WHO WON AT KENTUCKY
Current NASCAR
He's definitely got the heart.
July 12, 1964 was a big day for driver Billy Wade and the Bud Moore organization. In fact, the period of July 10 through July 19, 1964 was as storied a time in the history of car owner Bud Moore as any he ever experienced. During those ten days in July 1964, Moore's driver Billy Wade (replacing Joe Weatherly who was killed at Riverside in Jan. 1964) swept 4 consecutive NASCAR Grand National races on the Northern Tour.
The sweep started at Old Bridge, New Jersey, continuing at Bridgehampton, New York and Islip, New York and concluded at Watkins Glen.
The July 12, 1964 Bridgehampton race would be the first of two road course wins for the Wade/Moore combo on the northern swing.
Richard Petty started on the pole in his hemi Plymouth for Bridgehampton after beating out David Pearson's Cotton Owens Dodge in a ten-lap qualifying race. There was even a ringer, as sports car star, Walt Hansgen placed 3rd on race day in a Ford.
When the checkers dropped, though, it was Billy Wade's Mercury Maruder from Spartanburg taking the trophy.
NASCAR Grand National race number 38 of 62
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Fin | St | # | Driver | Sponsor / Owner | Car | Laps | Money | Status | Led |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | 1 | ![]() | Bud Moore | '64 Mercury | 50 | 1,225 | running | 31 |
2 | 7 | 3 | ![]() | Ray Fox | '64 Dodge | 50 | 675 | running | 0 |
3 | 9 | 46 | ![]() | Walt Hansgen | '64 Ford | 48 | 500 | running | 0 |
4 | 22 | 06 | ![]() | Holman-Moody | '64 Ford | 44 | 350 | running | 0 |
5 | 10 | 02 | ![]() | Curtis Crider | '63 Mercury | 42 | 350 | running | 0 |
6 | 6 | 11 | ![]() | Bondy Long | '64 Ford | 41 | 340 | engine | 0 |
7 | 21 | 88 | ![]() | Buck Baker | '62 Chrysler | 41 | 250 | running | 0 |
8 | 2 | 6 | ![]() | Cotton Owens | '64 Dodge | 38 | 400 | engine | 17 |
9 | 17 | 9 | ![]() | Roy Tyner | '64 Chevrolet | 38 | 200 | running | 0 |
10 | 23 | 68 | ![]() | Bob Derrington | '63 Ford | 31 | 190 | running | 1 |
11 | 14 | 45 | ![]() | Louis Weathersbee | '63 Plymouth | 31 | 180 | running | 0 |
12 | 4 | 16 | ![]() | Bud Moore | '64 Mercury | 25 | 270 | oil pump | 0 |
13 | 1 | 43 | ![]() | Petty Enterprises | '64 Plymouth | 21 | 385 | engine | 1 |
14 | 19 | 71 | ![]() | Bondy Long | '64 Ford | 21 | 150 | oil pressure | 0 |
15 | 24 | 55 | ![]() | Wendell Scott | '62 Chevrolet | 21 | 135 | spindle | 0 |
16 | 8 | 54 | ![]() | Burton-Robinson ( Charles Robinson ) | '64 Plymouth | 17 | 175 | transmission | 0 |
17 | 12 | 26 | ![]() | Ray Nichels | '64 Dodge | 15 | 115 | transmission | 0 |
18 | 11 | 03 | ![]() | Ray Fox | '64 Dodge | 14 | 110 | differential | 0 |
19 | 5 | 25 | ![]() | Ray Nichels | '64 Plymouth | 13 | 175 | transmission | 0 |
20 | 16 | 01 | ![]() | Curtis Crider | '62 Mercury | 5 | 100 | con rod | 0 |
21 | 13 | 10 | ![]() | Bernard Alvarez | '64 Ford | 5 | 100 | brakes | 0 |
22 | 15 | 31 | ![]() | Al White | '62 Ford | 3 | 100 | oil pressure | 0 |
23 | 20 | 34 | ![]() | Wendell Scott | '63 Ford | 2 | clutch | 0 | |
24 | 18 | 49 | ![]() | G.C. Spencer | '64 Chevrolet | 1 | spin | 0 |
Ken Spooner photo above shows Petty & Pearson on pole with the twin Bud Moore Mercs of Wade and Darel Dieringer lined up for the start on the 2nd row
Billy Wade at Daytona in Feb. 1964
Billy Wade took two Northern Tour road course races for Bud Moore in July 1964.
Below is the entry list from July12, 1964, preserved by the folks at Bridgehampton:
Spartanburg sports editor, Jim Foster followed the northern tour and filed a first person account of Wade's triumph at Bridgehampton on July 12, 1964:
The Associated Press report was very brief in the Fredericksburg, Va. paper, although Fredericksburg was home to the in-laws of entrant Worth McMillion:
My family and I were in New York City around this same time in July 1964, taking in the New York World's Fair and a baseball game between the Chicago Cubs with Ferguson Jenkins pitching against the New York Mets in the brand new Shea Stadium across the way at Flushing Meadows from the grounds of the World's Fair. We were staying at the Hilton in Manhattan across the street from the old Penn Station.
I may have crossed paths with Jim Foster (who I thought I first met 17 years later in 1981) , since he was also checking out the World's Fair and the Mets. Below is a column Foster wrote letting us know that Yankee race fans weren't as excitable as their southern counterparts. I had to laugh at Foster complaining about breakfast prices at the Waldorf-Astoria. Beginning in 1981, Foster was NASCAR's point man for the annual Winston Cup Awards banquet at the Waldorf, in charge of literally everything, especially seating and taking we NASCAR sponsors & our wives out to various Big Apple eateries.
I don't know what worked and what didn't, but I sure did enjoy (for a change) the Quaker State 400 Cup race at Kentucky Speedway Saturday night. That was the kind of racing I want to see.
The Virgin Islands Daily News ran a brief AP preview piece on the South Boston GA race, even if it did appear several days after the event! Guess they were slowing down and running on Island Time!
Dennis, I had hoped to see if I could find a pre and/or post race report for this Grand American race in the fold3 newspaper archives for the South Boston Gazette-Virginian. Unfortunately, the final archived edition was the June 30, 1970 issue, 11 days before the Grand American race. The only racing coverage in that edition was a preview of the July 4, 1970 upcoming Late Model Sportsman race at South Boston:
The late Jim Hurtibise was honored just this year in North Tonawanda, New York:
The Buffalo News Champion auto racer and North Tonawanda native to be recognized
NORTH TONAWANDA The North Tonawanda History Museum this week will be marking the anniversary of one of the major accomplishments of Jim Herk Hurtibise, a legendary auto racer of the 1950s and 1960s.
On May 21, 1960, as a rookie, he broke the Indianapolis track record by nearly two miles per hour. He came very close to being the first to turn a lap in less than one minute. Unfortunately, mechanical problems kept him from winning.
Hurtibise, who was born in North Tonawanda in 1932, is being celebrated with an exhibit at the museum, 54 Webster St., and on Thursday admission will be reduced to $3 from 1 to 3 p.m. in his honor Thursday .
On June 7, 1964, during a race in Milwaukee, Hurtibise qualified third fastest behind legends Rodger Ward and A.J. Foyt. They were running nose to tail on the 51st lap when Wards car seized up. Foyt jumped on the brakes, causing Hurtibises car to vault over Foyts tail. Hurtibise rammed the wall and his right rear tire snapped off and struck him in the chest, breaking three ribs and puncturing his lung. He was unconscious as methanol flooded his car, erupting into an inferno.
Hurtibise, who was pulled from the flaming wreck, was close to death in a hospital critical care burn unit. He recovered but doctors said his burned hands would remain paralyzed. He directed the doctors to mold his hands so he could put them around a steering wheel and continue to race.
Hurtibise continued to race, but never matched his earlier successes. Still, he remained a fan favorite throughout much of his career.
He died of a heart of a heart attack on Jan. 6, 1989.
Hurtibise, who was called Herk or Hercules by fans, is memorialized in a tune called, The Ballad of Jim Hurtibise, which was written and produced in the 1960s by local radio personality Luther Gieringer, who used the name Dopey Duncan on station WKAP in Allentown, Pa. The song is sung by Dee Dee for Dopey Duncan and the Bee Bees. A CD version of the song will be available for sale for a $25 donation to the museum. A DVD with the song and photos of Hurtibise will be $35.
Donna Zellner Neal, executive director of the museum, researched and provided historical background on the song, which she said was brought to their attention by museum supporter Gary Ranney, who brought them a copy of the 45 record.
The tune, which is also sometimes called Hercules starts out with sounds of race cars zooming by and memorializes that tragic race in Milwaukee in 1964:
They call him the mighty Hercules
Yet he isnt even 6 feet tall.
But when hes in that racing car,
Hes bigger than them all.
Old demon fire struck one day,
and tried to take his life,
but Old Herk, he fought right back
and found another life.
Hercules! Hercules!
There never was a man that stood more tall
than the mighty Hercules.
At Indiana practice lap he had another call.
That might brute of a racing car
was smashed against a wall.
But old Herk he walked away,
determined as could be
hed get another try to qualify
with the fastest 33.
Hercules! Hercules!
There never was a man that stood more tall
than the mighty Hercules.
He saw that Novi standing there.
It beckoned him aboard.
When the crowd hear that he qualified,
they all stood up and roared.
Hercules! Hercules!
There never was a man that stood more tall
than the mighty Hercules.
Five hundred miles is a long way for any man to go.
When he gets to that checkered flag,
hell have done his best.
On a roster of courageous men
with the heart to play the game,
among the bravest of them all,
Im sure youll find his name.
Hercules! Hercules!
There never was a man that stood more tall
than the mighty Hercules.
There are many races yet to run
that will try his very soul,
but the folks who know Jim Hurtubise
are sure hell make his goal.
Hercules! Hercules!
There never was a man that stood more tall
than the mighty Hercules.
Gieringer also had a body shop in Minesite, Pa., near Allentown, which is still there and carries the name of Dopey Duncan, although it is operated by the Horwith Brothers, according information provided to Neal by Herk fans in Pennsylvania.
That's a nice story about racers helping racers, Dennis.
A good column on pack racing, fences and flying cars was posted late this afternoon in the Daytona paper:
http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20150706/SPORTS/150709700/101040?Title=WILLIS-NASCAR-continues-inviting-disaster-at-Daytona