April 5 - Two Lee Petty memories
Stock Car Racing History
The 1959 Wilkesboro race was originally scheduled for Sunday, March 15. It was rained out and rescheduled for April 5.
Forum Activity for @tmc-chase
Stock Car Racing History
April 5 - Two Lee Petty memories
Stock Car Racing History
April 5th is the anniversary of two significant events in the life of Lee Petty and his family.
On April 5th, 2000, Lee passed away at the age of 86. The legacy of his racing career was cemented in NASCAR's record books - even if his relationships with people within the sport weren't always necessarily viewed the same way. R.I.P. Lee.
April 5th is also the anniversary of one of Lee's latter wins. He won the 1959 Gwyn Staley 160 at North Wilkesboro Speedway driving car number ... 43. It was his only victory in a car numbered other than 42, and it was the first NASCAR GN win by a car numbered 43.
Read more at my blog post about the race and Ol' Man Lee's victory:
http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2013/04/april-5-1959-lee-petty-wins-wilkesboro.html
I continue to be interested in hearing feedback from folks who may have seen Lee race or info to share from any other Petty Enterprises win - especially by drivers other than Richard. Feel free to contact me here, on my blog or my e-mail at toomuchcountry (at) gmail (dot) com.
updated by @tmc-chase: 04/04/17 11:20:08PM
Think It's Rough Now? Bobby Takes on Curtis, Joe Lee, Lee Roy and More...
Stock Car Racing History
And here is a link to the SI cover article you may have been referring to from 1968. You can read the web-friendly version here: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1080891/index.htm
You can also read a scanned version of the original issue. I wasn't a regular SI reader as a kid. But its been a treasured resource as I plowed back through all of their issues looking for material to supplement by various blog posts.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS IDEA?
Administrative
That's a crazy idea...
...but I love it.
I've thoroughly enjoyed learning as I've researched my Petty-themed posts. Fielden's books, YouTube, photos here and at Randy Ayers Modeling Forum, Perry Allen Wood's books, scanned articles sent to me from SMR, SMJ, SCR mag, etc. have all been fantastic sources to pull together a fun story about a series of races.
So as I say, your idea is a bit nuts...
... but go. Green, green, green!
34 Years Ago at Martinsville, CHEVY Took The King to 1st Short Track Victory in 4 Years!
Stock Car Racing History
As a blog "re-run", here is a link to a blog entry I posted about a year ago. DW won the pole in his Caprice nicknamed "Dolly". But when the dust settled, Ol' Blue was back in familiar territory at Clay Earles' speedway.
http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2012/04/april-22-this-day-in-petty-history-part_22.html
The 1979 spring Marty race was also the first one with Neil Bonnett behind the wheel of the famed Wood Brothers Mercury. The Woods and David Pearson parted ways after many successful seasons but a botched pit stop in the Rebel 500 at Darlington.
Remembering Art Malone
Stock Car Racing History
Perhaps I'm forcing 'two degrees of separation' on Richard Petty and Art Malone, but I find a couple of trivia nuggets interesting.
- A few weeks after Art's 180 MPH run at Daytona in 1961, he was hired to run a Petty Plymouth at Martinsville as a teammate to Richard.
- In May 1963, Richard wiped out his Plymouth in a practice session for the Rebel 300 at Darlington while trying to avoid a wreck started by a rookie. On the same day, Art Malone passed his rookie test at Indy and made his first Indy 500 start later that month. (Click here to read --> Daytona Beach Morning Journal articles.)
- When Art made his Indy debut, his car owner was none other than Mr. STP himself: Andy Granatelli. The one and same who linked up with Petty less than 10 years later.
Source: http://www.indy500autographs.com/id252.html
Remembering Art Malone
Stock Car Racing History
From Laverne's gallery: http://stockcar.racersreunion.com/photo/mad-dog-iv
Remembering Art Malone
Stock Car Racing History
Oh no. Truly hate to hear this. Art also ran a single race for Petty Enterprises a few weeks after breaking the 180 MPH barrier at Daytona. He raced a #42 Petty Plymouth to an 8th place finish at Martinsville in the Old Dominion 500 on September 24, 1961. The race was his first of only two Grand National races in his career.
Selfishly, I'm kicking myself. I was able to get Mr. Malone's phone number from a source close to him. Early this spring when things settled down a bit for me from a busy winter and spring, I'd planned to call him to ask if he had any memories of the race with the Petty team and perhaps request an autograph. I wish now I'd made time to make that call. Lesson to me: carpe diem.
Big picture though - that's trivial. Meanwhile, the racing community has lost another great one.
Bobby Allison/Ray Hendrick Raced Where Easter Monday 1976? Any RR Members Race There That Day?
Stock Car Racing History
More Easter Monday short track races were held on April 19, 1976. Southern Race Track in Altamahaw, NC, about 45 minutes west of Rougemont, hosted a slate of races.
Bobby Allison/Ray Hendrick Raced Where Easter Monday 1976? Any RR Members Race There That Day?
Stock Car Racing History
Only reports about the race I've found so far.
