Racing History Minute - May 7, 1977

Music City. Music Row. Grand Ole Opry. All those wonderful things in Nashville, TN but we aren't going into any of those today. On this date, in 1977, race fans were on site at The Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway for 420 laps/250 miles on the .596 mile asphalt speedway. Cale Yarborough would be going for his ninth consecutive short track win in this event, and as the points leader going in, he was a terror in his Junior Johnson Chevrolet.

It was Darrell Waltrip putting his DiGard Chevy on the pole which was the first indication that Cale's dominance on the short tracks may be in jeopardy. Benny Parsons, however, made short work of D.W. when Benny moved his Chevrolet into the lead on lap 3 and would lead to lap 107. Cale didn't get his first shot at the lead until lap 108, but once there it appeared his Chevy would prove the strong car in the field and Cale would continue his mastery of the short tracks. Cale had built up a lead of almost a full lap over second place Parsons, and had, in fact, led the race for 275 consecutive laps.

There were only three cautions for a total of 27 laps but one of those cautions came with less than 50 laps to go when Ralph Jones spun his Ford. As the cars took the caution, Benny Parsons dove for the pits to replace his tires which had considerable wear by that point. Cale elected to maintain track position and did not pit. When the green flew again, Benny, on those fresh tires, began slicing through the field like a hot knife through butter and with 39 laps to go, was pushing Cale down the straights. With 38 laps remaining, Benny slipped by Cale and moved out to a 1 second lead he would hold until the end of the race.

Benny said, from Victory Lane, "I was surprised Cale didn't pit. We have run a pretty good distance and I knew my new tires would stick better than his worn tires". Cale did, however, leave the track with a 192 point lead over second place Richard Petty. Cale had been leading the standing since the first race and was bidding to become the first driver in NASCAR history to lead the points for the entire season.

Top five finishers were:

1. Benny Parsons, L.G. DeWitt Chevrolet, winning $9,565.00

2. Cale Yarborough, Junior Johnson Chevrolet, winning $7,965.00

3. Darrell Waltrip, DiGard Chevrolet, winning $5,215.00

4. Dave Marcis, Roger Penske Chevrolet, winning $3,565.00

5. Richard Petty, Petty Enterprises Dodge, winning $3,465.00

Sixth through tenth were Buddy Baker, Bobby Allison, Coo Coo Marlin, Jimmy Means and Ricky Rudd. Other finishers of note were James Hylton 11th,Gary Myers finished 12th after a spectacular run, D.K. Ulrich 14th, Buddy Arrington 15th, Earl Brooks 17th, and Richard Childress 26th.

Thirty cars started the event and 20 finished although only first and second were on the same lap at the end.

Nashville is known for country music. For a race fan, Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway is/was known for music of another kind. The music of horsepower controlled by the heroes of the era as they competed for the prize. To some of us, the most beautiful music is the sound of that racing engine at full song.

Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future

Thanks, Tim. Always loved going to the Nashville races, though I didn't make it there for the first time until 1981. Several times instead of flying, I drove the Wrangler van and took our young daughters. They loved the little amusement park outside turn 4.

Here is the ticket brochure for the 1978 Nashville races featuring photos of the 1977 winners on it. Pretty sure I have this brochure stashed away at home. But this particular scan came from Russ Thompson.

Cale may have been going for his 9th straight short-track win. But BP ended up going back-to-back in Nashville. He won the Nashville 420 - the track's previous race - in July 1976.

From the TMC collection .

Chase, I do have the brochure advertising the race in my scrap book. Why? Because the picture of D.W. in Victory Lane was actually taken when he won Talladega and the guy sitting on the hood, with the Petty cap and the long hair, would be yours truly. D.W. almost ran over me cutting through to get to Victory Lane so I grabbed his roll bar and was having a little "discussion" with him and just went right through the gate and into Victory Lane. They were handing out free Gatorade so I got a bottle.

I left Victory Lane and walked into the driver's area where Lynda Petty was serving the after the race meal. As I walked up for my sandwich, Richard saw the Gatorade bottle and says "so, you're switching over to the enemy?" We laughed about that for sure. But I still laugh at sitting on the Gatorade car in Victory Lane wearing a Petty cap and Petty t-shirt.

Ha ha! Now I see you. And yes, I think I remember your telling that story once before. Totally missed the DW picture on the brochure as I was focused on BP. It is a real head-scratcher though as to why Nashville chose to use a Dega VL picture in their brochure vs. one of their own.

From Spartanburg Herald Journal ...

As the Nashville's race weekend was getting underway, NASCAR still had some clean-up to do from the previous week at Talladega. Seems rookie Janet Guthrie and her team owner tried to pull a bit of a fast one on NASCAR, and they were none too pleased. (They never are.)

Source: Spartanburg Herald Journal

Legend can make up all sorts of stories, but now we have photographic proof that he was a "closet" Jaws fan, even being so bold as to accompany the mouthy one to victory lane.

In the wake of Chase's irrefutable picture evidence, Tim has elected to "come out" right here before our eyes on RR!!! I guess ole Legend figured the long hair and no cowboy hat would not fool us too long once we enlarged the photo.

Good work, Chase!

To Tim's credit, he did share that photo and story here 3 years ago:

http://racersreunion.com/tim-leeming/gallery/35970/tim-leeming-gatorade-car-88

Honest, but sly... the things some folks will do for a bottle of Gatorade!

I'll say one thing about the Legend, though... he displays great stability and a true link to NASCAR's glory days... still hasn't traded in his wraparounds!

Tim! I'm surprised to see that you failed to note that after a long night of preparation at "Possum Hollar", Gary Myers finsished a respectable 12th in that race. The pre-race prep sure made for a longrace.I still have some of the "Chicken Whiskey" souvenir glasses somewhere. Ole George Jones knew how to throw a party.

Yep, Dave, as Chase says, I told this story long ago. But a closet D.W. fan????? Come on Dude, you certainly know me better than that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Randy! My sincere and heartfelt apologies to you. Please go back and re-read the Minute.

Ole DW,Coo C00 and Jimmy "Smut" Means were at their home track and all in the top 10.

My first experience at seeing Cup cars live was one year earlier at Friday qualifying for the 1976 Music City 420. I remember my eyes popping out of my head when I saw the day-glo red of STP on my 43 for the first time. Sterling Marlin was a local late model sportsman rookie, and I'd already latched onto him as my local favorite over other rookie such as Mike Alexander and Chubby Crowell and veterans such as Alton Jones, Walter Wallace, James Climer, Doris Vaughn and others. Sterling, as a Nashville rookie, also became a Cup rookie in 1976. He made his first Cup start in the 76 Music City 420 in his dad's familiar #14 red-and-gold Cunningham-Kelly Chevy. He got a huge cheer from the crowd as he began his Q run. Unfortunately, his and the fans' expectations were too high. He qualified dead last, exited the race early and finished 29th in the 30 car field.

The next year I guess Coo Coo said "Umm yeah boy. Why don't you let me drive again this year. Grab that air gun and get me a chaw of 'bacca."

You are toooooo much!!

Dave, the reason I don't tell all the stories of things that have happened to me over all these years around racing is that most of them are unbelieveable. Rather than try to prove the truthfulness of those stories, I just keep them to myself. I have led a "charmed" life when it comes to racing. Thanks to my Uncle Bobby introducing me to the sport. I was able to get away with so much all those years because I always had the philosophy that if I acted like I knew what I was doing, I could get away with it. I met more movie stars, VIPs, and even a couple or three Presidents, several Senators, and many other celebrities over the years using that same philosophy. Not as many as you have, but for me, growing up as I did, it has been amazing. And it continues to be amazing thanks to RacersReunion.

You know, I wish I had been wearing the cowboy hat for that photo.

Randy, as for the "too much" comment, please be advised that I have lost almost 30 pounds since January 1st so that may no longer apply. If you are referring to some other aspect, many tell me I am "too much" but always fail to elaborate further!!!!!

Thank you my friend.

Yep, Chase, that STP 43 caught your attention, didn't it? What a beautiful car.

Wait - I thought it was ME who was too much. Too Much Country at least. HA!

Lol, Chase. You ARE too much. More commonly referred to as "too much of a good thing". But can there truly be too much of a good thing? I think not.

I often told people who didn't think they had the "right" credentials to just act like they knew what they were doing. Never hesitate at a gate, never slow up, just look confident and keep talking and walking.

And, yep... you and the cowboy hat were made for each other!