Photo of Ned Jarrett starting from the pole in the April 14, 1963 South Boston 400 driving the Burton & Robinson #11 Ford with winner Richard Petty on the outside - note the treaded tires:
Racing One/ISC/Getty Images
Papa Lee was giving eventual 1963 South Boston 400 winner, Richard Petty driving instructions during a pit stop:
Racing One/ISC/Getty Images
Wonder if Junior could do a bootleg turn in that car?!
Thanks for the find and sharing.
Turns out that the widow of Charles Robinson, founder of Burton & Robinson Construction in Virginia who fielded cars for Ned Jarrett and Jimmy Pardue now lives just up the road from Charlotte in Cornelius, NC - Lake Norman area. After reading her very impressive lineage, I have no doubt NASCAR would never again allow her or her family to own a car in the Series. Way too many Confederate connections. Sounds like she, Bubba Watson and Denny Hamlin ought to get together.
Check this out:
Mrs. Charles Corbett Robinson
(Nancy Dianne Alley)
Nancy Dianne Alley Robinson, a native of North Carolina lives in Cornelius, North Carolina after having lived in Virginia for 25 years. She is the daughter of Robert Moore Alley and Florence Lucinda Isenhour. She is the widow of Charles Corbett Robinson, and has one son, John Luther Boyter, III married to Melissa Knight Boyter, one adopted grandson, Edward Lee Boyter and one grandchild, Katherine Dianne Boyter. She attended Western Carolina University and is currently a business woman, a mother, grandmother and Domestic Engineer" (as fondly called by her husband). Mrs. Robinson and her husband were owners of Burton and Robinson, Inc., a concrete construction firm founded by her husband.
Memberships
* Order of the Crown in America
* National Society Americans of Royal Descent
* Order of the Merovingian Dynasty (Founder of the Scholarship, Secretary
General)
* Order of the Crown of Charlemagne in the United States of America
* Colonial Dames of America
* Ancient Heraldic and Chivalric Order of Albion (Treasurer; Dame of Albion
of the Conversion of the Twenty-Three Kings)
* National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (Regent,
Secretary, Treasurer)
* National Society United States Daughters of 1812 (VA State Treasurer,
Chapter Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer
* United Daughters of the Confederacy (Chapter President, VA State
Secretary)
* Society of Daughters of Holland Dames
* National Society Colonial Daughters of the Seventeenth Century
* Baronial Order of Magna Charta
* Plantagenet Society
* Order of Americans of Armorial Ancestry
* Scotch-Irish Society of the United States of America
* Order of Descendants of Colonial Cavaliers
* National Society Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims (VA State 1st
Governor General, VA State Treasurer)
* National Society Magna Charta Dames
* National Society Colonial Dames of the XVII Century (National
Headquarters Supervisor, Chapter President, Secretary)
* National Society Daughters of American Colonists (DC Secretary)
* National Society Dames of the Court of Honor
* Society of the Descendants of Knights of the Garter (Descendant
Member)
* National Society Daughters of Colonial Wars
* Society of the Descendants of the Colonial Clergy
* Military Order of the Crusades
* Jamestowne Society
* National Huguenot Society
* Dutch Colonial Society
* National Society Southern Dames of America (VA State Treasurer)
* Flagon and Trencher, Descendants of Colonial Tavern Keepers
* Continental Society Daughters of Indian Wars (VA State Treasurer)
* Point Lookout Prisoner of War Organization
* Descendants of the Knights of the Bath
* Sons and Daughters of the Colonial and Antebellum Bench and Bar
(Secretary National)
* Presidential Families of America (Treasurer National)
* Hereditary Order of the Families of Presidents and First Ladies of America
* Guild of Colonial Artisans and Tradesman 1607-1783 (Treasurer General)
* American Descendants of the House of Burgesses 1619-1699 (Founder,
Treasurer General)
* National Society of Saints and Sinners
* Descendants of Sheriffs and Constables of Colonial and Antebellum
America
Chivalric Orders
* The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem
(bestowed by Elizabeth II, Queen of England)
Other Notes
Mrs. Robinson is an avid Genealogist with twenty-eight proven Confederate Ancestors, eighteen DAR Patriots, three Jamestown lines, and fifteen Colonial Dames lines. She is a Life Member of Beta Sigma Phi sorority and a member of Vienna Presbyterian Church. She does cross stitch, reads and loves traveling, collects antiques and has an extensive and reputable collection of Ren Lalique glass (over 600 pieces). A lover of football, she is an avid fan of the Washington Redskins.
Mrs. Robinson has been a fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House Childrens Charities of Greater Washington D.C. for twenty years. Additionally, Mrs. Robinson served as Chairman of Rally Round the Redskins auction for five years, raising over $750,000.00 for the charity. She served as Chairman of the Board of Directors from 2002-2007 and has been a member of the Board since 1989. She is still an active participant in raising money for the Houses and the families.
Mrs. Robinson received the Judah P. Benjamin Award from United Daughters of the Confederacy for civic work with Ronald McDonald House. She also received the Winnie Davis Award from United Daughters of Confederacy for work preserving the Virginia Division Minutes.
The Worth McMillion Pontiac in 1963 at Occoneechee as posted by John McMillion;
Ned Jarrett with the #11 Charles Robinson 1963 Burton & Robinson Construction Ford that won 8 Grand National races:
One more thing....
Just noted in the Jerry Lindquist story, that Junior Johnson was entered, but didn't show for the South Boston race. He was still in California being fitted for his Indy 500 car! I never knew until I read the piece you posted that Junior ever tried to race at Indy. A real revelation to me.
Thanks for posting all these great pieces containing the actual news clips. It's like getting day by day history lessons on NASCAR.
Here's a link to a clip of the restored car Junior skipped South Boston for:
The write-up/newspaper clip from your blog link opens a flow of memories for me.
Memory #1 is how much we loved Pontiac driving Worth McMillion ( who gave his car to Championship points chasing Joe Weatherly at South Boston ) around the Richmond area. The great tag line on Worth was that he was employed by the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board as a "revenooer" who during the week chased some of the guys he drove against on the weekends. There are some great photos of his and Al's #80 and #83 independent Pontiac cars on this site.
Memory #2 is how you can't always believe what you read, especially if it was distributed by RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. and its Winston brand. Case in point is the third finishing car at South Boston of Ned Jarrett. When I compiled the very first Richmond media guide in 1990 and interviewed Ned Jarrett, it came to my attention that he had won a Richmond race in 1963 driving for Charles Robinson, not for Bondy-Long, as the Winston Media guide with its then Len Thatcher provided stats suggested.
I got in a heated argument with RJR's sports marketing media folks over this. In truth, Ned won 8 times in 1963 in his number 11 Ford owned by Charles Robinson and sponsored by Burton-Robinson Construction of Manassas, Virginia. In 1964, Robinson changed car make, driver and car number. Jimmy Pardue was the new driver and he'd be killed testing his red Plymouth #54 at Charlotte in September 1964. Burton-Robinson never owned/sponsored a car again after 1963-1964. A big loss to Grand National racing.
Memory #3 The newspaper clip is from the morning Richmond Times-Dispatch ( we also had the afternoon Richmond News Leader ) and the author is Jerry Lindquist , a native New Yorker who was a pioneer motorsports journalist beginning in 1959 at Richmond. The late Harold Pearson, multi-time president of the National Motorsports Press Association followed Jerry at the Richmond morning paper. Jerry was a heck of a sports writer, covering Roller Derby, Darlington, and Richmond Virginians AAA baseball equally well. Nine years ago, Jerry was inducted as one of the few Media Members of The Virginia Sports Hall of Fame . I'd like to share his induction bio from the Hall of Fame:
The Class of 2003 - VIRGINIA SPORTS HALL OF FAME
Jerry Lindquist
In the writing world, there is quantitythe number of stories a writer can produce every year, and there is qualitythe certain degree of excellence in those stories. In modern journalism, it is rare to find a writer who can provide both quantity and quality without compromising one for the other. The Richmond Times-Dispatch was fortunate to gain one of those said writers when Jerry Lindquist, a New York City native and Washington & Lee graduate, joined its staff in 1959. Just two weeks out of college and with only a little experience from a weekly newspaper in Red Bank, NJ, Lindquist would prove himself to be one of the Times-Dispatchs most prolific writers. Over the years, he has won numerous Virginia Press Association writing awards.
Covering everything from the ACC to hockey to youth swimming, Lindquist was ambitious and always strove to do more for the newspaper. After seeing his first NASCAR race at the half-mile dirt Fairgrounds in Richmond in September 1959, he started the auto-racing beat at the Times-Dispatch, which he covered until 1969 before taking on the Richmond Braves and the old Southern Conference. A few years later, hockey was added to the roster of Richmond sports with the opening of the Coliseum in 1971. Lindquist asked to take over the hockey beat at the newspaper and covered the AHL Richmond Robins for the five years of their existence. He was named AHL Hockey Writer of the Year one season.
With the dissolution of the Robins, Lindquist went on to cover the University of Richmond, William & Mary, and other state schools prior to taking on the Virginia/ACC beat in 1984. His coverage of the Virginia Cavaliers spanned 17 years before he returned to his love of hockey and began covering the Richmond Renegades in 2000. Additionally, Lindquist covered the Richmond Kickers soccer team, horse racing, and arena football.
Lindquist continues to write for the Times-Dispatch, averaging more than 400 by-line stories a year for the past 20 years. Showing his versatility, he has also been the Radio/TV columnist since 1978, one year before the inception of ESPN.
Have to go with Slick on this one. It happens. Initially, when the MUSCO lights were installed at the various tracks, they had only the "outfield" light towers and pit road lights. They didn't have the infield lights that were later installed for better perception and reduction of a strobe effect. They could easily have raced without them.
When I worked at Richmond, we laughed like crazy the year they had the big sewage backup at Charlotte and raw sewage was pouring across the backstretch causing a red flag. We quit laughing when at the very next Richmond race an employee of the Henrico County, Va. Utilities Department failed to open a valve to a main sewer trunk line used only on Richmond race weekends. We had bubbling goo coming up in the infield drains until the County properly set their valve. BUT... try telling an infield full of NASCAR racers that it wasn't a track problem!
From This Day in Motorsports:
April 12
1924
Curtis Turner ... Born ... One of NASCAR's earliest stars and among its most controversial drivers....won 17 poles and 17 races in his career, which spanned 1949 through 1968....he won the fourth Winston Cup race of its inaugural season of 1949, then won 16 more, almost all of them during the '50s....he was suspended fron competition by NASCAR president Bill France, Sr. in 1960 because he tried to organize the drivers for the Teamsters Union...was the first president of the Charlotte Motor Speedway, and needed a loan from the Teamsters in 1960 to repay creditors....when France got wind of it, he banned Turner until late in the 1965 season. During the time that he was banned from NASCAR Turner raced in the USAC stock car series....he died in a plane crash in 1970.
____________________
1952
Buck Baker scored his first career NASCAR Grand National win, taking the 100 mile race on the 1/2 mile dirt Columbia Speedway in Columbia, South Carolina. Baker's Hudson Hornet finished 14 seconds ahead of Lee Petty in a Plymouth. Petty took the point lead from Fonty Flock, sidelined with a dislocated shoulder suffered in an April 6th Martinsville flip. Gober Sosebee filled in for Flock. On lap 25, a spectator tried to drive his car across the track and E.C. Ramsey's Ford slammed into it. The furious Ramsey climbed out of his car and beat up the drunken driver.
Nah... only have two.
Regardless of what you may think, I have it on very good authority that these three babies did not become affiliated with the NASCAR Hall of Fame in later life.
