January 28, 1968: Stock Car Racing Rises In Phoenix
Stock Car Racing History
Forum Activity for @tmc-chase
January 28, 1968: Stock Car Racing Rises In Phoenix
Stock Car Racing History
J.C. Agajanian was a legendary race promoter and car owner - particularly out west. He owned the famed Ascot Park track in Gardena, California, and he fielded the #98 roadsters for Troy Ruttman and Parnelli Jones in their 1952 and 1963 Indianapolis 500 wins. (The #98 Calhoun is Russ Thompson's favorite race car.)
In January 1968, Agajanian promoted the first stock car race at Phoenix International Raceway. The track opened in 1964, but a few years rolled by before the full size sedans came to race. Today, NASCAR's Cup series runs at Phoenix twice a year. But on January 28, 1968, it was USAC's stock car division that took center stage in the desert.
Race preview from Prescott Evening Courier .
A week earlier, NASCAR's Grand National drivers competed to see who'd finish 2nd to perennial winner Dan Gurney in the Motor Trend 500 on Riverside's road course. A few of the drivers stayed out there and ran the following week in the 250-mile USAC race on Phoenix's 2.7 mile road course layout. Drivers who ran the double included Al Unser, Parnelli Jones, Ray Elder, A.J. Foyt, Don White, and David Pearson.
Though I haven't found a record of the car numbers for each driver, I did some comparison of numbers to those used at Riverside.Al Unser ran #3 and Parnelli used #115 on his Bill Stroppe Ford at Riverside. Stands to reason they'd use the same numbers (and likely same cars) at Phoenix. Jones likely removed the "1" that was needed at Riverside.
Don Noel ran #38 at Riverside and raced at Phoenix, so he may be in the 38 below.
Parnelli was the early pace letter. After starting from the pole, he stayed out front and was the lap bully. He paced the field for the first 50+ laps. Then it happened. Jones' dominant Ford lost an engine, and he was done for the day. Al Unser took over the lead for a few laps but surrendered it to Don White following a pit stop. White was seemingly in control of the race when he too had a problem - though not as problematic as the loss of his engine. White popped a tire with only about 20 laps to go & had to crawl to the pits to have it changed. Unser went back to the point where it looked like HE would win. But as happened to Jones, Unser also lost his engine and saw the win slip through his fingers.
White got the lucky break he needed, and he re-inherited the lead with less than 5 laps to go. He was able to tour the serpentine circuit over the remaining laps to take the win. He finished a full lap ahead of the second and third place cars of McCluskey and Pearson.
I believe this photo in Vince Pepple's collection is of White in victory lane following the race - along with Agajanian.
Race report from Prescott Evening Courier
| Fin | Driver | Car |
| 1 | DonWhite | 1968 Dodge Charger |
| 2 | RogerMcCluskey | 1967 Plymouth |
| 3 | DavidPearson | 1968 Ford |
| 4 | A.J.Foyt | 1968 Ford |
| 5 | AlUnser | 1968 Dodge Charger |
| 6 | DonNoel | Ford |
| 7 | ScottyCain | |
| 8 | JimCook | Oldsmobile |
| 9 | BobLink | Ford |
| 10 | DaveWhitcomb | Plymouth |
| 11 | GuyJones | |
| 12 | WendellParnell | Chevrolet |
| 13 | GlenBradley | Dodge |
| 14 | MartyKinerk | Pontiac |
| 15 | PaulFeldner | Ford |
| 16 | MelLarson | |
| 17 | FrankFreda | Plymouth |
| 18 | BobHale | Pontiac |
| 19 | ParnelliJones | 1968 Ford |
| 20 | RayElder | Dodge Charger |
| 21 | DaleKoehler | Chevrolet Chevelle |
| 22 | ArtPollard | Ford |
| 23 | SamRose | Mercury |
| 24 | BoReeder | Ford |
| 25 | TomKlippel | |
| 26 | RoyTyner | |
| 27 | BobbyWawak | Plymouth |
| 28 | JackBowsher | Ford |
updated by @tmc-chase: 01/28/19 09:53:41AM
Henley Gray blog posts
Stock Car Racing History
Things are a bit slow around here. 24 Hours of Daytona is now complete, and we're now in the waiting period before Speedweeks returns.
In the meantime, I put together a couple of blog posts about one of NASCAR's long-time independent drivers/owners: Henley Gray.
Taking some liberties with a book and movie title that as far as I know has NOTHING in common with Henley, I titled the posts 19 Shades of (Henley) Gray .
Had a good bit of fun putting them together. Hope you'll enjoy reading them.
Part 1:
http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2015/01/19-shades-of-henley-gray-part-1.html
Part 2:
http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2015/01/19-shades-of-henley-gray-part-2.html
From Lee Greenawalt pics
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
Jeff Gordon to retire
Current NASCAR
When Richard Petty retired in 92, I never thought dropping my interest in racing. I've never found a suitable replacement to cheer for as fervently as I did the King, but I've continued to follow racing. I pulled for Kyle Petty, Sterling Marlin, Casey Atwood, Bobby Hamilton Sr., and a handful of others. But I didn't follow their careers as much as I did Richard's - yet I continue to be interested in the present and historical sides of racing.
You may not latch onto Jimmie Johnson, Chase Elliott or anyone else in the near or long term. If so, understandable. But my hunch is you'll still keep an eye on NASCAR on a regular basis.
Jeff Gordon to retire
Current NASCAR
Hard to believe. I never had the opportunity to see the King win. Yet I was in the stands for Jeff Gordon's 1st Cup start in 1992, his first Cup win in the 1994 Coke 600 at Charlotte, and his first Daytona 500 win in 1997.
Pace Car
Stock Car Racing History
From my bud in Trenton:
1970 Program did not have any 69 race photos.But for what-ever reason, I believe it was a 69 Camaro..white convertible with orange stripes-with 2 large yellow flags flying off back bumper. I think the 69 Camaro was the pace car atIndy that year andTrenton was using one of the replicas from our local dealer, Bonderchuk Chevrolet...
Hope that helps.
Pace Car
Stock Car Racing History
A friend of mine was at the 1970 Schaefer 300 at Trenton & still has the program. I believe he told me it was just a generic program that was used at many GN events that year. But I've asked him to check to see if it had any pics from the 1969 race - incl the pace car.
HEY NASCAR, YOU WILL NEED A BIGGER NASCAR HALL OF FAME!! IS NASCAR GOING HAVE DRAG CARS, DRAG DRIVERS, OR DRAG CAR OWNERS INDUCTED IN NASCAR HALL OF FAME?
Stock Car Racing History
Was good show money in drag racing. But turns out Petty's NASCAR schedule was the opposite of what was predicted. As part of the agreement between Chrysler and NASCAR, Petty and Pearson both stayed away from the remaining big tracks. Rockingham was their only superspeedway race of the season. Instead, both hit most of the remaining short track GN races.
HEY NASCAR, YOU WILL NEED A BIGGER NASCAR HALL OF FAME!! IS NASCAR GOING HAVE DRAG CARS, DRAG DRIVERS, OR DRAG CAR OWNERS INDUCTED IN NASCAR HALL OF FAME?
Stock Car Racing History
Just found article in my archives that said 43Jr was raced the first time in mid-November 1964 at Piedmont Drag Strip near Greensboro NC. Didn't give exact date. However, I found a snippet from Greensboro's paper that looked the debut may have been November 18th.
Ran ETs of between 10.4 and 10.5 with top speed of about 140 MPH.
Apparently the effort started as a side project to earn extra cash and invest idle time once the 1964 NASCAR GN title was pretty well in hand. Turned out they straight-line raced more often once Chrysler's NASCAR boycott began.