Racing History Minute - April 25, 1965

The year, 1965, I did not attend many Grand National races as Chrysler was boycotting and I joined the boycott. I did attend the Columbia Speedway events because it was illegal for Columbia Speedway to run an event without me in the infield. They did apply for, and were granted, a special exemption while I was away in the Navy.

Today we go to the pretty little half-mile asphalt "paper clip" as they like to call it, in Martinsville, Virginia. It's April 25, 1965, and the Fords were rolling up victory after victory through the first 12 races of the season as there was virtually no competition for the Blue Oval boys with Mopars sitting out and General Motors almost non-existent in the sport at that time.

A very disappointing crowd of some 10,000 folks (about half of what was expected) showed up to watch Junior Johnson blast his Ford into the lead from the pole position. Junior would lead the first 60 laps before a tire came apart and forced him to pit. The ever steady Fred Lorenzen inherited the lead when Junior was pitted and would lead until lap 73 when Bobby Johns took over in another Ford. Lorenzen would dog Johns for several laps before forcing his way back into the lead on lap 89. One lap later, Johns shoved his Ford past Lorenzen and re-took the lead. During the heated battle between Lorenzen and Johns, Junior Johnson was literally burning up the track coming back to the front. On lap 99, Junior went around Lorezen and Johns and was gone! The race was now for second as Junior moved away swiftly.

On lap 178, while enjoying a 17 second lead, a wheel collapsed on Junior's Ford and he was forced to pit again. Once back on track, he commenced another charge for the front position and was in third place when a tire blew sending him into the wall to end his day. Junior was never known to hold back and that day in Martinsville backed up the "hard charger" image the guy from the Brushy Mountians in North Carolina had established.

When Junior parked his Ford, it was all Lorenzen the rest of the way as he would lead laps 179 through 500. Marvin Panch gave him a good run at the end, finishing two car lengths behind the number 28 Ford. Marvin said he lost the race in the pits because the Wood Brothers, world famous for "inventing" the quick pit stop, had attended a family funeral and did not arrive until half way through the race.Panch had lost a lap in the pits on an early stop. Fred Lorenzen, on the other hand, credited his crew chief, Jack Sullivan, with the win. Fred said he was going to run with Junior at the start but Jack put out the blackboard (communication before radios) and told Lorenzen to "think". Lorenzen paced himself to be in position to take advantage of Junior's misfortune.

This win was the second of the 1965 season for Fred (Daytona 500 as the other) and was his 21st career win. Tiger Tom Pistone returned to competition after a three year absence but blew the engine in his Ford. Tiger said after the race that "I'm just about out of money. That blown engine has all but washed me up".

Top Five finishers were:

1. Fred Lorenzen, Ford, winning $4,350.00

2. Marvin Panch, Ford, winning $2,575.00

3. Dick Hutcherson, Ford, winning $1,250.00

4. Tiny Lund, Ford, winning $775.00

5. Buddy Arrington, Dodge, winning $725.00

Sixth through tenth were Elmo Langley, PAUL LEWIS, Doug Cooper, Buren Skeen (who would be killed in the Southern 500 later in the year) and Ned Jarrett.

It is worth noting, I think, that with the exception of Buddy Arrington's Dodge in 5th and Roy Tyner's Chevrolet in 19th, the top 20 finishers were all in Fords.

Other finishers of note for this event (my call) were G.C. Spencer 12th, Wendell Scott 16th, Cale Yarborough 18th, Larry Frank 20th, Gene Hobby 27th, Neil Castles 30th and Buddy Baker 35th.

Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future.

Tim, I was delighted to hear the story of Columbia receiving the special exemption to operate without you in 1965! Too funny.

I know how you felt about the all Ford factory fields most of that year, though.

Thanks for the Martinsville recap. Back when they ran in late April, the drive from my home in Richmond and later from Wilson, Greensboro and Charlotte was absolutely gorgeous, with wild dogwoods and azaleas blooming in the woods beside U.S. 220 and U.S. 58, depending on which direction I was driving in from. A steak at Clarence's Steak House and prime rib at the Dutch Inn made for a nice weekend of racing.

Nice memories for you Dave. Thanks for sharing. Actually, Columbia Speedway obtained that exemption for the 1967 and 1968 seasons as those are the two years I was unable to make the races. I'm talking about the weekly races and the Grand National races! lol

As always, thanks for your comments and your support.

Spartanburg Herald-Journal really gave some nice coverage to this race. I wish they'd done the same to a few remaining races won by Lee Petty that I'm trying to track down. Ha.

A couple of things I found interesting. Ned Jarrett is listed as being from Camden SC vs. Hickory or Conover NC. Also, the writer refers to Fast Freddy as the "curly haired Lorenzen". In photos I've seen of him, I'd say he had a bit of a swoosh to his hair - followed later by the combover. But curly haired? Dunno about that. Maybe the writer saw the ghost of Joe Weatherly or had a premonition about Boris Said.

As a side note - the more I read and learn about Lorenzen, the more I'm convinced he should be in the NHOF sooner vs. later. 26 wins in 158 starts and on a wide variety of tracks. I still think I'd vote Weatherly ahead of him because of Joe's 2 championships. But Freddy should likely go in before Curtis Turner based on performance on the track.

Chase, Ned had actually moved to Camden - the hub of South Carolina horse racing - for a while, where Bondy Long lived and had his shops, during the time Ned was running the Bondy Long Ford.

NOTE: Bondy Long bought his first stock car from Petty Enterprises in 1963 - a used Plymouth!

Chase... when you get a chance, look at this post I made a while back about Bondy... it'll explain the Camden, SC connection:

http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/general/12574/when-his-mom-met-bill-france-sr-bondy-longs-drag-racing-career-took-a-spectacular-left-turn

Raresportsfilm.com advertises a double set of films that includes a 1966 segment of Ned Jarrett showing folks around Camden:

1965 1966
SOUTHERN 500 "THE QUICKEST
At Darlington QUIET ONE"

Here's a racing doubleheader that's an absolute must for Ned Jarrett Ford fans! All the historic action highlights of the 1965 Southern 500 at Darlington (won by Jarrett), PLUS a 1966 feature on Ned, the famous #11 and what a typical day was like back in 1966 for the 2-time NASCAR Grand National Champion!

Beginning with the 1965 Southern 500, this tape covers scenes of the garage area, practice and qualifications, as well as great closeup COLOR shots of racing legends such as Junior Johnson and Herb Nab, Fred Lorenzen, Buck and Buddy Baker, Dick Hutcherson, Jim Paschal, Marvin Panch, Cale Yarborough, Sam McQuagg, Banjo Matthews, Darel Dieringer, and Richard Petty. In all, 6 makes of cars are in the field, but over half are Fords!

As the race gets underway the spectacular action begins! Pole-sitter Junior Johnson, driving the yellow #26 Holly Farms Ford, completes only one lap before dropping out with ignition problems. Rookie Buren Skeen spins out in the third turn on lap two and is broadsided in the driver side door by the red #03 Ray Underwood Ford driven by Reb Wickersham. The crash proves fatal to Skeen, who died 9 days later without regaining consciousness. Other action includes #17 Junior Spencer blowing an engine in turn one, Earl Balmer's #15 Mercury crashing, and Buddy Arrington losing a wheel on the main straightaway. But the most spectacular crash of the race occurs on lap 118 as Sam McQuagg, driving the yellow #24 Betty Lilly Ford and Cale Yarborough in the red #27 Banjo Matthews Ford sideswipe going into turn one. McQuagg gets pinched against the guardrail and Cale's Ford sails up and over the guardrail out of the track, flipping several times and coming to rest at the edge of the parking lot over the 40-foot first turn embankment! Throughout the race, pit work is shown being done on the cars of Darel Dieringer, Fred Lorenzen, Junior Johnson and Buck Baker. With less than 50 laps to go, race leader Fred Lorenzen's engine sours giving the lead to Dieringer who is far ahead of third place Ned Jarrett. But at almost the same time Lorenzen drops out, Dieringer has problems of his own. A rear axle grease seal lets go, and the grease catches fire on his hot axle. By the 326th lap Jarrett passes Dieringer who then drops out of the race, and gentleman Ned coasts the rest of the way, winning by 14 laps - the largest margin in Southern 500 history!

Also on this tape is the 1966 film "The Quickest Quiet One", which shows a typical day in the life of 2-time NASCAR National Champion Ned Jarrett. A well-known and popular ESPN Race Announcer today, Jarrett is shown at home in Camden, SC with his family, including 9-year-old son Dale, himself destined to someday become a regular on the Winston Cup circuit. The cameras follow Ned around town, and to a speaking engagement with Ned answering questions about why he began racing, how a car feels during drafting, and the different driving styles required for dirt track racing versus superspeedway racing. During this segment you'll see plenty of racing action at tracks such as Daytona, Atlanta, Charlotte and Darlington. You'll see Ned in his office at Bowani, Inc. and you are there as Ned instructs the crew on how to set up the famous blue #11 Bondy Long Ford for the next race. By 1966 Ned Jarrett had become the winningest active driver in NASCAR. A devoted family man as well as a competitor dedicated to the sport and business of stock car racing, he's racing's goodwill ambassador.

To get your own color copy of both of these historic racing films now available for the first time on video, send $29.95 + $5.00 for shipping and handling (Illinois residents must add $2.00 tax) to:

"RARE SPORTSFILMS N", 1126 Tennyson Lane, Naperville, IL 60540 (630) 527-8890

Good look back on the Bondy post Dave. Can't recall reading it at the time you posted it.

While I didn't make the connection between Ned and Bondy and Camden, its still a bit humorous how the media has always chosen to associate drivers with certain cities. Sometimes its their original hometown, sometimes an adopted town. In this case, sounds like it may have been most accurate to associate Ned with Camden if he lived there.

Today, the media (probably because of teams' PR folks) often tie a driver to their original hometown. If they referenced them by their current locale, the PA announcer would be saying by starting position #12 "...and ALSO from Lake Norman in Mooresville, North Carolina..."

Michael Waltrip was already intro'd as being from Owensboro even though he moved away from there as a young man. I don't think he ever was intro'd as "...and hailing from Kyle Petty's old bedroom in Level Cross, North Carolina...Michael Waltrip."

Dave Marcis was always intro'd as "and from Wassau Wisconsin, Dave Marcis!" even though his shop was in Asheville NC.

We used to play trivia at trackside. I give you a driver's name - you give me the "hometown". But today, its hard to know all of them - much less which ones are right.

Chase, back in the late 80s, after NASCAR forced Bill Gazaway's resignation, new Competition VP, Les Richter began distributing an "Official Hometown" list that all NASCAR tracks were asked to strictly abide by when they posted their entry information.

The list sometime bordered on the ridiculous in its attempt to list as many states and / or "foreign" countries as possible. The idea, as you have already noted, was not to have an entire field listed as being from Charlotte or Mooresville.

At the time, NASCAR didn't have anyone on a regular basis running from Washington state in Cup. So, even though Derrike Cope was born in San Diego, California, NASCAR wanted him to be from his one time residence in Spanaway, Washington. Anyway, it was Richter who began the concerted effort to name as many states as possible in the entry list to make the series more cosmopolitan.

I know this post is about Ned's win in the 1965 MARTINSVILLE race. But since you referenced Ned's record 14-lap victory in the 65 Southern 500, here is the victory lane photo. (Source: Ray Lamm collection ).

That's Bondy Long top right with glasses.

Truly remarkable that he was a GN title winning owner in his mid 20s and was all but gone from the sport by age 30.

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when Bill France was explaining NASCAR to his mother.

Tim, The '64 Ford driven to a 9th place finish by Buren Skeen was owned by Reid Shaw of Asheboro, NC. They would get their best finish of the year at Bowman-Gray with a 5th place. Reid would take the remains of the car from Darlington and bury it on his Randolph county farm. The next year Reid fielded cars for Johnny Allen, Cale Yarborough, Bryant Wallace and Darel Dieringer with Darel taking the win at Starlite Speedway in Monroe. Reid also owned the Cougars and a Mustang that Dad drove in the GT and GA divisions from '69 to '71.

Bet he had his admin assistant feeding him one napkin after another to mop the drool from the corner of his mouth as he pondered getting DuPont money into NASCAR.

Found some photos recently from 1965 Virginia 500. Thought I'd add them to bump the post.

The start- Getty

Early in the race, Ned Jarrett got a surprise during a pit stop when Buck Baker spun & wound up on top the pit wall. Baker was able to get his car off the wall and continued for a while until his engine gave way around lap 80.- Getty

Lorenzen at speed- Getty

Lorenzen enjoying victory lane with Linda Vaughn - Getty

Here's a link to actual television news footage showing Buck crashing through the pit wall and almost taking out Ned's car as seen in the photo posted above by Chase. That crash actually happened during the Saturday qualifying race to determine the final 16 starting spots. Cale took the win in that 20-lapper. The footage also shows Perk Brown in Mason Day's #45 coach winning the Saturday modified race, as well as a good shot of Freddie watching the Saturday qualifier.

http://search.lib.virginia.edu/catalog/uva-lib:2215758

Thanks Dave - for clarification and video link. Dadgum it, I was burned by the captions at Getty Images again (captions I'm betting are provided by ISC Images). I didn't see anything in the race results article and had at least a twinge of doubt about whether the pic was from the race. But I posted it anyway.

But with your mention, I found a reference to Buck's wild ride in the Spartanburg Herald's race preview.