3 or 4 cars at Roush next year?
Current NASCAR
Thanks, Perry. Please tell Bud Happy Birthday from me, Joyce and our girls. They still fondly talk about living in Bud's lake house on Lake Bowen and feeding the ducks and squirrels.
Forum Activity for @dave-fulton
Current NASCAR
3 or 4 cars at Roush next year?
Current NASCAR
In NASCAR's inaugural year, 1948, FORD won EVERY SINGLE ONE of the 52 Modified races staged. By the time I came along, the only Ford NASCAR Modified running in Virginia on a weekly basis in the mid-60s was the Junie Donlavey #90 driven by Sonny Hutchins.
3 or 4 cars at Roush next year?
Current NASCAR
For many years, Bud Moore kept one of the three King Cobras (a yellow one) ever produced under a tarp in his Spartanburg shop. I'm sure Perry Allen Wood has seen it there on many occasions. It was always a source of pride for Bud to peel back the tarp and show the car to first time shop visitors.
3 or 4 cars at Roush next year?
Current NASCAR
Parnelli Jones and George Follmer in Bud Moore Engineering factory Ford Boss 302 Mustangs at Kent, Washington during 1969 SCCA TransAm season.
3 or 4 cars at Roush next year?
Current NASCAR
Shelby Racing and Bud Moore Engineering fielded 4 Ford factory supported Mustangs in 1969 Trans-Am competition.
34 Years Ago This Weekend - May 25, 1980 - Future NASCAR Ace Tim Richmond Was Top Indy 500 Rookie
Stock Car Racing History
It just doesn't seem possible that 34 years could have passed since future NASCAR star, Tim Richmond was named "Rookie of the Race" following his 9th place finish in the May 25, 1980 Indianapolis 500 over nine other rookies who made the race.
Johnny Rutherford, who'd just driven Jim Hall's yellow Chaparral to his 3rd career Indy 500 victory, was so impressed with the run made by the impish Richmond that he had Richmond jump aboard his winning car and go with him to the victory lane celebration.
Richmond would become the one NASCAR driver who my Wrangler sponsored driver, Dale Earnhardt most liked to race. Like Dale, Timmy could take it as good as he gave and leave the car smiling after close quarters racing with Dale, unlike most competitors.
Getty Images photos
When we arrived in the Starlight Room of New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in December 1981 for the first-ever New York NASCAR Winston Cup Awards Banquet (it would move to the Grand Ballroom in 1982 and become black tie) Richmond showed up uninvited and with no table to sit at. Dale had already been impressed by Tim and asked if he could sit at our Wrangler table with our new car owner, Bud Moore and several Wrangler (Blue Bell, Inc.) executives.
In my old photo archives, I used to have a Dozier Mobley photograph of our group all seated in the Waldorf wearing beige western cut jackets, brown neckties and brown double knit jeans! All, I should say, except Tim Richmond. He was seated next to Dale wearing a very stylish tux, with a ruffled white shirt and a red cumberbun and red bow tie, already displaying the flair for which he'd become known.
Dale always asked if we could accommodate Tim's mother, Evelyn in our Wrangler V.I.P. suites at tracks that had one. Dale never asked me to accommodate Darrell Waltrip's, Geoff Bodine's or Bill Elliott's mom! Trust me, Dale never did that for any other mom except his own, Martha.
Tim even used to wear a Wrangler patch on his uniform for me while driving for Old Milwaukee / Raymond Beadle and always wore Wrangler jeans and shirts to the track for us.
photo by BNorton
I'd later try to put Tim in Bud Moore's Thunderbird for 1984 (Ricky Rudd wound up in the car) to replace Dale when he went back to the Childress ride, but it didn't work out. Even after I moved to Dallas to manage the 7-Eleven motorsports programs I didn't get away from Tim's magnetism. After the final 1984 Cup race at Riverside, Tim drove - as a favor at no charge - a second Derrike Cope / George Jefferson Thunderbird for me at Phoenix to help promote a Winston West race I was sponsoring with 7-Eleven
We all know the story of how things eventually unfolded, but if Tim liked you he'd go out of his way for you. And it was at Indy on May 25, 1980, that Tim rocketed to recognition across the racing world.
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
Got Ulcers? Go Stock Car Racing Said Sonny Hutchins
Stock Car Racing History
I would really liked to have been at Langley Field on the nights when they honored Ray Hendrick and Sonny Hutchins.
By the time the Busch Series (Budweiser Late Model Sportsman) began in 1982, Tommy Ellis had really calmed down.
When the Winston Modified Tour made its first visit to Richmond International Raceway in April 1990, Tommy helped us make a video for the Tour drivers showing them the best lines and acceleration and braking points at the track. Once race weekend arrived, Tommy took all the visiting modified drivers for spins around the Richmond track in our pace car. It was quite a change from those days in the 70s.
Got Ulcers? Go Stock Car Racing Said Sonny Hutchins
Stock Car Racing History
Another good story - thanks. I was at Southside Speedway the very first night Tommy drove in Late Model Sportsman and he spun Ray Hendrick. The following Friday night, Ray put a move on Tommy coming out of turn two. It took two wreckers to lift Tommy's #4x back over that steel boiler plate wall on the backstretch!
I guess the one I remember most was when Al Grinnan was driving Coleman Mann's #00 and after beating Tommy in the feature, Ellis rear ended Al and started pushing him all over Southside's dirt infield while Al had the brakes locked on the orange #00. Good thing no vehicles parked in the Southside infield back in the day.
Saw a few Sonny and Tommy confrontations, but was not at Langley Field the night Tommy rear ended the winning car of Bill Dennis on pit road and was suspended from NASCAR competition for a while. Likewise, I was not at Franklin County the night they had to turn the lights off and have the Sheriff's deputies escort Terrible Tommy out under the cover of darkness.
I saw great dirt racing when I lived in Wilson, NC at Wilson, Wake County and Chantilly. I had the jobs of a lifetime allowing me to travel to all the Cup races and supporting LMS and baby grand shows all over the country between 1980 - 1999.
And, as much as I loved our Saturday night dirt racing at Wilson, nothing can ever compare to my Friday night trips to Southside in Richmond between 1964 - 1979. Having Ray Hendrick, Eddie Crouse, Runt Harris, Ted Hairfield, Sonny Hutchins, Bill Dennis, Paul Radford, Joe Henry Thurman, Bubba Tatum, Al Grinnan, Perk Brown, Hank Thomas, Red Foote, Gene Lovelace, Lennie Pond, Jimmy Hensley, Billy Hensley, Eddie Royster and so many other greats contesting a strip of 1/3rd-mile asphalt at the same time was breathtaking!
On several occasions I drove a group of Wilson dirt competitors up to Richmond on Friday night and even they couldn't believe what they were seeing as we sat in the old turn one grandstand with the cars coming straight at us.
Back in those days, our routine was always Southside on Friday night and often South Boston on Saturday night, with infrequent trips to Langley Field and only the really big races at Old Dominion.
I've worked with Dale Earnhardt and Davey Allison and other great Cup drivers, but never, ever do I expect to get the chills and thrills of a Friday night at Southside Speedway, especially when the Winston-Salem boys would venture up and get their tails whipped or when Pressley, Gant, Shepherd, Lowe and Waltrip would come around and receive the same treatment.
The only "outsider" who really had a handle on Southside when I saw races was Bobby Allison in his modified, although I did see Donnie win the Virginia 400 when so many modifieds caught fire in turns 3-4 and burned up. To my regret, I never saw Eddie Flemke at Southside.
I especially loved going to the huge Bill Bogley Gold Trophy races at Old Dominion. Red Farmer, Sam Sommers, Harry Gant and all the hot North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama late model boys would come up, but it was always Ray or Sonny holding the trophy at race end, just like it was at Martinsville twice yearly when the best of the best got together.
One year at Trenton, eight of the top-10 modifieds were Richmond drivers. It was unbelievable.
The weekly racing may be just as great for today's 16 year olds and it may just be the passage of time that makes me feel I watched the very best and it won't be duplicated. But, that's how I feel and how I remember it.
Got Ulcers? Go Stock Car Racing Said Sonny Hutchins
Stock Car Racing History
Damned, we had some great weekly racing in Virginia in the 60s-70s!