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Racing History Minute - October 29, 1967


Stock Car Racing History


For Tim Leeming

In memory of his Uncle Bobby, d. October 29, 2013

The Grand National teams readied for the next to last race of the Petty-blue dominated season of 1967 with their final superspeedway race of the season - the American 500 at Rockingham.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

Two storylines of the race were:

  • Could Richard Petty get back to his winning ways? He'd won 27 races in the season - including 10 in a row AND the Carolina 500 at Rockingham in June. But his winning streak ended a week earlier at Charlotte with an engine failure and a victory by Buddy Baker.
  • Bobby Allison entered the race with an unexpected pairing with Fred Lorenzen in a Holman Moody prepared Ford.

THE storyline of the race, however, was the announced entry by Formula 1 great and 1965 Indy 500 winner, Jimmy Clark. Source: 10-24-1967 Spartanburg Herald.

The story behind Clark's Rockingham entry is excerpted from this post at Formula1Blog.com :


On October 22, 1967, Jimmy Clark won his twenty-fourth Grand Prix, tying him for the all time lead with Juan Manuel Fangio. While vacationing in the Bahamas immediately afterwards, Clark received a phone call from NASCAR founder, Bill France... Upon showing interest in what France had to say, Jimmy then received a Western Union telegram from John Holman of the ultra successful Holman & Moody team, guaranteeing him a seat in one of their stock cars for the coming weekends race.

Jimmy immediately accepted the offer, though the original idea was for Jimmys fellow vacationer, Jackie Stewart, to share the drive. Stewart declined, but luckily there was yet a third holiday maker amongst the Grand Prix fraternity; Clark would share a Ford Fairlane at Rockingham... with Jochen Rindt! The F1 entries did not stop there, however. Italian Ludovico Scarfiotti, former Ferrari ace and winner of the previous seasons Italian Grand Prix at Monza, would also be on hand attempting to qualify in a Plymouth.


Clark was apparently very humble and respectful about trying his hand in NASCAR. He looked forward to matching his skills against The King, the best in NASCAR, and Super Tex, the overpowering figure of Indy Car.

Source: Spartanburg Herald

Qualifying for the pole was held on Wednesday before Sunday's race. A driver who became very accustomed to grabbing the top spot over the next decade did so at Rockingham - David Pearson in the #17 H&M Ford. Source: Spartanburg Herald

Paul Goldsmith top the speed charts on Thursday's second round of qualifying as Clark continued to find the balance with the set-up of his car.

Source: News And Courier

Things went from bad to worse for Clark during Friday's 3rd round of qualifying. Not only was his set-up way off, but he wrecked the car.

Source: News and Courier

But Clark's team repaired the car, and he was indeed able to qualify for the race.

Source: Spartanburg Herald

When the green dropped, Pearson took advantage of his top starting spot and led the first lap. However, he soon surrendered it. A hodge podge of drivers spot the lead for a varying number of laps from lap 2 through the middle stages of the race. In a race ultimately dominated by Fords, King Richard was still able to lead a chunk of 58 laps in his Plymouth. But about 190 laps into the 500 lap event, Petty oddly doinked the rear of Pearson's Ford during routine pit stops. The accident caved in the radiator of the 43, and the Level Crew gang loaded Ol' Blue to try again the next race.

Red Farmer made a rare Grand National start and spun. Frank Warren had to swerve to miss him. Farmer made a nice recovery and finished 11th.

Cale Yarborough led about 20% of the race in the Wood Brother #21 Ford - but in small batches of laps during the race. He ultimately lost an engine and finished 16th after starting 4th.

Pearson continued on after the incident with Petty and finished 2nd. But he was no match for Allison in Lorenzen's Ford. Bobby lapped the field and won the race by a lap over Pearson and 3rd place Goldsmith. Everyone else was 2 or more laps down. Foyt made a great showing in his Rockingham debut with a 4th place finish. Fellow Indy and USAC stock car driver, Gordon Johncock, also made a great showing as an interloper with a 5th place finish in Bud Moore's Ford.

As for Clark's weekend of qualifying and racing, here is another excerpt from this post at Formula1Blog.com .


Practice and qualifying for the Sunday race began on Wednesday, October 25th, though drivers could make an attempt to get into the field right up until Saturday. Jimmy spent the first couple of days learning the car before making his first qualifying run on Friday. As he entered the first turn on the first of four flying qualifying laps, the right front wheel came completely off of the car, sending the Scot hard into the outside wall. Though Jimmy was uninjured, the Ford was badly damaged.

The Holman-Moody team spent all night repairing the car and, on Saturday, Clark was able to put the car 25th on a grid of 44 starters. Scarfiotti had qualified a very respectable 29th in his lone NASCAR outing, but the Plymouth would fail scrutineering due to insufficient ground clearance and he would not be allowed to take the start. Just a week following his season-ending win in the Mexican Grand Prix, however, the two time World Champion and 1965 Indianapolis 500 winner, Jimmy Clark and his co-driver and future World Champion, Jochen Rindt were now going to be stock car drivers.

The plan was for Clark to hand the Fairlane over to Rindt halfway through the American 500, but the Austrian would never get to see a race lap. Clark had steadily worked his way up to 12th position by lap 144 when the Fords 427 engine blew, leaving the pair in 30th position. Curiously enough, NASCAR regular Bobby Allison would win the event in another Holman-Moody Team Ford; the same car that Andretti had won that years Daytona 500 with.


Jimmy Clark

And at speed racing Wendell Scott.

G.C. Spencer made this third and final start in a #42 Petty Enterprises Plymouth - all in 1967. He was successful in his 1st start - qualifying 4th in the Southern 500 and finishing 3rd. His 2nd start was pretty good too - a 5th place finish in the National 500 at Charlotte. Sadly, the streak ended at Rockingham. He qualified a decent 17th but a wreck relegated him to 37th in the 44-car field.

Race report from 10-30-67 Spartanburg Herald

The happy winner

Bobby in victory lane - from Dennis Andrews collection

Allison and Lorenzen were obviously elated about their collective win.

Source: 10-30-67 Spartanburg Herald

As for Clark, he left disappointed yet proud of his accomplishment and respectful of the racing done by NASCAR's elite. Had he not been killed less than a year later, its not unreasonable to think he would have been invited to participate in the inaugural IROC series of 1973-74.

Source: News And Courier

Fin Driver Sponsor / Owner Car
1 Bobby Allison Holman-Moody '67 Ford
2 David Pearson Holman-Moody '67 Ford
3 Paul Goldsmith Nichels Engineering (Ray Nichels) '67 Plymouth
4 A.J. Foyt Banjo Matthews '67 Ford
5 Gordon Johncock Bud Moore '67 Mercury
6 Bud Moore Activated Angels (A.J. King) '67 Dodge
7 John Sears L.G. DeWitt '66 Ford
8 Tiny Lund Lyle Stelter '66 Ford
9 Elmo Langley Elmo Langley / Henry Woodfield '66 Ford
10 Bill Seifert Bill Seifert '65 Ford
11 Red Farmer Henley Gray '66 Ford
12 Ed Negre G.C. Spencer '67 Plymouth
13 Dick Hutcherson East Tenn. Motor Co. (Bondy Long) '67 Ford
14 LeeRoy Yarbrough Junior Johnson '67 Ford
15 Whitey Gerken Whitey Gerkin '67 Ford
16 Cale Yarborough Wood Brothers '67 Ford
17 George Davis George Davis '67 Chevrolet
18 Wendell Scott Wendell Scott '66 Ford
19 Buddy Baker Ray Fox '67 Dodge
20 J.T. Putney Buck Baker '66 Ford
21 Neil Castles Neil Castles '65 Dodge
22 Darel Dieringer Cotton Owens '67 Dodge
23 Clyde Lynn Clyde Lynn '66 Ford
24 Friday Hassler Red Sharp '66 Chevrolet
25 Donnie Allison Jon Thorne '67 Ford
26 Bill Champion Bill Champion '66 Ford
27 Don White Nichels Engineering (Ray Nichels) '67 Dodge
28 Richard Petty Petty Enterprises '67 Plymouth
29 Frank Warren Harold Rhodes '66 Chevrolet
30 Jimmy Clark Competition Proven CP (Holman-Moody) '67 Ford
31 Bobby Johns Shorty Johns '66 Chevrolet
32 Charlie Glotzbach K & K Insurance (Nord Krauskopf) '65 Dodge
33 James Sears L.G. DeWitt '66 Ford
34 Doug Cooper Buck Baker '67 Oldsmobile
35 Jim Paschal Friedkin Enterprises (Tom Friedkin) '67 Plymouth
36 Bobby Isaac K & K Insurance (Nord Krauskopf) '67 Dodge
37 G.C. Spencer Petty Enterprises '67 Plymouth
38 James Hylton Econo Wash (Bud Hartje) '65 Dodge
39 Wayne Smith Archie Smith '66 Chevrolet
40 Roy Tyner Truett Rodgers '66 Chevrolet
41 Jabe Thomas Don Robertson '67 Ford
42 Jack Bowsher Jack Bowsher '67 Ford
43 Bobby Wawak Bobby Wawak '65 Plymouth
44 Earl Brooks Don Culpepper '66 Ford

updated by @tmc-chase: 10/30/17 10:23:16AM
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10/29/13 09:48:22AM
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October 29, 1950: Lee Petty wins but woulda, coulda, shoulda


Stock Car Racing History


In the final race of NASCAR's second season for its Strictly Stock / Grand National division, Lee Petty has a consistent day, leads the final 43 laps, and wins a scheduled 200-lap race on the one-mile, dirt Occoneechee Speedway in Hillsboro, North Carolina.

Fonty Flock won the pole and dominated much of the race by leading 124 of the 175 laps. (Darkness caused the race to be shortened by 25 laps.) But problems late caused Fonty to surrender the lead. Lee soon took over and held onto the lead.

The storyline of the weekend was the championship battle between Bill Rexford and Fireball Roberts. Rexford needed a solid finish to lock it up. However, he exited early and sweated it out as Fireball raced on. But in time, Roberts too fell out and Rexford claimed the championship.

But... NEITHER would have won had Bill France not dropped a massive penalty on Lee earlier in the season. Because he ran a non-NASCAR sanctioned event in July, France docked him 100% of the GN points he'd earned to that point. Had France not assessed Petty the penalty, Lee likely would have been the 1950 champion rather than Rexford. He rallied from zero points in late July to finish third in the standings behind Rexford and Roberts by season's end.

Lee wasn't the only one hit with a left hook by France. He nailed reigning champion and a central figure in the formation of NASCAR, Red Byron, with a 100% points penalty not just once but twice.

Read on for more:

https://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2013/10/october-291950-lee-petty-hauls-in.html

Fin Driver Car
1 Lee Petty '49 Plymouth
2 Buck Baker '50 Oldsmobile
3 Weldon Adams '50 Plymouth
4 Tim Flock '50 Plymouth
5 Bill Blair '50 Oldsmobile
6 Gayle Warren '50 Plymouth
7 Ray Duhigg '49 Plymouth
8 Jim Delaney '50 Plymouth
9 Herbert Burns '49 Lincoln
10 Jack Holloway '50 Mercury
11 George Hartley '50 Mercury
12 Johnny Grubb '50 Oldsmobile
13 Tommy Melvin '50 Oldsmobile
14 Ewell Weddle '49 Lincoln
15 Ted Chamberlain '50 Plymouth
16 Slick Smith '50 Plymouth
17 Lloyd Moore '50 Oldsmobile
18 Herb Thomas '50 Plymouth
19 Louise Smith '50 Nash
20 Fonty Flock '50 Oldsmobile
21 Fireball Roberts '49 Oldsmobile
22 Jimmy Ayers '50 Plymouth
23 Coleman Grant '49 Lincoln
24 Jack Reynolds '50 Plymouth
25 Clyde Minter '47 Buick
26 Bill Rexford '50 Oldsmobile
27 Bucky Sager '50 Plymouth
28 Jim Paschal '50 Oldsmobile
29 Curtis Turner '50 Oldsmobile

updated by @tmc-chase: 10/29/20 09:41:09AM
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10/28/13 10:16:36PM
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October 28, 1962: Rex White Wins For Final Time


Stock Car Racing History

Argh! Once again I violated the carpenter's adage of measure twice, cut once. I tried to hammer this one out before I left the office today. Didn't take time to proofread as closely as I should have. I glanced at article before I cut-cropped-pasted - then forgot and typed the wrong city.

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10/28/13 06:42:47PM
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October 28, 1962: Rex White Wins For Final Time


Stock Car Racing History


As was the case for much of the 1990s, the 1962 Grand National season concluded at Atlanta International Raceway - later known as Atlanta Motor Speedway. Joe Weatherly claimed the first of his two consecutive Grand National titles in 1962. The GN teams rolled into Atlanta for the Dixie 400.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

Perennial speedsters Fireball Roberts and Fred Lorenzen captured the front row. Marvin Panch and Junior Johnson qualified 3rd and 4th. Source: Spartanburg Herald

Between qualifying and race day, all kinds of switcheroos took place with engines, drivers and cars such as Fireball, Banjo, Buck and Buddy, and Jack Smith. Today, fans might call it collusion amongst the big teams. In 1962, I suppose it was one guy just helping another - and one team owner trying to maximize the scarce few dollars being paid by the tracks. Source: Spartanburg Herald

After replacing his blown engine with the one from Banjo's car, Fireball picked up where he left off on Saturday. He won a 6-lap "Race of Champions" event. Source: Spartanburg Herald

Junior Johnson led a bit more than 2 dozen laps in the first quarter of the race. But he lost a tire, went into the fence, and was done for the day. The 4th place starter finished 36th in the 44-car field. Source: News And Courier

When the green flag fell, Fireball caught fire. He led 144 of the race's 267 laps. But with about 30 laps to go, he had to pit because of a miss under the hood. Sure enough, his torrid pace resulted in his burning 3 pistons. Roberts was able to return the track, and he limped home to a 10th place finish and 5 laps down to the winner.

With Fireball all but out it as well as Bobby Johns who had crashed about 2/3 of the way through the event, Marvin Panch found himself back out front and presumably cruising to the win. But, its not over until its over...

Rex White - who had drafted the 21 car most of the day - inherited the lead from Panch with 3 laps to go as Panch's Wood Brothers Ford gasped for gas. He swept across the finish line to claim his final career Grand National victory. Source: Spartanburg Herald

A feature column on Rex's win in the Spartanburg Herald

The victory lane photo published by the Associated Press.

I'm guessing this one may have been an outtake as Rex seems to be pre-occupied. Country singer Faron Young looks on. FromĀ  Curtis Pierce's collection.

As mentioned at the beginning, Joe Weatherly won the championship. But as has so often been the case with NASCAR over the years, a bit of controversy was involved. A scheduled race at Hampton, VA South Boston was rained out, and NASCAR elected not to reschedule it. As a result, Richard Petty had one less race in which to overcome the points deficit between himself and Weatherly. Source: Spartanburg Herald

Fin Driver Car
1 Rex White '62 Chevrolet
2 Joe Weatherly '62 Pontiac
3 Marvin Panch '62 Ford
4 Richard Petty '62 Plymouth
5 Fred Lorenzen '62 Ford
6 Larry Frank '62 Ford
7 Stick Elliott '62 Pontiac
8 Buck Baker '62 Pontiac
9 Jack Smith '62 Pontiac
10 Fireball Roberts '62 Pontiac
11 David Pearson '62 Pontiac
12 Bob Welborn '62 Pontiac
13 Elmo Langley '62 Ford
14 Ralph Earnhardt '62 Dodge
15 Buddy Baker '62 Chrysler
16 G.C. Spencer '62 Chevrolet
17 Jim Paschal '62 Plymouth
18 Bunkie Blackburn '62 Pontiac
19 Tiny Lund '62 Pontiac
20 Johnny Allen '62 Pontiac
21 Herman Beam '62 Ford
22 Jimmy Thompson '62 Dodge
23 Darel Dieringer '62 Ford
24 Bobby Johns '62 Pontiac
25 Jimmy Pardue '62 Pontiac
26 Sherman Utsman '62 Ford
27 Emanuel Zervakis '62 Mercury
28 Tommy Irwin '62 Chevrolet
29 Larry Thomas '62 Dodge
30 H.B. Bailey '61 Pontiac
31 H.G. Rosier '61 Pontiac
32 Johnny Sudderth '62 Chevrolet
33 Cale Yarborough '62 Ford
34 Doug Yates '62 Chevrolet
35 Nelson Stacy '62 Ford
36 Junior Johnson '62 Pontiac
37 LeeRoy Yarbrough '62 Mercury
38 Red Foote '61 Ford
39 Paul Lewis '62 Chevrolet
40 Ned Jarrett '62 Chevrolet
41 Woodie Wilson '61 Ford
42 Tom Cox '62 Chrysler
43 Curtis Crider '62 Mercury
44 George Green '61 Chevrolet

updated by @tmc-chase: 06/10/17 06:47:36PM
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October 28, 1961: The other South Carolina race


Stock Car Racing History


Tim Leeming posted about the October 28, 1961 Grand National race at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in South Carolina here:

http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/stock-car-racing-history/28279/racing-history-minute-october-28-1961

But on the same day, the MARC series (later known as ARCA) also raced in South Carolina at Columbia Speedway. Having led the effort to build Charlotte Motor Speedway, Curtis Turner was dumped by the board of directors and was banned by NASCAR in 1961. But he and Tim Flock - also banned "for life" by Bill France - didn't just retire to the porch. They worked with John Marcum to promote MARC races in the south.

While I see nothing in these articles stating specifically so, my hunch tells me Turner scheduled the Columbia race to deliberately go head-to-head with France's GN race in Greenville.

Race preview from Sumter Daily Item

Race preview from Spartanburg Herald .

Race preview from Sumter Daily Item

I haven't yet found a race report article though I did learn Curtis won his own race (not altogether surprising I suppose). The race was scheduled to begin at 8PM on a Saturday night. Its likely to have finished after the press deadline for the Sunday edition papers.


updated by @tmc-chase: 11/26/20 08:57:24AM
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10/28/13 10:35:57AM
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Racing History Minute - October 28, 1961


Stock Car Racing History

The GN guys were participating in on-track action at the established Greenville-Pickens Speedway. Meanwhile, about 2 hours to the northeast up I-85 a young track with some good racing but a mountain of debt was struggling to stay afloat off-the-track. Fast forward about a decade when RJR branded the Winston Cup Series - and its interesting to realize which track continued to host GN/Cup races and which one did not.

Source: Spartanburg Herald

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Racing History Minute - October 28, 1961


Stock Car Racing History


Race preview from Spartanburg Herald

Race report from Spartanburg Herald

And why did you choose to reference the car numbers for the Petty team cars? Who in the world would be interested in that level of trivia? ;-) Ha ha.


updated by @tmc-chase: 10/28/19 10:14:31AM
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10/27/13 06:20:18PM
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Oct 27, 1973: The IROC series debuts


Stock Car Racing History


On October 27, 1973, Jay Signore's International Race of Champions - IROC - series debuts with a pair of races at the famed Riverside International Raceway.

The series - conceived by Roger Penske and the late Les Richter - featured 3 races in 2 days over October 27-28, 1973 and a 4th and champion-deciding race at Daytona during 1974 Speedweeks. The field included 12 superstar drivers driving matching Porsche 911 Carerras.

Source: Crunch22.blogspot.com

This pbase gallery includes several good photos from those early IROC races.

http://www.pbase.com/slidevalve911rsr/911rsr_factory_cars_iroc_misc_photos

Some video footage of those first couple of races. The video clip is primarily of driver introductions, but some highlights (or lowlights for some drivers) are included as part of the intros.


Race report from Daytona Beach Morning Journal :

Race 1:

Fin Driver Series
1 Mark Donohue SCCA
2 Bobby Unser USAC
3 Peter Revson SCCA
4 George Follmer SCCA
5 Denny Hulme FIA
6 A.J. Foyt USAC
7 Richard Petty NASCAR
8 Roger McCluskey USAC
9 David Pearson NASCAR
10 Gordon Johncock USAC
11 Bobby Allison NASCAR
12 Emerson Fittipaldi

FIA

Race 2:

Fin Driver Series
1 George Follmer SCCA
2 David Pearson NASCAR
3 Emerson Fittipaldi FIA
4 Peter Revson SCCA
5 A.J. Foyt USAC
6 Bobby Unser USAC
7 Bobby Allison NASCAR
8 Denny Hulme FIA
9 Gordon Johncock USAC
10 Richard Petty NASCAR
11 Roger McCluskey USAC
12 Mark Donohue SCCA

updated by @tmc-chase: 10/27/17 10:02:18AM
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10/27/13 12:57:59PM
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Oct 27, 1996 & 1997: The 43 returns to victory lane


Stock Car Racing History


After a 13 year drought, the 43 of Petty Enterprises rises from the ashes in Phoenix, AZwith Bobby Hamilton behind the wheel. Bobby returns the PE 43 to victory lane for the first time since The King's controversial win at Charlotte in October 1983.

From JC Hayes collection.

The key storyline entering the race wasn't the Petty team at all. With only two races remaining in the season, all eyes were on the championship contenders Dale Jarrett and two Hendrick Motorsports drivers, Terry Labonte and Jeff Gordon. In a Friday practice session, Labonte had a hard crash, totaled his primary car, and broke his left wrist. With some hospital care, a Rube Goldberg'esque hand brace and steering wheel, and plenty of race-day injections, the Ironman suited up and raced - just like race drivers do (or at least used to do).

Read on for more about Hamilton's win in the Dura-Lube 500:

http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2013/10/october-27-1996-43-rises-again-in.html

Exactly one year after Bobby Hamilton raced the #43 STP Petty Enterprises Pontiac to a win at Phoenix, he again piloted the 43 to a win - his second and final one with the Petty team - in the AC Delco 400 at Rockingham.

Read on for more:

http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2013/10/october-27-1997-hamilton-rolls-at-rock.html

Coincidentally, another Labonte - Bobby Labonte - has a connecting trivia stat also. He won the pole position for both of these races in Joe Gibbs #18 Interstate Batteries Pontiac.


updated by @tmc-chase: 10/27/17 10:05:08AM
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