Racing History Minute - May 10, 1966

Today we are returning to a fine half mile race track located in Macon, Ga. A couple of years ago, several folks got together and staged a reunion at The Middle Georgia Raceway which is a beautiful paved track with nicely banked turns wide enough to run two or three abreast.

Only 15 cars checked in to compete in the 100 mile/200 lap event, but the 7,500 fans in attendance witnessed one heck of a race between eventual winner, Richard Petty, and Tiger Tom Pistone. Petty started his Plymouth on the pole with Pistone to his outside. Petty took the lead on the green flag and held on for five laps before Darel Dieringer moved his Bud Moore Mercury to the point. Petty went back in front on lap 35 but here is where the record keeping gets "sketchy". From accounts, Petty and Pistone would wage all out war on the track, alternating the front position until Pistone fell a lap behind on a long pit stop.

Tiger Tom came back on the track and commenced turning almost record laps as he was making up time on the leader, Petty. With laps running out, Pistone caught Petty and after a brief fight for the position, went around Petty to get back on the lead lap. Time ran out for Tiger, however, and he finished second, only 19 seconds behind, and the only other driver on the lead lap. It was Petty's third consecutive win, having won the Rebel 300 ten days earlier and the Tidewater 250 in Hampton, VA three days prior.

Top five finishers:

1. Richard Petty, Petty Enterprises Plymouth, winning $1,000.00

2. Tom Pistone, Pistone Ford, winning $600.00

3. Bobby Allison, Betty Lilly Ford, winning $400.00

4. James Hylton, Bud Hartje Dodge, winning $300.00

5. Neil Castles, Buck Baker Plymouth, winning $275.00

Sixth through tenth were Johnny Wynn, Henley Gray, Elmo Langley, Joel Davis and Buck Baker.

Remaining finishers , in order, 11th through 15th, were Bob Derrignton, Buddy Baker, Edward Jordan, Darel Dieringer and Wendell Scott.

Middle Georgia Raceway has a rich and unique history in the sport. Google it, or explore the next RacersReunion for the track. Great people are involved in keeping the history of that track prevalent for today's fans who care.

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

Here is a link to the blog entry I posted about this race a year ago today:

https://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2012/05/may-10-this-day-in-petty-history-part-1.html

Its been many years - and I suppose most drivers remember just their wins or near misses vs. just being in top 5 - but it would be cool to get some feedback from Tiger Tom about any memories he may have from Middle Georgia in general or this race specifically.

Ford's factory boycott, led by Ford racing boss Jacques Passino had started on April 15, 1966. He had pulled the Ford factory cars over Bill France's refusal to allow their single overhead cam engine (SOHC). France claimed it wasn't a readily available production item to the general public.

France then allowed Ford to use two 4-barrel carburetors on its existing 427. Tiger Tom took full advantage of that new rule, as evidenced by his stout run at Middle Georgia. Just 5 days later, on May 15, 1966, Tom set the all-time, never to be broken NASCAR Grand National qualifying record on the 1/2-mile Richmond dirt track (it was paved in 1968) and led the 30 car starting field for that race to the green flag.

In that 49 race 1966 Grand National season, the Tuesday night, May 10th Middle Georgia race and a Friday night, May 13th Monroe, NC event were sandwiched between two Virginia races - the Saturday May 7th Langley Field race at Hampton on May 7th and Sunday afternoon Richmond race on May 15th.

Hampton, Macon and Monroe all paid $1,000 to win, whereas Richmond paid $2,050.

Being reminded by Tim's post of Tiger Tom Pistone's strong showings in 1966 driving his 1964 Ford #59 with the two 4-barrel carbs led me to a very interesting 1966 photo (photographer not identified) I found posted online. The poster is identified as MikeF9 in 2009 at a website named Henry Raymond's Fairfax, Vermont Information Website. The poster says he bought the photo several years earlier at a motorsports show in Plattsburgh, NY.

The photo is taken in the infield of the Fonda, New York track on the occassion of the July 14, 1966 Fonda GN race on what was commonly referred to as the "Northern Tour."

The race was won by David Pearson in a Cotton Owens Dodge, enroute to the 1966 NASCAR Grand National Points Championship. Two #6 red & white Cotton Owens Dodges are clearly visible in the photo behind and beside the Cotton Owens Garage tow truck. Wonder which one was driven by Pearson that night?

The box truck with Plymouth on its side is, of course, the Petty Enterprises truck with Richard's #43 behind it. Just beyond Richard's car is the blue & white #19 Chevy of J.T. Putney.

Pistone led 32 laps that night before engine failure.

Richard Petty won the pole that evening, but the story for me was that my Grand National racing hero, J.T. Putney charged from the #2 starting slot, took the lead and outraced the King for the first 31 laps. That's when J.T. became part of racing lore when he ran off the track, cruised through the adjacent graveyard and reappeared just in time to crash into Tiny Lund, taking them both out of the race. For his troubles, J.T. received a punch in the nose from Tiny.

Somewhere in that infield, also, is the #96 Ford owned by Homer O'dell and driven that evening by Charlotte's Sonny Lamphear. O'dell only entered cars 16 races - all in 1966, with 4 different drivers. He was better known for being seen on television and at ringside as the tuxedoed "Manager" of the bad boy wrestling tag teams of Rip "The Chicken" Hawk and Swede Hanson, as well as the evil team of Aldo Bogni and Bronco Lubich.

Tim... your history minutes just lead to more and more interesting finds every time I read one. Thank yo so very much.

Here's the Fonda field and results from Racing Reference:

Fin St # Driver Sponsor / Owner Car Laps Money Status Led
1 12 6 David Pearson Cotton Owens '65 Dodge 200 1,100 running 114
2 1 43 Richard Petty Petty Enterprises '66 Plymouth 200 675 running 23
3 26 03 Rene Charland Ed Ackerman '64 Ford 199 450 running 0
4 10 144 Roy Hallquist Roy Hallquist '64 Ford 196 300 running 0
5 9 87 Buck Baker Buck Baker '66 Oldsmobile 193 275 running 0
6 16 48 James Hylton Econo Wash (Bud Hartje) '65 Dodge 192 240 running 0
7 15 70 J.D. McDuffie J.D. McDuffie '64 Ford 191 200 running 0
8 14 20 Clyde Lynn Clyde Lynn '64 Ford 191 175 running 0
9 23 34 Wendell Scott Wendell Scott '65 Ford 181 150 running 0
10 24 97 Henley Gray Henley Gray '66 Ford 181 140 running 0
11 27 93 Blackie Watt Harry Neal '64 Ford 179 130 running 0
12 19 88 Ray Hill Buck Baker '65 Chevrolet 177 120 running 0
13 20 78 Nick Rampling '65 Plymouth 176 110 running 0
14 21 31 Al White Al White '64 Mercury 175 100 running 0
15 7 64 Elmo Langley Elmo Langley / Henry Woodfield '64 Ford 172 100 running 0
16 13 4 John Sears L.G. DeWitt '64 Ford 147 100 axle 0
17 22 53 Jimmy Helms David Warren '64 Ford 133 100 overheating 0
18 31 94 Don Biederman Ron Stotten '64 Chevrolet 127 100 crash 0
19 6 00 Buddy Baker Emory Gilliam '65 Dodge 117 100 axle 0
20 5 59 Tom Pistone Tom Pistone '64 Ford 114 100 overheating 32
21 25 9 Roy Tyner Truett Rodgers '66 Chevrolet 92 100 engine 0
22 18 86 Neil Castles Buck Baker '64 Dodge 78 100 axle 0
23 11 06 Johnny Wynn John McCarthy '64 Mercury 68 head gasket 0
24 28 73 Bub Strickler Joan Petre '64 Ford 57 overheating 0
25 3 15 Tiny Lund Lyle Stelter '64 Ford 33 crash 0
26 2 19 J.T. Putney J.T. Putney '66 Chevrolet 32 crash 31
27 8 2 Bobby Allison J.D. Bracken '65 Chevrolet 32 crash 0
28 17 55 Lyle Stelter Lyle Stelter '64 Ford 31 crash 0
29 4 11 Ned Jarrett Larry Hess (Bernard Alvarez) '64 Ford 21 crash 0
30 30 96 Sonny Lamphear Homer O'Dell '64 Ford 4 overheating 0
31 29 44 Larry Hess Larry Hess '66 Rambler 1 engine 0

Lap leader breakdown:
Leader From
Lap To
Lap # Of
Laps
J.T. Putney 1 31 31
Richard Petty 32 44 13
David Pearson 45 83 39
Tom Pistone 84 115 32
Richard Petty 116 119 4
David Pearson 120 156 37
Richard Petty 157 162 6
David Pearson 163 200 38

Tom Pistone at Fonda in 1966 with the two 4-barrel carburetors 1964 #59 Ford Galaxie that led 32 laps:

Photo by John Grady as posted on Dave Dyke's Racing Through Time Web Site

Some background info on Speedy Morelock for whom the race was named. From Kingsport Times-News. Click article to open larger version in separate tab.