COLUMBIA GT100 June 26, 1969

Dennis Andrews
@dennis-andrews
10 years ago
835 posts

COLUMBIA GT 100

Columbia, SC. June 26, 1969

The 13th Grand Touring race of 1969 was held at the Columbia Speedway and was 200 laps on the 1/2 mile dirt oval.

Tiny Lund qualified his Tom Pistone 69 Cougar on the pole with a time of 25.06 seconds and led the first 51 laps until Buck Baker took over the lead thru lap 103. Jim Paschal led laps 104 to 108 with Charlie Blanton out front from lap 109 to 191. Jim Paschal led laps 192 thru 200 to take the win. I could not find out what happened to Charlie Blanton as he finished 5 th two laps down after leading with 9 to go. There were 4 cautions for 25 laps. The win was the third for Paschal after two wins on asphalt.

Fin Srt Car # Driver Car Laps Reason out

1 5 27 Jim Paschal 69 Javelin 200 Running

2 6 44 Ken Rush 68 Camaro 198 Running

3 11 37 Bill Hemby 68 Camaro 198 Running

4 7 88 T.C. Hunt 68 Camaro 198 Running

5 4 11 Charlie Blanton 68 Cougar 198 Running

6 12 21 Frank Sessoms 68 Camaro 195 Running

7 10 04 C.B. Gwyn 68 Cougar 191 Running

8 3 3 Jim Vandiver 68 Camaro 190 Wrecked

9 1 16 Tiny Lund 69 Cougar 182 Running

10 15 4 Steve Ervin 68 Camaro 180 Running

11 2 87 Buck Baker 68 Camaro 177 Bln. Eng.

12 14 41 Richard Childress 68 Camaro 176 Running

13 17 17 Ernie Shaw 68 Mustang 135 Running

14 18 74 Al Straub 69 Mustang 112 Bln. Eng.

15 9 25 Pete Hamilton 68 Camaro 78 Bln. Eng.

16 13 2 Randy Hutchinson 68 Camaro 25 Ignition

17 8 10 Don Baumgardner 68 Camaro 21 Fuel Pump

18 16 7 Jimmy Vaughn 68 Camaro 4 Fuel Pump

Jim Paschal


updated by @dennis-andrews: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
TMC Chase
@tmc-chase
10 years ago
4,073 posts

Looks like Blanton blew a tire...while leading...with checkered flag nearby...as a yellow flag flew. "That's racing" may be a true statement - but it can often be a punch to the gut.

Race report from Rome News Tribune




--
Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
Dennis Andrews
@dennis-andrews
10 years ago
835 posts

Charlie Blanton listed as driving a 1968 Cougar #11. Does anyone know if this was the same Cougar driven by Little Bud Moore in 1968? For some reason I can't remember Charlie in anything but a Camaro.

TMC Chase
@tmc-chase
8 years ago
4,073 posts

Columbia needed 4 shots at completing this race.

It was originally scheduled for Thursday, May 15th. But the race was rained out & rescheduled for Friday, May 16th.

But on Friday night, the rain remained. The race was rescheduled yet again for June 5th.

When June 5th rolled around, many cars had been wrecked in previous races at Greenville and Richmond and couldn't be repaired in time for the Columbia race. The race date was set a fourth time for June 26th, and it FINALLY ran as (re)scheduled.




--
Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.