July 10, 1976 - Nashville racers tie one on

On July 15, 2018, Michael House edged Willie Allen to win a 100-lap Pro Late Model feature at Nashville's Fairgrounds Speedway.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: @WillieAllen26 and Michael House battle back to the checker on the last lap of the PLM race. Don’t miss the next race on August 4th. Admission will be $5! pic.twitter.com/C503qlToFQ

— Fairgrounds Speedway (@FGSpeedway) July 18, 2018

Forty-five years earlier in 1973, Jimmy Means won his first Nashville Late Model Sportsman race by edging past Bob Burcham to capture the Frank Reed Memorial 100 by an unmeasured yet generally accepted even closer margin of victory.

Neither finish, however, matched the outcome of an LMS feature on July 10, 1976.

Track promoter Bill Donoho did his best on Saturday, July 3, 1976, to juggle racing and bicentennial fireworks while also tackling intermittent showers. Fans got to ooh and ahh over exploding shells and colors and during a handful of races. Most of the second half of the night's events, however, were postponed because of the rain.

As an aside, a day later on the 4th of July - the USA's bicentennial - the track hosted a double-bill of Gary Wright (♫ Dream Weaver ♫) and England's Peter Frampton. Several years later, Frampton became a Music City resident where he remains today.

A week later on July 10, the track's racing slate included a bonus - the remaining laps of a limited sportsman race and the additional LMS race nixed the previous Saturday.

About a month earlier, Alexander wrecked his Mercury Cougar on June 13th. Alexander lost the handle in turn 3 as he pursued race leader and friend, P.B. Crowell, III late in a 30-lap feature. He tried to gather it back, but he popped the wall in turn 4 and came to rest against the inside guard rail.

After a couple of weeks of repairs, Alexander had the Cougar back at the Fairgrounds - albeit without a fresh coat of paint. The primer grey car with a crudely sketched 84 on the sides looked better suited for off-season testing than Saturday night racing.

Alabama's Alton Jones took the lead on the fourth lap of the opening 25-lap feature. Alexander raced in his tire tracks as he looked for a way around the track's points leader. Finally, on the last corner of the last lap, Alexander dove to the inside of Jones. As Larry Warren displayed the checkered flag, Alexander drew even with Jones.

The finish was too close to call, and track officials officially declared it as a tie between the two drivers. Both parked at the start-finish line after the cool down lap as fans were told about the result. 

Crowell won the next two 25-lap features that evening. In the second of three races, Alexander popped the wall in his recently repaired but unpainted Cougar. 

Cup regular Bobby Allison was coincidentally injured in a wreck during a late model race in Elko, Minnesota the same evening Alexander scored his tying win and P1 in a four-driver match race. A dozen years later, Alexander was chosen as the driver of the #12 Miller High Life Buick when Allison suffered a career-ending head injury in a Cup race at Pocono.

TMC