Times were tough for racers in the mid 1970s - locally and on the national level. L.D. Ottinger, NASCAR's two-time national Late Model Sportsman champion, had done enough barnstorming to accumulate points.
Ottinger continued to race and win, but he longer had the hunger to bounce all over the eastern and southern U.S. to bank points. Jack Ingram reached the same decision after winning his third consecutive LMS title in 1974.
Locally, Nashville's 1976 LMS champion, Alton Jones, didn't return to defend his title. Jones was from Alabama, but he'd raced off and on at Nashville since the early 1970s. He raced the full schedule in 1976 and won the title over rookie Mike Alexander. Because of a lack of sponsorship, however, Jones opted not to return to Music City in 1977.
With Jones gone along with some of the late model veterans of the early 1970s, most expected the storyline of Nashville's 1977 season to be the further maturation of the Kiddie Corps.
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| Mike Alexander, P.B. Crowell III, Sterling Marlin and Dennis Wiser |
- Mike Alexander, Nashville's 1976 LMS rookie of the year, was the son of R.C. Alexander, a long-time owner for winning drivers dating back to the late 1950s.
- P.B. Crowell III, Nashville's 1975 LMS rookie of the year, was the son of P.B. Crowell, Jr. a former winning driver who became a prominent owner in the late 1960s when he hired a kid from Owensboro, Kentucky: Darrell Waltrip.
- Sterling Marlin was the son of four-time Nashville track champ and Cup independent, Coo Coo Marlin. Before he began his driving career, Sterling worked as a crewman and mechanic on his father's Cup cars.
- Dennis Wiser was the son of Kenneth Wiser, a long-time noted car builder and mechanic. Among his other accomplishments, Kenneth built the car raced by 1967 track champ and future NASCAR official, Walter Wallace
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| Source: The Tennessean |
- Cup regular and two-time Nashville LMS champion, Darrell Waltrip, flew between Bristol and Nashville to balance practice and qualifying for the Southeastern 500 Cup race and his #88 Gatorade Nova in Nashville.
- Ottinger still came to Music City even though he wasn't chasing points.
- Ingram finished second in a Friday night late model race in Kingsport, TN before towing to Nashville for its Saturday night feature.
- Randy Tissot wrecked his car in the Kingsport race. He came to Nashville anyway with a generous offer by Ingram to race his backup car.
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| Mike Alexander, Steve Spencer, Darrell Waltrip, Sterling Marlin, & Dale Earnhardt |
Earnhardt's night in his borrowed ride didn't last even a quarter of the race. He spun on lap 40 and collected Marlin with him.
Wiser, another one of the young'uns, popped the wall shortly after halfway, and he too was done - as was Steve Spencer. Fortunately for Spencer, the night did not start a trend for him. He won frequently during the year and captured the 1977 LMS title.
Cup independent and 1969 Nashville LMS champion, Dave Sisco, tangled with Shepherd to end both their nights. And with about 20 laps to go, Crowell's pole-winning car laid down sending his car to the trailer.
With five to go and Ingram leading, Benny Kerley apparently hit a patch of fluid and spun in turn three. Ingram was already past Kerley, but second-place running Gant also hit the oil and clipped Kerley as he tried to avoid him.
As Gant slowed and twitched, he was then drilled in the right side by local racers Ricky Marlin and and Dave Hill. Fast approaching Waltrip and Tissot took evasive action to dodge the three-car wreck.
As Gant's totaled car was towed to the garage, it was apparent to all the roll cage wasn't nearly as strong as required. Handsome Harry was fortunate to return to North Carolina without injury.
On the restart, Waltrip went high in turn one in hopes of getting momentum to launch past Ingram. His car stumbled, however, and he immediately faded. Ottinger had issues too - at the very moment he didn't need them.
Feeling no pressure from the others, Ingram and Tissot clicked off the remaining laps to finish 1-2. Waltrip and Ottinger remained on track and finished third and fourth.
Fans saw a remarkable and perhaps exasperating 11 cautions totaling 65 laps. Of the 28 starters, only nine cars made it to the end. With so many cars out of the race or many laps down to the leaders, Kerley and Gant still managed to finish fifth and sixth despite their DNFs!
Ingram captured his fifth national LMS win at Nashville and eighth victory overall. He won three more times at the Fairgrounds - a 250-lap national LMS race in 1979 and a Busch Grand National race in 1984.
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| Source: The Tennessean |
- Jack Ingram
- Randy Tissot
- Darrell Waltrip
- L.D. Ottinger
- Benny Kerley
- Harry Gant
- Gary Sircy
- Ricky Marlin
- Buzzy Reynolds
- Dorris Vaughn
- David Panter
- P.B. Crowell
- Thomas Mount
- David Hill
- Mike Alexander
- David Rogers
- Jerry Sisco
- Dennis Wiser
- Steve Spencer
- Carl Langford
- Terry Vickers
- Dale Earnhardt
- Art Sommers
- Sterling Marlin
- Morgan Shepherd
- David Sisco
- Marvin Joyner
- Charlie Whitefield
The photo from Mike Alexander of the drivers lined up is priceless
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