It's well documented Richard Petty sat out the first half of the 1965 NASCAR Grand National season because of the Chrysler boycott over NASCAR's rules. What is perhaps not as well known is that the King still raced a stock car race in the first six months of the year. He raced in the third annual Yankee 300 USAC stock car race at Indianapolis Raceway Park's road course on May 2nd.
The first annual Yankee 300 was held April 28, 1963.
The race drew a boocoodle of big names including:
- The Captain - Roger Penske
- A.J. Foyt
- Parnelli Jones, who would go on to win the Indy 500 about a month later.
- Eddie Sachs who tragically perished in the 1964 Indy 500
- NASCAR's Fireball Roberts and Darel Dieringer
- "Free agent" Curtis Turner who was in the middle of a 4-year "lifetime" NASCAR ban
- Andy Hampton who later won several ARCA races
The winner was to receive the L. Strauss trophy. The "L." wasn't short for Levi as in the San Francisco jeans company. It's possible, however, Levi Strauss products were sold by L. Strauss. The latter was an old school retail chain in the Indianapolis area. Before the Borg-Warner trophy became THE signature winner's trophy in motorsports, the winner of the Indianapolis 500 received the first round of L. Strauss trophies.
The company created a second version of the trophy to award the winner of IRP's Yankee 300. 
Though the race was a stock car vs. roadster race - and though it was held on IRP's 2.5 mile road course vs. IMS 2.5-mile rectangular "oval", the cream still rose to the top. Parnelli won the pole in Bill Stroppe's Mercury. Fireball showed the USAC regulars how the southern guys hustled a car by qualifying on the front row alongside Jones. Penske and Paul Goldsmith made up row two.
Parnelli led 27 laps, but a failed transmission doomed him to a 27th place DNF. Fireball led a a chunk of laps as well, but 14 laps out front didn't matter much when the engine in his Holman Moody Ford went south. He went home 15th in the 31-car field. The Captain was the lap leader of the day. Penske led 53 of the race's 120 laps, but like Parnelli a failed transmission in the Ray Nichels' Pontiac sent Penske home early with a disappointing 13th place finish. - Getty Images
A couple of Texans and a crazy Virginian stayed with it and captured the top 3 spots. Super Tex - A.J. Foyt won the race in a Plymouth. Fellow Texan Lloyd Ruby finished second in a Pontiac, and Pop rounded out the top 3 in his Holman Moody Ford.
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
