Racing History Minute - July 17, 1983

Stock Car Racing History

Vermont radio station owner and P.A. announcer, Ken Squier, along with his ownership / promoter status at Catamount Stadium and Thunder Road Speed Bowl, once had an ownership interest in the NASCAR North Series, just as Bob Barkheimer and Ken Clapp had an interest in Winston West and NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model. When Squier had a falling out with his NASCAR North chief, Tom Curley, Curley left to form the rival American Canadian Tour - ACT - to compete directly with Squier and NASCAR.

Racing History Minute - July 17, 1983

Stock Car Racing History

The "H & E" hat worn in the Maine victory lane by winner, Tommy Ellis stands for Hoehns & Eanes Automotive , the famed Richmond, Virginia engine builders who also built the power plants for all of Sonny Hutchins' wins in the Emanuel Zervakis #01 Late Model Sportsman.

Racing History Minute - July 17, 1983

Stock Car Racing History

AND..... a note about one of my favorites - Fredericksburg, Va. driver Al Grinnan, former Virginia State Late Model Sportsman Champion, Wilson County (NC) Speedway dirt track Champion and in 1968 voted NASCAR Most Popular Modified Driver by his competitors...

from the official history of Oxford Plains:

1974 - History in the making
Al Grinnan leads the very first lap in Oxford 250 history.

Racing History Minute - July 17, 1983

Stock Car Racing History

Tommy Ellis and Dick McCabe each had a great nickname.

Ellis constantly lived up to his "Terrible Tommy" moniker with fisticuffs, fines, NASCAR suspentions, as well as the bad impression he left on the Oxford Plains media. Tommy later served a Federal prison gig for creative bookkeeping.

I knew Tommy, but didn't know McCabe. The name sounds Irish and his racing nickname was "The Irish Angel."

I'll defer to somebody who knew Dick to weigh in on the angel part!

FLEMINGTON 100 July 21, 1970

Stock Car Racing History

A couple of reports on the Ken Rush, Stan Starr, Jr. accident:

BRYAR 100 July 19, 1970

Stock Car Racing History

It's always interesting to find the little things that turn up in old race reports, isn't it?

BRYAR 100 July 19, 1970

Stock Car Racing History

We talked a little about this race as well as a 1970 SCCA TransAm race won by a Bud Moore Mustang at the same site on the road course at the link below a few years back:

http://stockcar.racersreunion.com/forum/topics/two-new-hampshire-19...

PANTHER 300 July 16, 1970

Stock Car Racing History

The Montreal Gazette ran a preview story, citing the event as the nearest NASCAR GA race to Montreal. They confused 300 laps on the third-mile with 300 miles:

A brief Associated Press recap below appeared in the Toledo Blade:

Glen Wood 90 Birthday 7-18-2015

General

Al Pearce once wrote about the 2nd "N" in an article in the Newport News (Va.) Daily Press :

"I figured as many autographs as I might sign in my lifetime, I could save a lot of time by quitting after the first 'n,' '' the 77-year-old native of Stuart explained years ago. "It's something most people wouldn't think about, but I did. No telling how much time I've saved since I started doing that. It takes time to make that second 'n.' ''

That's perfect. That's Glen Wood to a T, a man so obsessed with saving time that he shortened his first name. A second here and a second there over 50 years, and pretty soon you're talking about some pretty serious time.

Glen and brothers Leonard, Clay, Delano and Ray Lee were determined to save time. That's why they revolutionized stock car racing in the 1960s, when they raised routine pit service to an art form. They became so good with their "four-and-gas" ballet that Ford Motor Company once hired them to service their cars at Indianapolis and LeMans.

Glen Wood 90 Birthday 7-18-2015

General

All of our contracts between Southland Corporation 7-Eleven and later CITGO with the Wood Brothers were with The Glen (one "N") Wood Co. Many folks even today are surprised to learn that Leonard was always a paid employee and did not own any of the business. Glen later transferred ownership of The Glen Wood Co. to his three children - Eddie, Len and Kim.