Racing History Minute - June 22, 1957

You know, the more of these History Minutes I do, the more surprises I encounter. While deciding upon an event for today's minute, I came across the report of a 99.5 mile race/199 laps on a half-mile dirt track in Sacramento, California. While most of the names in this event are relatively unknown to those of us on the East Coast, I think it's fitting that we talk about this race today as the Cup guys are racing on the West Coast this weekend. So, today we head for Capitol Speedway located in Sacramento. Oh, and the "199"? It was a scoring mixup. The flagman threw the checkers a lap early so it went into the books as a 199 lap/99.5 mile race. As second place finished a lap down, it was not a big issue, but I'm sure there was at least ONE fan upset for being cheated out of a lap of racing. I have another story about playing with lap counts that was a promoters blatant attempt to cheat the fans, but I'll save that for another day.

Thirty-one cars entered this race. Art Watts in a Ford would start on the pole with Clyde Palmer in a Chevrolet to his outside. Bill Amick would start a Ford in third with Danny Graves starting his Chevrolet in fourth The top five starters were rounded out by George Seeger in a Ford.

Only 17 of the 31 starters finished. Chuck Meekins, Bill Bade, Lyle Matlock and Harold Hardesty all crashed in one manner or another with Hardesty's accident the most spectacular as his car flipped over the hood of another car. Matlock's Mercury took a three time roll over on lap 50 and Bade's Chevrolet flipped end over end on lap 64. Of all the accidents, Bill Bade was the only driver requiring medical attention and he was transported to the local hospital for "observation".

Bill Amick had a one lap lead and brought his Ford home in First place. It was the Portland, Oregon native's first Grand National Win. He was the 11th different winner in the 25 race old 1957 season.

Top five finishers were:

1. Bill Amick, Amick Ford, winning $900.00

2. Lloyd Dane, Dane Ford, winning $600.00

3. George Seeger, Oscar Maples Ford, winning $475.00

4. Scotty Cain, Cain Mercury, winning $365.00

5. Danny Graves, Graves Chevrolet, winning $320.00

Sixth through tenth were Bob Ross, Lemoine Frey, Dick Getty, Art Watts, and Howard Phillippi.Eddie Pagan, who would come East to race, finished 17th as the last car running at the end of the race. Parnelli Jones finished 18th in a Ford, after falling out on lap 130 when his car experienced rear end problems.

Lloyd Dane, the oldest living NASCAR Champion for his West Coast Championship attended the event in Hillsborough, NC last year. There must be something about driving race cars that keeps a person young in attitude and, to an extent, physical condition. I know Lloyd is in his 80s at least but you couldn't guess it being around him. I think of Ned Jarrett, Rex White, Richard Petty, all past the 70 mark and still going strong. And with all Bobby Allison has had to endure in his life he is remarkably ageless.

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

Bill Amick, who passed in 1995, was inducted into the West Coast Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame in 2002. This is his writeup:

Bill Amick

BILL AMICK
In the early 1950s a young man from Portland Oregon started making his presence known up and down the west coast. His last name was very familiar to racing fans, as his brother George had already established himself as one of the top midget drivers in the country. By 1953 Bill Amick was winning races and had become a top contender wherever he went. Bill was a hard charger, very colorful and sometimes controversial with his driving style, and his day-in and day-out demeanor. In 1955 he finished seventh in NASCAR points with the Pacific Coast Late Model Series.

In 1956, after successful driving stints with Joe Fisher and Burl Jackson, Bill Amick went east and drove and won for Holman and Moody, repeating again in 1957. For a few years after 1957 he did not pursue a championship, nor did he score any wins of consequence, however, in 1961 he returned in a powerful Pontiac and was stronger than ever before, setting records and winning races wherever he traveled.

In 1962 he drove at Daytona for the famed Wood Brothers. In 1964, running a full program, he finished second in the Pacific Coast Grand National Standings and came back to win the 1965 championship in the Dick Niles Mercury, with one of the most outstanding seasons ever recorded in the history of west coast stock car racing. After the 1965 title Bill focused on road racing for a couple of seasons, running the old Can-Am Series, and eventually re-focused his activities on operating speedways.

In 1994 Portland Speedway hosted a dinner for Bill Amick to celebrate his accomplishments. It was attended by the Whos Who of west coast racing, the next day at Portland Speedway a countless number of fans and old friends came to see Bill and pay tribute to him. Bill passed away the very next year. Bills mark in the record books shows 21 career wins in NASCAR, plus another 10 or so with other organizations. The 21 wins places him fifth on the west coast wins list, plus several Winston Cup victories.

Photo below from Getty Images

Plenty of racing going on that weekend. NASCAR sanctioned one GN race at Sacramento on June 22 - and scheduled another to run at Memphis-Arkansas Speedway in LeHi, Arkansas on June 24 (with qualifying on June 22 for some reason). Qualifying was rained out as was the race, and the race was re-scheduled for July 14.

NASCAR also scheduled a convertible series race at Bowman Gray Stadium on June 22. Bob Welborn won it in his own Chevy with Papa Lee coming home 2nd. Guess LP figured he'd net more money by racing close to home vs. burning expenses to travel to Arkansas or California. I'd say he was correct. (As it turns out, Lee and many others went to LeHi after all for the make-up date - a likely win for the fans in attendance who might otherwise have missed them on the original race date.)

Later in 1957, Bill Amick scored three wins in the NASCAR Convertible Series - at Raleigh, Norfolk and Martinsville. His win record in 1957 in the Convertibles was 3 wins in 7 starts and he started on the pole in each of the three victories. Quite a powerful performance. Who knows what Bill might have accomplished had he stayed on the east coast.

I found this to be interesting. NASCAR.com's 'home track's page has Amick's win classified as a K&N Pro Series West victory. We used to know it as the Winston West series during much of the 70s thru 90s. I'm not sure if NASCAR had a formal western series back then or not. Racing Reference and Fielden's book refers to it as a regular Grand National win. Revisionist history perhaps? Or inaccurate info by the folks maintaining content for NASCAR's website?

http://hometracks.nascar.com/records/NKNPSW_Race_Results_1954_1959

I'm about afraid to offer an opinion.

yessir... I fell out of NASCAR's 18-34 listen to group 'bout 31 years ago, so I know my opinion doesn't count (even though I have grandsons for whom I buy race tickets and who watch with me.)

My opinion is that NASCAR can't figure from one year to the next how to classify some of its past history and doesn't seem to have anyone on staff who gives a rat's petunia or has the knowledge to figure it out. If this is NASCAR bashing, so be it.

My old departed journalist, historian and statistician friend, Gene Granger in Spartanburg was sure his phones were tapped by NASCAR. Don't guess he considered the NSA, although he made the press pilgrimage to the Carter White House for the NASCAR recognition event.

An historical marker was placed to remember the location of Capital Speedway - later known apparently as West Capital Raceway.

Source: http://west-sacramento.blogspot.com/2007/10/west-capital-raceway-monument.html

I'm confused. Sacramento is the capitol of California. Capitol with an O, and that's the name that Tim gives in his report. Regardless of why they felt they needed to add "West" to the name, I'm curious why would they change to Capital with an A. My guess is that the printer made a mistake on the new tickets and they just rolled with it.

As to NASCAR's record keeping talents, maybe it would be easier if they weren't always changing the name of the various series. Leaving aside the various "Cups", the top series has had at least three names. Nationwide has had at least four names, hasn't it? I'm disgusted that every time I see the "(now Sprint Cup)" footnote. Sprint didn't do diddly to develop NASCAR in the 50s and 60s, they don't deserve credit for anything that happened before their watch. It's Grand National dammit!

Good question re: the chosen vowel. I found this 1962 program on ebay noting the spelling as Capitol. I believe the word "capitol" with an O refers to a building such as our U.S. Capitol in DC. "Capital" refers to the center of government in a location such as Sacramento or Washington DC. If so, perhaps folks chose to go with the city reference when the track was renamed.

You are correct, Chase in your usage of "o" for a building and "a" for the location. I have seen the same problem with the name of the Capital City GN/Cup races in Richmond sometimes reported with the incorrect "o" versus the correct "a" in news reports and even on a ticket stub or event program cover.

The Richmond printer got it right on the 1975 tickets as seen in the above photo from e-bay:

Very interesting to see the historical marker from Sacramento.

There's a curly haired fellow in Level Cross, NC who should know the correct spelling. Even when he was wrong he was right and took home the bacon and cashed the check from numerous Capital City events, just as he did in this report from the 1968 Tuscaloosa, AL paper:

It's one of those "West Coast" deals where a race counted for both Grand National and Pacific Coast Grand National points.