CASEY 200 October 18, 1969

CASEY 200

Raleigh, N.C. October 18, 1969

The Grand Touring cars visited Raleigh, N.C. for the 33rd race of the year. A 200 lap event on the 1/2 mile dirt oval at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds before a reported 9,000 fans.

Jim Paschal started on the pole with a time of 25.92 seconds but lost an engine in his Javelin and did not finish. Always tough on dirt, the old veteran Buck Baker got the win over Wayne Andrews in yet another second place finish.

FinSrtCar # DriverCarLaps Reason out

1 87 Buck Baker 69 Firebird 200Running

2 15 Wayne Andrews 68 Cougar Running

3 44 Ken Rush 68 Camaro Running

4 88 T. C. Hunt 68 Camaro Running

5 04 C. B. Gwyn 68 Cougar Running

6 72 Al Straub 68 Mustang

7 7 Jim Vaughan 68 Camaro

8 21 Frank Sessoms 68 Camaro

9 10 Charlie Blanton 68 Camaro

10 54 Bobby Fleming 68 Camaro

North Carolina State Fairgrounds Speedway

updated by @dennis-andrews: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM

Race report buried in article about updated GN standings. From Spartanburg Herald .

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.

When I saw the Casey 200 title of this post, I figured it would be a race recap from Langley Field Speedway in Hampton, Va. Casey Chevrolet in Newport News in years past provided pace cars and sponsored cars and races in Tidewater, Va.

I surprised to see this was a Raleigh race. Anybody know what the CASEY sponsorship at Raleigh referenced?

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

Excerpted from Danville Register , Oct 19, 1969

Baker Wins Casey 200 Race RALEIGH (AP) -- Forty-six year-old Buck Baker of Charlotte, the oldest active NASCAR driver, wheeled his 1969 Pontiac Firebird to a victory here in the first annual Casey 200 Grand Touring Race at the North Carolina state fairgrounds.

Baker grabbed the lead from veteran Jim Paschal, also of Charlotte, in a 1969 Rambler Javelin, on the 121st of 200 laps and was not headed in picking up his first GT win of the current season and a winner's cut of $1,320 in the $9,000 event.

Paschal's Javelin sustained fatal engine problems and opened way for Wayne Andrews of Staley to finish second in a 1968 Mercury Cougar for $800. Third place went to current point leader Ken Rush of High Point in his 1968 Chevrolet Camaro. T. C. Hunt of Atlanta, Ga., was fourth in another Camaro and A] Straub of Louisville, Ky., rounded the top five finishing positions in the wild, and wooly 100-mile romp over a tricky half-mile dirt track.

''I've been a pretty long time between wins. It was mighty dusty, but I can see great now." Baker said. Paschal's famed Javelin set a blistering pace for the first half of the race. Opening leads of almost 800 yards, Paschal roared away from the pole position to average almost 70 miles per hour before a caution flag slowed the race on the 91st lap.

Paschal and Baker closed together under that caution flag and swapped the lead on several occasions until the American' Motors-maintained Rambler dropped an oil filter on the 2lst lap.

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.

I'm sure AMC loved the writer continually attaching the stodgy Rambler persona to the Javelin, AMC's attempt to compete in the Pony Car arena with Mustang, Camaro, Cougar, Firebird, Barracuda, etc.

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"