AND... the "real time" Associated Press race report for the 1964 Richmond 250 carried in the next day's Spartanburg paper shows Richard earning $350 more than the listing in Racing Reference and winner Pearson with $800 more than the Racing Reference figure. Interesting to see that Buck Baker ran the Tuesday night portion of the race for Ray Fox when Junior Johnson didn't return to Richmond.
Today is the 51st anniversary of attending my first automobile race. Note to Scott Baker and TMC Chase: David Pearson - 1st place; Richard Petty - 2nd place, lol!
The date is forever etched in my brain.
March 8, 1964 . I was 15.
That was the day I first heard the late announcer Ray Melton for the first time intone the " Most Famous Words in Sports " (not just motorsports, as the come latelys say it today):
"Jellllyyymennnnnnnnnnnnnnnn..... START YOUR ENGINES!"
That was the day I attended my first race.
Richmond 250 - NASCAR Grand National Race
1/2-Mile Dirt Track on the Virginia State Fairgrounds at the Atlantic Rural Exposition's Strawberry Hill in Richmond, Virginia.
It was the first time I'd see Richard Petty, who'd just won his first Daytona 500. Didn't get to see my uncle's favorite, Joe Weatherly, a terror on the Richmond dirt with both stock cars and motorcycles because he'd been killed in January at Riverside.
Dad dropped me off after church on Sunday. I paid the entire $5 I had in my pocket for a 4th turn bleacher seat.
The first time Tiny Lund came by me in practice with his Ford kicking up a rooster tail of dirt sideways, I was hooked for life.
After the parade of visiting pace cars, Ray Melton told me to clap my hands, stomp my feet, whistle and cheer as my favorite driver passed in review ( I didn't have one yet ).
Ray said these were the stars and cars of NASCAR's elite Grand National Racing division .
He said the cars were painted in all the colors of the rainbow and the drivers came from country stands and crossroads strands .
No announcer since has ever gotten a stock car crowd so worked up as Ray Melton did in his prime.
I had heard all about the new "Hemis" and decided I'd pull for them. Billy Wade replacing Joe Weatherly in Bud Moore's potent Mercury had other ideas.
Hot Damn ... I never knew two cars could run side by side sideways while broadsliding through Richmond's wide sweeping dirt corners!
And the sound... the heart throbbing, bleacher shaking sound and the smell of the rubber and gasoline and the dirt clods..... and those good ole boys rooting each other out of the groove ( much better than bump drafting ).
All the way across the track in the dust of the first few laps one car stood out... the announcer said it was painted electric blue, but that famous color was Petty Blue carried on the # 43 .
Unfortunately, before the race was at the halfway point, the rain began to pour. The race was postponed.
The track was too muddy to race on Monday and even during the day on Tuesday.
Finally, the race resumed on a cold Tuesday night in March under the lights (sorry, Bristol, they were running Grand National races at Richmond under the lights back in '64. )
When all was said and done, David Pearson in Cotton Owens' Dodge #6 put a whipping on the field. David was awesome at Richmond and he'd win there many more times as would Richard Petty.
So, that first race I ever saw started on Sunday afternoon and finished on Tuesday night.
It was wonderful!
David Pearson at Richmond in 1964
1964 Richmond 250
NASCAR Grand National race number 9 of 62
March 8 & 10, 1964 at Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds, Richmond, VA
250 laps on a .500 mile dirt track (125.0 miles)
Time of race: 2:07:51
Average Speed: 60.233 mph
Pole Speed: 69.07 mph Cautions: 2
Margin of Victory: 0.5 lap
Attendance: 15,000
Lead changes: 5
Fin St # Driver Sponsor / Owner Car Laps Money Status Led
1 10 6 David Pearson Cotton Owens '64 Dodge 250 1,500 running 36
2 6 43 Richard Petty Petty Enterprises '64 Plymouth 250 1,000 running 29
3 2 1 Billy Wade Bud Moore '64 Mercury 250 750 running 81
4 13 3 Junior Johnson Ray Fox '64 Dodge 249 600 running 0
5 7 45 Doug Yates Louis Weathersbee '63 Plymouth 249 450 running 0
6 3 21 Marvin Panch Wood Brothers '64 Ford 249 375 running 0
7 4 41 Maurice Petty Petty Enterprises '63 Plymouth 248 300 running 0
8 17 09 Larry Manning Bob Adams '62 Chevrolet 241 250 running 0
9 20 60 Doug Cooper Bob Cooper '63 Ford 239 200 running 0
10 11 62 Curtis Crider Curtis Crider '63 Mercury 232 200 running 0
11 16 78 Buddy Arrington Buddy Arrington '63 Plymouth 232 175 running 0
12 22 97 Joe Clark Al McCline '64 Ford 232 175 running 0
13 1 11 Ned Jarrett Bondy Long '64 Ford 224 175 engine 104
14 14 5 Jim Paschal Cotton Owens '64 Dodge 223 150 cylinder 0
15 24 92 Jim Cook Ray Osborne '63 Ford 222 150 running 0
16 18 19 Cale Yarborough Herman Beam '64 Ford 218 125 crash 0
17 23 7 E.J. Trivette Jess Potter '62 Chevrolet 216 125 engine 0
18 25 83 Worth McMillion Worth McMillion '62 Pontiac 176 125 a frame 0
19 19 32 Tiny Lund Graham Shaw '63 Ford 170 125 rear end 0
20 12 54 Jimmy Pardue Burton-Robinson (Charles Robinson) '64 Plymouth 140 125 crash 0
21 9 36 Larry Thomas Wade Younts '63 Dodge 116 125 a frame 0
22 5 31 Ralph Earnhardt Tom Spell '63 Ford 73 125 rear end 0
23 21 20 Jack Anderson Jack Anderson '63 Ford 22 125 engine 0
24 15 34 Wendell Scott Wendell Scott '62 Chevrolet 9 125 camshaft 0
25 26 86 Neil Castles Buck Baker '62 Chrysler 1 125 con rod 0
26 18 71 Bunkie Blackburn Roscoe Sanders '63 Plymouth 0 125 crash 0
27 0 61 Bob Cooper Bob Cooper '62 Pontiac 0 125 did not start 0
Lap leader breakdown:
Leader From
Lap To
Lap # Of
Laps
Ned Jarrett 1 104 104
Billy Wade 105 137 33
Richard Petty 138 162 25
Billy Wade 163 210 48
Richard Petty 211 214 4
David Pearson 215 250 36
N.B. - The stories of Whitey Taylor and his exploits seem to be legendary and larger than life from various accounts I have read through the years.
I've always felt that Rick often was too nice for his own good. He reminded me a lot of my dealings with Derrike Cope in that respect, wanting to believe everybody, give everybody benefit of the doubt and be super nice not to hurt anybody's feelings. All the time being shafted.
I worked for 3 months in 1986 - October-December - for an agency in Charlotte (you can probably guess who without me naming them) who had screwed Rick over that summer or spring before I went to work there. One of the first calls I took when I arrived was from Rick. He had provided two automobiles for filming at Charlotte Motor Speedway (I don't remember for what) and then couldn't collect the money owed to him.
Jim Cooper had been involved in getting Rick to do the deal and he felt like a dog about it when he kept trying to get Rick his money.
I quickly learned that was standard operating procedure for that agency and its charismatic owner.
I told Rick at the time he was being too nice and being played for a fool by the agency owner.
From the pen of Greenville, SC's award winning Mike Hembree comes some food for thought regarding the "incident" at Shelby in 1956.
Bounty Hunting In NASCAR?
National Football League clouded by charges of headhunting
Mike Hembree
Posted March 09, 2012
Las Vegas, NV
You perhaps have noticed that the National Football League, that biggest and brightest of sports organizations, has a touchy problem these days.
A league investigation has revealed that members of the New Orleans Saints havent been. Saints, that is. Their defense has been playing under a bounty reward system that paid players extra cash for hits that resulted in opposing players leaving games.
This is decidedly against league regulations, obviously, and stiff penalties are expected (loss of points and a suspension of six races?).
Imagine such a system in NASCAR.
It doesnt take a lot of imagination.
Many who were around in those days say those circumstances essentially came together in the 1956 Cup season, one in which two-time champion Herb Thomas, one of the best drivers of NASCARs early years, seemed on target to win his third title.
Thomas, a dirt farmer who happened upon a race one day and decided he could drive as good or better than those competing, began the 1956 season in his own cars but detoured midway through the year to join the Carl Kiekhaefer team. Kiekhaefer had the sports first superteam, and his Chryslers attracted top drivers.
Thomas won three times for Kiekhaefer before tiring of the travel schedule the team owner demanded, and the North Carolina driver returned to his own cars to finish the season.
With five races left on the original schedule, Thomas led the standings. Trailing were Buck Baker and Speedy Thompson, Kiekhaefers drivers. With the end of the year closing in and his chances at the title slipping away, Kiekhaefer signed a couple of track leases and added a couple of races to the schedule an acceptable practice in those days.
At one of those races in Shelby, N.C., Thompson banged into the rear of the Thomas car, sending it sailing into the outside guard rail. Following traffic piled into Thomas car, and, by the time track workers reached him in the junkyard of cars he was unconscious.
Thomas wound up in the hospital, where he underwent brain surgery, and Baker drove on to the championship.
The wreck essentially ended Thomas career. He raced a few more times after recovering but was a shadow of his former self.
It has been whispered loudly by some through the years that Kiekhaefer wanted Thomas taken out at Shelby to open the door to the championship for one of his drivers.
If true and this sort of thing certainly has happened in many forms of racing over the years, it can be assumed that Thompson didnt begin the crash with the idea of causing such severe injuries to Thomas. This kind of bounty would have involved taking out the car, not a quarterback or wide receiver.
Unfortunately, intentionally slamming into another race car at high speed can have consequences far beyond thoughts of payback or of winnowing the field of competition.
In any case, with football helmets or racing helmets, it can be dangerous business.
I guess this is the Elliott Sadler replacement in the #55:
RacinToday.com
Michael Waltrip Racing announced today that Brian Vickers will drive the teams No. 55 Toyota Camry in six NASCAR Sprint Cup races in 2012 beginning at Bristol Motor Speedway on March 18.
Vickers will also race the No. 55 at the August Bristol event as well as each of the two races at Martinsville Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway this season.
I am thrilled to get back behind the wheel of not just a race car, but a very fast race car, said Vickers who earned Toyota Racing Development its first Chase for the Sprint Cup entry in 2009.
Im lucky to find a ride of this quality so early in the season. That Toyota won the pole last weekend in Phoenix and you saw it up front throughout the race. I know how good (crew chief) Rodney Childers and team are. Ive known Rodney since I was eight years old. This car is tied for sixth in points right now. This is going to be fun. I appreciate the opportunity Michael and the entire MWR organization are giving me.
Vickers, 28, owns two victories and 11 poles. Until this season, the Thomasville, N.C. native competed full time in the Sprint Cup Series for eight years. In 2011, he scored three top-five and seven top-10 finishes.
Vickers began his Sprint Cup career in 2003 driving for Hendrick Motorsports before moving to Red Bull Racing in 2007. Vickers has raced only Toyotas since the manufacturer entered Sprint Cup competition in 2007.
Brian Vickers is a veteran driver with almost 10 years experience, but he hasnt even turned 30 yet, said MWR owner Michael Waltrip.
Hes shown he can win at this level and we have every confidence hell run well with us. I believe in second chances and this is great opportunity for us and Brian. He wants to show the world how good he really is and we believe in the equipment and people were putting him with in 2012.
Waltrip drove the No. 55 in the Budweiser Shootout and will run in four more races in 2012. Mark Martin will drive the No. 55 in 24 races plus the All Star Race in Charlotte. MWR will name a driver for two road course events later.
This was the only thing I have found recently that I was confident would get the Legend to poke his head tentatively out of his Lair!
I remember that 27 win deal and something 'bout 10 in a row, too, I believe?
Doesn't count, now. No Busch Brothers had been born then.
That was a few seasons after that Hemi Dodge win (quoting the NASCAR Hall of Fame and NASCAR Media Group) by the King in the 1964 Daytona 500, right?
Wow... this need some serious updating!
The Las Vegas Sun decided to re-run its front page from a year ago about the hometown heroes.
They could sure add some interesting stuff now!
Be sure to click on the video link below the cartoon.
1966 Richmond 250
NASCAR Grand National race number 19 of 49
May 15, 1966 at Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds, Richmond, VA
250 laps on a .500 mile dirt track (125.0 miles)
Time of race: 1:52:43
Average Speed: 66.539 mph
Pole Speed: 70.978 mph- Tom Pistone - All-Time Record Richmond 1/2-Mile Dirt Track
Cautions: 2 for 14 laps
Margin of Victory: 2 laps +
Attendance: 14,500
Lead changes: 5
Fin St # Driver Sponsor / Owner Car Laps Money Status Led
16 1 59 Tom Pistone Tom Pistone '64 Ford 151 150 engine 22
Leader From
Lap To
Lap # Of
Laps
Tom Pistone 1 22 22
David Pearson 23 71 49
Elmo Langley 72 74 3
David Pearson 75 109 35
Richard Petty 110 118 9
David Pearson 119 250 132
