The TRUE All-Star Race really happened back in 1985
Stock Car Racing History
And one cooked, winning engine to prevent post-race inspection. Ha.
Forum Activity for @tmc-chase
Stock Car Racing History
May 13, 1972 - Mr. Allison Wins Mr. D's 200
Stock Car Racing History
Adding link to Dennis Andrews' 2015 post about the May 13, 1970 GA race at Richmond
http://stockcar.racersreunion.com/forum/topics/richmond-grand-american-200-may-13-1970
May 13, 1972 - Mr. Allison Wins Mr. D's 200
Stock Car Racing History
Originally published as a blog post by me tonight. Thought I'd also post here.
http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2014/05/may-13-1972-grand-national-east-at.html
From the 1960s through 1970, NASCAR's Grand National (Cup) schedule averaged about 50 races each season. In 1971, R.J. Reynolds climbed aboard, and the Winston Cup Series was born. The series had a transition year in 1971 with 48 races before dropping back to around 30 that became the staple until the mid 1990s.
When the schedule was dramatically slashed, many traditional tracks - particularly in the eastern time zone - lost their race dates. Perhaps as a way to ease their way out of relationship vs. leaving cold turkey, NASCAR formed the Grand National East series. The series only lasted for a couple of years; however, NASCAR later formed the Busch North Series in the mid 1980s to fill a similar role.
The series ran several tracks discarded from the Cup schedule such as Columbia, Hickory, Myrtle Beach and Kingsport. In 1972, the series ran the Mr. D's 200, its one and only event at a track that remained on the Cup schedule - Nashville Speedway.
Mr. D's was a fast food seafood restaurant created by the parent company of Shoney's restaurants. The chain's name was a nod to one of Shoney's founders, Ray Danner. Its first store was opened in Donelson, a suburb of Nashville, and happens to be where I grew up and lived from the late 1960s through the early 1980s.
Within a year or two of its opening, the name was changed to one more widely recognized today - Captain D's. I guess Cap'n had more of maritime, 'fishy' name than Mister. (For those unfamiliar with Captain D's, think Long John Silver.)
On Saturday May 13, 1972 - Mother's Day weekend - the GNE series raced at the Fairgrounds. The race was co-sanctioned with NASCAR's Grand American division, a series made up of pony cars such as Mustangs and Camaros.
 |
| Source: Russ Thompson - Nashville Fairgrounds blog |
Some of the drivers who entered the event were Winston Cup regulars - albeit independent drivers and/or those who weren't typically considered amongst the front runners. The field included such drivers as:
- Jim Paschal who raced Cup actively through much of the 1960s and won frequently as a driver for Petty Enterprises
- NASCAR HOFer Buck Baker whose heyday was in the 1950s when he won 2 GN titles
- D.K. Ulrich - long-time driver and owner for a multitude of up-and-comers including Al Loquasto
- Richard Childress who struggled for 15 years as a driver before striking gold as the owner for Dale Earnhardt
- Elmo Langley, a two-time GN winner who later became NASCAR's pace car driver
- Dick May - an independent who later became a rep for STP
- Wayne Andrews - a regular participant and winner in the Grand American series
- Tiny Lund, winner of the 1963 Daytona 500 and a multi-race winner in the GNE division.
- Cup regulars and brothers, Bobby and Donnie Allison
The Cup series raced on May 7th at Talladega but didn't run again until May 28th in the World 600 at Charlotte. Having a couple of weeks off gave some of the Cup regulars a chance to run the Nashville event (and presumably pocket a little show money from track promoter Bill Donoho).
Bobby Allison brought a #49 Coca-Cola Mustang Fastback to Nashville. The car was owned by Mel Joseph and had been raced in a few Grand National / Grand American combo races - including at Winston-Salem's Bowman Gray Stadium in 1971. Allison took the checkered flag over Richard Petty in the Mustang; however, NASCAR did not (and still doesn't) recognize the victory as an official Winston Cup win for Allison. (Interestingly, Petty wasn't given the win either.)
Perhaps as expected, Allison laid down the quickest lap to nab the pole. But the margin to second was maybe closer than he had counted as veteran Paschal showed he still knew the quick way around the track. (Paschal won three consecutive GN races at Nashville in 1961, [ 1962 ], and [ 1963 ]).
Darrell Waltrip, Nashville's 1970 late model champion, won the preliminary late model race. He won the short, 30-lap feature six days after making his Cup debut in the Winston 500 at Talladega. The fans were winners because some of the national drivers also raced in the late model event plus were out-qualified by many of the locals.
 |
| Source: The Tennessean - May 13, 1972 |
For a while, Waltrip raced P.B. Crowell's creamsicle orange-and-white #48 Chevelle. But in 1972 as a new sponsor came aboard, Waltrip's 48 sported a transitional white with blue accent scheme.
 |
| Credit: Russ Thompson |
Paschal had to give up his front-row starting spot after puking a motor in practice. Tiny Lund who was injured in a bizarre accident when a tire fell on him moved to the front row to take Paschal's vacated spot. With his injuries, however, his team made a driver swap at the first caution. Waltrip who'd won earlier in the day and obviously knew the track well took over for Tiny. (I am curious about how well Tiny's seat fit Waltrip back in those days!)
The Fairgrounds once had the oddest of pit roads. Drivers came through turn 4 on the .596-mile track, crossed the start-finish line, turned left onto the inner quarter-mile track, pitted, returned to the track, crossed the start-finish line again (though not completing another lap), and headed for turn 1. Drivers, officials and scorers were frequently confused as to who was on what lap, who had pitted, etc.
The confusion was present again during the GNE race. Rather than slow or stop the race to sort out things, officials let 'em race and tried to figure it out on the fly. As a result, the scoreboard was bouncing around with 'lead changes' though no passes were being made on the track.
Allison got out front about one-third of the way through the race. Waltrip tried to make the best of a good opportunity in Lund's car and did his best to track down Bobby. But after running like a scalded dog, Waltrip's car lost an engine with about 15 laps to go. Allison then cruised home to take the victory. Waltrip and Allison would wage many more battles over the next 10-12 years - especially in the early 80s on the Cup level.
 |
| Source: The Tennesseean - May 14, 1972 |
 |
| Courtesy of Russ Thompson |
As Russ Thompson [ noted in his blog post ], NASCAR apparently enjoyed what they saw at Nashville that weekend. Perhaps as a result, the track earned a second date on the Cup schedule. From 1973 through 1984, the Fairgrounds featured two races a season - a distinction several tracks didn't have, then or now.
I encourage you to visit [ GrandNationalEast.com ] authored by Jeff Droke, long-time crewman for James Hylton, for more information about the series.
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
Maurice Petty's Wife, Patricia Passes
Current NASCAR
Tough few week stretch for that gang. Lynda and Patricia within the last month. And anniversaries of Lee's, Adam's, and Randy Owens' passing are all around this time of year as well.
May 12, 1984: NASCAR's Nashville Nuttiness
Stock Car Racing History
My introduction to stock car racing was at Nashville's Fairgrounds Speedway in 1974. While I won't swear to it, I think the evening's feature was a 200-lap NASCAR late model sportsman race featuring drivers such as Jack Ingram, L.D. Ottinger, Harry Gant, Morgan Shepherd and Butch Lindley. The date, the race, who won, etc. have all been forgotten, but I do remember my eyes being wide open and my heart pumping.
The first time I got to see Cup cars live was during qualifying for the 1976 Nashville 420. My first Cup race to attend was naturally at Nashville - the 1978 Music City 420. During the second half of the 1970s, I was a bigger fan of the local favorites such as Steve Spencer, Alton Jones, Sterling Marlin, Mike Alexander, Tony Cunningham, P.B. Crowell III, etc. than I was of the Cup series. After leaving for college, however, I found it harder to keep up with the local guys and really went all-in as a Cup fan.
The original ownership group sold to another in the late 70s, and the track was renamed Nashville International Raceway. California real estate developer and racing outsider Warner Hodgdon bought into the ownership group (as well as stakes in Bristol and North Wilkesboro), and 'International' was dropped from the track's name. Yet then (and now) I always just referred to the track as 'the fairgrounds'.
After being known as the Music City USA 420 through the 1970s, the spring race took a title sponsor coinciding with the ownership change. In 1984, the race was branded as the Coors 420 - though a car with Po' Folks restaurant was featured on the program. Go figure. (One of the local guys was sponsored by Po' Folks ... I think.)
Coors sponsored the race as well as a car in the race - the #9 Harry Melling Ford. The team's driver, Bill Elliott, was still a season away from exploding in the NASCAR consciousness with his dominating 1985 season. A different beer brand, however, sponsored the two cars that became the story of the race - Budweiser.
In 1982, Junior Johnson announced two sport-shaking deals. One, he announced Hodgdon was investing in his team. Also, he planned to expand his operation to a two-car team in 1984. Outside investors and multi-car teams in NASCAR were both rarities up to that point. Generally speaking, the second car was way off the primary car.
Darrell Waltrip was already on board with Junior's championship winning #11 team. Neil Bonnett joined him in 1984 in a matching Chevrolet after spending a transition year in 1983 with Rahmoc Racing and 'sponsorship' by Hodgdon. Both cars were sponsored by Budweiser and Kentucky Fried Chicken, and the team was quickly dubbed Double Thunder.
The team should perhaps have been nicknamed Double Trouble. Though the two teams had common ownership, sponsors, and car makes, the 11 and 12 bunch did not function as a team as is the model for contemporary NASCAR racing. Led by crew chiefs Jeff Hammond (for Waltrip) and Doug Richert (for Bonnett), the two cars were perhaps more competitive with one another than with other cars on the track.
Yet - they were quick. On short tracks where Junior's cars historically had run well, they raced even better with DW and Neil behind the wheel.
As the Winston Cup series rolled into Music City for the 10th race of the 1984 season, Waltrip was ready to race with a high level of confidence.
- He was a two-time late model champion at the track in 1970 and 1973.
- Waltrip earned his first Cup win at the track in 1975.
- The 11 team was the defending champion of the race having won the Marty Robbins 420 a year earlier.
- DW had two wins and eight Top 10s in the first 9 races of the year.
Sure enough, the 11 team laid down the quickest qualifying lap on Friday night to nab the pole. Ricky Rudd qualified alongside Waltrip in his Wrangler Jeans Bud Moore Ford. A couple of unsponsored drivers made up the second row: Geoff Bodine in Rick Hendrick's Chevy and Ron Bouchard in Jack Beebe's Buick. Dale Earnhardt rounded out the starting five in a second Wrangler ride, Richard Childress' Chevy.
Bonnett qualified 15th, about mid-pack, but a quick, single-lap wasn't his measurement of greatness for the weekend. Two weeks earlier, he wheel-hopped the curb at Martinsville . Doing so caused his steering wheel to spin quickly to the right - so quickly that he didn't have a chance to loosen his grip. The spin snapped Bonnett's wrist and dislocated his thumb. He incredibly popped his thumb back into place while at speed , and finished the race in fifth place. Only after returning home to Alabama was he able to have the bones set and a cast applied. The awkwardness of the cast and persistent pain when racing were challenges he had to face, yet Neil did not miss a start.
When the green flag flew on Saturday May 12, Neil spent the first 20 percent of the race working himself methodically towards the front. He finally went to the point on lap 87 and led sizable chunks of laps throughout the race. When the night was done, he'd led 320 of the 420 laps - with a broken, throbbing right wrist.
With about 10 laps to go, Neil was being hounded by the #5 Chevy of Geoff Bodine. Two weeks earlier at Martinsville, Bodine won the first Cup race for himself and Hendrick Motorsports - the race in which Bonnett had broken his wrist. Bodine got past Bonnett, but Neil fought back in an effort to reclaim the lead. Instead, he spun himself out with seven to go.
Remarkably, Bonnett was able to gather his car and pit without losing too much track position. Bodine ducked in the pits as well knowing he'd have to race Neil hard again. The race resumed with three to go with Waltrip out front (who chose not to pit). Then all sorts of a mess broke out. Cup upstart Rusty Wallace trashed his Gatorade Pontiac coming out of turn two. Bobby Allison, the reigning Cup champion, got collected, caught fire, and drove in reverse down the backstretch through three and four and then down pit road.
Bonnett was humping it on the high side as he tried to catch Waltrip. Then the King inexplicably spun his STP Pontiac and Kyle Petty looped his car into the inner wall to avoid t-boning his father's 43.
Waltrip flashed under the starter's stand taking the white and yellow flags. He checked up some to make it through the debris from the wrecks yet maintained good speed. Bonnett still went full bore, caught DW in turn four, and nipped the 11 at the line. Waltrip, his crew, and the TV announcers initially believed DW was the winner because the caution had flown a lap earlier. Bonnett believed the track was essentially still 'green' because the yellow flew as the last lap started vs. at the end of the next to last lap. In that era, cars raced back to the line when a caution happened vs. the 'frozen field' model used today.
NASCAR's officials then went into Keystone Kops mode. They directed Bonnett to victory lane. Within a minute or so, they had Waltrip drive to victory lane and had Bonnett leave. But again within a few minutes they switched back to Bonnett as the winner. The collective set of officials seemed unable to determine when the yellow flag flew and what was permissible in terms of racing back to the finish line.
As the crowd left the stands and TV left the air, Bonnett was indeed in victory lane as Waltrip's team was left fuming.
Original race report - Gainesville Sun
Interestingly, Warner Hodgon (in slacks and button-down shirt and getting Waltrip's glare) was part of the winning and losing end of it all. He was a partial owner of both Bud teams as well as an investor in the track whose reputation was getting dinged because of NASCAR's ineptness. But the disputed finish would soon be the least of his concerns.
Waltrip wasn't finished. He defiantly protested the finish. Junior Johnson had the unenviable position of protesting the victory by his own car. (Such a protest by a car owner against another of his own cars wasn't unprecedented. Lee Petty protested his own son's win in 1959 at Lakewood Speedway.)
Three days later, NASCAR sided with Waltrip's protest and declared him the winner and moved Bonnett back to second. - Hendersonville NC Times-News
I remember the confusing finish, but I don't remember if I saw the race on TV or listened to it on MRN. I'm thinking it was likely the latter. I was away at college, and we didn't have a TV in our dorm room. We had a TV in the rec room, but I know no one would have allowed it to be dominated by a race on a Saturday night. The guys had more important things to watch ... such as music videos on MTV.
The Coors 420 is available as part of MRN's Classic Races Podcast series. The original broadcast can be heard at [ MRN's site ]or streamed through MRN's iTunes channel.
Nashville Speedway put its hooks deep into me 40 years ago, and it's amazing to think 30 years has passed since this particular race was run. Back then, I toted fewer pounds and bigger dreams. I had visions of spending many future years watching Cup racing there. No way it could ever end ... or would it?
Hodgdon's non-racing financial situation took a quick tumble in the mid 80s. His fall was so precipitous that his racing interests were drawn into the abyss. Suddenly, Junior Johnson was faced with losing his two teams and life's work as a car owner. He was able to craft a deal to buy back Hodgdon's equity and get him out of the picture.
The fairgrounds track wasn't as fortunate. The track hosted its annual summer race in July. Bodine won the Pepsi 420, but his win turned out to be the final Cup race in Nashville. With many questions surrounding Hodgdon's finances, the long-term viability of the track, and other legal complications between the track and it's landlord, the city of Nashville, NASCAR chose to withdraw its sanction after the 1984 races.
Racing continues to this day at my home track - and it's truly hard to believe three decades have passed since the final year of Cup racing. But at least The Fairgrounds' Cup days went out with a bang as two teammates had to scrap like foes to settle the score.
Big thanks to Russ Thompson for several of the photos!
updated by @tmc-chase: 05/12/17 10:34:45AM
Yet another new chapter for Petty Racing?
Current NASCAR
Hard to believe it's almost 3PM CT / 4PM ET and no one has posted this rumor yet. Tim Leeming may peg enough RPMs with this rumor that his head may explode.
--------------
http://www.motorsport.com/nascar-cup/news/will-goodyear-s-new-tire-pay-off-at-kansas-speedway/
Richard Petty Motorsports considering move to Toyota? Was that the King meeting with representatives from [Toyota] at Richmond? According to multiple sources, Richard Petty Motorsports [#9-Ambrose & #43-Almirola] is contemplating leaving Ford when its contract expires at the end of this year. One sticking point, however, could be engines. TRD currently has the capability to provide eight teams with engines. Although there are only three teams from Joe Gibbs Racing and three from Michael Waltrip Racing exercising that option, who's to say that either of those operations isn't considering expansion in the future. Without TRD engines, a partnership with Toyota isn't nearly as attractive. After having your cars powered by Roush Yates engines, Triad would certainly be a step down.
--------------
Pretty sure Ambrose's deal with RPM expires this year. He is pretty well tied to Ford and has been rumored to return to Australia to run a team down there with Penske. Not sure legitimacy - but rumor would align well with this one.
With Dodge out of the picture that I really enjoyed seeing as a kid and out of the picture for me as a consumer of today's vehicles, I guess car brands mean nothing to me anymore in racing. 43 means everything though.
RPM seems to be going nowhere with Roush. Penske is on a roll. Roush seems flat. And customers RPM and the Wood Brothers seem to be slipping. I once thought RPM could move back to GM and align with RCR, but that seems impractical now.
Week in and week out, those Toyota engines seem to crank more HP and now durability than others.
I have my doubts this will happen but stranger things have. One thought that entered my mind is whether RPM could keep its current location next to Roush. Jack would be none too happy to have a lost customer just outside his front door. If so, where could RPM go in the near term? How about .... MWR's megaplex in Mooresville. Ha. Hey, just thinking out loud here folks.
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:04:08PM
Richard Petty Motorsports considering move to Toyota?
Stock Car Racing History
Ha. You just beat me to it. If I hadn't tweaked my last paragraph or so, I would've beaten you. Gotta work on my pit crew and editing skills this weekend.
Monday Night NASCAR on Tap for 2015? Brad & DW Agree
Current NASCAR
Wasn't last year's Eldora truck race a mid-week event also? If so, another interesting experiment. But again, hopefully someone in Daytona is smart enough ... [pause for comedic effect] ... to realize it too shouldn't be viewed as fans' general interest in weeknight racing.
Monday Night NASCAR on Tap for 2015? Brad & DW Agree
Current NASCAR
Agreed. Not old enough to remember them - but care enough to learn about them! Certainly a different era. Wasn't TV driven - yet promoters and publicly traded track holding companies weren't trying to pack in 100,000 people at a cost prohibitive price point.
But that also speaks to my point. Look at that list of tracks and the variety of surfaces and styles they represent. All popular tracks because the racing was solid. 100-250 mile lengths. Compact evenings.
NASCAR and TV could return to something like that on a weeknight basis. But they'd need to do so with shorter race distance, good racing/passing, etc. - not a 300-400 mile race with follow-the-leader racing.