And Down in Texas
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Can't tell the difference between that Texas Longhorns "orange" and that Jeff Gilder Vols "orange," lol!
Forum Activity for @dave-fulton
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And Down in Texas
General
Waiting for their ride to Texas Motor Speedway
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM
Nov 2, 1975 - RP wins at Bristol
Stock Car Racing History
A beautiful car, Dennis... thanks. As Woody Delbridge once pointed out, those Ronnie Elder cars always had the Virginia state bird (Cardinal) and state flower (Dogwood) painted on the car as seen to the top left of Lennie's head.
Nov 2, 1975 - RP wins at Bristol
Stock Car Racing History
Glad you found those shots by Woody. I just loved that two-tone gold color scheme on Lennie's Ronnie Elder cars.
Nov 2, 1975 - RP wins at Bristol
Stock Car Racing History
The mini-stocks on the track at Saluda in 1975:
Photographer Unknown
Nov 2, 1975 - RP wins at Bristol
Stock Car Racing History
On the same Sunday afternoon of November 2, 1975, that North Carolinian, Petty was beating Virginian, Pond in the Tennessee Cup race, a Virginian was spinning out a North Carolina rival to win a huge outlaw dirt track race in Virginia that saw 134 cars attempt to qualify..
Earlier this summer, "Coastal" Jack Walker highlighted this race on his historic race segment during the Tuesday night RR Racing Through History broadcast. The dirt track late model crowd had gathered at Saluda, Virginia, near the banks of the Rappahannock River for 200 laps of mayhem. On the site of the former old ramshackle Virginia Raceway today sits Billy Sawyer's pristine Virginia Motor Speedway. Although Sawyer has changed the address to the more exotic sounding Jamaica, Virginia , it is the same plot of dirt that once hosted some real bump and run dirt track racers back in the 60s & 70s.
The ever popular Al Grinnan , former NASCAR Most Popular Modified Driver, NASCAR Virginia State Late Model Sportsman Champion and a multi-time champ at the Wilson County Speedway in North Carolina was ready to take on an old rival from North Carolina's Chantilly Speedway and Wilson County Speedway. That would be the equally popular Joe Huss of Roanoke Rapids, a high school English teacher who once thrilled the locals driving his hemi-powered Plymouth on the tiny quarter-mile dirt oval in Weldon and later traded paint with RR member, Wayne Andrews and others on NASCAR's GT/Grand American Series.
Pole sitter, Frankie Burnham, who used to drive for our late member, Jack Carter's father, won the pole and crashed on lap 1.
The biggest controversy of the day occurred when race winner Grinnan contacted the Huss car and it went spinning. That, though, was just the beginning of troubles for Joe Huss on his trip to Virginia's Northern Neck country. Before the day was over he would be hospitalized. Those boys really played rough.
Fredericksburg, Va. Free Lance Star
Nov 2, 1975 - RP wins at Bristol
Stock Car Racing History
The Fredericksburg, Va. Free Lance Star carried the same AP copy as Jerry Bushmire's article, but also included references to Richard Petty's success at Richmond and Martinsville, before getting into Richard's quotes about his crew beating Lennie's on pit road when it counted:
Nov 2, 1975 - RP wins at Bristol
Stock Car Racing History
2nd place finisher Lennie Pond of Ettrick, Va., a lap down to winner, Petty was still driving the beautiful, independent, gold #54 Master Chevrolet for Ronnie Elder out of Petersburg, Va. and scored a lap ahead of his 1973 Rookie of the Year nemesis, Darrell Waltrip in the not yet Gatorade DiGard Chevy with his father-in-law's Terminal Transport sponsorship.
Mayfield arrested on Meth charges
General
Wally, for any in the Charlotte area, I think you nailed it yesterday when you mentioned Bill Diehl dropping the original defense. For those outside of Charlotte, Bill handles the "biggest" cases... big divorces, defenses of Ric Flair, etc.