Racing History Minute - October 15, 1955

Stock Car Racing History

Know how many GN races were run at Columbia? That's right...

October 14, 1979: BP wins hometown race

Stock Car Racing History

Thanks. I have such a great appreciation for the eras of the past. I remember a little about a handful of races but very little about the majority of them. I'm learning as I go! Having as much fun tracking down the details as I do assembling them together for the posts.

October 14, 1979: BP wins hometown race

Stock Car Racing History

1973 NASCAR Cup champion Benny Parsons finally notched a win on his hometown track, North Wilkesboro Speedway, in the Holly Farms 400. The victory was also the first Cup win for relatively new car owner, M.C. Anderson.

The race was originally scheduled for September 30, 1979.

Qualifying was held, and rookie Dale Earnhardt nabbed the pole.

Source: Spartanburg Herald Journal

Pic from archive of SaveTheSpeedway.net

But on race day, heavy rains moved in and the race was postponed 2 weeks to October 14. As noted on this archived page of SaveTheSpeedway.net :

On race day, even though the sun was starting to show, prolonged rains caused earthworms and night crawlers to come to the surface to seek relief from the soaked infield. According to reports, the slimy creatures came out by the millions and clogged drain pipes and covered the racing surface. There was no way to clean up the mess in time to get a race in.

Apparently the race couldn't be run on Monday, and the National 500 was already scheduled for the following Sunday, October 7.

Source: Spartanburg Herald

As recapped on SaveTheSpeedway.net:

Bobby Allison led most of the race. In the final 150 laps Darrell Waltrip caught Allison. The two hit together hard and Darrell nailed the front stretch wall. Waltrip began crowding off Allison under the caution and got black flagged for the crowding. Waltrip finished 24 laps down in 13th place. Benny Parsons was the race winner. It would be Parsons only win at the track. Bobby Allison led a race high 175 laps on his way to a 2nd place finish. He was bested by Parsons by less than a half a car length when the checkered flag waved.

Race report from Hendersonville NC's Times News .

Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough doing battle early in the race. Cale crashed later and finished deep in the final results.

And David Allio captured a great shot of a seething DW hounding Bobby Allison as pole-winner Earnhardt watches from his traditional slouched position.

Source: RacingPhotoArchives.com

The King finished 3rd and picked up several valuable points on Waltrip. He narrowed the gap to 17 points as he stalked DW in search of his 7th championship.

Victory lane photo from SaveTheSpeedway.net.

Fin	Driver	Car	Led
1	Benny Parsons	Chevrolet	92
2	Bobby Allison	Ford	175
3	Richard Petty	Chevrolet	0
4	Dale Earnhardt	Chevrolet	12
5	Ricky Rudd	Ford	0
6	Terry Labonte	Chevrolet	0
7	Ronnie Thomas	Chevrolet	0
8	D.K. Ulrich	Chevrolet	0
9	Buddy Arrington	Dodge	0
10	Richard Childress	Chevrolet	0
11	James Hylton	Chevrolet	0
12	Roger Hamby	Chevrolet	0
13	Darrell Waltrip	Chevrolet	104
14	Harry Gant	Chevrolet	0
15	Joe Millikan	Chevrolet	0
16	Ernie Shaw	Chevrolet	0
17	Baxter Price	Chevrolet	0
18	Cecil Gordon	Chevrolet	0
19	Bill Elswick	Oldsmobile	0
20	Cale Yarborough	Oldsmobile	17
21	Dave Marcis	Chevrolet	0
22	Larry Isley	Chevrolet	0
23	John Kennedy	Chevrolet	0
24	Jimmy Means	Chevrolet	0
25	Dick Brooks	Oldsmobile	0
26	Frank Warren	Dodge	0
27	Tommy Gale	Ford	0
28	J.D. McDuffie	Chevrolet	0
29	Henry Jones	Chevrolet	0

updated by @tmc-chase: 01/06/17 11:50:31AM

Racing History Minute - October 14, 1951

Stock Car Racing History

But based on that little clipping you posted Dave, looks like the fairgrounds may have been where East Henderson HS is now. If so, definitely nothing left - except a street called Fairground Ave.

Say, didn't this post start out with something about Shippenville and Martinsville? Who got us off track? Oh. Wait. Never mind.

updated by @tmc-chase: 10/14/17 08:58:18PM

Racing History Minute - October 14, 1951

Stock Car Racing History

With that as a guide, here is what I think the modern day aerial view looks like. I think the fairgrounds may have been just to the slight northeast of Oakdale Cemetery.

A close-up view - though I'm not sure I can make out the shape of an oval track anywhere.

updated by @tmc-chase: 10/14/17 08:58:04PM

Racing History Minute - October 14, 1951

Stock Car Racing History

Searching about this morning, I connected Fletcher and the fairgrounds also. But having never heard of it, I wasn't sure if that connection was valid. Even tried the Google satellite view hoping to spot the outline of a track's remnants - but didn't see anything. Hoping Buddy Shuman being the promoter might be the key to getting the right answer.

Racing History Minute - October 14, 1951

Stock Car Racing History

While 3 GN events were scheduled for the same day, several drivers who raced frequently in the series even then skipped all three events in favor of staying closer to home.

Buddy Shuman promoted a NASCAR sanctioned race at WNC Fairgrounds. Its interesting though that Billy Carden was expected to race in the event - though he ended up racing that day in Pennsylvania.

What I'm NOT sure about is where the WNC Fairgrounds track was located. Maybe others can help - is this the track that became Asheville-Weaverville? New Asheville? Or perhaps another track in the area of Asheville-Weaverville-Hendersonville-Fletcher-Skyland?

Source: Hendersonville Times-News

Racing History Minute - October 14, 1951

Stock Car Racing History

As referenced in Aumann's article, it look like you can still see the outline of the remnants of Pine Grove Speedway.

Racing History Minute - October 14, 1951

Stock Car Racing History

Took some effort but I managed to find this archived article by Mark Aumann from 2011 that was originally published on NASCAR.com.

http://web.archive.org/web/20110620191947/http://www.nascar.com/news/110617/retro-mburke-nascar-tripleheader/index.html

NASCAR tripled the action one day in 1951

With points leaders scattered across U.S., Burke comes from nowhere for win

By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM
June 17, 2011 11:27 AM, EDT

The recent doubleheader at Texas Motor Speedway featuring open-wheeled cars brought to mind a time when NASCAR did that one better, running three races on the same day in 1951.

Bill France was determined to spotlight the "national" in his fledgling -- but mainly regional -- National Association for Stock Car Automobile Racing. With the success of the inaugural Southern 500 at Darlington the previous season, drivers around the country began to show interest in stock cars and tracks in hosting races.

NASCAR already had strong ties to the Northeast, having run several races in Pennsylvania and New York during the first two Cup seasons. And 1950 champion Bill Rexford -- who turned 23 that season -- was a native of Conowango Valley, N.Y.

But the sanctioning body wanted a West Coast presence, and in 1951, France found a handful of tracks in California willing to run races under NASCAR sanctions. However, most of the big-name drivers running for the championship were unwilling (or unable because of the costs involved) to tow across the country, leaving mostly California-based drivers to fill the fields out west.

So on Oct. 14, 1951, NASCAR sanctioned three races: a 100-mile race on the dirt at half-mile Martinsville Speedway, a race of similar length at a half-mile dirt track north of Pittsburgh known as Pine Grove Speedway and a 250-miler at high-banked Oakland Stadium in California.

With a tight battle for the championship, the top three drivers in the points standings each chose a different venue. Points leader Herb Thomas and most of the Cup regulars stayed close to home and comprised the 23-car field at Martinsville. Fonty Flock towed Frank Christian's No. 14 Red Devil out west, while brother Tim Flock -- running third in the standings -- chose to make the trip to Shippenville, Pa.

Martinsville turned out to be a race in which it wasn't necessarily advantageous to hold the lead. Thomas started on the pole in his Fabulous Hudson Hornet and led the first 28 laps before crashing, leading to an 18th-place finish. Curtis Turner then took over the top spot, only to have a tie rod break. That left Billy Myers in front, but soon he was passed by Leonard Tippett.

Tippett soon fell victim to mechanical issues when his Hornet broke a driveshaft. That handed the lead to Atlanta's Frank Mundy, who had been tabbed as a fill-in by owner Ted Chester in the No. 7 Gray Ghost Oldsmobile. Despite pressure from Lee Petty and Myers, Mundy led the final 114 laps for his second win of the season and the $1,000 first-place check.

Tim Flock, driving Chester's other car -- the Black Phantom -- had a much easier time of it up north. Rexford went out early and Flock was never headed, beating John McGinley, Billy Carden, Jimmy Florian and Lloyd Moore for his sixth win of the year, also worth $1,000.

Imagine a short-track Talladega Superspeedway with twice the steepness in the corners. That pretty much describes Oakland Stadium, a tremendously fast five-eighths mile with turns banked at an incredible 62 degrees. Bob Sweikert, who went on to win the 1955 Indianapolis 500, once turned a lap at over 108 mph there in a roadster.

The fastest way around Oakland Stadium was much like running Darlington. The groove was right up against the outside wall, making passing incredibly difficult. Once a driver grabbed the lead, it was his until he made a mistake or broke something.

Fonty Flock had the newer, more powerful Oldsmobile, but the locals had the advantage of being more familiar with the track, and that eventually paid off for Marvin Burke, who grew up in nearby Pittsburg, Calif., and had raced competitively in the area for several years after World War II. The 33-year-old Burke led 156 of the 400 laps in his 1950 Mercury, beating two other Bay Area natives -- Robert Caswell and Wood Brown -- to the finish line. Flock wound up a distant 11th.

Burke never competed in another NASCAR race, leaving him with the rare distinction as the only driver in NASCAR's history books to be undefeated. Burke, who died in 1994, was recently inducted into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame.

Martinsville was later paved and remains on the NASCAR schedule, but the other two tracks have been long gone from the racing scene. Pine Grove never hosted another Cup race and eventually was shut down in the late '50s. However, the outline of the track can still seen south of Shippenville on satellite images. Oakland Stadium hosted two more NASCAR races in 1954 but fell victim to development shortly thereafter.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

Racing History Minute - October 14, 1951

Stock Car Racing History

Very interesting re: the Shippenville race. Guessing Tim Flock left PA with more than $1,000 in his pocket. Would think he got a good bit of show money as well. And Bill Rexford was the reigning GN champion - he may have received a similar deal.

Also, October 14 was a Sunday - makes sense for Martinsville. But I wonder if Shippenville could have been a make-up date from a rainout. Judging by who ran which race, perhaps not. Maybe NASCAR did indeed sanction 2 races on the same date in the same time zone and a few hundred miles away.

Shippenville hosted only this one GN event. The sanctioned race may have been a favor by France towards the promoter.