Should be a good move to Earnhardt-Ganassi. I recall reading an interview with Larson a few weeks ago when he said he didn't think he was ready to move up to Cup. Apparently, however, Benjamin Franklin talked to him. Larson is a driver with the potential of Kyle Busch, certainly. Be fun to watch him.
Great stuff Dave!!! Awesome articles. Thanks.
The 1961 season was a different season for me. My Uncle Bobby's favorite, Lee Petty, had been injured in Daytona in February. Uncle Bobby and I just talked about those days early in 1961 a few weeks ago during one of my visits. As I have said many times, my uncle is 80 years old and although his physical body is suffering, his mind is as sharp as ever and his memory is as clear as watching a blue-ray dvd. He is amazing. He had never told me, until those few weeks ago, that he actually called the hospital in Daytona a couple of times while Lee was there to check on him. Those were the days before HIPPA and the hospital staff would actually update you on a patient's progress. Believe me, back in those days, a "long distance call" was a big deal for my entire family. It had to be a dire emergency to consider placing such a call. But, this "Minute" is not about Lee Petty, nor the entire 1961 season, just a trip back to South Boston, VA for a 50 mile/200 lap race on the quarter-mile paved track.
Twenty-one cars qualified for the event with Cotton Owens taking the pole with a speed of 52.62 mph in his Pontiac. Jim Reed in a Chevy would start second, Junior Johnson in a Pontiac third. Junior had won the previous two races, one at Asheville-Weaverville on August 13th and another at Southside Speedway in Richmond on August 18th. Elmo Langley started a T-Bird in fourth, with Rex White in a Chevrolet fifth.
Jim Reed jumped into the lead when the green flag fell and he would lead the first thirty-two laps. Junior Johnson took over and would lead the rest of the way to win the 48th race of his career. I found it funny that the reference I use for these Minutes (Greg Fielden's "Forty Years of Stock Car Racing") described Junior as "the rotund Pontiac driver". Days before political correctness I guess!
Wendell Scott, in his rookied season in Grand National racing, was taken out bya crash on lap 114 and Doug Yates suffered the same fate on lap 166. Pole winner Owens fell out of the event on lap 75 with transmission failureand Richard Petty, representing a then struggling Petty Engineering, fell out on lap 32 with a blown engine in his year old Plymouth.
Top five finishers were:
1. Junior Johnson, Holly Farms Pontiac, winning $800.00
2. Jim Reed, Reed Chevrolet, winning $525.00
3. Ned Jarrett, B. G. Holloway Chevrolet, winning $375.00
4. Emanuel Zervakis, Monroe Shook Chevrolet, winning $275.00
5. Rex White, White-Clements Chevrolet, winning $350.00
Sixth through tenth were Jimmy Pardue, Larry Thomas, Harry Leake, Bob Barron, and Bob Presnell. Elmo Langley was 12th, Doug Yates 14th, Fred Harb 15th, Wendell Scott 16th, Cotton Owens 17th, G. C. Spencer 19th, Richard Petty 20th, and 21st and last position was John Hamby who parked his Dodge on the 22nd lap stating "handling problems".
Just a thought here; do you suppose the "rotund Pontiac driver" became that way through an excess of Holly Farms chicken? And I thought chicken was such a good food for a diet!!!!!!!
Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future.
This "Minute" should be one of special interest to Coastal Jack Walker and Bobby "Bopper" Williamson, both of the Tuesday Night Goat Rodeo fame, as it involves Coastal Speedway in Mytle Beach, SC. Both of those gentlemen have talked about that track several times. Even more applicable to the Tuesday night show here on RacersReunion, we had, as a guest sometime back, Johnny Allen who related many stories about his involvement in the sport and especially to his association with A. M. Crawford and the infamous Plymouth he drove.
Johnny Allen surprised the other drivers and the fans in attendance by putting that Plymouth on the pole with a speed of 58.139 miles per hour on the half-mile dirt track. Fireball Roberts would start second in a Ford, Gwyn Staley in a Julian Petty Chevrolet would qualify third, Lee Petty fourth, and Jack Smith fifth.
Johnny Allen's feat of winning the pole was quickly deflated as he was the first to depart the race on lap ten when the fan assembly on the Plymouth failed. Only four other cars would fail to finish in the 15 car field.
Less than 24 hours before this race at Coastal Speedway, Curtis Turner prevailed over Gwyn Staley in a Convertible race in Charlotte. The race at Charlotte was a hard fought battle with Curtis Turner "pushing" Staley out of the grove on the last lap to race him to the flag in a side-by-side finish which saw Curtis win by less than three feet. The odd thing here is that Curtis did NOT compete at Coastal as he was "boycotting" NASCAR, refusing to pay a$50.00 fine assessed for "rough housing" at Hickory Speedway. Turner said he would not race again in NASCAR until the fine was waived. Turner did pay the fine and was reinstated but not for this race.
Gwyn Staley would put his Chevy out front by a lap this time and take the win at an average speed of 50.782 mph. He did not, however, receive any points for the race as the car he was driving was a convertible on which Julian Petty had bolted on a hardtop but there was no rear window which made him ineligible for points.
Top five finishers were:
1. Gwyn Staley, Julian Petty Chevrolet, winning $1,000.00
2.Eddie Pagan, Pagan Ford, winning $625.00 **
3.Fireball Roberts, Roberts Ford, winning $400.00
4. Buck Baker, Baker Chevrolet, winning $295.00
5. L. D. Austin, Austin Chevrolet, winning $255.00
Sixth through tenth were Lee Petty, Clarence DeZailla, Jack Smith, Roy Tyner, and Bill Benson. The remaining five finishers were Brownie King, Speedy Thompson, Marvin Panch, Ken Rush and Johnny Allen.
** EddiePagan was a successful WestCoast driver who came to South Carolina to run the Southern 500 a week after thisrace atCoastal. Eddie would finish 15th in The Darlington Labor Day event a weekafter this race.
Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future
I was in Asheville and missed the first part of the race because we were out to dinner. When I did tune in about 9:00 p.m. the channel it was supposed to be on was showing NFL Football. My brother-in-law has Direct TV and was able to find it on another channel so I got to see the last 225 laps. Maybe Charlotte is turning its back on NASCAR. Hope not, but could be happening.
Outstanding!!!! Dave, you really put me to shame on this one, the wriitng, the pictures and articles. Thanks so much for filling in for me. Tomorrow morning I'll return to my meager contributions and let you and Chase make them something worth looking at. Great job!!!!!
Yes, I am posting this early as I won't be available on Saturday and I do want to keep the History Minutes running.
Today we are going to that famous track in Moyock, NC, known as Dog Track Speedway which was a .333 mile paved track. In 1965, there were 18 cars lined up to race which was, overall, a low count as the Chrysler drivers were just getting back into the competition after sitting out most of the year when NASCAR outlawed the hemi engine. Richard Petty would start his Plymouth from the pole with Ned Jarrett's Ford to his outside. Dick Hutcherson in a Ford was third, Tiny Lund in another Ford was fourth and Buddy Baker put a Dodge in fifth starting position.
Richard Petty led the first 31 laps before Dick Hutcherson moved around to take over the lead he would hold for the remainder of the 300 laps constituting 100 miles. It was the seventh win of the year for "Hutch" and moved him to within 286 points of the championship leader, Ned Jarrett. After the race, Hutcherson said he never really had to even strain his Ford as it just handled and ran perfectly. Until lap 115 it was Hutcherson, then Petty, then Jarrett. Jarrett moved around Petty on the 115th lap and those three ran in that order the rest of the race before the crowd of 5,400 fan.
Top five finishers were:
1. Dick Hutcherson, Holman-Moody Ford, winning $1,000.00
2. Ned Jarrett, Bondy Long Ford, winning $800.00
3. Richard Petty, Petty Engineering Plymouth, winning $600.00
4. Tiny Lund, Lyle Stetler Ford, winning $300.00
5. Sonny Hutchins, Junie Donlavey Ford, winning $275.00
Sixth through tenth were Buddy Baker, Buck Baker, Dick Dixon, Darel Dieringer, and Neil Castles. Bob Derrington finished 11th, Jimmy Helms 12th, Allen McMillon 13th, Wendell Scott 14th, Clyde Lynn 15th, Cale Yarborough 16th, Henley Gray 17th, and Tiger Tom Pistone finished 18th, and last after problems with the left front hub on his Glenn Sweet Ford.
Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future.
The physical location on this planet for RacersReunion Headquarters in Myrtle Beach, SC. That area of South Carolina is also the location of what is now known as Myrtle Beach Speedway BUT when the track opened for its first race on August 23, 1958, it was known as Rambi Raceway. A half mile dirt track of fast configuration surrounded by woods and somewhat of a swamp.
The first race on the track is the subject of our "Minute" today. The half-mile dirt track was set for 200 laps/100 miles for which 21 cars showed up to qualify. When qualifying was over, Speedy Thompson in a Chevy was on the pole with a speed of 66.667 mph. Shorty Rollins would start second, Junior Johnson third, Joe Weatherly fourth and Buck Baker fifth.
Joe Weatherly, starting outside second row, got tangled up with traffic on the start and was given credit for one lap. Richard Petty, still in the very early stages of his career was running in the top ten when his Oldsmobile sailed off turn three and into one of the "ponds" off the turn. Richard was thoroughly soaked and he was out of the race as they fished his car from the pond. That turn would later come to be known as "alligator alley" but Richard did NOT report an enounter with a gator that race.
Pole winner, Thompson, broke an axle and parked his Chevy on lap 166. Bob Welborn, who had been in contention as usual, took the lead and held off a hard-charging Buck Baker and Shorty Rollins for the win. This was only Welborn's 14th start of the season and was his fifth win.
Top five finishers:
1. Bob Welborn, Julian Petty Chevrolet, winning $800.00
2. Buck Baker, Baker Chevrolet, winning $525.00
3. Shorty Rollins, Rollins Ford, winning $350.00
4. Tiny Lund, Ford, winning $250.00
5. Lee Petty, Petty Engineering Oldsmobile, winning $225.00
Sixth through tenth were Fred Harb, Junior Johnson, Bob Walden, George Dunn and Bill Poor. Speedy Thompson would be credited with 15th, Richard "Kingfish" Petty with 16th, Roy Tyner 17th, Gene White 18th, Neil Castles 20th and Joe Weatherly 21st.
Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future
As always, Devin, excellent work!!! Thanks for making these memories available for all of us who went and all who will see them.
Many thanks to Randy Myers for setting up a RacersReunion gathering at the NASCAR Hall of Fame today. Ten of us attended (a picture is posted here on the page). The ten were Randy Myers, of course, Devin Alexander, Bill Blair, Jr., Dennis Andrews, Dave Fulton, Robin Agner, Leon Phillips, Darren Grigsby, Wayne Wilson and me, Tim Leeming.
We started off meeting with Chocolate Myers in the Sirius Radio Studio there at the Hall and he gave us quite a bit of opinioned information to digest. We then toured the HOF which is a wonderful experience in itself, but the Randy, Bill, Dave, and Dennis to share the racing history first hand, it was exceptional.
After our tour, we gathered in the Buffalo Wild Wings at the Hall and had a great lunch but the best part of that was listening to Dave,Dennis, Bill and Randy as they shared stories of their personal experiences in racing. What an awesome event for those of us listening.
All in all it was an absolutely fantastic day. The only somewhat negative event, and I say this in jest, was when a young man and his son came over to Dave and me to ask if we were "famous"? He had been listening to Dave and I discussing a certain display. Before I could answer, "Yes, I'm The Legend", Dave resoundingly said "no"! He immediately lost his job as MY P.R. man!
It is always great to be with folks as a RacersReunion Group and today just further proved there is nothing like getting a group of race fans together.
I hope the others who went on the trip will post comments here and I hope the next trip, and there will definitely be another trip, will have more of you attending so you can see what we mean about the Hall of Fame.
