June 19, 1964 - Chattanooga's All-American 300

Tennessee has a pretty rich history with respect to NASCAR GN/Cup racing. Bristol has been a mainstay on the schedule since 1961 and really took off when the summer night race was introduced in 1978. Nashville's Fairgrounds Speedway began hosting GN races in 1958, and the names continued racing until 1984. Drivers such as Darrell Waltrip and Sterling Marlin have longed called middle Tennessee home. But southeastern Tennessee also has a bit of NASCAR history to it.

Boyd's Speedway technically sits on the south side of the Tennessee-Georgia border. To get to it, however, one leaves I-75 at Exit 1 - the first one inside Tennessee. A couple of turns later, and you're back in Georgia - though folks would still refer to the area as part of the 'Nooga.

In the mid 1960s, Boyd's was known as Chattanooga International Raceway. The track hosted two GN races - one in 1962 won by Joe Weatherly and the second one on June 19, 1964. The All-American 300 was scheduled as a 300-lap race around the 1/3-mile paved track.

Source: Chattanooga Daily Times

One of the expected victory lane benefits for the winning driver was a peck on the cheek by Miss Firebird, Linda Vaughn. Later known as Miss Hurst Shifter, Linda didn't have far to travel for the Chattanooga race. Being from Dalton, GA, she only had to travel about a half-hour from her mama's front porch.

The King, Richard Petty, won the pole. Coincidentally, Petty also won the pole for the first GN race at Chattanooga in 1962. David Pearson qualified on the front row with Petty. Two more NASCAR HOFers, Ned Jarrett and Buck Baker, lined up on the second row. Jimmy Pardue rounded out the top five starters. A few other drivers in the line-up included Wendell Scott in 6th, Buddy Baker in 12th, and Cale Yarborough 19th - shotgun on the field.

When the green dropped, Pearson got the jump in his Cotton Owens Dodge. He led the first 100 laps. Buddy Baker wrecked during the 100th lap, and it may have been during that time the lead traded hands.

Petty took the lead from Pearson as the field entered the middle third of the race. Around lap 150, Scott wrecked resulting in another caution flag. Petty and Pearson made pit stops and headed back on the track. When the race went green again at lap 160, Petty realized he had a cut tire - likely from some gravel kicked up on the dirt from the infield.

With Petty forced to the pits for an unexpected second stop, Pearson re-assumed the lead from Petty, built a two-lap lead because of the 43's misfortune, and stayed out front for the second half of the race.

Jarrett blew a tire and hit the wall with just three laps remaining. The flagman displayed the yellow once again, and Pearson cruised the remaining three laps to take the win over Petty, Buck Baker in third, and Jarrett surviving to finish fourth. The race was the sixth of 63 times involving a Petty-Pearson, 1-2 finish.

Boyd's Speedway continues to operate today (web | Twitter) with a slate of races most Friday nights.

As noted earlier, Chattanooga has its own connection to NASCAR. In addition to Boyd's / CIR, here are a few examples:

• Lee Petty and Johnny Beauchamp finished side by side in the inaugural Daytona 500 in 1959 with Petty getting the slight edge and the win. Finishing third was Charley Griffith from Chattanooga - a career best for Griffith in his 17 GN races.
• Chattanooga's Friday Hassler was a 10-year veteran of GN/Cup racing. He regularly raced with #39 and sponsorship from Rock City. Hassler was tragically killed during his 125-mile qualifying race at Daytona in 1972.

• The late Grant Adcox of Chattanooga was an occasional Cup racer and a winner in the ARCA series. He was sponsored for a brief period by Krystal Hamburgers, a Chattanooga-based company at the time.

• When Ken Schrader drove the famed Wood Brothers Ford, Little Debbie snack cakes sponsored #21. Little Debbies are made by McKee Baking, a Chattanooga-based company.

• Schrader also drove for another team with Chattanooga ties. Nelson Bowers, an owner of Chattanooga-area auto dealerships, was one of the three owners of MB2 Motorsports. MB2 was acquired by Ginn Racing which was later merged into Dale Earnhardt, Inc. 

• And coincidentally, 20 years after Pearson's win in Chattanooga, he was again connected to Rock City with sponsorship from Chattanooga Chew tobacco.

Credit: Jerry Bushmire

Source: Chattanooga Daily Times

TMC

NASCAR and Long Island...Beer?

A tweet this week from our friends at Schaefer Story led me to a site named Roadside Galore. The author of the site, Fuzzy, blogs all sorts of Americana pictures from her travels across the country.

One recent photo shared on her blog recently was right up my alley - a fading Schaefer advertisement painted on the side of a building in East Islip, NY. The ad includes a tagline slogan I've not heard previously for Schaefer: Our hand has never lost its skill.

As has been documented, Schaefer and NASCAR are linked together - both then and now. What you may not know is Islip, NY and NASCAR also have a history meaning only one degree of separation exists between NASCAR, Schaefer beer, and Islip, NY.

At 2/10ths of a mile, Islip Speedway is the shortest track ever to host a NASCAR Grand National / Winston Cup race. Larry Mendelsohn, the track's owner/promoter, is also credited with hosting the first demolition derby in the late 1950s - which then became a staple of just about every short-track in the U.S. over the next two decades. As best I can tell, the track finally met its demise in 1984.

Source: East Islip Historical Society

The Grand National drivers ran six races at Islip between 1964 and 1971. Bobby Allison won two of them. Richard Petty also won two - including the final one run at Islip in 1971.

Here a few photos from back in the day at Islip:

Richard Petty in the early 1960s. I wonder if the dude in the cap is saying "No King, your throne is over there."

A promotional flyer and ticket order form for the 1968 Islip 300 - a race won by Bobby Allison.

The late Friday Hassler of Chattanooga, TN earned his career best finish in the 1971 Islip 250 by finishing second to Petty. Hassler often drove #39 Chevrolets sponsored by Chattanooga's Rock City tourist attraction. (Surely many of you have seen the See Rock City barns scattered throughout the southern U.S.)

Here is Petty in his famous 43 racing Neil Castles in the white #6 Dodge. After marveling at this recently found photo, I realized a couple of things (hold on, bad puns on their way!):

• The photo includes a King and Castles.
• It shows a young man in a beat-up Plymouth making a night time run for White Castles.

Finally, here is the King in victory lane on July 15, 1971, after winning the Islip 250. This was the first season R.J. Reynolds began its NASCAR sponsorship when the series became known as the Winston Cup Grand National Series. (Note the early design decal on the top right of the door panel.)

Using Greg Fielden's Forty Years of Stock Car History books as reference material, I learned a bit more about NASCAR's time at Islip:

• Marvin Panch won the race in 1965 after his most serious challenger, Junior Johnson, had a bad wreck. Johnson's throttle hung, he drove through a guard rail, drilled a telephone pole, and burst into flames. After seeing Fireball Roberts' burn in 1964 and ending up in flames himself in 1965, its no real surprise Junior soon retired as a driver to become a car owner.
• Bobby Allison won the race in 1966 after James Hylton ran out of gas with 7 laps to go. Allison wasn't even expected to run the race after wrecking his car two nights earlier in Fonda, NY. But he worked on feverishly and was able to make the race. One of the people who helped him? James Hylton. Can you imagine that scenario happening today?
• Allison won again in 1968. Richard Petty was leading the race and tried to lap Allison. In doing so, the cars tangled. The fender was bent on the 43, and Petty faded to a 4th place finish. After the race, Richard's brother/engine builder, Maurice, and cousin/crew chief, Dale Inman, attacked Allison. Both were fined.
• In the 1971 race mentioned above, an embarrassing NASCAR scoring snafu shortened the Islip 250 by TWENTY laps. Petty won it, but I've not been able to find a satisfactory explanation for the scoring problem.

Connecting Islip to more contemporary times, Buzzie Reutimann, father of Michael Waltrip Racing's driver David Reutimann, raced at Islip:

Source: Reutimann Racing

Tommy Baldwin Sr., father of current Sprint Cup start-and-park car owner Tommy Baldwin, Jr., raced a lot at Islip. And former Cup driver, Steve Park, is from Long Island.

So with the hoist of a Schaefer, we schelebrate you Fuzzy at Roadside Galore and Islip Speedway.

Now if I can just find a way to get myself to Long Island to have a picture of my drinking a Schaefer next to that wall...

TMC