car that went into the crowd. I guess those were some lucky fans. Guess the lawyers didn't pursue opportunites back in those days!
This is the first of what I hope will become a daily series for awhile, going back into the history book (literally Greg Fielden's 40 Years of Stock Car Racing) and some things from my personal memory if I happened to attend a certain event. Comments and suggestions always welcomed.
Our first adventure in the "way back machine" takes us back to a .75 mile dirt track in Charlotte, North Carolina, on a coolist April afternoon on April 5, 1953. This was the fifth race for the Grand National cars in the 1953 season.
Tim Flock put his '53 Hudson on the pole for the 112.5 mile race with Dick Rathman,in another Hudson starting along side. The race was more or less dominated by the super-talented Tim Flock and the Hudson as he led 87 of the 125 laps before his Hudson started to lose power with 25 laps left. Even with the Flock dominance, there were 18 lead changes among 6 drivers which is noted at the time as "the most lead changes in NASCAR history". Wow. Imagine that.
With the Flock Hudson losing power with 25 laps remaining, Dick Rathman took over the point. He led for four laps before Herb Thomas, bidding for his third consecutive win of the season took over top spot. Alas, Herb's Hudson experienced clutch failure on lap 134 and he watched the rest of the race from the pits.
With Thomas' departure, a rookie from West Virginia, Pop McGinnis, (and I have a personal story about Pop much later in his life). Three laps to go and Pop's Hudson sputtered for gas and he had to relinquish the lead to hit the pits for fuel. McGinnis lost the lead to Dick Passwater driving an Oldsmobile and Passwater was able to hold on to win by a quarter lap over Gober Sosesbee. This was only Passwater's tenth start in a NASCAR Grand National Race.
Top five finishers were:
1. Dick Passwater, Oldsmobile, winning $1,000.00
2. Gober Sosebee, Oldsmobile, winning $700.00
3. Herschel Buchanan, Nash, winning $450.00
4. Tim Flock, Hudson, winning $350.00
5. Pop McGinnis, Hudon, winning $200.00
Other participants of note were Lee Petty 11th, Herb Thomas 12th, Dick Rathman 13th, Buck Baker 14th, BILL BLAIR 16th, JIMMY LEWALLEN18th, Jim Paschal 21st, Curtis Turner 24th, and Fonty Flock 25th. The capitalization of Bill Blair and Jimmy Lewallen is intentional as both of those heroic pioneers in the sport have sons involved in the RacersReunion site and both are very good friends of mine and I am allowed that liberty. After all, this is MY project!!!!
An interesting note to this race is the mention that there was an accident just past halfway which put the Hudson of Gene Comstock into a series of side over side flips and the car finally went through the fence and into a spectator area. The story told is that the car ended up on top of two spectators but was quickly overturned by the crowd and the spectators freed. It is noted that both spectators were taken to the hospital but were expected to fully recover from "minor" injuries. That somewhat surprised me as those Hudsons were some heavy cars.
I, of course, was not at this race as I was not quite 7 years old at the time. I have talked to my Uncle Bobby about the race (he is the one who got me involved with racing when I was five) and he doesn't recall going either although I have suspicions that he went to so many races he can't recall each one. I do know that, thanks to Uncle Bobby, I got to see those Hudson Hornets race and the memories of those cars literally seeming to "float" around a dirt track often come to mind as I think back to the early days.
Well, folks, time to come back to the present day. Thanks for reading. It was fun for me to travel back in time for this visit to 60 years ago. I hope some of you will add your personal memories to this post.
