Forum Activity for @tmc-chase

December 19th - Clements brothers' wish list

Stock Car Racing History

Some kids ask for a pony for Christmas. Some ask for a doll. Some folks have a deeper, broader wish for Christmas such as reconciliation of a strained relationship or world peace. Sometimes the wishes are granted - many times however they aren't.

Instead of a toy, a bike or a longing for Kumbaya, some guys hope for ... a race team. On December 18, 1963, brothers Crawford and Louis Clements announced plans to form a race team for 1964. Louis had parted ways with winning and championship driver Rex White. Crawford wanted to expand beyond his career as a mechanic for various drivers.

The 1964 season had already begun in November 1963, and Daytona's Speed Weeks was just a few weeks away. Yet the brothers hadn't picked a car nor settled on a driver to prepare for the 1964 season. Billy Wade was on their radar, but he ended up signing with Bud Moore. From what I can tell, neither of them fielded a GN car in 1964 ... or in the years to follow. Source: Spartanburg Herald .

updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM

December 18th racing history

Stock Car Racing History

Wife loves her some Dave Barry.

December 18th racing history

Stock Car Racing History

I stared at the lettering at the top of the cartoon several times before posting. I thought it was a syndicated item - but wasn't sure by whom. MacNelly may have been a multiple-time winner of the Pulitzer - but to me it doesn't change my observation that the Ted Kennedy cartoon above doesn't make much sense from a racing perspective. Haha.

December 18th racing history

Stock Car Racing History

1968 - Roy Tyner announces he'd be sponsored by Pepsi Cola for the 1969 season. Even with the increased financial support, Tyner still struggled in 1969. He only raced in 21 of 54 events, DNQ'd in Atlanta's 2nd race, notched only 1 top 10, and 13 DNFs. From  Spartanburg Herald (p. 20)

Tyner's Pontiac at Bristol in 1969 - From Ray Lamm collection

Tyner's Pepsi Pontiac also made the cover of Stock Car Racing magazine's August 1969 issue. From Russ Thompson's collection of SCR covers.

1971 - Charlie Glotzbach and Cotton Owens announce they'd partner to run the 1972 season in Dodge Chargers. The partnership looked promising out of the gate as the #6 Dodge finished 2nd to A.J. Foyt in the Daytona 500. From there, however, the season seemingly dissolved. The pair raced a Plymouth in the Virginia 500 at Martinsville and finished 3rd in a Dodge in the World 600 at Charlotte. But Glotzbach also DNQ'd at Ontario in the 4th race of the season. And that was it - three starts.

Glotzbach raced five more times in 1973 before [ returning to a broader part-time schedule in 1974 ] with Junie Donlavey. Cotton fielded cars only twice more - in the 1973 Daytona 500 with Dick Brooks and the 1973 World 600 with Peter Gregg. With Charlie and Cotton teaming up for 1972, the odd man out for the second time in two years was winning upstart Pete Hamilton.

Glotzbach with Cotton's Dodge at Daytona's Speedweeks in February 1972.

1978 - The Spartanburg Herald ran a racing related political editorial cartoon in its December 18th edition . Though clearly racing-related, the message was a bit confusing. I THINK the idea the cartoonist tried to convey was Ted Kennedy as the presumed front runner for the 1980 presidency - or maybe just for the Democratic party. But even with the idea of Kennedy "pacing the field" with racing as the metaphor, I don't get why he'd be driving the pace car vs. a regular race car. Illustration of life of privilege? Or just poor understanding of racing by the cartoonist? Ha.

updated by @tmc-chase: 04/04/17 01:27:16PM

December 17th racing notes

Stock Car Racing History

Penske's Matador made the April 1972 issue of Stock Car Racing magazine - along with the headline that STP "bought" the Petty team. (Funny too how SCR claims to have had the scoop on the story published in its April edition when the news was known back in January of that year.) From Russ Thompson's collection of SCR covers.

December 17th racing notes

Stock Car Racing History

Most of the racing history I found for this day involved the factories / manufacturers.

1962 - Jack Smith announced he would changed from Pontiac to Mopar cars for 1963. The decision was aided in part by the skills of his chief mechanic - Kenny "Red" Myler, former Petty Engineering employee and father-in-law of Maurice Petty. After racing the 1963-season opening race at Birmingham in November 1962 in a Pontiac, Smith made the switch. He raced Chryslers, Plymouths AND a Dodge during partial seasons in 1963 and 1964. He may, however, have questioned the decision to make change at some point. After winning 5 races in 1962 in the Pontiac, Smith did not win again the rest of his career. From Spartanburg Herald .

1965 - A year after Big Bill France stood toe to toe with Chrysler Corporation over their hemi engine, France (in tandem with the faceless USAC) waged a similar war with Ford Motor Company over the engine they had planned to use in 1966. On December 17, 1965, NASCAR and USAC both banned FoMoCo's overhead cam engine. From Spartanburg Herald .

1969 - In a decision I'm sure all King Richard fans celebrated at the time, Petty Enterprises announced a return to Plymouth for the 1970 after a single season with Ford. The change back to Plymouth was not a slam dunk decision. As shown in this photo from Don Smyle's collection , PE had already begun building a 1970 Ford.

But the lure of the Plymouth Superbird (and the accompanying cash and factory support) was too much to ignore, and the team thankfully swapped back to Mopar.

From Spartanburg Herald .

1971 - American Motors Corporation and Roger Penske announced the introduction of the AMC Matador to NASCAR and USAC stock car racing beginning in 1972. From Spartanburg Herald .

Car owner Roger Penske - and driver Mark Donohue - each made their NASCAR debut in the January 1972 Winston Western 500 at Riverside. The race was marked the debut of STP as the sponsor of Richard Petty's 43 Plymouth. Photo from my 2012 blog post about the race.

updated by @tmc-chase: 12/17/17 03:23:21PM

Putting the Goats out fo pasture.

Administrative

Thanks Bud. It is indeed hard to believe this year is almost to the point of being declared Terminal with our then being Transported to 2014. With the wonders of the web, I hope many folks have made Goat Rodeo an Auto part of their Tuesdays. Perhaps its even made a few folks a bit Weiser about racing history, music, etc. Though I'm not able to listen every Tuesday, I hope I've been able to Ade this site with posts throughout the year. RacersReunion has made the world a smaller place with many of you being in the Carolinas and my living on the Western side of the Mountains in Tennessee. I Dew hope to see this site continue to thrive in 2014 and beyond.

December 16 - Dick Beaty

Stock Car Racing History

Good call. I have that DVD series & remembered he was on it. But I couldn't recall which disc might have a story by him in the time I had to make this post. Such a great series - I need to watch it all over again.

December 16 - Dick Beaty

Stock Car Racing History

Long-time NASCAR inspector and a NASCAR driver and motorcycle racer, Dick Beaty, was born on December 16, 1923.

Beaty in his motorcycle racing days.

Beaty started 38 Grand National and 18 convertible races from 1955 through 1958. His best GN finish was a 5th at Asheville-Weaverville on March 31, 1957. His best convertible finish was a 3rd at Martinsville in 1957 behind winner Bill Amick and Jimmy Massey. From Spartanburg Herald .

Photo from Greg Moore / Perry Allen Wood book "Bud Moore's Right Hand Man" (available on Amazon.com I might add).

Dave Fulton has posted about Dick Beaty a couple of times that I could find:

June 2011:

http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/general/7304/colorful-characters-dick-beatys-nose

April 2013 here:

http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/stock-car-racing-history/22726/we-could-use-a-man-like-nascars-dick-beaty-again

Here is a really good 1991 article from the LA Times about Beaty:

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-07-14/sports/sp-3402_1_dick-beaty

updated by @tmc-chase: 12/16/19 10:19:49AM

December 15th racing related history

Stock Car Racing History

The December 15, 1960 Spartanburg Herald reported about a super-competitive AND contested fishing tournament won by Buck Baker. Though the event was held a week earlier, it apparently took a week to settle the protests and resolve all the fishing lies.

On December 15, 1966, Petty Enterprises and Cotton Owens announced they had re-signed with Chrysler Corporation for the 1967 season. My mind can't be stretched far enough to imagine King Richard in anything OTHER than a Plymouth in 1967 - and can't fathom what may have been different in the record books. From Spartanburg Herald .

Doctors announced on December 15, 1969 that Cale Yarborough would recover from injuries sustained in the Texas 500 a few days earlier at Texas International Speedway. From Spartanburg Herald .

The December 15, 1979 Herald Journal ran a feature with storylines that seemingly predicted the future on multiple levels.

• James Hylton's desire to race as a driver at Indy. He raced long enough to see Cup race at the Brickyard. Unfortunately, he DNQ'd for the inaugural race there in 1994.
• Bud Moore opined that racing at Indy would be fine but that "it would be just another race". How true that prediction has become.
• Similar to Bruton Smith's saber-rattling in recent years to move races from Charlotte to another state or to relocate the entire speedway footprint, Bill France Sr. floated the idea of moving the Firecracker 400 date from Daytona to Indy or Talladega for reasons similar to Bruton - agreed-up tax abatements.
• Hylton predicted NASCAR was about to break out in terms of popularity because the squabble between USAC and CART. Bingo, it happened on an epic scale.
• A 'wishlist' Indy race was predicted to be scheduled sometime in August vs. 4th of July to create more separation from the Memorial Day Indy 500. Sure enough, the Brickyard 400s have been raced in that time frame.

The article was also interesting in that Hylton left his car in California following the Ontario race. He found it more affordable to leave it there and return early to prepare it for Riverside rather than hauling it back across the country two more times.

updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM