July 15 - This day in Petty history - part 1

1967 - Richard Petty wins the pole, leads 66 of 300 laps, and wins the Islip 300 at Islip Speedway in New York for his 63rd career NASCAR Grand National victory.

Petty won the race by three laps over second-place James Hylton - despite having transmission problems early in the race.

The race was part of NASCAR's 'northern swing' in the 1960s. Once above the Mason-Dixon line, the Grand National drivers tackled a condensed schedule of races at tracks such as Islip, Fonda NY, Oxford ME, and Trenton NJ.

Of all the tracks NASCAR raced, Islip was the shortest at just 2/10ths of a mile. About 2 years ago, I blogged about Islip, NASCAR's history at the track, and yep, even Schaefer beer.

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

TMC