Forum Activity for @jeff-gilder

June, 27, 1965 at Valdosta.
Racing Reference has this listed as Cale'sFirst win.
Here is the field.
Fin St # Driver Sponsor / Owner Car Laps Money Status Led
1 5 06 Cale Yarborough Kenny Myler '64 Ford 200 1,000 running 18
2 11 19 J.T. Putney Herman Beam '64 Ford 197 600 running 0
3 2 49 G.C. Spencer G.C. Spencer '64 Ford 196 400 engine 21
4 9 18 Stick Elliott Toy Bolton '65 Chevrolet 196 300 running 0
5 21 31 Harvey Jones Sam Fogle '63 Ford 195 275 running 0
6 14 52 E.J. Trivette Jess Potter '63 Chevrolet 191 240 running 0
7 15 9 Roy Tyner Roy Tyner '64 Chevrolet 191 200 running 0
8 13 89 Neil Castles Buck Baker '65 Oldsmobile 189 175 running 0
9 7 68 Bob Derrington Bob Derrington '63 Ford 184 150 running 0
10 6 00 Tom Pistone Emory Gilliam '64 Ford 175 140 running 0
11 19 97 Henley Gray Gene Cline '64 Ford 166 130 running 0
12 1 29 Dick Hutcherson Holman-Moody '65 Ford 161 120 rear end 161
13 3 11 Ned Jarrett Bondy Long '65 Ford 160 110 running 0
14 16 99 Gene Hobby Gene Hobby '64 Dodge 133 100 running 0
15 12 34 Wendell Scott Wendell Scott '63 Ford 116 100 differential 0
16 4 55 Tiny Lund Lyle Stelter '64 Ford 85 100 axle 0
17 8 88 Buddy Baker Buck Baker '64 Dodge 15 100 clutch 0
18 20 38 Wayne Smith Archie Smith '65 Chevrolet 12 100 differential 0
19 18 87 Buck Baker Buck Baker '65 Chevrolet 3 100 fuel pump 0
20 17 64 Elmer Gilliam Elmo Langley '64 Ford 1 100 push rod 0
21 10 53 Jimmy Helms David Warren '63 Ford 1 100 engine 0

My dad, Billy Myers, was the original "Master of the Madhouse" way back in 1955 wining 12 BGS feature races (from the back of the field) on the way to 48 wins and the NASCAR National Championship in the Sportsman (now Nationwide) division. He won those races against the likes of his brother Bobby, Curtis Truner, Glen Wood and Pee Wee Jones. My nephews, Burt and Jason, continue to compete there and were part of the show you complained about in your post. By-the-way! We are from NC and the spelling is MYERS. They may spell it differently in PA, wherever that is (lol). While you or I may not always approve of the way things are done at Bowman Gray, what you saw on Sunday night is exactly what happens there. There was very little scripting (especially at the track) and these guys are passionate about what they do. The "stuff' you saw Sunday goes all the way back to the earliest days of the sport when "Big" Bill France and Alvin Hawkins were the "Stadium" promoters. (Brian France probably secretly wishes he could package what you saw to help fill some of the empty seats at Daytona in February) You always had to fend for yourself at BGS. Can you imagine how it feels to have several races and a couple of championships taken from you by the local "bully" with the management cheering it on and selling the tickets. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. And, right or worng, the "Stadium" continues today unlike Columbia, Occoneechee, New Asheville, Weaverville, Harris and many more. Drama sells tickets and maybe the "Stadium" does it best of all.

For all you "purists" complaining about the "black eye" this gives short track racing, how short your memory must be. Remember Truner and Allison destroying two perfectly good race cars at Bowman Gray in "66"? Remember the Allison - Petty fueds of the early "70's"? Remember "the fight" that put NASCAR on-the-map on National TV? Remember the "Iron Man" the Houstons, Boscoe Lowe, Roy Trantham, Ned Setzer and the Killians at Hickory, Remember Carl Burris, Perk Brown, Ted Swaim, Eb & Fuzzy Clifton and dozens more at Bowman Gray? I know there were many others at the tracks in the northeast, midwest and west that did (while you cheered them on), and continue to do the very thing you are compalining about. This ain't your Sunday afternoon on TV, milk-and-cookies, steering wheel holder, nap taking bunch of "Cup" racers. These guys (as are most short trackers) are passionate and do what they have to do to make from week-to-week, race-to-race.

So "quit-yer-bitchin" and get out to your local "madhouse" when the season starts. Fill up the seats. Get excited! Support the sport. Those "short tracks" really need your help.

My apologies to everyone here. I put up a response to Jeff's post concerning the validity of Richard Petty's career per Jeff Blount. I posted the wrong informantion and deleted the reply. Here are more accurate numbers.

145 for Pettys victories were on short tracks. 72 of these were events of at least 300 laps in length and 57 of them were at least 200 laps. 72 long distance short track wins with 55 superspeedway victories equals 127. Still the top spot for all time wins. So he competed against weak fields or in many cases teams and drivers that did not run full schedules. per Mr. Blount. How is it Richard's problem that others did not run full steam for an extended period.? Speaking of thin fields I wonder what AJ Foyt or other drivers would say about Blount's article. A.J. ran with Petty many times and loved it. Some of the best drivers in the history of motor sports have raced with Richard and ran in Nascar's elite series. This is still happening today.

You can dissect Petty's career any number of ways and he always comes up first. It is obvious that Richard Petty is possibly the best short track racer of all time. Things like 7 Daytona wins and 7 titles are icing on the cake. This takes nothing away from any driver and many other greats that have cut their teeth on the bull rings all over the country.

Nascar has forgotten it's own past as well with the inaugural Hall of Fame Class. Having both Bill France Sr. and Jr in the first class is a slap in the face to racing purists everywhere. To be sure Red Byron or Nascar's first real superstar Herb Thomas should have gotten in. It seems to be a selfish act for those involved to put both France's in at the same time but this is typical of anything Nascar in recent years.

It was only a matter of time before some of the older tracks were dropped with Bruton Smith's buy outs that Nascar could not control but what they do control is the product and it is just not that good. The Cup series is over regulated and the Nationwide series is now only a play ground for the big boys to suck up all the bank. The old Sportsman Division used to stand on it's own as a series with some of the best short track drivers in the country hammering away on a weekly basis. Not now.

The main stream media is not clueless but are instructed to act that way in order to hype it up but with no real substance it falls down. Early in 2009 the media spoke of Kyle Bush winning 200 races in an indirect reference to Petty's 200 mark but everybody knows what a joke that is. The Hype is not being met with results and excitment. The races are stale. Daytona is nothing like it used to be, heck they cant finish a plate race with out cars tumbling down the track. As much as Nascar and the media tries to kick it up the more stale it gets.

Once there was a time ......