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Darel Dieringer at speed in the Bill Stroppe Mercury #16:
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Farmer John Matthews was driving the Cliff's Drive-In #16 at eastern North Carolina's dirt half-mile Wilson County Speedway in 1975. Not only did Cliff Winstead own the popular drive-in on Goldsboro Street, he was also chief steward at the Wilson track. The second photo shows Mac Mangum "helping" Farmer John out of turn 2 onto the fast Wilson backstretch.
Tim Hamm photos
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Bill Dennis' daughter, Teresa , in 1982 became my 2nd "Miss Wrangler." That's her in the September 1982 Harvest 150 NASCAR Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series victory lane at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway with the late winner, Butch Lindley, late car owner, Emanuel Zervakis and late Richmond P.R. man, Kenneth Campbell.
Zervakis Family photo - Butch Zervakis
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On September 10, 1972, Glen Allen, Virginia's Bill Dennis - NASCAR 1970 Grand National Rookie of the Year - hooked up for the first time with H.J. Brooking and his Emrick Chevrolet -sponsored #17 Monte Carlo for the Capital City 500 at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway , starting 2nd and finishing 3rd behind Richard Petty and Bobby Allison - quite a feat for the local hometown boy before a hometown audience. The Emrick Chevy dealership was located on Chamberlayne Avenue, just 3 miles from the Richmond track.
The sponsor of the Bill Dennis #17 - Emrick Chevrolet - had a lengthy and important history in Richmond. It's initial showroom building - near Adams and Broad Street, in the predominately black Jackson Ward neighborhood is a Richmond landmark.
As far back as 1925, Emrick Chevrolet featured a beautiful showroom sporting potted plants:
The dealership was no slouch when it came to promotions, either. Here's the front and back of an item they passed out in 1948 - the year I was born, the year the first NASCAR race was run in Virginia - at Richmond, and the year the South's first television station went on the air - Richmond's WTVR.
Dennis made 4 starts in the #17 in 1972 and 4 more in 1973, the year his fellow Southside Speedway competitor, Lennie Pond was named NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year.
Today, Dennis is best remembered by many for driving fellow Richmonder, Junie Donlavey's iconic #90 Fords and Mercurys to three consecutive Permatex 300 victories at Daytona from 1972-1974 - the first driver to accomplish that feat before Dale Earnhardt matched it..
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Imagine "The King's" crew chief for his 200th win in 1984 - Buddy Parrot - joining forces for 1985 with my fellow Richmonders, driver - Terrible Tommy Ellis and owner - Eric Freedlander from my very own high school - to field the #18 NASCAR Winston Cup entry. The driver and owner each went to Federal prison. Now NBC and NASCAR are using the same color scheme from Terrible Tommy's 1985 ride in commercials to promote their 2015 Cup coverage.
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J.T. Putney in his #19 , first for Herman Beam - then for himself - became my Grand National "independent" hero in 1965. Running against the Chrysler and Ford factory cars, J.T. pushed his #19 Chevy to finishes of 3rd, 4th, and 3rd in 1965-1966 in his first three appearances at my local Richmond Fairgrounds dirt half-mile, quite a feat for an independent driver. Although always listed as being from Arden, NC, J.T. was actually from Farmville, Va, making him a local driver to us in Richmond. I know bossman Jeff recognizes the sponsorship on J.T.'s front fender!
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Clyde Lynn was a pretty recognizable figure at the track:
The pit stop of Clyde Lynn and his #20 below at Martinsville is illustrative of why NASCAR eventually mandated catch cans:
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Clyde Lynn (above-Alex FL post) was one of two drivers racing GN out of Christiansburg, Virginia in the 60s - the other being Jabe Thomas . Clyde, who passed in 1996 at age 60, competed in 165 events (with all but 8 coming in the 4-year period 1965-1968) , scoring 8 top-5s and 73 top-10s. In the photo below, Clyde appears to have the inside line in his #20 on Richard Petty:
(Gwadadone)
That's Clyde, below in the Firestone uniform on the hood of his #20, socializing with Christiansburg neighbor, Jabe Thomas - in glasses.
Ray Lamm photo
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Bailey, North Carolina's J.E. Beard drove his Mitchell Brothers Supermarkets #22 to a third place finish behind Sam Ard in the 1978 Cardinal 500 NASCAR Late Model Sportsman race at Martinsville. The #22, built in Richmond by Emanuel & Butch Zervakis, won the "Best Appearing Car" award.
Beard hailed from the Wilson County Speedway half-mile dirt track in eastern North Carolina, where he'd won dirt championships in 6 Cylinder and Late Model divisions. Here's one of his #22 dirt cars, also sponsored by Mitchell Brothers: (Photos by Tim Hamm)
Beard would go on to build racing engines for Jack Tant and while employed by driver/owner Lake Speed in Kannapolis, NC, he built the Oldsmobile motor that took Speed to victory in the 1988 Rebel 500 at Darlington.