Racing History Minute - 1966 Daytona 500

Richard Petty's breakout season was 1964. Though the season officially started in November 1963, even then folks considered the true start of the season when Speedweeks rolled around. He easily won the Daytona 500 and his first championship. Conventional wisdom suggested the Petty team would easily march through 1965. But with the Chrysler boycott, the 43 was sidelined from GN racing for the first half of the season and most of the big races in second half. So the question had to be asked: how would he and the Level Cross boys perform as they returned to a full scheduled in 1966?

As was common then, the 1966 season started in [ November 1965 in Augusta, GA ]. The second race was the [ Motor Trend 500 ] at Riverside in January. And then all eyes turned towards central Florida.

Speedweeks was beginning to take a different shape. The Race Of Champions in the early 1960s - a pre-Winston / All Star Race if you will - gave way to the American Challenge Series. That race in turn became the 3-hour Continental race for sports cars. And in 1966, the 3-hour event became the inaugural 24 Hours of Daytona.

All questions about how Petty would fare in the stock car parts of Speedweeks soon had two answers: (1) YES! if you were a Petty fan and (2) Uh-oh if you weren't.

Petty won the pole, finished 2nd in his twin, led more than half the 500 and scored his 42nd career victory and his second Daytona 500 - the only multi-time winner in the race's eight years. For the second year in a row, the race ended under caution because of rain - two laps early in 1966.

Race program from Motor Racing Programme Covers

Another story line of the 1966 Speedweeks was Curtis Turner. Banned by Bill France from 1961 until 1965, Pops was making his first start at DIS since 1961 in a Ford fielded by the Wood Brothers and as a teammate to Marvin Panch. Because it had been so long since Pops had been on DIS' high banks, NASCAR had them sport a rookie stripe. From DBMJ .

When practice cranked up, the King - and maybe more so Chief - let the competition know who planned to rule Speedweeks. Each time the 43 Plymouth hit the asphalt, a track record was seemingly set - and jaws dropped a bit farther. From DBMJ .

As practice sessions continued, both Dick Hutcherson and Petty eclipsed the 177 MPH marker. When qualifying day arrived, however, stiff winds forced the speeds back down. Still, the 43 predictably won the pole with a track record 175 MPH 2-lap average. Hutcherson in a Ford nailed down the spot alongside Petty.

Another change to Speedweeks from earlier in the 60s was in qualifying. The GN cars once ran 10-lap, 25-mile qualifying heats to determine the front row as well as the starting line-ups for the twin 100-mile qualifiers. In 1966, NASCAR implemented the 2-lap, flat-out process that most of us have seen used for decades. The top 2 cars locked in the front row, and the remainder filled out the twins.

As the teams continued to tweak their cars and prep for the twins, the Pettys do what they've always seemed to do - take care of others. Before the twins, Lee and Richard and Dale Inman visited the American Red Cross. Inman is shown giving blood. Apparently King or Lee did too - though they certainly left enough at the track itself!

In the first qualifying race, Petty started from the pole and led the majority of the race - pacing the field for 25 of the first 39 laps. But fellow Plymouth driver, Paul Goldsmith, caught the 43 on the last lap and narrowly edged Petty for the win.

In the second qualifying race, Earl Balmer pulled the mild upset win. He claimed his first GN victory driving Ray Fox's #3 Dodge.

Starting lineup for the 2nd twin. Lee Roy Yarbrough on the inside of row 1 in the #12 Dodge, Bunkie Blackburn started 3rd in #22, Jim Hurtubise outside of row 2, Ned Jarrett's #11 on the inside of row 3, and eventual race winner Balmer to Ned's outside. - Ray Lamm

RacersReunion members have shared several photos from the 1966 Speedweeks. Here are a few.

Big John Sears - Danny Quick

USAC regular Gordon Johncock in Nord Krauskopf's 71 Dodge - J.C. Hayes

Petty led the first 6 laps before giving way to Goldsmith. Unlike in 1964 when Richard dominated almost the whole race, the first half of the 1966 edition saw several lead changes amongst various leaders. But when the lap counter clicked 112, it was all 43 the rest of the way. Petty led the next 86 laps before the rains fell and ending the race 2 laps short of a full event.

Photo and headline courtesy of Jerry Bushmire
NASCAR was fortunate in that era to have some coverage of the race featured on ABC's Wide World of Sports. Races weren't broadcast live and were aired on a heavily-edited basis a week or two - or more - later. Considering most NASCAR races were not aired, the Daytona 500 was one of the two most prominent races on the schedule partially because of the TV coverage.

• In the video's intro remarks, ABC's Curt Gowdy refers to the race as the World Series of Stock Car Racing. Baseball was still America's national pastime in the 1960s. In the late 1970s - and pretty much even today, the race is referred to as the Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing. In 1966, the Super Bowl was still a year away from its first edition.
• For some reason, Petty's crew painted the 43 on the roof off-center. See it around the 5:15 mark.

If you are a real junkie for old school NASCAR video, here are links to a 4-part, extended version recap of the race.

1966 Daytona 500 - part 1 1966 Daytona 500 - part 2 1966 Daytona 500 - part 3 1966 Daytona 500 - part 4

Race report provided by RR member Jerry Bushmire.

Somehow, someway, a newspaper editor 'discovered' a lost Petty child - Tom. Shunned by his racing parents and siblings, he went on to a life of rock-and-roll. As an adult, he sang such racing-related songs as Breakdown , You Wreck Me , I Won't Back Down , and Runnin' Down A Dream . Photo - including Kyle Petty not Tom - courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

The King's hardware haul. - Getty

The race was the cover story for what I think may have been issue #2 of the new magazine, Stock Car Racing.

What many didn't know at the time is that in the days before Daytona, Richard was horsing around with some of the Petty team members in a friendly game of football. The horsing around got a bit more serious when Richard injured his hand. He shook it off and somehow managed to work around the pain all through Speedweeks - including the victory. But after a few more weeks of dealing with it, he could stand it no more. He missed Rockingham and Bristol in the early season to recover from surgery to repair torn ligaments. - TMC

Great report Chase, Wonder why "Tom" never won a race. lol.....I really like all those mopars of that era.

A familiar looking car returned to Speedweeks in 1966. A black and gold #22 Chevy hit the track with Bunkie Blackburn behind the wheel. The colors and number were originally associated with the pairing of Fireball Roberts with Smokey Yunich. Though for reasons I'm not sure, the car was entered under an owner name of Bob Rosenthal.

And in an apparent surprise to many, Smokey entered a second Chevrolet in his own name as owner for young USAC regular Mario Andretti - again in black and gold and with Smokey's now familiar #13.

From DBMJ .

Curtis Turner not only made his return to Daytona in the GN, but he also entered - and won - the Saturday Permatex 300 sportsman race.

The race was also the Daytona debut of an upstart driver from Owensboro, KY. DW finished 18th driving a car number he'd later sport again when he joined forces with the DiGard GN team in the mid 70s.

The 1966 race was special for me in that it was the first time that I actually drove down myself, with my younger brother Richard, my cousin Eddie, and one of our best friends (later part of my early racing crew) Tommy. Uncle Bobby had decided he didn't want to make the trip so the four of us got in my 1966 bright yellow Plymouth Satellite and headed south. We got to the track late Saturday and set up a little campsite right next to the fence exactly in the middle of turns three and four.

We really enjoyed the race but kept watching the clouds as they continued to threaten rain, which, as the stories in the papers point out, finally came with a few laps remaining and the race was called with two to go. We didn't even try to go to the pits or victory lane that day as we were wet, tired (not having gotten much, if any sleep that night) and decided to hit the road home. It was then that things got interesting.

My Daddy had let us use his Exxon credit card (Maybe Esso back then, that I don't remember). So, we had gas covered. It had never really occurred to us four teenagers that we would need money to eat. We had packed along a loaf of bread, a jar of mustard, some sliced cheese and some Cokes in a cooler. By Sunday afternoon that was all gone, including the two bags of potato chips.

It was sort of easy to get out of the traffic and head north which was really something for Daytona. Still, it was getting late and we could hear the stomachs rumbling in the Plymouth. We saw a sign along the highway for a hamburger place coming up (not sure but think it was McDonalds). I remember pulling in the parking lot and it was then that Tommy announces he had NO money. None. Eddie had a couple dollars and my younger brother had like 50 cents (not the rapper, but two quarters). Fortunately, I had like $3.00. It would be impossible, I think, to make a trip like that today with four people and end up heading home with $5.50 between four. Thankfully, with the prices being what they were at the hamburger place, we all had a hamburger and split 2 orders of fries among us. We still had Cokes left in the ice chest although the ice had melted and they were warm, at best. Thinking back on that race, it is amazing how simple things were then.Not sure whether or not it was because we were young and innocent, or because the world was a much more simple place back then.

We made it home safely and my Mama was happy to see us roll in at like 4:00 a.m. She was very happy that The King had won and that we were there to see it. So were we.

Eddie and Tommy are gone now, both passed away long ago. My brother Richard is retired and lives about 30 miles from me and is still a huge race fan. The King has retired and racing is nothing like it was. The $5.50 that fed four of us on a rainy Florida February night wouldn't get one hamburger these days. But, because there is racing, and because, MOST OF ALL because there are folks like those who hang out here, life is good. Thanks, Chase, for a wonderful History Minute.

About those Cokes Tim, I heard a phrase last week from Texas songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard that may be a good descriptor. He was talking about beer floating in a cooler of air-temperature water- but I imagine same situation applies to Co-Colas. He said they were "rodeo cold". Ha.

Curtis Turner's Permatex 300-winning car. - Getty

That car and Curtis Turner were the cause of some extremely colorful language by Tiny Lund in the M.I.A. film, Tiny Lund, Hard Charger .

Permatex 300 NASCARModified-Sportsman race
Daytona International Speedway ,Daytona Beach,FL
February 26, 1966
120laps on 2.5 mile paved oval;300 miles

The Sunday Daytona Beach Morning Journal gave heavy coverage to the 1966 Curtis Turner win in the Permatex 300 Modified-Sportsman event:

But my GN hero, J.T. Putney would post the highest Chevy finish that year.. 14th!