Racing History Minute - March 5, 1972
Stock Car Racing History
Race report from Spartanburg Herald
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Racing History Minute - March 5, 1972
Stock Car Racing History
Race program
Bud Lindemann giving Ken Squier a run for his money in creating the dramatic effect. And how about that 3 wide start like the Indy 500 and 1950s era Southern 500s.
The cars lined up 3-wide for the drop of the green.
Buddy Baker was making only his 2nd start of the season as the 2nd STP / Petty team car. He was an oh-so-close finisher in those 1st two years of Ontario. P2 to Foyt in the white Petty Dodge in 1971, and P3 to Foyt again in 1972 in the STP / Petty Charger.
After sporting Petty blue numerals at Daytona on his Dodge, the team changed them to white numerals for Ontario. I'd like to learn why the switch was made. Easier for a spotter to see? Hard to believe as that day glo red car would be easily identifiable anywhere on the track. Request of Chrysler / Dodge folks to 'de-identify' it as a Petty car? Possibly, but factory support was essentially non-existent by 72. Request by STP? Perhaps, but if so why? - Richard Guido
After starting the season at Riverside with a Petty blue Plymouth with STP decals at the last minute, the 43 rolled out at Daytona with the new Petty blue / STP red look. At the beach and again at Ontario, the team ran a black or very dark blue hood stripe leading to the STP oval.
Racing History Minute - March 4, 1961
Stock Car Racing History
And probably in Pepsi emblazoned stemware to boot!
Racing History Minute - March 4, 1961
Stock Car Racing History
Guilty as charged. Yes Dave, you are correct - i went with Getty's tagging. A year or so ago when I found so many great pics on Getty, I was cropping & uploading just as quickly as Tim could post another history minute. But I've certainly learned since then to give each pic a second glance sanity check. Glad too PAW and others can simply eyeball some of these pics and say "Uh-uh. That's not X-track. I don't care WHAT the internet says." Ha.
Racing History Minute - March 4, 1961
Stock Car Racing History
More probable this pic is from June 1961 race vs. March based on Cotton's short sleeve shirt. But was still too good to pass up. Had to add to *bump* this post. - Getty
Racing History Minute - March 4, 1961
Stock Car Racing History
Eventual winner Owens in hot pursuit of Junior Johnson.
Racing HIstory Minute - March 3, 1957
Stock Car Racing History
Good bit of racing news bracketed the race at Concord. As was the case in late Feb 2016 when Stewart Haas announced a change from Chevy to Ford, folks were similarly taken aback with Smokey Yunick announced the same change.
B.A. Press took over promoting races at Southern States Fairgrounds from Bruton Smith.
Tar Heel Speedway in Level Cross NC was still in the process of being built under the consulting supervision of Darlington's Harold Brasington.
Racing HIstory Minute - March 3, 1957
Stock Car Racing History
One notable driver absent from the line-up was Lee Petty. He wrecked his Oldsmobile a couple of weeks earlier on the Daytona beach course. Its unclear if the car wasn't rebuilt or replaced in time for Concord - or if he chose not to race there for another reason. The 42 did return the next race on March 17 at Wilson Speedway.
Race report from Charleston's News And Courier
Racing History Minute - March 2, 1975
Stock Car Racing History
Though NASCAR and fans may have WANTED a 40-car field, low car counts were frequent in 1975 - especially early in the season. Even with increased money via RJR, the winnings simply weren't enough to keep every car coming every week. Richmond only fielded 22 cars the week before Rockingham, and only 23 cars raced at Bristol a few weeks later.
Junior Johnson and Cale lost the Carling Beer sponsorship after 1974 and didn't land Holly Farms as a replacement until the 8th race of the year. To manage costs, the 11 team skipped Riverside and Richmond before and after the Daytona 500. Rockingham was only the team's 2nd race of the year.
The day before the 500, the Cup crews participated in the annual pit crew competition. The DiGard / Donnie Allison crew led by Mario Rossi and featuring RR's Will Cronkrite won the challenge. - DBMJ
Bud Moore's team pitting the 15 of Buddy Baker. - Ray Lamm
Its amazing how little the sport, doctors, and the media knew about head injuries - or would admit. Interesting that Benny Parsons was knocked unconscious yet was treated for ... a headache.
Cale in victory lane with crew chief Herb Nab.
updated by @tmc-chase: 03/01/17 02:08:38PM