Forum Activity for @tmc-chase

Preview and race reports for the Permatex 200 LMS race from the January 18-19 San Bernardino County Sun.

The photos available a couple of years ago at The Henry Ford Arte House look to have been moved or duplicated on Flickr. Some real gems in this gallery of over 650 photos.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/thehenryford/albums/72157662963847560

Although the GN race was postponed twice, Riverside was able to complete its preliminary race on January 18th - well a rain-shortened version of it anyway.

Ol' Hershel McGriff came out of a long retirement to capture the Permatex 200 in a 1957 Chevrolet.

Here is a 1985 LA Times article where McGriff reflected back on that win.

http://articles.latimes.com/1985-06-01/sports/sp-5444_1_short-track-races

I think I see why Hersh returned to racing over the next few years after winning at Riverside.

And McGriff's victory was briefly mentioned in the Spartanburg Herald's race preview article.

The [ Henry Ford Arte House Dave Friedman collection ] has 657 photos from his race available on-line. Perusing all of them oughta last ya a while. Ha.

I blogged about this race about 2 years ago as part of my year-long 200 Wins series.

http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2012/02/february-1-this-day-in-pet...

I'll include edited version here as well.

The race was originally scheduled for Sunday, January 19, 1969. Because of heavy rains on two consecutive Sundays, the race was eventually run on Saturday, February 1.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

The win was not only Petty's first in seven starts at Riverside, but it was also his first win in his first start for Ford Motor Company. About two months earlier, Petty stunned the racing community by announcing a switch from Plymouths to Fords beginning in 1969. So to win in his first race with his new Torino was a huge boost to the Blue Oval team and fans.

Poster buikwag from JalopyJournal.com's H.A.M.B . attended the race and gave me permission to share a couple of his great photos here (more photos from the race can be seen at the H.A.M.B. link).
Race day!

Hugging the corner tight in turn 9.

Pit stop photo courtesy of Ray Lamm

Win on Sunday, sell on Monday baby!

Article and SCR cover courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

Photos from The Henry Ford Arte House

http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/collection.pl?productTypeID=62&collectionID=2834&pgNumber=1&seeAllImages=1&itemsPerPage=-1

Jerry Titus won the 2nd annual preliminary Permatex 100 LMS race on January 20th.

I could be wrong - but seems most of the racing history we've all posted here when a late year race was the beginning of a new season involved the teams using older model cars vs. the new ones. New year models often weren't rolled out to the track until Speedweeks in February - even if they were on showroom floors the previously fall. Seems the teams just treated the 'new' season as an extension of the concluded one.

The 1969 Riverside race Tim posted about on Jan 9 is good example. The season began in late 1968, and Richard Petty still raced a Plymouth. He won in his 1st race with a Ford at Riverside in January 1969 - but it wasn't the first race of the season.

Plus, NASCAR didn't exactly run marquis markets to feature the new cars even if the manufacturers had wanted to promote them. Tar Heel Speedway, Savannah, Speedway Park in Jax, Fayetteville, the old Charlotte short track, Birmingham, Montgomery, etc - these weren't places where the manufacturers could likely make a big splash anyway.

My hunch is track owners / promoters requested a date. Bill France cashed the check for their fee and tried to find a place to fit them into the schedule when weather would likely be cooperative.

Plus, racers raced. If the weather was OK, cars were available, and fans would watch, I suppose NASCAR and the teams and drivers said "OK, we'll be there."

Its a great question - and my reply is only a guess. Would be great to hear from someone close to the sanctioning body in those days - or one of those tracks - offer some insight about how the dates were chosen & in which season they were assigned.

Race ticket

Race program

Race report from Charleston's News And Courier

And the race was featured on the cover of back-to-back issues of Stock Car Racing magazine in April-May 1968.

A few photos from this race have been shared here on RacersReunion.

Getting ready for the start ( Richard Guido )

Gurney ( Craig Bontrager )

Mario Andretti and King Richard ( Ray Lamm )

Cale Yarborough in a 2nd Wood Brothers car. ( Ray Lamm )