Originally published by me here:
http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2011/08/august-22-this-day-in-petty-history.html
1969 - Richard Petty wins his 100th career NASCAR Grand National race. He wins the pole and leads only 9 laps in the Myers Brothers 250 at Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, NC.
The race is significant enough to merit its own [ Wikipedia ] entry!
Petty's accomplishment nearly had to wait until another event. After starting on the pole, Petty spun on lap 1 after nudging the back end of of Bobby Isaac's car. However, he was able to get it headed in the right direction without losing a lap. Isaac then proceeded to dominate the race by leading 241 laps. He and Petty had to make a final pit stop for fuel. Isaac ran out of gas after he had passed the pit road entrance. He lost a 2-lap lead as he coasted around. Petty too ran out of gas; however, he ran out before the pit road entrance. He was able to coast into his pit stall, get some fuel, and take the win.
Petty's milestone win is almost twice the total of the second winningest driver, Lee Petty. Lee finished his career with 54 wins. And for those who have only become NASCAR fans (or media members) in recent years, Richard's 100 wins were all in the Grand National/Cup series vs. accumulated through three series as accomplished by Kyle Busch.
Interestingly, Richard earned his 100th win in the single season he raced Fords rather than his traditional Plymouths and Dodges.
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| Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire |
A few years ago, WIX Oil Filters released a collectible die-cast of Petty's car to commemorate the 100th victory.
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TMC
King's 100th win at Bowman Gray almost happened at another track. The race was originally scheduled for Saturday, August 9th. When the Dixie 500 was rained out in Atlanta on August 3rd, the cars were impounded until the make-up date the following Sunday, August 10th. As a result, the Bowman Gray race was moved to Friday, August 22nd. As it turns out, it wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Petty won #99 at Maryville. The next scheduled race was Atlanta and was won by Lee Roy Yarbrough. Bowman Gray would have followed the Dixie 400. So the King's 100th win seemed destined to be at the Stadium regardless of the juggling needed because of rain.
Bowman Gray Bump