November 4, 1962 - Paschal Banks Birmingham

November 4, 1962: Plymouths from Petty Enterprises take top honors in the Birmingham 200 - a 200-lap, 100-mile race on the half-mile, paved fairgrounds speedway in Alabama. Jim Paschal won, and Richard Petty finished second.

Driving #41, Paschal won the pole and dominated the race. He led 192 of the 200 laps and lapped the field en route to the win. Sixth-place starter Petty in his familiar #43 led the remaining 8 laps leaving nothing for the rest of the 21-car field. Maurice Petty - Richard's brother, Petty Enterprises engine builder, and soon-to-be-inducted NASCAR Hall of Famer - started ninth in a third #42 Petty Plymouth but finished 14th after spinning and getting clobbered by Ned Jarrett.

Source: Wilmington Morning Star via Google News Archive

The 1962 Birmingham race was actually the first race of the 1963 Grand National season. The pattern first began with the 1955 season and was repeated several times from the mid-1950s through the late 1960s. Brandon Reed wrote a nice column about NASCAR's approach to its season opener for GeorgiaRacingHistory.com. Petty cars generally fared well in those season openers:

• 1955 - Lee Petty wins at Tri-City Speedway in High Point, NC in November 1954.
• 1959 - Bob Welborn wins at Champion Speedway in Fayetteville, NC in November 1958 driving a Chevy for Julian Petty.
• 1963 - Jim Paschal wins in Birmingham in November 1962.
• 1966 - Richard Petty wins in Augusta, GA in November 1965.
• 1967 - Richard Petty wins again in Augusta, GA in November 1966.
• 1969 - Richard Petty wins in Macon, GA in November 196.

TMC

June 9 - This day in Petty history

1963 - Starting alongside pole-sitter Jack Smith, Richard Petty leads 178 of 200 laps in his #41 Plymouth and wins his 22nd career race in at Alabama Fairgrounds Raceway in Birmingham.

Junior Johnson was the only other driver to stay on the same lap with Petty. He finished second in Ray Fox's #3 Holly Farms Chicken Pontiac. I found it interesting the AP wire story referenced Johnson's weekend job (race driver) and his day job (chicken farmer) - yet they omitted any references to his nighttime profession of moonshiner!

TMC

June 8 - This day in Petty history - part 2

1968 - Starting alongside pole sitter David Pearson, Richard Petty dominates a 100-mile race at Birmingham International Raceway. Petty leads 159 of 160 laps en route to his 81st career NASCAR Grand National victory.

As the checkers fell, David Pearson finished third behind Bobby Isaac. However, Pearson was disqualified afterwards for ending the race with a different tread design on his tires than the pattern with which he started the race. Considering today's racing tires have no tread pattern, this historical rule seems pretty obscure and a bit comical.

The crowd's favorite was Bobby Allison who lived in nearby Hueytown. In a move that Allison seemed to repeat more than once in his career, he quit the Ford factory team and entered the Birmingham race in his self-prepared Chevelle. Based on the article below, its interesting to note his departure from the Ford team was related to disagreements with his crew chief - former driver Fast Freddy Lorenzen.

Courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

TMC