Forum Activity for @tmc-chase

Was this a requirement or a driver preference

Stock Car Racing History

That pic is from the inaugural World 600 in 1960. The newly christened Charlotte Motor Speedway built by Curtis Turner and Bruton Smith was hardly ready for prime time. The pavement was chunking badly. All 3 Petty cars ran the screens to help protect their cars as you say - and their heads!

Here is another pic of Lee racing alongside teammate Bobby Johns.

And here is Richard racing alongside Jack Smith.

As it turns out, the Petty Plan was for naught. Both Lee and Richard were DQd by NASCAR along with Bob Welborn, Junior Johnson, Paul Lewis, and Lennie Page for accessing pit road inappropriately or something like that. Bobby Johns was not DQd and salvaged a 3rd place finish for the team.

May 24, 1964: Paschal's overlooked World 600 win

Stock Car Racing History

On May 24, 1964, Jim Paschal and The King finished 1-2 in Petty Plymouths in the World 600. Few folks remember the race's winner. Instead, most remember the race for the awful wreck that ultimately cost Fireball Roberts his life and became the tipping point for Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett to wind down their driving careers. A big thanks to Tim Leeming for contributing personal memories for this blog post. Read on for more.

http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2013/05/may-24-1964-paschals-forgotten-world.html

updated by @tmc-chase: 05/24/17 11:02:55AM

Racing History Minute - May 24, 1959

Stock Car Racing History

DOH! Messed up by attribution. The previous comment, article, and pic was from the May 25th afternoon edition of the Nashville Banner. THIS one is from the May 25th morning edition of The Tennesseean. Rex White was trying to eke out a fuel mileage and probably puckered up when he received TWO white flags. As noted in the article, the flagman waved the first one a lap early.

Racing History Minute - May 24, 1959

Stock Car Racing History

The May 25 Monday morning edition of The Tennessean included a recap of the race. The writer, John Steen, notes the reason for the low car count. In the "notes" section near the end of his article, he mentioned NASCAR scheduled a convertible race the day before at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem. Many drivers in that race did not make the overnight drive to compete in the Nashville race - including the convertible race winner Glen Wood, 3rd place Richard Petty, Bob Welborn, Tiny Lund, and Ned Jarrett. Two drivers that DID make the trip were Buck Baker and Joe Lee Johnson.

Racing History Minute - May 24, 1959

Stock Car Racing History

I don't have anything about the 1959 Nashville race in my collection. I'm sure Russ Thompson does, but I believe he is in Indy getting ready for the 500 with the NBC crew. So I executed Plan C. I went to the Nashville library during lunch today and crawled through good ol' microfilm of archived editions of The Tennessean and Nashville Banner.

I'm glad I did because I found some neat articles - and a trivia nugget or two about the race. On May 24 - the day of the race - The Tennessean included a promo photo and article forecasting a record-setting race. The article is a bit hard to read when embedded in this post. But click on it, and the legibility should be much better for you.

More to follow...

updated by @tmc-chase: 05/24/17 11:02:01AM

Racing History Minute - May 24, 1959

Stock Car Racing History

This was only the second Grand National race at Nashville. Rex won the pole for both of Nashville's races that season.

The field of 12 cars at Nashville is tied with 6 other races for the fewest starters in GN/Cup history:

08/29/53 - Hickory (winner: Fonty Flock)

08/03/56 - Oklahoma City (winner: Lee Petty)

04/23/61 - Richmond (winner: Richard Petty)

-   Blog: http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2012/04/april-23-this-day-in-petty-history-part.html

05/01/64 - Savannah (winner: LeeRoy Yarbrough)

-   Tim Leeming post: http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/stock-car-racing-history/23168/racing-history-minute-may-1-1964

08/07/64 - Myrtle Beach (winner: David Pearson)

10/09/64 - Savannah (winner: Ned Jarrett)

updated by @tmc-chase: 05/24/17 11:01:40AM

This day in 1970 - May 24, 1970

Stock Car Racing History

I like it! I recognize a lot of names on that rundown though I'm not terribly familiar with the history of USAC stockers. Bring 'em on! Would love to see memories on this site of series other than NASCAR's GN/Cup and LMS/Busch. ARCA, USAC, ACT, etc. would all be fun to read and learn about.

Racing History Minute - May 23, 1965

Stock Car Racing History

Speaking of Lee Roy and the Chevrolet, what a difference makes. In the1964 World 600, Petty cars finished 1-2 with Jim Pascal the winner and Richard 2nd. With the Chrysler boycott in place, the Petty Plymouths and Richard were absent from the 1965 600. But Paschal raced anyway - in a Chevrolet. He started 17th and finished 23rd in car number 41 - the same number used a year earlier.

Source: Free Lance Star of Fredericksburg, VA

Racing History Minute - May 23, 1965

Stock Car Racing History

Racing History Minute - May 23, 1965

Stock Car Racing History

Race program (Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers )