I keep discovering that my memory has large lapses of things I can't remember and other lapses of things I don't ever remember having known. For instance... if anyone asked me if I had ever seen Ralph Earnhardt race, my answer until tonight would have been NO, but I watched Dale and Dale, Jr. Boy, would I have been wrong. For some reason tonight I looked at the results sheet of the first Grand National race I ever attended, the March 1964 Richmond 250 on the old 1/2-mile dirt track, won by David Pearson in a Cotton Owens Dodge. That race is particularly significant because it started on Sunday afternoon and was halted by a huge thunderstorm and finished on TUESDAY night, under the lights. One of the things I rememberedabout my first race is that Maurice Petty was in the field driving a 1963 Plymouth, but I was surprised tonight to see that Ralph Earnhardt also was in that race 47 years ago. I don't know how many times those two may have raced together in a Grand National event, but I bet not too many fans can claim to have seen them in the same race on the dirt. Just something interesting I thought I'd pass on. Here's the results for that race, if it will post (from the Racing Reference web site): Not a bad field...
1964 Richmond 250
NASCAR Grand National race number 9 of 62
March 10, 1964 at Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds, Richmond, VA
250 laps on a .500 mile dirt track (125.0 miles)
Time of race: 2:07:51 Average Speed: 60.233 mph Pole Speed: 69.07 mph Cautions: 2 Margin of Victory: 0.5 lap
Attendance: 15,000 Lead changes: 5
Fin St # Driver Sponsor / Owner Car Laps Money Status Led
1 10 6 David Pearson Cotton Owens '64 Dodge 250 1,500 running 36
2 6 43 Richard Petty Petty Enterprises '64 Plymouth 250 1,000 running 29
3 2 1 Billy Wade Bud Moore '64 Mercury 250 750 running 81
4 13 3 Junior Johnson Ray Fox '64 Dodge 249 600 running 0
5 7 45 Doug Yates Louis Weathersbee '63 Plymouth 249 450 running 0
6 3 21 Marvin Panch Wood Brothers '64 Ford 249 375 running 0
7 4 41 Maurice Petty Petty Enterprises '63 Plymouth 248 300 running 0
8 17 09 Larry Manning Bob Adams '62 Chevrolet 241 250 running 0
9 20 60 Doug Cooper Bob Cooper '63 Ford 239 200 running 0
10 11 62 Curtis Crider Curtis Crider '63 Mercury 232 200 running 0
11 16 78 Buddy Arrington Buddy Arrington '63 Plymouth 232 175 running 0
12 22 97 Joe Clark Al McCline '64 Ford 232 175 running 0
13 1 11 Ned Jarrett Bondy Long '64 Ford 224 175 engine 104
14 14 5 Jim Paschal Cotton Owens '64 Dodge 223 150 cylinder 0
15 24 92 Jim Cook Ray Osborne '63 Ford 222 150 running 0
16 18 19 Cale Yarborough Herman Beam '64 Ford 218 125 crash 0
17 23 7 E.J. Trivette Jess Potter '62 Chevrolet 216 125 engine 0
18 25 83 Worth McMillion Worth McMillion '62 Pontiac 176 125 a frame 0 19
19 32 Tiny Lund Graham Shaw '63 Ford 170 125 rear end 0
20 12 54 Jimmy Pardue Burton-Robinson (Charles Robinson) '64 Plymouth 140 125 crash 0 21 9 36 Larry Thomas Wade Younts '63 Dodge 116 125 a frame 0
22 5 31 Ralph Earnhardt Tom Spell '63 Ford 73 125 rear end 0
23 21 20 Jack Anderson Jack Anderson '63 Ford 22 125 engine 0
24 15 34 Wendell Scott Wendell Scott '62 Chevrolet 9 125 camshaft 0
25 26 86 Neil Castles Buck Baker '62 Chrysler 1 125 con rod 0
26 18 71 Bunkie Blackburn Roscoe Sanders '63 Plymouth 0 125 crash 0
27 0 61 Bob Cooper Bob Cooper '62 Pontiac 0 125 did not start 0
--
"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 05/09/24 05:03:45PM
