Long before many corporate sponsors utilized NASCAR GN/Cup auto racing or drivers in television commercials, Virginia's tiny Fidelity National Bank headquartered in Lynchburg, Va . in 1972 featured the 1966 NASCAR Late Model Sportsman Chevelle owned by RR's G.T. (Tommy) Nolen and driven by the late Bubba Tatum of Jetersville, Virginia in TV commercial spots filmed at Richmond's (Midlothian) weekly 1/3-mile asphalt Southside Speedway . The old wooden & cinderblock grandstands hadn't yet been condemned and replaced with aluminum and the infield was a rough looking place that had yet to be improved. But, I sure did love that ole gal and the wonderful Friday nights I spent there watching some of the finest stock car drivers ever. By the time these commercial spots were filmed in 1972, the steel boiler plate wall constructed by Emanuel Zervakis had been in place for several seasons and taken many licks. The track began in the late 40s as Nelson Royall's dirt Royall Speedway and was renamed Southside Speedway by new owner J.M. Wilkinson in 1959. Note the Playboy bunny logo on trunk lid. Today's sanitary NASCAR would frown on that I suppose, G.T.
Posted to YouTube by Walter Tatum.
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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 03/15/17 01:00:53PM
