Racing History Minute - October 18, 1964

The fall race at Charlotte Motor Speedway was race number 59 of the 1964 season. As we all know, the 1964 season was filled with tragic losses both in NASCAR and Indy car, two of those tragic losses coming at the facility which would host this"National 400".

Richard Petty put his Petty Engineering Plymouth on the pole with a speed of 150.711 mph. Paul Goldsmith, driving a Plymouth for Ray Nichels would start second, Fred Lorenzen in his Holman-Moody Ford third, Bobby Isaac in a Ray Nichels Dodge fourth and Jim Paschal in another Petty Plymouth fifth.

The 1964 season had also had its share of very competitive races, several of which were between Petty and Fred Lorenzen. It would turn out that this day in October 1964, would be another of those events. Paul Goldsmith led lap one but then Petty took over for 26 laps before Goldsmith once more moved out front. On lap 69, Lorenzen took the lead but only for three laps before Petty went back out front. On lap 199, Petty's teammate, Jim Paschal took over. Petty went back out front where he would stay until lap 266 of the 267 laps. Richard would lead 188 laps of the 267.

For the last 65 laps of that race, Fred Lorenzen would run right on Richard's back bumper and make move after move to take the lead but could not get that Ford past the rapid Plymouth. Lap after lap in those last 65 laps, Fred would try high,low, and even try to move Richard aside going into three but he could simply not get past.

As the two cars entered turn three, looking for the white flag coming off four that time, the blue Plymouth darted to the right and slammed into the guard rail with tremendous force. The impact threw the 43 high into the air but it came down on all fours and coasted to the inside of the track. Lorenzen darted to the inside and came off four to take the white and caution flag together.

When the Plymouth came to rest, Richard was lying down in the seat having been jerked out of the shoulder harness by the force of the impact. It was a scary moment for the fans because just a month before, Jimmy Pardue had hit the rail in the same place while testing tires and went through the rail and was killed. Richard said, in an interview after the race, "When it blew (the tire), it seemed like it took two hours to get to that fence. I went the same route Pardue did. I was just lucky enough to stay inside the track".

Lorenzen, from Victory Lane, said "I was lucky to win this one, but have you ever seen a winner who wasn't lucky?" Fred and Richard seemed to enjoy a friendly rivalry and with one in a Ford and the other in a Plymouth, the fan followings were huge. 62,400 fans had filled the Charlotte Motor Speedway and no one was sitting down those last 40 laps.

Jimmy Pardue was testing tires when he was killed at Charlotte. Richard lost the race because of tire wear. Both Cale Yarborough and Wendell Scott had their cars destroyed when tires blew and put them in the wall. Of course it had rained two for two days before the race so the reasoning was there wasn't enough rubber in the track which was causing the tire wear.

Finishing Order:

1. Fred Lorenzen, Holman-Moody Ford, winning $11,185.00

2. Jim Paschal, Petty Engineering Plymouth, winning $5,725.00 (1 lap down)

3. Richard Petty, Petty Engineering Plymouth, winning $4,245.00 (2 laps down)

4. Ned Jarrett, Bondy Long Ford, winning $2.375.00 (2 laps down)

5. LeeRoy Yarbrough, Ray Fox Dodge, winning $1,650.00 (3 laps down)

6. Darel Dieringer

7. David Pearson

8. Buck Baker

9. Earl Balmer

10. Bunkie Blackburn

11. Elmo Langley

12. Pete Stewart

13. Bobby Johns

14.Curtis Crider

15.Bob Derrington

16.Roy Tyner

17. Worth McMillion

18. Paul Goldsmith

19. Cale Yarborough

20. Larry Thomas

21. J.T. Putney

22. Wendell Scott

23. Larry Frank

24.A. J. Foyt

25. Jack Anderson

26. Sam McQuagg

27. Bobby Isaac

28. Buddy Baker

29. G. C. Spencer

30. Doug Cooper

31. Marvin Panch

32. Bill McMahan

33. Doug Moore

34. Junior Johnson

35. Don Hume

36. Neil Castles

37. Billy Wade

38. H. B. Bailey

39. Possum Jones

40. Jimmy Helms

41. Bob Cooper

42. Frank Weathers

43. Stick Elliott

44. Roy Mayne

PERSONAL NOTE: My friends and I were parked against the fence midway between turns three and four. We absolutely yelled ourselves hoarse with that battle between Richard and Freddie. Richard's tire blew almost in front of where were were standing and we watched the car hit the wall and thought for a minute it would be going over in the same place Jimmy Pardue was killed. Charlotte Motor Speedway said they had reinforced the rail there and that may have been the difference that saved Petty from going over.

When the car slid to a stop, we were running in that direction and it was very scary not to see Richard sitting up in the car but he almost immediately popped up. We didn't know he had come out of his shoulder harness at the time. We headed for the pits, happy Richard was ok, but really upset because Freddie won that race. At that time, we rated Fords along with garbage trucks as our least favorite vehicles.

As soon as they opened the pit gate, which they did after the races back then, we headed for the Petty truck. We waited awhile before Richard came over, nursing what appeared to be a very sore arm. I remember being so glad to see that he was "ok". All of us started talking at once and Richard smiled and waived his hand tellling us one at a time. He explained to us that everything was ok and "we" would get 'em next time. And yes, he did use "we". That was the way we talked back then. We (all of us who followed him from race to race) were unoffically a part of the Petty team.

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

Race program from Motor Racing Programme Covers .

As noted on the cover, CMS hosted its first ARCA race. Though banned from NASCAR and Bill France Sr., Curtis Turner returned to the track he helped build and won the 200 miler overseen by a different sanctioning body. Jerry Bushmire  shared this article about Pop's win here at RR.

Despite the erroneous headline, the ARCA 200 mile race was rained out and postponed from a preliminary event for the National 400 to October 25, 1964. Based on the article above, sounds like only a fraction of the crowd (12,000) returned to see Curtis win.

Source: Times-News

The teams had to battle persistent rain over the long weekend to squeeze in qualifying. But as Tim noted, the 43 laid down the fastest lap to claim the top starting spot.

Source: Daytona Beach Morning Journal

Race report from Spartanburg Herald .

Follow-up on Petty's misfortune with a win seemingly within his grasp - also from Spartanburg Herald .

I'm hoping someone here has a better photo of this one I found in the Spartanburg paper's scanned archives.

A stunned and shaken-up Petty is led away after the race. From Daytona Beach Morning Journal .

The hard lick Richard took in the 1964 National 400 may have been his first one at Charlotte. But it certainly wasn't his last or the worst. He clobbered the wall in a practice session for the 1986 600. After somehow getting cleared by doctors, he raced the 600 in D.K. Ulrich's Chevy.

From Craig Bontrager collection

From Alan Woodard collection

This is NOT from the event in question, but for newcomers who might like to hear what the old radio broadcasts sounded like, here's a link to the tape of my old friend, Sammy Bland anchoring the 1962 National 400 radio broadcast live from Charlottte:

http://www.mrn.com/Media-Center/MRN-Show-Archives/Classic-Races.aspx?id=3f777cc2e32a47e8b5ca8f7e0fd0b9eb

Interesting side story to the race involving motorsports writer Tom Higgins and long-time engine builder and crew chief Waddell Wilson excerpted from this RacersReunion interview of Higgins by Rhonda Beck a couple of years ago:

RB: Waddell Wilson and Dale Jarrett are also being inducted into this years NMPA Hall of Fame. Do you have any special memories about them over the years?

TH: I can tell you a lot about Waddell. Its a small world situation with Waddell and me. We grew up only about 15 miles apart and we were in Boy Scouts at the same time but different troops. We went to the same camporees and same courts of honor and I remember I was always tickled to death at a court of honor to get one merit badge. But we were all jealous of Waddell because he usually got five.

He was very smart guy and could do about anything in the outdoors or with machines or whatever. He and I also played high school basketball against each other. He for Bakersville and me for Burnsville. Both are very small towns in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I remember the last game of the regular season in 1955. Waddell and I had a little incident and I asked him why he hit me and he said Dang anyone that would be ahead by 22 points in the fourth quarter and leave the first team in

I told him that our coach was getting ready for the conference tournament. Well I didnt see him again. Our teams didnt play each other in the tournament. We won the conference championship that year.

I didnt see Waddell, didnt know what happened to him, for nine years. I came to work for the Charlotte Observer in 1964 . I was walking through the garage area at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the fall race known as the National 400 .

Someone grabbed me, spun me around. It was Waddell Wilson. I said, Dont hit me! and we both laughed and he said What are you doing in this garage area? I said, Well what are you doing here first? and he said, Im building engines for Holman-Moody. What are you doing here? I said, Well, Im going to be writing stories for the Charlotte Observer about you building engines for Holman-Moody. And weve been the closest of friends ever since.

Tim - I borrowed liberally from your entry to craft a blog post today:

http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2015/10/october-18-1964-national-400.html