Driver Dale Earnhardt and car owner Robert Gee accept the winner's trophy for taking first place in the prestigious Southern Late Model 200 at Wilson County Speedway in November 1977 - the very first time they raced at Wilson:
Dale Earnhardt won the Southern Late Model 200 at Wilson (NC) County Speedway the first time he ever saw the track.
SOUTHERN LATE MODEL 200 - TOP 10 RESULTS - WILSON COUNTY SPEEDWAY
Wilson, NC
200 Laps - One-Half Mile Dirt Track - 40 Cars
NOVEMBER 13, 1977
(As Reported in the next day's Wilson Daily Times)
1) Dale Earnhardt Kannanapolis, NC #17 Camaro $2,500
2) Tommy Houston Hickory, NC #95 Nova $1,500
3) Monk Tate Ruffin, NC #86 Nova $1,150
4) "Farmer" John Matthews Raleigh, NC #16 Chevelle $ 850
5) Earl Arnold Raleigh, NC #1 Nova $ 650
6) J.E. Beard Bailey, NC Nova $ 590
7) Dennis Smith Goldsboro, NC Nova $ 400
8) Sam Ard Asheboro, NC Pontiac $ 300
9) Tommy Tudor Emporia, VA Chevelle $ 200
10) Stick Elliott Shelby, NC Mustang $ 150
Margin of Victory - < 1/2 lap
Earnhardt drove the #17 Robert Gee owned Camaro, starting 11th
LEADERS AT HALF-WAY (100 LAPS)
1) Earl Arnold - Raleigh, NC
2) Billy Scott - Gaffney, SC
3) Dale Earnhardt - Kannapolis, NC
4) Sam Ard - Asheboro, NC
5) Monk Tate - Ruffin, NC
TOP-5 QUALIFIERS
1) Monk Tate - Ruffin, NC 25.18 Seconds
2) Dennis Smith - Goldsboro, NC 25.37 Seconds
3) Earl Arnold - Raleigh, NC 25.42 Seconds
4) Glenn McDuffie - Sanford, NC 25.42 Seconds
5) Shelton McNair - Plymouth, NC 25.44 Seconds
Results of 25-Lap Consolation Race for Non-Qualifiers
1) Joe Huss - Roanoke Rapids, NC
2) Bud Elliott - Emporia, VA
Notable Wilson County Speedway regular snot making the field included Junior Johnson of Florence, SC. and Jimmy "Porky" Edwards, Jr.
Note: This was the first dirt track race for 2nd place finisher Tommy Houston in eight years.
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Windshield violations costly to Michael Waltrip Racing, JTG Daugherty
Sporting News
NASCAR announced Tuesday it has issued four-week suspensions to Michael Waltrip Racing and JTG Daugherty Racing crew chiefs and car chiefs for illegal windshields found in opening day inspection Friday at Talladega Superspeedway.
NASCAR also fined the crew chiefs $50,000 and penalized the teams and drivers 25 points.
Chad Johnson (right), crew chief for Martin Truex Jr., was one of three crew chiefs suspended Tuesday by NASCAR for rules violations. (NASCAR Images)The windshields, which were never used in competition, did not have the appropriate thickness. MWR competition director Bobby Kennedy, who was put on probation through the end of the year, said Friday it was a mistake at the shop with the way the windshields were installed.
Crew chiefs for Martin Truex Jr. (Chad Johnston), David Reutimann (Rodney Childers) and Bobby Labonte (Frank Kerr) were suspended for four weeksthe remainder of the season. JTG Daugherty Racing announced that Brian Burns will be crew chief for Labonte in place of Kerr.
Also suspended were car chiefs Steve Channing (Reutimann), Raymond Fox (Labonte) and Anthony Lunders (Truex).
Truex, Reutimann and Labonte were docked 25 points, and the teams also lost 25 points in the owner standings.
With the penalties, Truex dropped from 22nd to 24th in the standings; Reutimann remained 28th and Labonte 29th.
JTG Daugherty Racing and MWR announced their organizations will not appeal the penalties.
Pat Tryson will serve as interim crew chief for Truex at Martinsville this weekend, while race mechanic Allen Mincey will step into the role of interim car chief for the team.
Kennedy will act as interim crew chief for Reutimanns group, and Chris Hall (race mechanic) will serve as car chief.
According to the team, the crew and car chiefs will return to their positions following their suspensions.
Read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/nascar/story/2011-10-25/windshield-violations-costly-to-michael-waltrip-racing-jtg-daugherty#ixzz1btlwX3hD
In August of this year, the Wilson (NC) Times published a retrospective collage of local racing stories that had appeared in its pages over the years. Some pretty neat stuff. Stories of Lee Petty and Junior Johnson 1950s wins in Grand National at Wilson County Speedway, as well as coverage of the famed Dale Earnhardt / Robert Gee Camaro winning the prestigious Southern Late Model 200 in 1977 - with pictures. The retrospective even includes coverage of a Jeff Gordon visit in 1994 to Southern National Speedway. It's a nice little piece to see for anyone interested in racing history. The link below is to a pdf file which will take a moment to open.
I hope you enjoy it.
http://www.wilsontimes.com/images/specialSections/retrospective081011.pdf
Jeff, Legend, Bopper, Cody, Jack & Bill heading fortonight's Goat Rodeo.
Congrats to Dave Blaney and Tommy Baldwin for a 3rd place finish at Talladega. They made a lot of kids happy who got to eat free Monday at Golden Corral! Kids eat free there when the team posts a top-10. Good finish for good folks. The Sawyer familyused to sponsor Tommy's dad, the late "Tiger Tom" Baldwin on the NASCAR Modified Tour under the Richmond International Raceway banner, then Tommy moved to Richmond as crew chief for Junie Donlavey and Dick Trickle. Nice to see Dave and Tommy get a good finish.
The Sunday date this past weekend for NASCAR's traveling caravan at Talladega SuperSpeedway marked 7 years since one of the worst tragedies to stike the racing community. Time flies. It was on October 23, 2004 that a Hendrick Motorsports plane crashed in fog and rain on Bull Mountain, near Martinsville Speedway on race day morning resulting in the loss of all ten aboard.
Lost that tragic morning were:
Ricky Hendrick, Rick Hendrick's son and a retired NASCAR driver; John Hendrick, Rick Hendrick's brother and president of the organization; Kimberly and Jennifer Hendrick, John Hendrick's 22-year-old twin daughters; Joe Jackson, an executive with DuPont, sponsor of Jeff Gordon's car; Jeff Turner, general manager of Hendrick Motorsports; Randy Dorton, the team's chief engine builder; Scott Lathram, a pilot for NASCAR driver Tony Stewart; and pilots Dick Tracy and Liz Morrison.
Lest we forget.
