August 21, 1966 - Richmond Drivers Sweep Top-3 Spots in Trenton Modified Civil War as Ray Hendrick Tops Daytona 500 Champs Yarbrough, Lund, Hamilton in 60 Car Field

Growing up in Richmond, Virginia, I was raised on a Friday night diet of 1960s NASCAR fuel injected modified racing at Southside Speedway. We thought our drivers were the best and they often proved it against all comers. On August 21, 1966, one of the great moments in Richmond stock car racing history took place in Trenton, New Jersey when "our" drivers swept the top three positions in the Trenton 200 NASCAR National Championship Modified-Sportsman race.

Led by winner " Rapid" Ray Hendrick - "Mr. Modified" - and backed up by 2nd place Bill Dennis (3-time Permatex 300 victor and a NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year) and 3rd place Runt Harris , the field also included a Richmond team entry of twin Ford modifieds #90 and #91 fielded by Junie Donlavey for Richmonder Sonny Hutchins and LeeRoy Yarbrough .

Yarbrough was one of three past or future Daytona 500 winners in the Trenton Modified field that day in 1966. Also on hand were Tiny Lund and Pete Hamilton among the 60 cars that took the green flag.

One preview story mentions that only Lund and Friday Hassler had late model bodies... all the other cars were traditional modified and sportsman coupes and coaches.

This stellar event, staged between 1958-1972 by master promoter Sam Nunis, was billed as a North vs. South "Civil War" and featured stars from Maine to Florida. The event was deemed so important by NASCAR that MRN Radio carried it live at the same time a Grand National race was being run in Weaverville, NC.

90 entries were filed for the biggest show of the year. 30 positions in the 60 car starting field were guaranteed to the winners of special qualifying races at 30 tracks around the country from Maine to Florida and extending west to Ohio - much like the old "Road to Charlotte" Late Model Sportsman qualifiers that came in later years patterned after what Sam Nunis did to spur interest in his Trenton NASCAR Modified Championship races. Fast time in qualifying went to Tommie Elliott of New Jersey who started on the pole ahead of the 59 others.

The northern newspapers highlighted such southern stars as Hendrick and Pee Wee Griffin of Florida in their pre-race previews.

19,762 spectators crowded into Trenton International Speedway that day to watch Hendrick wheel his "Flying #11" 327 cu.in. fuel injected '37 Chevy coupe built by Jack Tant  in the tiny town of Littleton, NC to the second of an eventual total of five consecutive victories in the annual highlight race for NASCAR's modifieds. The Trenton attendance that day topped the attendance at NASCAR's other big show that afternoon - a "Premier Series" Grand National race at Asheville Weaverville Speedway - by nearly 6,000 spectators!!!

Early in the event, the two #90 & #91 modified Fords fielded by Richmonder Junie Donlavey for Yarbrough and Hutchins waged a torrid battle for the lead before mechanical problems sidelined them both just a lap apart. Pete Hamilton would post an 8th place finish and Tiny Lund was right behind him in 9th, but the day belonged to the boys from the "Capital of the Confederacy" with their 1-2-3 Richmond driver sweep! It was a happy day for the Friday night fans at Southside Speedway who had bragging rights for another year that we had the very best modified racing in the country!

One other note... Ray Hendick's winner's purse of $4,000 plus incentives for the Tant-Mitchell NASCAR modified victory at Trenton was almost a thousand dollars more than Darel Dieringer for winning car owner Bud Moore in the NASCAR Asheville-Weaverville Grand National the very same afternoon. On Sunday, August 21, 1966, the NASCAR Modifieds were definitely the King, the A-1 NASCAR division with the biggest purse and best attendance! And Ray Hendrick once again proved he was the best of the best.

Every time I visit the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte I wonder OUT LOUD why I don't see a tribute there to Ray Hendrick - NASCAR's all-time winningest driver and named to NASCAR's 50th Anniversary list as one of the Top-50 drivers of NASCAR's first 50 years. Already in the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame, the Eastern Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame, the International Motorsports Hall of Fame and the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, it's a real slight to Hendrick to see several drivers in NASCAR's Hall who Hendrick beat heads up in nearly every single match up during his career.

TRENTON 200 NASCAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MODIFIED RESULTS

1-MILE ASPHALT TRENTON INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY - AUGUST 21, 1966

1) Ray Hendrick - Virginia

2) Bill Dennis - Virginia

3) Runt Harris - Virginia

4) Jerry Dostie - Connecticut

5) Fats Caruso - Massachusetts

6) Al Tasnady - New Jersey

7) James Hayes - North Carolina

8) Pete Hamilton - Massachusetts

9) Tiny Lund - South Carolina

10) Bugs Stevens - Massachusetts

Race reports and preview stories from the Reading (PA) Eagle :

Stock Car Racing Magazine featured the win by Ray Hendrick at Trenton. The above center photo above shows Hendrick's Chevy coupe #11 going under the Late Model Modified #55 Ford of Tiny Lund.

Car owners Clayton Mitchell (L) and Jack Tant( R) pose with Trenton 200 winner, Ray Hendrick and the famed "Flying #11" at Virginia's Martinsville Speedway in this uncredited photo.

Our RR member David Bentley of Richmond has many great NASCAR modified photos posted on his page.

Here are a few specific to Trenton.

Winner Ray Hendrick at Trenton with the Tant-Mitchell Flying #11 by John Grady

Junie Donlavey's #90 Ford Mod with Sonny Hutchins at the wheel (not Trenton) by Walt Wimer

LeeRoy Yarbrough helps Junie push the #91 Ford Modified Donlavey team car to the line at Trenton. Yarbrough would battle teammate Sonny Hutchins in the #90 for the lead in the race's early stages.

Paul Radford at Trenton in Donald Bryant's #04 by John Grady

Jimmy Hensley at Trenton in Uncle Hubert's #22 by John Grady

Cousin Billy Hensley at Trenton with Hubert Hensley's #23 by John Grady

Perk Brown at Trenton with the William Mason #45 coach by Gil Hearne

I note in one of the preview stories that james hayes qualified by winning a race at Oxford, NC Speedway. Anybody familiar with that track?

Great story and pics. Sure would like to see the full field rundown for that classic. Didn't know Friday Hassler ever ran the Trenton modified race, but I believe he won the pole for a later Trenton GN race.

I'm with you, Robert... I'd love to see a full field rundown if anybody has one.

And you're exactly right about Friday Hassler's Trenton Winston Cup pole. I didn't remember that, but he won the pole for the July 18, 1971 Northern 300 Winston Cup race at Trenton won by Richard Petty.

Friday posted a 6th place finish in that Cup race. Ironically, finishing ahead of him in 5th was Pete Hamilton and just behind him in 7th was Bill Dennis, two of the drivers he raced in the 1966 Modified race at Trenton! What are the odds?

Our RR member Robbie Watson confirmed for me that he used to go to the Oxford, NC Speedway, a clay oval, every Friday night. Some of the competitors were the late Donnie Watson and Pete Dease who I saw now and again at Wilson in early 70s. Thanks, Robbie.

Turns out that 2 months later, modified driver James Hayes would have his career racing day.

Hayes resided in tiny Norlina, NC - population 1095, on the Virginia border, just 17 miles from the Jack Tant/Clayton Mitchell shops in Littleton, NC where the "Flying #11" of Ray Hendrick was prepared and just an hour's drive from South Boston Speedway.

On October 23, 1966, journeyman driver Hayes reached down and drove the wheels off his NASCAR modified, beating all the big boys in the first major modified race ever staged at Martinsville Speedway - a 300-lapper.

WSLS-Television of Roanoke, Virginia had a film crew on hand that day to capture footage of Hayes driving to his biggest victory ever. The black and white footage and the sports announcer's typed copy are preserved in the WSLS archives at the University of Virginia.

The actual film footage can be found at the link below:

http://search.lib.virginia.edu/catalog/uva-lib:2218304

Note Don MacTavish with a top-10 finish. He'd later lose his life at Daytona in an event telecast on Wide World of Sports.

By the way, that is NOT RR member, Jim Wilmore spinning in the #45 coach. It's Perk Brown! And, for you youngsters, the fellow in that 1966 Martinsville grandstand is NOT talking on a cell phone. He's listening to what we called a transistor radio held up to his ear!

As time marches on, today we celebrate the 49th anniversary of legendary Richmond, Virginia driver, Ray Hendrick's 2nd of 5 consecutive Trenton 200 NASCAR National Championship Modified wins in the Sam Nunis promoted event after posting 2nd place finishes in 1963 and 1964. Hendrick led a 1-2-3 Trenton 200 sweep in 1966 by Richmond, Virginia Modified drivers after two other Modifieds owned by Richmond's Junie Donlavey and driven by Sonny Hutchins and LeeRoy Yarbrough had led the event before falling out.