Racing History Minute - March 24, 1968

In 1966, the King returned after an abbreviated season in 1965. He picked up at Daytona where he left off in 1964 - with a convincing win in the Daytona 500. The season, however, belonged to David Pearson in Cotton Owens' Dodge. The duo claimed Pearson's 1st GN title. The Level Cross bunch came back with a vengeance in 67 & shattered the record books. Pearson & Cotton couldn't keep their 1966 mojo rolling, and the two parted ways before season even reached its mid-point.

After leaving Owens' team, Pearson latched on with the famed Holman Moody team. Cotton continued to run his Dodges with a hodge podge of drivers for the remainder of 1967 including Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker, Darel Dieringer, Sam McQuagg and even Ray Hendrick for a single event.

Pearson's 1968 season was pretty uneventful in the first 2 races held in November 1968. But he and the #17 HM team knocked down a 2nd at Riverside, P5 in the Daytona 500 and a win at Bristol in the next 3 days - all in the winter months of 68.

Cotton skipped the first 2 races that opened the 68 season in Macon, GA and Montgomery, AL. Baker returned to pilot his car at Riverside, and Al Unser from USAC raced Cotton's #6 Dodge at Daytona. After skipping Bristol, Cotton finally hired another full-timer. After only a handful of GN starts over the 3 previous seasons, Chargin' Charlie Glotzbach was tapped to take over the ride beginning with the Richmond 250 on March 24. - Spartanburg Herald

Bobby Isaac - always quick in the Harry Hyde-prepared Mopars - won the pole. Glotzbach settled in quickly with Cotton's Dodge and qualified alongside Isaac. Petty timed third, and independent Elmo Langley posted an impressive 4th quickest lap. Starting almost out back was Pearson who timed 16th out of 20 cars. He got caught up in a practice session accident, and the team had to thrash to get his car ready for qualifying.

Isaac leveraged his top starting spot to lead the first 9 laps. Glotzbach then put a smile on Owens' face by charging to the front to lead the next 30 laps or so. Pearson then took the lead - but only for 3 laps before Glotzbach returned to the top spot where he stayed for another 30-lap stint.

King Richard then made his presence known. He put the Petty Blue Plymouth on point and stayed there for 48 laps. Until. With a sizable lead over Glotzbach, the Maurice Petty power plant gave way. The 43 done after only 147 laps.

Isaac was caught up in an accident with Wayne Smith earlier in the race. He lost 40 laps as the crew made repairs. He eventually returned but finished 13th - last among the cars still running at the end of the race.

With Petty and Isaac's Mopars out of the picture, the race then became one between the remaining powerful Dodge of Glotzbach and its former occupant Pearson in his Ford.

Glotzbach led another 18-lap chunk after Petty's exit, but Pearson then went to the point. Through the speed of his car and quickness of his crew, the Silver Fox was able to lead the remaining 95 laps of the race to take the win. Though Pearson won by a full lap over his former car, Cotton and Charlie had to be pleased with their debut together. Langley hung around all day and a quality third place finish.

The win was likely satisfying for Pearson as well.

• Hey, it's a win, right? ALL are satisfying.
• He triumphed over his previous ride.
• He overcame issues in practice that hurt his qualifying time.
• He overcame an early race spin down through the pits that also caused him to run over several wooden braces installed around light poles.

Pearson's win is also notable for a couple of additional reasons.

• His 16th starting spot was the farthest back he ever started for any of his 105 wins.
• His win at Richmond on March 24, 1968 was the track's final one on its dirt surface. When the GN teams returned in September, Petty won Richmond's first race on its new asphalt surface.

Race report from Free Lance Star

great report Chase. the silver fox overcame a lot to take that one.

Interestingly, two independents fielded a second car in this Richmond race. Canadian, Frog Fagan drove the 2nd Henley Gray entry and Bill Vanderhoff piloted the 2nd Roy Tyner car in what was an extremely small field for the final Richmond dirt race. The handwriting was on the wall that you had to pave to survive on the GN circuit..

A preview of the 1968 Richmond 250 from the Fredericksburg, Virginia paper:

I'd never heard John Sears called John "Lumberjack" Sears before. Did they call him that at Rockingham and Sanford, Dennis?

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