It's well established that I'm a Petty Lifer. Have been since being introduced to racing in 1974. Yet I've always had a soft spot for the independent underdogs that were as much a part of GN/Cup racing as the big dawgs.
Very few of those guys got to reap the glory of victory lane. The short list includes guys such as Wendell Scott, Dick Brooks, Elmo Langley, Paul Lewis and in recent years Regan Smith with Furniture Row I suppose.
Today is the anniversary of James Hylton's first GN win at Richmond on March 1, 1970. I posted a blog about it with assists from Ray Lamm with pics and Perry Allen Wood with his book, Declarations of Stock Car Independents .
This one slipped up on me. Never heard of it until seeing a tweet earlier in the week. Had no idea what channel Spike was on my cable package. DVR has been set.
If my memory serves me right, I THINK Spike was the successor channel to The Nashville Network. If so, a full lap has been made.
In December 1955, Bill France and his board of directors for NASCAR completed a merger with the Society of Auto Sports, Fellowship and Education - a lengthy label reduced to a concise acronym of SAFE. - Sarasota Journal
The business combination expanded NASCAR's operations a bit in the Midwest. NASCAR also launched a "new" convertible division series in 1956 - a racing division operated previously by SAFE. Though eligible to join NASCAR, most of SAFE's drivers apparently chose not to align with France and went different directions. Nonetheless, NASCAR scheduled the first convertible race under its new sanctioning and promotion umbrella for February 25, 1956. Where else COULD such a division debut but the sands of Daytona Beach.
Though NASCAR didn't expand its driver base by adding racers from SAFE, it did fill a 29-car field with plenty of names familiar to NASCAR fans including:
Two-time NASCAR GN champion, Herb Thomas. The race would be the future NASCAR HOFer's only convertible series start. - Getty
Bob Pronger whose Ford was so new his number had not yet been painted on it - Getty
Mel Larson - looking dapper in his suit and with a novel connecting roll bar from the windshield to the bar behind the front seat - Getty
Weatherly claimed the pole position and led the first five laps. Shortly after the green, Bill Brown drifted wide on his first pass through the north turn. He stalled his Mercury against the fence in the north turn and simply abandoned the car. - DBMJ
Starting 14th after apparently not even laying down a qualifying lap was Curtis Turner. (If true, I'm not sure how he ended up in 14th vs. deeper in the field.) He'd had a mild scare in the modified sportsman race the day before when his car caught fire. But Turner wasn't worried about where he'd been or where he was starting - he was focused on where he was GOING.
From Full Throttle: The Life And Times of Curtis Turner :
Though Weatherly leveraged his top starting spot to lead the first few laps, Turner pursued him relentlessly from the jump. Once he caught him, Pop and Little Joe waged an epic, see-saw battle at the front of the field until the mid-point of the race. They raced lap after lap...
...after lap. Here they slide past the abandoned car of Bill Brown. - Getty
Again, from Full Throttle :
Though the pair drove team Fords for Pete DePaolo (along with Fireball), Little Joe's blue oval couldn't keep up. He lost the water pump on his car, was done for the day and finished a disappointing 19th.
With his rival and friend sidelined, Pop just kept the wheel in his Ford until the end. After many attempts before and after the formation of NASCAR, Turner finally got the win that he truly wanted at Daytona. - Bill Rankin
Teammate Roberts hung in there with Turner to finish second. Thomas was third, and Marvin Panch finished 4th with an assist from a relief driver. Placing 17th in the finishing order was RacersReunion member Tiger Tom Pistone.
Love the body posture of the two drivers too at the moment they clanged together. Papa Lee looks to be sitting a little taller on his bench seat as he gauges what is about to happen.
Cars raced on the sands of Daytona Beach for who knows how long. When NASCAR was formed, Bill France & Co. promoted multiple modified, Grand National and even convertible races on the beach-and-road course. The final beach race of the short-lived convertible division race was run on February 22, 1958.
Two NASCAR HOFers started on the front row. 1954 beach winner Papa Lee Petty started from the pole position with Tim Flock lined up beside him. Flock was a GN beach winner in 1955 and 1956 and the convertible race winner the previous year in 1957. - John McMillion pic
Wilburn Rakestraw in #999 started third with Baker to his outside. Starting 7th was another NASCAR HOFer, Glen Wood. - John McMillion pic
Yet ANOTHER NASCAR HOFer, Little Joe Weatherly, started 14th in his #12 Holman Moody Ford. - John McMillion pic
At the drop of the green, Flock was able get the jump on Petty. He motored ahead and led the first 2 laps. On lap 3, however, he ran off the course in the north turn. Flock regrouped, got back on course, but then realized his steering was all messed up. He retired from the race and finished 27th in the 29-car field. - DBMJ
With Flock out of the way, Curtis Turner took over and slipped and slid his way at the head of the field for the next 17 laps of the 39-lap race.
Behind Turner, a good battle was waged between Tiny Lund in another one of Bob Welborn's Chevrolets and Marvin Panch in his Ford. - John McMillion pic
Panch, Lund, Bob Pronger and Bob Welborn - Getty Images
Panch also mixed it up with Turner even as car and pit issues dropped Marvin down through the running order. - Getty
Around half-way, Lee Petty took over the lead from Turner. His time at the front didn't last long though. Eight laps after going to the point, Pop motored back past the 42 to seize command of the race.
Curtis pretty well controlled the race the rest of the way. He led the remaining 12 laps to take the checkers in the final convertible beach race on the beach-and-road circuit. Second place, however, wasn't decided until the final corner as the two cars came through the north turn.
Joe Weatherly and Lee Petty barreled through the sand and slid through the North Turn a final time. As they did, Weatherly took a higher route and Lee went low. As the two cars pogo'd their way through the sand and got ready to head down Highway A1A, Lee caught Little Joe at about the right spot in the left rear quarter panel. - Getty
The nick was enough to spin Weatherly 180 degrees and slightly block Petty. But Petty then cleared Joe and motored home to claim second as Weatherly regrouped to finish third.
Many suggested Lee deliberately turned Weatherly because of his friendship with Turner - who Lee also nudged in the [ 1957 Southern 500 ]. But did Joe rush down to Lee's pit to pitch a fit? Nah, he was upset but shrugged it off, decided all was OK with he and Lee, and smirked with perhaps an ace (or tire iron) up his sleeve as he quipped "there's going to be another race tomorrow."
The fans on the other hand - many rushed from the stands towards the corner as the remaining cars rounded turn 4 to finish the race! And the crews of Petty and Weatherly didn't exactly see eye to eye either. But they raced another day.
