March 24, 1968 - Richmond 500

After an abbreviated NASCAR season in 1965, Richard Petty returned full-time in 1966. The King picked up at Daytona where he left off in 1964 by winning his second Daytona 500 in three years.

The season, however, belonged to David Pearson in Cotton Owens' Dodge. Together, the duo claimed Pearson's first NASCAR Grand National title. The Level Cross bunch came back with a vengeance in 1967 and shattered the record books. 

Pearson and Cotton couldn't keep their 1966 mojo rolling, and the two parted ways before the season even reached its mid-point. After leaving Owens' team, Pearson latched on with the famed Holman Moody team. 

Pearson's 1968 season was pretty uneventful in the first two races held in November 1967. But he and the #17 Ford team then knocked down a runner-up finish at Riverside, P5 in the Daytona 500, and a win over Petty at Bristol.

Cotton skipped the first two races that opened the 1968 season. Buddy Baker raced the Dodge at Riverside, and USAC's Al Unser raced Cotton's #6 at Daytona. After skipping Bristol, Cotton finally hired another full-timer. After only a handful of GN starts over the three previous seasons, Chargin' Charlie Glotzbach was tapped to take over the ride beginning with the Richmond 250 on March 24. 

Source: Spartanburg Herald

Bobby Isaac - always quick in Harry Hyde's  Mopars - won the pole. Glotzbach settled in quickly with Cotton's Dodge and qualified alongside Isaac. Petty timed third, and independent Elmo Langley posted an impressive fourth quickest lap. Starting almost out back was Pearson who started 16th in the 20-car field. He got caught up in a practice session accident, and the team thrashed to get his car ready for qualifying.

Isaac leveraged his top starting spot to lead the first nine laps. Glotzbach then put a smile on Owens' face by charging to the front to lead the next 30 laps or so. Pearson then took the lead - but only for 3 laps before Glotzbach returned to the top spot where he stayed for another 30-lap stint.

King Richard then made his presence known. The two-time Richmond defending winner put the Petty Blue Plymouth on point and stayed there for 48 laps. Until. With a sizable lead over Glotzbach, however, the Maurice Petty-built Hemi gave way. The 43 was done after only 147 laps.

While Glotzbach and Petty were leading, Isaac was involved in an accident with Wayne Smith. He lost 40 laps as the crew made repairs. He eventually returned but finished 13th - last among the cars still running at the end of the race.

With Petty and Isaac's Mopars out of the picture, the race then became one between the remaining powerful Dodge of Glotzbach and its former occupant Pearson in his Ford.

Glotzbach led another 18-lap chunk after Petty's exit, but Pearson then went to the point. Through the speed of his car and quickness of his crew, the Silver Fox was able to lead the remaining 95 laps of the race to take the win. Though Pearson won by a full lap over his former car, Cotton and Charlie had to be pleased with their debut together. Langley hung around all day and earned a quality third place finish.

The win had to have been satisfying for Pearson:

• Hey, it's a win, right? ALL are satisfying.
• He triumphed over his previous ride.
• He overcame issues in practice that affected his staring position.
• He overcame an early race spin down through the pits that also caused him to run over several wooden braces installed around light poles.

Pearson's 32nd career win is also notable for two additional reasons.

• His 16th starting spot was the deepest in the field he ever started for any of his 105 wins.
• His win at Richmond on March 24, 1968, was the track's final race on its dirt surface. When the teams returned in September, Petty won Richmond's first race on its new asphalt surface.

Source: Free Lance Star

TMC

October 7, 1973 - National 500

The next to last event of the 28-race 1973 Winston Cup season was the National 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The 1973 schedule is tied with 1985 for the fewest Cup races in the modern era.

The primary story line entering the race was the tight points battle going on between Richard Petty's pursuit of this third consecutive title, Cale Yarborough, independents James Hylton and Cecil Gordon, and the underdog contender Benny Parsons. But Charlotte's race weekend ended up having plenty of unexpected, supplemental story lines.

Fred Lorenzen abandoned Hoss Ellington's Chevrolet in late 1972 after deeming the car as non-competitive. Ellington phoned Charlie Glotzbach to offer him a handful of rides during the season, and Glotzbach accepted the challenge.

Chargin' Charlie wore out the field on the first day of qualifying day to claim the pole. David Pearson who may have held a bit back during practice ended up laying down the quickest lap before Glotzbach's run knocked him off the pole. Afterwards, Glotzbach said to the media "I didn't figure on Pearson running that fast. I thought the man I had to beat was Cale. That Pearson must have been sandbagging." Yarborough qualified third followed by Bobby Allison and Petty.

Rapid fire, up-to-the-minute, news blurbs are available at our fingertips today via Twitter. Back in the day, however, folks (at least South Carolinians) had Gene Granger’s notes columns – including an ooh that had to hurt yet funny update on Marty Robbins.

On Saturday as final tech inspections and qualifying began, NASCAR uttered the words made famous by Lee Corso on ESPN: Not so fast my friend. Inspectors determined Ellington's team had monkeyed with the required carburetor restrictor plate.

Glotzbach's pole-winning time was disallowed, and he was forced to re-qualify in the last session. Though fastest in the session, he had to start his #28 Chevy in 36th position.

Source:  Spartanburg Herald-Journal via Google News Archive

David Pearson was elevated from second to the top starting spot with Cale alongside him. With Pearson up front, he and the Wood Brothers' #21 Purolator Mercury began a streak of 11 consecutive poles at Charlotte stretching to the 1978 National 500. Bobby Allison was moved to third and Richard Petty to fourth.

Starting 17th in Junie Donlavey’s #90 Truxmore Ford was an established Carolina late model hot shoe making his Cup debut: Handsome Harry Gant. As Gant readied for his first Cup start, another legendary driver was making his final one.

Wendell Scott made a return from a savage wreck at Talladega several weeks earlier to make one final start. He put Doc Faustina’s #5 Kmart Dodge Charger in the field in 38th starting spot.

The field lined up and ready for the green.

Glotzbach's weekend went from good to bad to worse. After winning - and then losing - the pole, he then crashed coming out of turn 4 on lap 47. Pearson plowed right into Glotzbach, and the pole winner's day was done. Darrell Waltrip who was still looking to make a favorable impression upon car owner Bud Moore also found himself collected in the melee. Cale and Richard dodged the accident and continued on to the finish.

Cale dominated about two-thirds of the race in Junior Johnson’s #11 Kar Kare Chevy. He led 257 of the race’s 334 laps. Though he and Petty swapped the lead from time to time, The King led only 52 laps and finished second to Yarborough – the only other car on the lead lap.

Cale held on and went to victory lane. Colbert Seagraves, son of R.J. Reynolds' executive Ralph Seagraves, joined the Junior Johnson team in victory lane and got the opportunity to hold the winner’s trophy.

Source: Colbert Seagraves

Gant finished a respectable 11th in his Cup debut, and Wendell Scott went out on a high note. He rallied from 38th starting spot to finish 12th. Parsons finished fourth and held a slim points lead heading into the final race of the season at Rockingham - a race in which he experienced a career of highs and lows in one day.

Dick Trickle finished fifth in his only Cup start of 1973 and just his third career start. He raced a #1 Richard Howard-owned Chevy and a teammate of sorts to Yarborough.

Long-time hard charger Buddy Baker completed 228 of 334 laps. During the race, NASCAR officials informed Baker's crew chief Harry Hyde that they planned to inspect the #71 Dodge's restrictor plate after the race. Hyde and car owner Nord Krauskopf said "nope". They ordered Baker to park the car, and the team left CMS. Consequently, NASCAR DQ'd Baker and placed him 41st, last in the running order.

Source:  Spartanburg Herald-Journal

Allison finished third in his self-owned Chevy but raised a ruckus as soon as the checkered flag fell. He paid a $100 fee and protested the cars of Yarborough and Petty. Allison believed their engines may have been oversized or something else was amiss allowing them to generate more HP than his engine. NASCAR insisted all cars were going to be checked despite Allison's protest.

Source:  Spartanburg Herald-Journal

CMS president and promoter Richard Howard was very vocal in his support of Cale as the winner. His support was certainly expected. After all, Howard just happened to be the listed car owner of Yarborough's Chevy (as well as for Trickle's fifth-place car).

A day later, NASCAR conceded its inspection process could use some improvements. Yet, they refunded Allison his protest fee and said the finishing order would stand. The race was the tenth of 31 times that King and Cale finished in the top two spots.

Source:  Spartanburg Herald-Journal

TMC

November 21, 1971 - Wilkes 400

The next-to-last race of the 1971 season for NASCAR's Grand National drivers was the Wilkes 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway on November 21. The race was originally scheduled for September 19th.

As the end of 1971 season drew near, the drivers were competing in the first season under the branding of the Winston Cup Grand National Series.

To help fill the field at Wilkesboro, NASCAR allowed cars from its Grand American division to participate in the Cup race. This decision meant the full-size Cup cars would race alongside Camaros, Firebirds and Mustangs from the GA series.

The Grand American cars were lighter and smaller, and many believed they had an advantage on the short tracks. As an offset, the GA teams were required to use narrower tires and only allowed three crew members over the wall on a pit stop.

Source: Danville Register

Chargin' Charlie Glotzbach won the pole in qualifying driving a full-size, Richard Howard-owned Chevrolet. Rain arrived on race day, however, forcing a postponement until Halloween, October 31.

As NASCAR and track officials scrambled to find a replacement date, questions remained about what do about the qualifying order that was already set.

Once the new date was set and communicated, the decision was made to scrap the September qualifying and hold a "do over" session. When the cars returned in late October, Glotzbach picked up where he'd left off in September. He again snagged the pole in the Howard-owned, Junior Johnson-prepared Chevy.

Remarkably after Glotzbach's second top qualifying run at the track in six weeks, rains arrived yet again. The star-crossed race was postponed a second time until November 21.

Finally, the weather cooperated on the third attempt. Fortunately the rains stayed away, and qualifying and the race were completed in their entirety.

The qualifying times were tossed after the first attempt at the race in September. After the October postponement, drivers and teams were given an option in November: stand on the October time or qualify a third time.

Initially, Glotzbach and Junior Johnson weren't on the same page. Eventually they agreed to qualify a third time rather than risk losing the pole to a quicker lap. And once again, the #3 Chevy (a white one - not a black one) won the pole meaning he ran the quickest lap in three different sessions in three different months to finally start the race P1.

The second place starter was Richard Petty in his full-size Plymouth with third going to Bobby Allison in a full-size Ford. Richard Brown and Dave Marcis rounded out the top five starters - both in GN cars. The highest qualifying Grand American entrant was Tiny Lund who started sixth in his a Ronnie Hopkins-owned Camaro.

Source: Sumter Daily Item via Google News Archive

Though the rains did not return, early winter temps did. It would be a cold, windy, fall day when the drivers finally took the green. Glotzbach led the first 41 laps before yielding to Bobby Allison for six laps. Then Petty went to the point where he remained until lap 74.

The next few laps saw a tussle between Allison and Tiny Lund with each taking a brief turn out front. On lap 79, however, Ol' Blue returned to the front. Petty put his Plymouth out front again and began to pull away as he frequently did at Wilkesboro.

Credit to Don Hunter, courtesy of SmyleMedia.com

With only 50 laps to go, however, Petty's Hemi inexplicably broke a valve spring while holding a two-lap lead. He was able to continue, but his lap times slowed dramatically. And the field was in hot pursuit.


On lap 360, Glotzbach caught Petty's ailing Plymouth to take over the top spot after having unlapped himself. But while looking out his windshield, he also had to keep an eye on his mirror. Tiny Lund, who at one point had fallen back by four laps to the leader, had made up his laps and was pushing his Camaro towards the front.

With five laps to go, Tiny shoved his #55 Pepsi Camaro by Glotzbach and took the checkered flag after building a six second advantage.

Credit to Don Hunter, courtesy of SmyleMedia.com

Tiny reveled in the victory and quickly brushed off the criticism by some who claimed the smaller Camaro had a distinct advantage. Junior Johnson noted after the race a piece of Glotzbach's rear-end suspension broke with 10 to go. If another few laps had been needed, Charlie would probably have lost the right rear wheel. Instead, he was fortunate to end up with his second place finish. The King salvaged a third place finish even after the disappointment of losing what seemed to be a book-it win.

The victory was Tiny's last of five career Grand National wins. NASCAR's record books reflect Lund's Wilkesboro win in his Grand American Camaro as a GN / Cup victory. Interestingly, however, Bobby Allison's win at Bowman Gray in a Grand American Mustang in July 1971 is not credited as a GN / Cup win.

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

Three weeks later, the 1971 season concluded at the short-lived Texas World Speedway. With the first ever Winston Cup title secured at Richmond the week before Wilkesboro, the 43 Plymouth did at Texas what it often did so well most everywhere else: win.

TMC