1st time headed to Phoenix
Current NASCAR
And 2 cars - including Tim Richmond!
Forum Activity for @tmc-chase
1st time headed to Phoenix
Current NASCAR
I'm flying Friday morning for my first ever race trip to Phoenix. While I get more and more disenchanted with Cup racing of today, I still get a charge when I actually get to go to one. Four of us are going, and we'll have a big time. But based on some expected perks when we get there, I'm hopeful the big time will turn into a HUGE time. I don't want to detail out what I hope will unfold because of the risk of jinxing our group. But I'm going with a grin on my face and a quickened pulse.
Beyond the obvious reasons of a fun trip with friends and getting a sensory overload by being at the track on race weekend, here are 5 racing related reasons I'm jazzed about going. I blogged this entry Sunday night.
http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2013/11/phoenix-race-trip-five-days-to-go.html
I wouldn't count on many contributions by me to Racing History Minute posts on Friday through Monday.
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:04:08PM
November 4, 1979: The Dixie 500
Stock Car Racing History
And here is the recap of that 1980 ARCA 200 race I posted back in February. The race involved one of the most bizarre, jacked-up decisions made in racing for a restart to finish the race.
http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/stock-car-racing-history/21244/1980-arca-200-at-daytona
updated by @tmc-chase: 11/04/17 08:44:03AM
November 4, 1979: The Dixie 500
Stock Car Racing History
The next to last race of the 1979 season was the Dixie 500 at Atlanta International Raceway.
THE story line of the race was the points battle between the 6x GN/Cup champion, Richard Petty, and the overly confident Darrell Waltrip with the #88 DiGard Gatorade team. The King had done the improbable. He came off a winless 1-1/2 season stretch from July 1977 through February 1979. He changed from Dodges to General Motors cars in late 1978 with the team having to find new ways to build cars. Petty came into 1979 having barely recovered from ulcer surgery in the offseason. And he was pretty banged up during the season to the point that Jimmy Insolo had to take the wheel for much of the summer race at Riverside. Yet here he was, the veteran just going about his business. He closed a large point deficit down to almost nothing as the circuit headed for Atlanta.
Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers
The other storyline of the day had nothing to do with racing. Radical Iranian Islamic students seized the US Embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979. Sadly, 52 the hostages were held over a year - 444 days - until the swearing-in of Ronald Reagan was completed.
Qualifying got underway on Thursday, November 1. All eyes were on the #11 Junior Johnson team driven by Cale Yarborough. With only 2 races to go, he still hadn't won a pole in 1979 to earn his way into the 1980 Busch Clash. With Cale having Busch as a sponsor, the pressure to win a pole intensified.
Another story line being watched was the rookie battle between Dale Earnhardt and Joe Millikan. The 1979 rookie class stands perhaps as the best of all time as it also included Terry Labonte and later Harry Gant. I've said since 1979 that I couldn't be an Earnhardt fan because I pulled for Millikan, the former Petty Enterprises employee and driver. And for pete's sake, Joe finished 6th in the 79 Cup standings as a rookie - SIXTH!
As it turns out, however, that was a misguided and myopic decision. By early 1982, Millikan was all but done in Cup. And Earnhardt, well ... he went on to have a so-so career I guess you could say. Source: Spartanburg Herald
As car after car hit the track though, Cale could only muster a front row start alongside pole winner Buddy Baker. The Gentle Giant couldn't rest completely after the first day of qualifying though. With 5 drivers yet to go, rains moved in and postponed things. Today, NASCAR will declare the whole session void if the full field can't qualify. Then, NASCAR wrapped the first round on another day. Lake Speed pulled a facepalm moment during his attempted qualifying run. He tried to replicate David Pearson's qualifying do-over for the 1974 Dixie 500 - but without success. Source: Spartanburg Herald
The rains were persistent on Friday and Baker had to wait yet another day to see if he indeed would win the pole. When activity resumed on Saturday, the only real threat to Baker was the Wood Brothers Mercury of Neil Bonnett. But when he could only muster 4th fastest, the pole was finally awarded to Baker. Source: Spartanburg Herald
As the green dropped, Baker led the first 3 laps. From there, Cale set the pace for the next 43 laps. After qualifying fastest and then having to wait 2 days to officially win the pole, Baker's 28 team may have been a bit nervous about the race itself. If so, the feelings were justified. He lasted only 88 laps and finished 39th in the 41-car field.
After Petty took a slim point lead from Waltrip with his win at Rockingham 2 weeks earlier, the King nearly saw his championship hopes go up in a cloud of Goodyear tire smoke with a spin about 2/3 of the way into the race. Fortunately, he didn't get collected by anyone else, made it to the pits, got serviced, and soldiered on.
In a coincidental twist, Kyle Petty made his first Atlanta start. He too spun his STP Dodge Magnum about 10 laps or so before Richard. His spin was due to a blown engine, however, and Kyle finished 32nd. (John Rezek who Kyle nipped in February to win the ARCA 200 made his 3rd of 4 career Cup starts. He finished 36th - 4 spots below Kyle - in a car 'sponsored' by RPM Enterprises.)
The Daytona Beach Morning Journal had a bit of fun with their sports headline about the spinning Pettys.
Richard recovered nicely to salvage a 6th place finish - a testament to the Petty Enterprises team's ability to make chicken salad out of chicken shi..shkabobs. However, the 43 was unable to lead a lap to pick up 5 bonus points. Waltrip led 10 laps and finished one spot ahead of the 43 in 5th. He would take a 2 point lead to the season finale at Ontario - without the benefit of a trumped up Chase for the Championship as we have today.
Yarborough was the dominant car for the first half of the race and continued to lead through the 3/4 mark. Overall he led 136 of the 328 laps. But as the laps wound down, two cars decided to settle the race between themselves and leave Cale out of it.
Bonnett and Earnhardt battled in the final dozen laps or so. The 21 Purolator Mercury took the lead from Earnhardt's #2 Osterland Chevy with 4 to go. Dale made a surge and tried to get Bonnett for the win, but he came up a half car-length short.
No one could have foreseen how the tight finish between the soft spoken, former pipefitter from Alabama and the rowdy rookie from a Carolina milltown would play out over the next 2 decades. They'd become the best of friends. They were teammates for one event at Talladega. And sadly they perished on the same track in accidents just a few hundred feet from one another.
Race report from Spartanburg Herald
The victory was the first at Atlanta for the Wood Brothers since 1976 when David Pearson had one of his marvelous seasons with the team. Source: Spartanburg Herald
updated by @tmc-chase: 11/04/17 08:42:55AM
November 4, 1962 - Paschal Banks Birmingham
Stock Car Racing History
In the 1963 season opener, Plymouths from Petty Enterprises take top honors in the Birmingham 200 - a 200-lap, 100-mile race on the half-mile, paved fairgrounds speedway in Alabama. Jim Paschal won, and Richard Petty finished second.
Driving #41, Paschal won the pole and dominated the race. He led 192 of the 200 laps and lapped the field en route to the win. Sixth-place starter Petty in his familiar #43 led the remaining 8 laps leaving nothing for the rest of the 21-car field. Maurice Petty - Richard's brother, Petty Enterprises engine builder, and soon-to-be-inducted NASCAR Hall of Famer - started ninth in a third #42 Petty Plymouth but finished 14th after spinning and getting clobbered by Ned Jarrett.
Read on for more:
https://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2013/11/november-4-1962-paschal-banks-birmingham.html
| Fin | # | Driver | Sponsor / Owner | Car |
| 1 | 41 | Jim Paschal | Petty Enterprises | '62 Plymouth |
| 2 | 43 | Richard Petty | Petty Enterprises | '62 Plymouth |
| 3 | 87 | Buck Baker | Buck Baker | '62 Chrysler |
| 4 | 54 | Jimmy Pardue | Jimmy Pardue | '62 Pontiac |
| 5 | 26 | Darel Dieringer | Mamie Reynolds | '62 Ford |
| 6 | 47 | Jack Smith | Jack Smith | '62 Pontiac |
| 7 | 4 | Rex White | Louis Clements | '62 Chevrolet |
| 8 | 8 | Joe Weatherly | Bud Moore | '62 Pontiac |
| 9 | 61 | Sherman Utsman | Sherman Utsman | '62 Ford |
| 10 | 36 | Larry Thomas | Wade Younts | '62 Dodge |
| 11 | 11 | Ned Jarrett | B.G. Holloway | '62 Chevrolet |
| 12 | 2 | Bill Foster | Cliff Stewart | '62 Pontiac |
| 13 | 18 | Stick Elliott | Toy Bolton | '62 Pontiac |
| 14 | 42 | Maurice Petty | Petty Enterprises | '62 Plymouth |
| 15 | 19 | Herman Beam | Herman Beam | '62 Ford |
| 16 | 1 | George Green | Jess Potter | '62 Chevrolet |
| 17 | 79 | T.C. Hunt | Ralph Smith | '62 Chevrolet |
| 18 | 30 | Charley Griffith | E.A. McQuaig | '62 Pontiac |
| 19 | 62 | Curtis Crider | Curtis Crider | '62 Mercury |
| 20 | 81 | LeeRoy Yarbrough | Jimmy Baker | '62 Mercury |
| 21 | 9 | Cotton Hodges | Wildcat Williams | '62 Ford |
updated by @tmc-chase: 11/04/20 08:34:34AM
Racing History Minute - November 4, 1951
Stock Car Racing History
AP wire race report from Daytona Beach Morning Journal
October 1963: The 100,000 mile Comet
Stock Car Racing History
While not exactly racing related, I did find this story interesting. It involved stock cars - although like race cars, slightly modified ones - and several drivers including at least two of whom were from the ranks of stock car racing: Buddy Baker and Bunky Blackburn (I guess the A-team wasn't available!). Ford Motor Company ran several Mercury Comets around Daytona International Speedway continually for over a month until they reached 100,000 miles. Source: Daytona Beach Morning Journal
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
Racing History Minute - November 3, 1963
Stock Car Racing History
How did 5th place starter Rex White end up with a 37th place finish? Because of this on lap 2. Oof.
Racing History Minute - November 3, 1963
Stock Car Racing History
I've seen it referred to as being in Randleman. Not sure where Randleman's city limits end and Level Cross's begin. But the track was only a mile or two away from the Petty shops. Of course in 1963 when GPS devices could not have even been imagined, perhaps the larger town of Greensboro was used to get folks focused on the general vicinity.
Racing History Minute - November 3, 1963
Stock Car Racing History
RR member Don Smyle posted a gallery of photos from the 1963 Golden State 400 as part of his new role as a contributor for National Speed Sport News. Some really good ones here.
http://www.nationalspeedsportnews.com/media/photos/photos-1963-golden-state-400/