Forum Activity for @tim-leeming

Racing History Minute - September 20, 1964

Stock Car Racing History

How different things were in the world of stock car racing in 1964. All those 49 years ago. As Bobby Williamson stated in the radio show Tuesday night, it was 1963 when "America lost its innocence" with reference to the assissination of the President and all that came after. But for this date in 1964, things in the racing world revolved around a .9 mile dirt track in Hillsboro, NC (Hillsborough), known as Orange Speedway.

Twenty-eight cars entered the event on the superfast dirt track with the hairpin turns. David Pearson would start his Cotton Owens Dodge on the pole with a speed of 89.28 mph. Jimmy Pardue in the Burton-Robinson Plymouth would start second, Doug Yates in a year old Plymouth third, Richard Petty in a Plymouth fourth, and Cotton Owens in a Dodge securing all five top startng positions for the Mopar guys.This would be the second race for the long retired Owens who returned to competition at Richmond six days earlier so he could teach his main driver (Pearson) the proper way to make pit stops. Owens won the Richmond event. He stated he entered the Hillsboro event because it was another chance to "have fun on dirt".

David Pearson led the first 46 laps with Richard Petty taking over on lap 47 but Richard would only hold the lead through lap 53 when Ned Jarrett took over. Ned led for two laps and it was then Pearson again. Pearson appeared on his way to victory when the rapid Dodge broke a fan belt forcing David to pitand he was unable to return to the track. Ned picked up the lead at that point and led until the checkered flag waved on lap 167, completing the 150 miles at a speed of 86.725 mph. Who finished second? That old man, Cotton Owens,who was one lap in arrears but nevertheless a second place finisher.

On a sad note here, second place starter, Jimmy Pardue, was running well but had several unscheduled pit stops which dropped him to 13th in the final rundown. It was two days later that Pardue was killed at Charlotte Motor Speedway while testing tires. Jimmy was the third NASCAR driver to lose his life in the 1964 season with Joe Weatherly (Riverside) and Fireball Roberts (Charlotte) being the other two.

Top five finishers:

1. Ned Jarrett, Bondy Long Ford, winning $1,550.00

2. Cotton Owens, Cotton Owens Dodge, winning $1,000.00 (1 lap down)

3. Larry Thomas, Herman Beam Ford, winning $750.00 (5 laps down)

4. Wendell Scott, Scott Ford, winning $575.00 (11 laps down)

5. Buddy Arrington, Arrington Dodge, winning $425.00 (14 laps down)

Sixth through tenth were Curtis Crider, Steve Young, Roy Tyner, Major Melton and Gene Hobby. Worth McMillion was 12th , Jimmy Pardue 13th, David Pearson 14th, Richard Petty 16th, Buck Baker 20th, Cale Yarborough 22nd, Earl Brooks 23rd, Neil Castles 26th and Don Branson finishing 28th after completing only one lap.

PERSONAL NOTES:

I had gotten to know Jimmy Pardue fairly well during the 1964 season as he was one of those "Mopar Drivers" I always gravitated towards. To me he was always the soft-spoken guy who loved racing and gave it every bit of his energy. Although it hasn't been mentioned often, Jimmy hit the rail at Charlotte Motor Speedway and left the track. The reports as to what actually caused his death are varied but several indicated the car came down driver's side first and a fence post (metal cyclone fence) came through the driver's window. At the National 400 in October, Richard Petty and Fred Lorenzen were engaged in one of their classic duels with Richard leading the Golden Boy by a car length coming to the white flag (and I was in the infield cheering wildly) when his right front tire blew and Richard hit the rail a ton almost in exactly the same spot as Jimmy had hit three weeks before and gone through the rail. Charlotte had reinforced the rail and Richard's car stayed inside the track although the hit was so hard it pulled Richard from his shoulder harness and he actually ended up lying in the seat. If the rails had not been reinforced it could have been another loss. When NASCAR lost Jimmy Pardue, they lost a great racer and a true gentleman.

ALSO, the Celebration of the Automobile is coming up at the speedway which is the subject of today's Minute on September 28th. You will have a chance to talk with the 10th place finisher in the '64 race, Gene Hobby. Gene can entertain you for hours with his recollections of the events in which he competed. Also,you can expect members of fifth place finisher, Wendell Scott's family to be in attendance. Earl Brooks' son, Ervin, will be there with a replica of his Dad's racer. You can check out all the attendees by checking www.historicspeedwaygroup.org and you find many legendary drivers and racing personalities will be there. I have attended the past four years and will be there this year. When I start my calendar for each new year, the first thing I look for is the date for this event and it goes on my calendar before anything else. It is a day a race fan will never forget.

Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future.

updated by @tim-leeming: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM

NAPA Leaving MWR

Current NASCAR

Does this mean there really is a Santa Claus?????? More than I could have hoped for. If he wasn't such a big oaf, perhaps Michael could get a job a Walt Disney World playing "Dopey" in the Snow White show. Oh, wait!!!!!!!

There is always DUMBO.

Racing History Minute - September 19, 1957

Stock Car Racing History

Dave, thank you for thoughts on my Uncle Bobby. Just got back from a visit and he is going home probably tomorrow. Very, very weak but home is where he wants to be.

Thank you also for a beautifully written remembrance of your Dad and the war. That generation was/is, indeed, the Greatest Generation. Funny thing is that my Mom had never met any of my Daddy's family. She boarded the train in Columbia and went to Rochester and there she stayed with my father's brother's wife while her husband was also at war in the Pacific.

I never knew all my Daddy did in that war until I went with him to a reunion of his Division in 1985. Met his Colonel and the Colonel told me stories that embarrassed my Daddy. Turns out he was quite the hero, more than once, as a machine-gunner with the 77th Diviision, the Statute of Liberty Division. The stories were spine-chilling. After we got back home, my Daddy went up in the attica brought down his medals. No Congessional Medal of Honor, but WOW, I was blown away. Adding the stories the Colonel told me to the medals I saw, I was so impressed, But then, growing up with my Daddy had already impressed me.

Thanks for adding so much to these posts.

Racing History Minute - September 19, 1957

Stock Car Racing History

Race number 46 for the Grand National cars in 1957 was run on the half-mile dirt track located in Cayce, SC, but known as "The Columbia Speedway". "Historic" had not yet been added to its title but even by that point, history had been made in many areas on that track. On this date in 1957, 19 cars would enter and qualify to race 200 laps/100 miles.

One thing about the surface of the track was that after practice the track was almost like asphalt and would wear tires pretty quickly. From personal experience I can tell you that tires would "squeal" through the turns in the late stage of the race as the rubber fought for traction on the slick, smooth, fast surface. Races there were always exciting and most often full of surprises.

Buck Baker would qualify his own Chevrolet on the pole for the event. Lee Petty, in an Oldsmobile would start second, Billy Myers in a Ford was third, Jack Smith in a Chevy fourth, and Bill Amick in a Ford started fifth.

Speedy Thompson, who had won The Southern 500 a couple weeks earlier, fell out of the race on lap 7 which continued his streak of awful finishes since the 500 win. There are very little details of the race in my reference source other than to say this was Buck Bakers 8th win of the season as he inched towards his second Grand National Championship. Twelve of the 19 starters finished with those falling out suffering mechanical maladies and not crashing out. Although there is no reference to the number of caution flags, the average race speed was 60.514 mph while Buck got the pole with a speed of 63.649 so I'm guessing no cautions. Buck would win the race by a little more than a lap.

Top five finishers:

1. Buck Baker, Chevrolet, winning $900.00

2. Gwyn Staley, Julian Petty Chevrolet, winning $575.00 (1 lap down)

3. Bill Amick, Amick Ford, winning $375.00 (2 laps down)

4. Billy Myers, Ford, winning $280.00 (4 laps down)

5. Brownie King, Jess Potter Chevrolet, winning $245.00 (6 laps down)

Sixth through tenth were Marvin Panch, Dick Beatty, Lee Petty, L.D.Austin and Clarence DeZailia. Remaining finishers were Roy Tyner, Bill Benson, Jack Smith, Jim Paschal, Fireball Roberts, Bobby Keck, Johnny Allen, Ken Rush and Speedy Thompson.

PERSONAL HISTORY MINUTE: Oddly, I have no specific recollection of this race although I'm pretty sure I was there. My uncle Bobby is in the hospital this morning so I'm not calling him to ask but it is unlikely I would miss a race at Columbia Speedway and I know very well he wouldn't. Only thing I can think of is that school would have started two weeks earlier and my parents didn't think I should be out that late, OR, as was my standard practice in elementary school, there were many nights when I was required to write "I must not talk in class" either 500 or 1,000 times depending upon the severity of my transgressions that day. Now the only time I face that issue is when I talk too much on the Tuesday night radio show and Jeff makes me write that 500 times. So, you see, history does repeat itself.

One other note on the personal history side. It was on this date, 1942, that my Mom and Dad slipped away to Chesterfield, South Carolina to get married before he left to go fight the Japs in the Pacific. In the three weeks he had left in the States before boarding that transport, they managed to move my Mom to Rochester, NY where she would spend the war years and where they had planned to raise a family. Thankfully, for me, they returned to South Carolina when I was five months old. So, although they are both gone now, a Happy 71st Anniversary to my awesome Mama and Daddy.

Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future.

updated by @tim-leeming: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM

Historic Columbia Speedway and soccer

Historic Speedways and Ghost Tracks

Dave, the youngest may get to. The oldest is playing varsity soccer for his high school, the middle is on the Olympic Development Team and the youngest is just starting to branch out from karate into some soccer. We'll see. Would be a nice addition to the memories of that track for me.

Historic Columbia Speedway and soccer

Historic Speedways and Ghost Tracks

Thanks Dennis, but the congradulations go to so many people involved, which doesn't include me. I just always stood around looking nice and smiling for the camera. But that was a great group of folks involved in that entire effort. I am proud to be associated with that revival.

Historic Columbia Speedway and soccer

Historic Speedways and Ghost Tracks

I have had all three grandsons playing soccer, starting when each was four years old. Andrew turns 17 in less than a week, Sam just turned 15 and Michael just turned 10. Andrew is now an official referreeing soccer games, Sam is a first class player on a great team and dare I say he is a "star" player. Michael has gravitated more to Karate and will be getting his RED belt come Saturday.

As for The Historic Columbia Speedway, that is the place I first attended a race and then, from 1952 until it closed, I was always there. First as a fan, then a driver, then a NASCAR official, pace car driver, and pit stewart. Later, when new owners took over, I worked in the driver's sign in booth, the concession stands, and in the ticket office. During the last season of the racing history, I teamed with Leo Windham, a local radio DJ with an interest in racing, to broadcast the weekly races live on a 100,000 watt FM station.

When RacersReunion got involved with the speedway in 2009, miracles happened and the speedway once again became a functional facility, although not for racing. Racers Reunions were held there, with the sponsorship of Love Chevrolet, in 2009 through 2012, with the first one drawing over 31,000 people from 17 states. It was quite a day.

The Historic Columbia Speedway holds such a place in NASCAR history that it must be held in special regard. So many historic events happened there and every driver in the 50s and 60s in NASCAR raced there. Stories of races run on that half-mile dirt track are legendary and told by some of the best racers ever to sit behind the wheel. So it will be that the track is remembered.

As for the soccer reference? It was not to laud my grandsons although I am deeply proud of all three of them. What is happening is that the local soccer authority has reached agreement with the owners of the speedway to build soccer fields off turns one and two where major soccer tournaments will be held. This amounts to some major and positive development for the property that was almost lost to trees and weeds five years ago. In addition, the property is already a Cayce Events Facility.

So, I won't be hearing the roar of racing engines but I will be hearing the cheers of moms and dads, grand parents and kids as soccer comes to the historic site. Instead of yellow flags, there will be yellow cards.

updated by @tim-leeming: 12/05/16 04:08:38PM

September 18, 1960: Richard wins his 3rd race

Stock Car Racing History

Some of those guys in that race won by Richard will be at Occoneechee on September 28th. I know Rex will because we talked about that in Augusta last weekend. I guarantee you Rex will have memories of this race to share. He is remarkable. Someone in Augusta asked him if he had ever wrecked anyone on purpose. Rex said "yes" and then went on to tell the story. Want to know who he wrecked and what was said? Come to Hillsborough on the 28th.

Clint Bowyer School for Lying City Women - Shan Coughlin Head Mistress

General

We are in total, 100% agreement on this Perry.

Racing History Minute - September 18, 1964

Stock Car Racing History

Oh, and speaking of Occoneechee, I'm sure TMC Chase will let us know about Richard Petty's victory there on this date in 1960! Watch for his post later today.