14 of Richard's 1963 starts came in car #41 and he won five of those, a winning percentage of 36% in the #41 in 1963.
His five 1963 wins in #41 came at Columbia, Manassas, Birmingham, Greenville and South Boston.
So, with 7 Grand National races and the 1957 NASCAR Convertible race won by Joe Weatherly over Glen Wood, in addition to the two Manassas triumphs by The Confederacy's Army of Northern Virginia over hostile Union forces who retreated both times in a stampede back to Obamaland, we can say with some authority that there have been 10 Battles of Manassas, not including some of the magnificent Modified and Late Model Sportsman races I was privileged to see at Old Dominion Speedway.
"It's the man who always pays!"
Thanks for spicing up my morning!
And on top of all that I see an Associated Press story this morning that Loretta Lynn lied when she wrote Coal Miner's Daughter and that she is actually 3 years older than she claimed... now age 80, not 77... and was nearly sixteen when married, not the 13 she claimed in her autobiography.
If you can't trust Loretta Lynn, Crisco and country music, who can you trust, lol?
I am familiar with many of Hershel McGriff's driving accomplishments, but until I read his induction writeup to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, I did not realize that the 1950 Olds he raced in the first Southern 500 was the same stock Rocket 88 with which he won the Mexican Road race in 1950. He drove that 1950 Olds all over the country.
Amazing!! When cars were cars and men were men.
Let's see Robbie Gordon top that!!
In 1950 Hershel McGriff accomplished one of motor racing's most amazing feats. The 22-year-old McGriff took time off from his Oregon lumber business to take a 1950 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 from the showroom, drive it to Juarez, Mexico, and with co-driver Ray Elliott won the first Carrera Panamerica, a 2,135-mile, six-day race the length of Mexico. When he reached El Ocotal, near the Guatemala border, he was the winner by 76 seconds.
"The car was just like it was driven from the factory," he said. "About all we did was take out the back seat, put a second gas tank in the trunk and stuff four spare tires behind the seats."
Then he drove the Olds back to Portland, washed it off, put on some new tires and drove it to Darlington, S.C., where he and the same Olds finished ninth in the first Southern 500. The next day he tore the tape off the headlights and drove home to Portland.
I was not familiar with the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America located in Detroit until I stumbled on it. Its Class of 2012 includes the late NASCAR driver Neil Bonnett.
Unfortunately, this Hall is located in the Detroit Science Museum - currently closed due to Detroit's financial crisis.
However, many of the members who've been inducted since the late 1980s are folk like Smokey Yunick and others that many of us believe belong in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Here's a link to the site that includes the press release. Click on Hall of Fame link at the site then Inductees List for the full listing of all members.
I was thinking of some of Humpy Wheeler's best Charlotte pre-race shows and remembered Jimmy the Flying Greek and his school bus jump.
Little did I realize that before I ever saw him at Charlotte, Jimmy made a jump prior to the 1980 Volunteer 500 at Bristol. On hand as a "color" commentator was Cale Yarborough who said he "Wouldn't get out of the electric chair to get in that school bus!"
For those of you who've only seen a concrete Bristol ( poor underprivileged souls that you are ), you get to see what the place looked like when Cale, Dale and Darrell were sliding bias tires on the Bristol asphalt and slamming those Armco guardrails.
The rescue squad personnel and Piney Flats Fire Dept. are quick to respond when Jimmy barely misjudges his speed and sheers off the front wheels of the bus upon landing.
To me, just seeing the Bristol I remembered was as good as the bus jump.
And the USA Today version of Kurt's comments:
Kurt Busch hails 'WWE action' with Newman as good for NASCAR
By Nate Ryan, USA TODAY
CONCORD, N.C. Kurt Busch said he had no problem with Ryan Newman after the Southern 500, and he also has no problem with the feud that erupted between the former Penske Racing teammates.
NASCAR handed out penalties Tuesday, fining Busch $50,000 and putting him on probation for reckless driving on pit road and an altercation with a competitor after the Sprint Cup race May 12 at Darlington Raceway.
No. 39 crew chief Tony Gibson and crew members for both teams also were punished.
Newman escaped any penalties but stirred controversy when he told SI.com that he thought Busch had lied claiming he unintentionally ran into Newman on pit road. Newman also said Busch's "chemical imbalance spoke for itself."
Busch said Friday, "I didn't have a problem with Newman."
He maintained that he accidentally hit the No. 39 while taking his helmet off entering the pits after the race and "then things just really got out of control in a hurry."
Photos showed Busch being retrained by his team members, and a Newman crewmember fell on Busch's hood after lunging from the grasp of a NASCAR official.
"Newman and I were friends; we were great teammates, and he needs to check his trophy case on the Daytona 500 trophy that I helped him get," Busch said, referring to a push that he delivered to Newman's winning car on the final lap of the 2008 Daytona 500. "We've always been great friends. There was no need for his comments afterward. He knew his Southern 500 didn't go the way he wanted it to, and at the end of the night, everybody is hot and (ticked) off.
"The Daytona 500 is a big race. Darlington is just as big of an event, and a lot of people get excited for it. And I wanted to finish in the top 10, and we didn't get that top-10 finish. So it was a tough night that all went bad in a hurry. For that, I apologize to NASCAR for them to have to make a decision on penalizing us."
Busch intimated being punished by NASCAR for many transgressions in the past likely led to a bigger penalty, and he added that slamming a door early Sunday morning while leaving the NASCAR hauler postrace also might have contributed.
He said he had probably been fined more than any other NASCAR driver.
"Is my strike zone bigger? Yeah, it might be a little bigger than others, but I don't have a problem with it," he said. "I have a great group of guys here I'm working with on this Phoenix team to put together the results that we can. We need to get those good solid finishes like we know we're capable of."
Busch, who has only one top-10 in 11 starts with underfunded Phoenix this year after leaving Penske in the offseason, said he was trying too hard near the end of Saturday's race for a top-10 when he slammed the outside wall. Scraping along the cement for nearly half a lap led to a flat tire that caused him to spin.
Newman also spun during the same caution, and his crew was agitated after the race that Busch had sped through the adjacent No. 39 pit in an unsafe way while leaving on his final stop.
Busch said Newman had left his pit 10 seconds earlier, and he didn't think he had put anyone in danger when he accelerated out of his stall trying to beat the pace car back on track.
"The lesson that I learned from that is keep your helmet on all the way to the garage area," he said. "I should have learned that from the Jimmy Spencer incident years ago."
Busch was punched in the nose by Spencer (who was suspended for a race) after an August 2003 race at Michigan International Speedway.
It was among the first of several major controversies that the 2004 champion has been embroiled in during a career that has featured feuds with many drivers (including fellow champions Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart) and in-race radio meltdowns.
As the often unwilling or unwitting participant in such drama, Busch said Saturday night proved again that NASCAR's soap opera-esque elements can be as scintillating as the on-track action.
"The fans, I heard them cheer louder (at Darlington) then when Jimmie Johnson pulled into victory lane for when the crew guy came over and got agitated and knocked an official on top of our hood," Busch said. "That's when the crowd reacted the most. So you tell me if they're wanting WWE? This is fun. This is entertainment, right guys? This is why you guys are all here suffocating me at the back of this hauler."
May 18, 1:47 PM EDT
Kurt Busch thinks Newman feud is 'WWE-type' action
By JENNA FRYER
AP Auto Racing Writer
CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Kurt Busch doesn't think he endangered anyone last weekend at Darlington Raceway, and he insists he accidentally ran into the back of Ryan Newman's car after the race.
And he's baffled as to why Newman has been leveling scathing attacks on Busch's personality in the days since last Saturday night's incident that earned Busch a $50,000 fine from NASCAR.
But the former series champion believes the entire episode is "WWE-type action" that is good for NASCAR.
Speaking Friday for the first time since his run-in with Newman and Newman's crew at Darlington, Busch seemed aggravated by the questions about his latest flare-up. It comes as NASCAR heads into Saturday night's no-holds-barred $1 million All-Star race, where tempers have been known to boil over.
Randy at one time in late 60s / early 70s drove a beautiful metallic blue Late Model Sportsman at Southside and Langley with a yellow #42. Al Grinnan also drove the same car some.
