Road racing and Indy car star, Bobby Rahal made his only NASCAR career start in the final Cup race of the 1984 season when we (7-Eleven) put him in the Wood Brothers #21 at Riverside. RR member, Scott Baker captured these shots, including Rahal's rookie yellow bumper:
Said Rahal, "The car has no power, no brakes and no steering." The Woods did discover during practice that the tires were slipping on the chrome wheels.
Here's Richmond, Virginia restaurateur, Sonny Hutchins with the fuel injected #21 Ford Coupe modified built for him by the Wood Brothers of Stuart, Virginia in 1967 and driven to victory by Sonny at Martinsville.
Here's a link to the television news footage of Sonny giving the Wood's hot coupe a hot ride!
When I was sponsoring driver Derrike Cope and car owner George Jefferson for 7-Eleven on the NASCAR Winston West Circuit for the 1984 & 1985 season, I came to appreciate the efforts of driver St. James Davis and his wife, LaDonna who brought their #22 from West Covina, California to all the NASCAR Winston West races, including Riverside.
The car was never fast nor competitive, but all of the track promoters could count on the Davis couple's #22 being there. At the time, car count was an extreme priority in NASCAR Winston West racing. St. James Davis often started last or near the rear, but he was always there.
During a 20-year NASCAR Winston West career - 1978-1999, St. James Davis started 113 races, but posted only 4 top-10 finishes. Fortunately for us, RR member, Scott Baker has posted on his outstanding www.bakerracinpix.com site, a photo of the #22 of St. James Davis when he scored his first career top-10 - at the Laguna Seca road course in June 1981. Here's that photo:
The childless St. James and LaDonna Davis had "adopted" a male chimp named Moe who was treated like a son and lived with them for 30 years. Moe was present at their wedding as seen in the 1970 wedding day photo below:
St. James Davis and LaDonna Davis on Wedding Day - June 1970, with Moe the chimp
Getty Images
St. James and LaDonna Davis stopped racing after the 1999 NASCAR Winston West season - their 20th on the west coast NASCAR big time circuit. That might be the end of the story, but it isn't.
After 30 years, the couple had to put their chimp, Moe in an animal preserve as he became aggressive. On Moe's 39th birthday in 2005, St. James and LaDonna visited Moe at the preserve, taking him a birthday cake.
While celebrating Moe's birthday, two other chimps at the preserve escaped and St. James intervened as they attempted to attack his wife, LaDonna. The result was severe and grave injuries suffered by St. James Davis, who saved the life of his wife while risking his own.
St. James Davis survived and in 2009 Esquire Magazine related his story as the nation was transfixed by the story of an east coast woman whose pet chimp went on a rampage.
Tragedy seems to be a common thread of a number of drivers who've raced wearing the #22 on their doors and roof in various NASCAR divisions through the years. St. James did not pay the ultimate price, but his non-racing incident was horrific.
If you have a strong stomach, you can scroll down a bit and see a photo of St. James and LaDonna Davis in 2009, 4 years after the chimp attack. If not.... STOP HERE .
Former NASCAR Winston West #22 driver, St. James Davis & wife, LaDonna in 2009, 4 years after chimp attack.
Esquire Magazine
Yes, Chase, that's definitely the "Golden Greek" from Richmond on the track in Monroe Shook's #85, built in the Rex White/Louis Clements garage in Spartanburg. The photo cut line, added some years later down in Daytona, contains a major error regarding which Petty is in #43 and another error regarding the month:
HILLSBORO, NC March 2. 1961: Emmanuel Zervakis (No. 85) is shown on his qualifying lap with his Chevrolet prior to the running of the NASCAR Cup race at Orange Speedway. Waiting in line for their turn to time trial are Richard Petty (No. 43) in a Plymouth, the No. 86 Chrysler of Buck Baker, Tommy Irwin's Thunderbird (No. 36), the Plymouth of Doug Yates (No. 23), Junior Johnson in a Pontiac (No. 27) and Rex White's Chevrolet (No. 4). (Photo by ISC Images & Archives via Getty Images)
RR member, Woody Delbridge has a nice gallery of Bluff City, Tennessee's Larry Utsman and his #23 NASCAR Late Model Sportsman entry taken at Tennessee's Kingsport Speedway in 1979. This is just one of many:
David Allio got the shot below of Larry Utsman in the same #23 Late Model Sportsman on the low side and John A. Utsman on the high side - also at Kingsport in 1979:
TMC-Chase and Legend will recognize the guy at the head of the line in this 1961 Occoneechee Speedway photo taken in Hillsboro, NC. 3rd in line behind the future King, once again, was the #23 Raeford Johnson Plymouth wheeled by Doug Yates.
Yates and Johnson entered the '59 Plymouth #23 in Atlanta's inaugural race - the July 1960 Dixie 300 - this time in hard top livery and posted a 14th place finish.
The late Doug Yates (no relation to Robert Yates' son, Doug) drove Raeford Johnson's 1959 Plymouth #23 in the 1960 Rebel 300 at Darlington:
Probably the best known photo of Sam McQuagg in Betty Lilly's #24 Ford - with Cale Yarborough providing aerial cover in the Banjo Matthews #27 Ford at Darlington in 1965... the thrill of victory... the agony of defeat.
Here's "Flash" Gordon at Bristol in 1980, after he moved from Horseshoe, NC to South Hill, Virginia. That's the same South Hill, Virginia where Dale Earnhardt's one-time father-in-law and race car fabricator supreme - Robert Gee - was living when Rick Hendrick first met him and later hired him to supervise the building of cars for Rick. Sandwiched between "No Neck" (Cale Yarborough) in Junior Johnson's #11 and "Flash" in the #24 is not the "King" - but Joe Millikan wheeling the #43 in relief for Richard Petty.
