Richard Petty - 200 Wins or Just 199?
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Racer's Reunion Crew Stirring the Pot!
Forum Activity for @dave-fulton
Richard Petty - 200 Wins or Just 199?
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It's been quite a while since I stirred a pot. Today I was thinking for some reason about the fact that NASCAR used to count qualifying race wins in a driver's Grand National/Cup win total. We all know that the Daytona 500 has twin qualifying races. To the best of my knowledge, NASCAR stopped counting a win in one of those events in a driver's total around the 1967 season. I remembered that Charlotte also used to run qualifying races for the World 600. I was curious to see if Richard Petty had been credited with a win by NASCAR in any of the qualifying races. I found that on May 21, 1961, Richard is credited with winning the 67 lap Charlotte Qualifier #1 for the following week's World 600 over Ralph Earnhardt in a 19 car field. 55 cars actually started the World 600 the following week. Do you think that 19 car preliminary qualifying race win ought to count as one of the 200 Grand National/Cup wins in the King's resume? What really gets interesting is that on the exact same date - May 21, 1961, that Richard is credited with the Charlotte win, Lloyd Dane is also credited with a Grand National/Cup win for his victory that day all the way across the country on the Riverside, California road course. Just food for thought.
updated by @dave-fulton: 06/01/19 07:38:57PM
R.I.P. Former Busch Series Car Owner Ted Conder - Scored 2 Wins with Bobby Hillin
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Saw an obituary in today's Charlotte paper for Ted Conder, a former Busch Series car owner who posted 2 wins in 76 starts in the six year period between 1986-1992. Conder was a business associate of Felix Sabates and talked him into helping him form a NASCAR Busch Series team. Sabates, of course, later moved to the Cup Series. Bobby Hillin, Jr. won in Ted Conder cars at Dover in 1988 and at Nazareth in 1989. Six drivers, including Hillin, piloted Conder's cars. The others were Kyle Petty, Todd Bodine, Davey Johnson, Dick Trickle and Mike Wallace. R.I.P. Ted.
Ted Conder
Ted Conder & Felix Sabates
Theodore Lewis Conder Jr .
'Teddy, Rouge, Bok'
Ted, 65, a native Charlottean, died Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at Levine Dickson Hospice House in Huntersville after a tireless battle with melanoma.
He was born December 1, 1945 to the late Mildred Major and Theodore Lewis Conder Sr. He graduated from Garinger High School and attended Wingate College. Ted was the consummate salesman who established Sales Force with his father. He spent over 40 years growing what they had started. He was also involved in NASCAR through marketing and car ownership for over 15 years. He went from going to the dirt tracks with his grandfather as a child, to sitting in the stands, to car owner.
Ted was a member of Sardis Presbyterian Church. He was well traveled, an avid reader, a great story teller, a history buff and sports fan. He especially loved golf, hockey and his treasured Charlotte Checkers. He performed random acts of kindness known only to the recipient of his generosity.
Ted is survived by his beloved wife Vicka Springer Conder, two daughters and their spouses, Molly and Rick Brown of Charlotte, and Lauren and Nick Klinkert of New York, NY. In addition he leaves behind three grandchildren that brought him so much joy, Jack and Carson Brown and Quinn Lewis Klinkert. Surviving also are his sister Joan Hooks and husband Mike, their daughters Kelly Clackum and her husband Scott, Brandi Hoover and husband Brad, sister in law Margaret Poplin and husband Jerry, with their daughters Julie Woodie and husband Mike, Norma Poplin, Ronda Briggs and husband Mike. Also niece Dr. Lisa Springer and husband Udo Robitsch. He was surrounded in love by many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. Absolutely nothing in his life was more important to him than his family. He was the epitome of a man who lived and fulfilled his dreams.
A celebration of his life will be held on Friday, October 14th at 11 am at Sardis Presbyterian Church. The family will receive friends immediately following the service. Memorials may be made to Victory Junction Camp, 4500 Adams Way, Randleman, NC 27317, Levine Dickson Hospice House, 11900 Vanstory Drive, Huntersville, NC 28078 or to Sardis Presbyterian Church, 6100 Sardis Road, Charlotte, NC 28270.
The family wishes to thank the nurses and staff of Blumenthal Cancer Center, especially Dr. Asim Amin and Denise Hogan.
Through the course of his battle he was sincerely proud of a life lived on his terms without any regrets. Published in Charlotte Observer from October 13 to October 14, 2011
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM
Twinkle, twinkle Charlotte lights, the racing cars come out tonight
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Nice memories, Tim. Thanks for posting. The big hole with the huge cliffs was there when I made my first CMS trip, although it wasn't until 1970. You know, I've never noticed any of those outlet vents where the hole was filled by BFI with garbage, landfill materiels, etc. like you usually have to let out the methane gas. You reckon there's a chance of turns 3 & 4 exploding one day?
Moonshiners & Revenuers Reunion Wasn't Open to the Public
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Sure those helicopters weren't looking for "potted" plants?
Moonshiners & Revenuers Reunion Wasn't Open to the Public
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I bet this was interesting and a lot of fun.
Cats and mice play catch-up
Moonshiners, revenuers find common ground - if not common roads
Posted: Friday, Oct. 14, 2011
By Tom Sorensen, Charlotte Observer
PURLEAR The third annual Moonshiners and Revenuers reunion, which is not open to the public, is easy to find. When you get to the end of civilization, take a left.
Then take a right. Drive in drizzle down twisty western Wilkes Country roads that don't appear on most maps. Somewhere, a banjo plays. When you reach a little hill, take your final right.
The guard waits for the password.
"Return to Thunder Road," I say.
"You can park over there," the guard says.
If you need a password to get in, you know you came to the right place.
The land beyond the guard is stunning, all hills, creeks, vistas and green grass. Also stunning is the pristine green 1948 Mercury with whitewall tires that could have sprouted from the hill on which it sits.
On the stage are Matt Dylan & The Most Wanted, who with feeling and sweet guitars play every moonshine song every written, and there must be 100. Hay bales are arranged nine deep in front of them.
A few minutes before 6 p.m. the revenuers, the men who chased the moonshiners, climb onto the stage. You can tell who they are by their uniforms.
Then come the flathead Fords, six of them. Out step the men who made Wilkes County legendary for running moonshine. The first out appropriately is Junior Johnson, one of the greatest drivers and minds racing will ever see.
Johnson and five other moonshiners sit in white rocking chairs on one side of the stage, the revenuers in six chairs on the other. The chairs will be auctioned, and the money will benefit Jack Roush Charities.
Roush is here. So, of course, is the host, the gracious Terri Parsons, wife of the late Benny Parsons, the racer everybody liked.
Joining them is Humpy Wheeler, the former Charlotte Motor Speedway president. He made the trip from Charlotte in his modified 1939 Ford coupe. Wheeler says the mountains were ideal for setting up stills and producing illegal alcohol. The problem was getting it to consumers in the flatlands.
"The old Fords of the 1937-40 vintage proved the trick," says Wheeler. "The bootleggers wanted to attract no attention because there were few cars on the road at night.
"Trucks and tankers would have been picked off immediately because the U.S. Treasury Department had taken big notice of the bootleg trade and established offices in places like Wilkesboro. The agents were tough, smart men, well trained with very fast cars."
Although they drove fast, the words of the moonshiners and revenuers come slowly on this evening. Most are in their 80s. Johnson is 80. They're mountain folks. They don't brag.
The rain washed away most of my notes so except for Johnson I can't tell you who said what. No matter. They created history some of us merely dream of. They speak with one voice.
One moonshiner speaks about Charles Manson. They did time together in Virginia.
"Played horseshoes with him, played ball with him. As good a fellow as any of us were right then. A little later, he changed."
If the moonshiners were caught north of Charlotte, they went to federal prison in Chillicothe, Ohio. South of Charlotte, they went to Atlanta. They preferred Chillicothe.
Why Ohio?
"Cause there's always somebody from Wilkes County up there."
Two moonshiners split up. A veteran revenuer followed one and a rookie followed the other. Make sure you get him, the veteran said.
Later, they rendezvoused. The veteran got his man. "Where's yours?"
"I got him," the rookie said.
"What you mean you got him?"
"I got his hat," said the rookie. "And his name's in it. See? John B. Stetson."
A lawman had a retirement party. At the end of the evening he was presented gifts. One fellow approached with a paper bag crinkled from years of use.
"Remember about 30 years ago you set up the road block on 421, and that boy come down from the mountains in that '39 Ford and busted right through it and you threw a flashlight at him?" the man with the bag asked.
The lawman remembered. The fellow handed him the bag.
"I want to give you the flashlight back," he said.
A moonshiner was sentenced to a year and a day.
"Well, I can do that standing on my head," he told the judge.
"I'll give you another year so you can get back on your feet," the judge said.
A student was hitchhiking home to Charlotte from Appalachian State one nasty night and Johnson picked him up. The student told his friend Tom Higgins, the legendary former Observer motorsports writer, that Johnson made it all the way to Charlotte without driving on a paved road.
Higgins accused his friend of drinking Johnson's hooch.
Johnson says the kid wasn't lying.
"You just cross the highway and you learn roads and you unload and you learn another new way to go into Charlotte," says Johnson. "You cross one highway and then another and if you practiced you could do it."
Johnson did time in Chillicothe, but he was never caught on the road. If you can run hooch, think you can run a race? Wheeler estimates 20 percent of the racers from the mid-40s to the mid-50s in the Carolinas, Georgia and Virginia came from the hills.
Says Wheeler: "To deny the influence of moonshiners in NASCAR is to say we Southerners weren't influenced by grits, catfish, red clay, cotton mills, country music, smoked ham, barbecue, the banjo or the country store."
The tales are vivid, but the Moonshiners and revenuers are fading. This reunion might be the last.
I hope not. But if it is I'd like to honor them for their contribution to racing, storytelling and hangovers.
If on this black and rainy night there's a dirt road that will take me home, I promise I'll find it.
Copyright 2011 . All rights reserved. Sorensen: 704-358-5119; tsorensen@charlotteobserver.com
Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/10/14/2690277/cats-and-mice-play-catch-up.html#storylink=misearch#ixzz1aky27Yys
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM
Restyling Cars to Look Like Showroom Models Appeals to fans & Drives Sales
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From today's Charlotte Observer comes a piece hitting on what we talk about all the time... the identity of the race cars. Now if they'd just kill those headlight & tail light decals.
Restyling, refiring NASCAR's battle of the brands
By Ely Portillo - elyportillo@charlotteobserver.com
Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011
Win on Sunday, sell on Monday: Its an old NASCAR adage that described how a cars performance in a race would help move cars off the lots.
That was when the cars looked like (or in the early years, even actually were) cars that you could go buy from a local dealer. As the sport grew, though, increasing regulations and changes in body design lessened that resemblance, until the cars rounding the turns all looked more like each other than anything you might drive.
But at Friday nights Dollar General 300 Nationwide Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the cars on the track will look a bit more like the cars in the showroom. And racing fans and insiders are saying thats good for the sport and maybe good for business.
As a fan, I like to look at the cars and be able to tell a Ford from a Chevy, said Bruton Smith, CEO of both Charlotte Motor Speedways parent company and auto dealer Sonic Automotive. If my favorite vehicle out there is a Ford and theres a Ford out there in front...theres pride that comes with that.
The homogenization of the cars increased with the 2007 debut of the so-called Car of Tomorrow, a new, uniform design that introduced more exacting specifications on how cars are built from their frames outward.
The Nationwide Series cars were introduced in four races last season and adopted for the whole 2011 season. Friday's race will feature Toyota Camrys, Ford Mustangs, Chevy Impalas and Dodge Challengers that look more like their production-model cousins. The redesigned noses are especially distinctive.
A similar program is on the horizon for NASCARs premier Sprint Cup series, though NASCAR officials wouldnt say exactly when that series might see redesigned cars. Smith said he thought the change could take place in the 2013 series, but the sooner the better.
Fans camping at the track Thursday under a drizzly sky said they like being able to tell an Impala from a Challenger.
Ive always been in favor of that. I grew up when there were about seven different designs, said Tim Propst, of Morganton. He did worry that the cars could be different enough to give one manufacturer a competitive edge.
Somebody will be complaining about, 'Oh, this ones more aerodynamic,' he said.
Thats the point! his wife, Nancy Propst (wearing a Dodge shirt), interjected. That adds another layer.
And seeing which manufacturers car runs the fastest adds to the fun, she said. We can see which one runs best. Thats what we want to see.
Ford introduced the Mustang as its new Nationwide car last year, choosing the sportier model of the Fusion that the automaker runs in the Sprint Cup races. Jamie Allison, director of Ford Racing, said the company had noticed that customers identification with brands was falling.
Over the years, the affinity of the fans had shifted...to the drivers and to the teams, and less about the manufacturers, he said. Fans have basically disconnected from that visceral yearning that started the sport of showroom stock car racing.
Since the debut of the more-identifiable Mustang, Allison said the company has seen evidence the move is working in fan emails and increased coverage of racing in hardcore Mustang fan-targeted magazines.
It really brought (Mustang) to a new audience, he said. Our objective is to make sure the fan has an...emotional experience of cheering for their driver, their team and their car. That really is the holy trinity of excitement.
NASCAR executive Norris Scott, who oversees relationships with sponsors, said reaction to the redesigned cars has been positive.
The manufactures are able to have a little bit more of their personality on the front of the car, Scott said. NASCAR polling shows about three quarters of fans have a favorite automotive racing brand they cheer for, he said. If youre rooting for Jimmie Johnson, youre rooting for Chevy.
Scott added that manufacturers now have a wider array of options to convert fans into buyers. Theyve increased their use of social media, fan databases and trackside events.
Ed Laukes, vice president of marketing for Toyota Motorsports, said the Nationwide change was largely fan-driven.
Its really what the fans have been asking for, he said. And from a business perspective, Absolutely, having that identification does help.
Its a step in the right direction, former Charlotte Motor Speedway president and general manager H.A. Humpy Wheeler said of the redesigned cars. In the past, he said, cars were often sold based on who won at the track, such as special edition cars put out by Pontiac after a championship.
I think that it was a ploy that not only worked, but got a lot of attention for that particular model of car, he said. If Chevys winning all the races, subliminally you might buy a Chevy instead of a Ford.
He also said that the redesigned cars will still share a lot more commonalities than differences, thanks to the evolution of engine design and regulations.
Basically, theyre all the same under the skin, he said. In the old days, someone could build an engine that was 50-horsepower stronger. Thats impossible now.
Portillo: 704-358-5041
Read more: http://www.thatsracin.com/2011/10/13/76021/change-in-appearance-revs-up-battle.html#ixzz1akvp7qSn
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM
It was a Long Wait, but Worth It
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Now when you tell your wife you're off to the races and she doesn't answer, or wonder why she pouts when you retreat to your lair in time for the National Anthem....
The book "Understanding Women" has finally arrived in book stores:
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:02:07PM