~HAPPY FATHER'S DAY~
General
Shall we? I'm truly light on my toes.
Forum Activity for @tmc-chase
Quote of the Day
Stock Car Racing History
In the end, I think Mikey LIVED with Pettys longer than Pete got to STAY with them. Sad but true.
Quote of the Day
Stock Car Racing History
Dadburn it! The quote said STAY not LIVE. Jumped too quickly with my reply. (But I probably would have missed it anyway even if I'd given it a 2nd thought. Ha.)
Racing History Minute - June 14, 1953
Stock Car Racing History
Race preview from Panama City newspaper.
I haven't found any news clippings about the race. Other than Fielden's book and your write-up, the only other info I've found is from Five Flags' website at http://5flagsspeedway.com/fans/track-history/ :
Opening day at any race track can be an educational, hectic, and terrifying experience for any promoter and L H. Williamson learned a valuable lesson on the opening day of his Five Flags Speedway. That was 59 years ago, on May 31, 1953, and the lesson was that opening on schedule may not be the most important consideration.
As the story goes, the paving had been delayed by inclement weather and the track had been sprayed with a preparatory coat of cut-back in preparation for the application of asphalt. Original promoters, Alf Knight and Ted Chester had dirt spread over the hastily prepared surface to cure it and soak up some of the moisture. When starting time rolled around, the sweeper was back-flagged to the pits and the action began. The result was a 14-car pileup caused by the dusty conditions on the first lap of the first feature. Thus ended the first day of racing.
Two weeks later, the only NASCAR Grand National (now Nextel Cup) race was held at the facility. The paving was now complete, the dust was gone, but rain was the spoiler for Lee Petty, who appeared ready to charge to the front before the race was red-flagged. As the Pensacola Journal reported the next day, At the halfway mark Petty edged Dick Rathman (for second) only to fall back to third when the rain started, as he did not have windshield wipers. Herb Thomas won after the event was called at 140 of the scheduled 200 laps.
Racing History Minute - June 14, 1953
Stock Car Racing History
Five Flags is also where Mike Alexander's career was permanently altered. After being chosen as the successor to the injured Bobby Allison, he raced Bobby's #12 the rest of 1988. The plan was to change to Mike's traditional 84 for 1989. But with a bad wreck at Pensacola in Dec 1988, Mike returned to Daytona to run the 500 - and then realized uh oh. His body wasn't healed quite as well as needed to race Cup. He stepped away and Dick Trickle became the one known to race the 84 that year. Mike did return to run several races for Bobby when he started his own team, but he was just never the same.
Today, Mike helps his son Clay field the next generation #84 racing operation out of Franklin.
updated by @tmc-chase: 06/14/17 08:54:08AM
June 14, 1959 - (A) Petty wins Lakewood
Stock Car Racing History
Cool. Thanks Cody. Hope you saw the shout-out I gave you, Brandon, and GeorgiaRacingHistory.com in my blog post.
June 14, 1959 - (A) Petty wins Lakewood
Stock Car Racing History
Have wondered if folks took to floats, inner tubes, etc. with a cooler of beer to take in the day.
June 14, 1959 - (A) Petty wins Lakewood
Stock Car Racing History
June 14, 1959: Richard Petty picks up his first career Grand National win at Lakewood Speedway near Atlanta, GA!
Wait.. What? Who? Seriously? No way. Why? Sigh. OK.
Yep, it seems Richard's first win would have to wait until another day. His checkered flag was successfully protested by none other than his dad, Papa Lee.
Read on for more.
http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2013/06/june-14-1959-petty-wins-lakewood.html
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
Racing History Minute - June 13, 1954
Stock Car Racing History
Approximately eleven months after Al Keller's NASCAR Grand National win, he was one of many drivers involved in the horrific accident at the 1955 Indianapolis 500 that claimed the life of 2-time winner and race leader Bill Vukovich.
