April 7, 1966 - Columbia 200

NASCAR's Grand National teams arrived in South Carolina for a Thursday night rumble. The Columbia 200 was held on the venerable, half-mile, dirt Columbia Speedway.

Curtis Turner debuted Ford's Fairlane the previous weekend at Hickory Speedway - a debut that came with a bit of controversy after NASCAR DQ'd Turner and the Fairlane two races earlier at Bristol. 

Ford had greater plans than just the introduction of a new body style. As an answer to Chrysler's Hemi engine, Ford rolled out it's single overhead cam engine - the SOHC. After a good bit of back and forth in the early part of the season, NASCAR finally approved the new engine - but with a caveat. The Ford factory teams could run the engine but with an additional 400 pounds of weight.

NASCAR's announced its ruling Wednesday, April 6 - the day before the race at Columbia. Race day or not, Ford did not take the decision lightly. Ford reacted by immediately parking their factory-supported cars meaning race fans would not see the following drivers race for the foreseeable future:

• Cale Yarborough with Banjo Matthews
• Fred Lorenzen and Dick Hutcherson with Holman Moody
• Ned Jarrett with Bondy Long
• Bobby Issac with Junior Johnson
• Curtis Turner and Marvin Panch with the Wood Brothers

Source: Charlotte News

Yet as they say, the show must go on. It did in 1965 without Dodge and Plymouth. And it did so again in 1966 without the Blue Oval drivers - starting at Columbia.

Tiger Tom Pistone won the pole - coincidentally in a Ford though Tiger's car was an independent operation rather than a factory-backed team. Pistone's qualifying effort rewarded him with his second of five career poles.

J.T. Putney joined Pistone on the front row. The effort resulted in a career-best starting position for Putney - an effort he matched two more times, both later in 1966. Buddy Baker, John Sears, and Stick Elliott rounded out the somewhat surprising top five starters.

Richard Petty had quite the adventurous night at the track on which he'd win eight times between 1963 and 1971. He leapt the guardrail during qualifying and left the track. The Dale Inman-led crew thrashed on the car to get it race ready from the 18th starting spot in the 24-car field.

Pistone set out to let folks know his fast qualifying speed was no fluke. He seized the lead at the start and led the first 50+ laps. David Pearson's Dodge and the Plymouth of Paul Goldmith led the remainder of the first half of the race - along with Putney who eked out one lap up front.

Just before halfway, Petty's ill-handling Plymouth spun giving him yet another Goody's headache. The King managed to right the 43 and salvaged a sixth place finish, five laps down to the winner.

The second half of the race, however, was dominated by Pearson. Once his red and white Dodge sniffed the lead right after the halfway mark, the car stayed at the point. Pearson led the entire second half allowing Pearson to capture his 15th career win. It was also his second consecutive win in 1966 after winning four days earlier at Hickory.

Source: High Point Enterprise

TMC

February 1 - This day in Petty history

1969 - Richard Petty collects his 93rd victory by winning the Motor Trend 500 at Riverside International Raceway. The win is Petty's first at Riverside - a winding road course outside of L.A. in southern California.

Petty spun off the road course twice. And despite the routine off-course by stock car drivers in general, the race was run caution-free.

A.J. Foyt finished 2nd driving for the Wood Brothers. Foyt had a great February as he backed up his second place at Riverside with a win in the Daytona 500 for the Woods a couple of weeks later. TMC edit: DOH! I mixed Foyt's great 1969 run at Riverside with his 1972 Daytona 500 victory. I need to better monitor my multi-tasking of researching, typing, and Schaefer imbibing.

The race was originally scheduled for Sunday, January 19, 1969. Because of heavy rains on two consecutive Sundays, the race was eventually run on Saturday, February 1.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

The win was not only Petty's first in seven starts at Riverside, but it was also his first win in his first start for Ford Motor Company. About two months earlier, Petty stunned the racing community by announcing a switch from Plymouths to Fords beginning in 1969. So to win in his first race with his new Torino was a huge boost to the Blue Oval team and fans.

Poster buikwag from JalopyJournal.com's H.A.M.B. (Hokey Ass Message Board for the uninitiated) attended the race and gave me permission to share a couple of his great photos here (more photos from the race can be seen at the H.A.M.B. link).

Race day!

Hugging the corner tight in turn 9.

Pit stop photo courtesy of Ray Lamm

Win on Sunday, sell on Monday baby!

Article and SCR cover courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

TMC

Has the King driven a Ford lately?

I was gone much of last week - and was without web access the whole time. That scenario is almost unthinkable in today's wired world yet it was true. Lots of co-workers asked me jokingly why couldn't I just get over not having access to work e-mail. I responded "Work e-mail? Racing news is what I need!"  

Sure nuff, I returned to find the huge news for me as a Petty fan that Richard Petty Motorsports has signed a letter of intent to acquire Yates Racing and plans to convert all its racing teams from Dodge to Ford beginning with the 2010 season.

  This will not be the first relationship between some of the participants of this venture and Ford. Many are writing about Kasey Kahne's grooming in the sport by FoMoCo. About the time he was ready to be promoted the upper echelon of Cup, Ray Evernham and Dodge swooped in and plucked him away. Kahne was subsequently sued by Ford, and dollars had to be exchanged just so everyone could get along. 

Elliott Sadler also drove the #38 M&M's Ford Taurus for Yates Racing before leaving to replace Jeremy Mayfield in the #19 Evernham Motorsports Dodge - which then became Gillette Evernham Motorsports - that then transitioned to the Richard Petty Motorsports we now have. 

Forty years ago, however, a bigger story was the defection of Petty Enterprises from Chrysler's factory team to the Ford contingent. I was 4 at the time Petty made the decision to race a blue oval. My biggest concern at the time was ensuring I had a cool H.R. Puffenstuff lunch box for my looming kindergarten start. So I've had to research the reasons for the manufacturer change. 

Apparently, the Pettys wanted Chrysler to develop and field an aerodynamically slick car to compete with the Ford Torino Talladega slated to be released in 1969. When the engineers and marketers didn't deliver or call Petty's bluff, Richard bolted. So how did it work out for PE and the driver by then established as the King of NASCAR? While not a championship season, I'd say the stats represent a career season for most drivers.

• Started 50 of 54 races
• Won first race started in a Ford - 1969 Motor Trend 500 at Riverside
• 10 wins (20%)
• 31 top 5's (62%)
• 38 top 10'2 (76%)
• 2nd in points to David Pearson

Side note timeout: Am I the only one who thinks it would be cool if A.J. Allmendinger showed up at Daytona wearing one these gold lamé driver uniforms? OK, back to the blog... 

The King reached a personal milestone in 1969 in his Ford. He won his 100th Grand National race on August 22, 1969, in the Myers Brothers 250 at Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, NC. Only one other driver - David Pearson - has reached the 100-win marker, and it took the Silver Fox an extra 9 years to do so. Interestingly, Petty's relationship with Ford in 1969 helped Pearson complete one of his 105 victories. In the summer Bristol race, Pearson fell ill. Fellow Ford driver Petty took over as relief driver and raced Pearson's #17 Holman-Moody Ford to the victory.

1969 was also a watershed year for the King's leadership amongst his peers. Bill France Sr. built what is now known as Talladega Superspeedway about an hour east of Birmingham. The majority of drivers believed the track to be unsafe with the design of the cars and the tires on which they raced. The drivers formed a loose union-like alliance called the Professional Drivers Association and elected Petty as its inaugural president. Upon arriving at the new behemoth track, the drivers rallied around Petty as the King held court. The majority decided the track was indeed unsafe to race.

 

France, in his defense, didn't flinch and said something to the effect of "if you aren't gonna race, get off my property." The first flatbed hauler to fire its engine and head for I-20 toted the Petty blue #43 Ford Torino. It pulled out, and the majority of the name drivers/teams followed right behind the Petty rig. Again to Big Bill's defense, he said screw 'em and ran the race anyway with a bunch of scrub drivers. That decision pretty much ended the PDA, and all the drivers - including Petty - were back in 1970. 

While the current courtship of Yates Racing by Richard Petty Motorsports seems all but a done deal, its hardly the first time Petty has danced a jig with the team. As far back as 1981 when Richard was trying to prolong his career while allowing his upstart son Kyle to flourish at Petty Enterprises, the King flirted with the prospect of leaving the family team to drive for Harry Ranier. At the time, Ranier owned the team driven by Bobby Allison who finished a close 2nd to Darrell Waltrip in the 1981 championship. Whether the rumors of Petty joining Ranier in 1982 adversely affected the team's championship hunt isn't known, but Petty didn't jump - at least not until 1983 when he joined start-up team Curb Motorsports.

  The chief engine builder for Harry Ranier was Robert Yates who had defected from DiGard Racing and driver DW in the late 70s. In 1987, Ranier Racing hired a young buck who hadn't fallen far from the family tree - Davey Allison. Later that year, Ranier sold the team to Robert Yates. Fast forward about 20 years, and Robert sells the team to son Doug - and now we've got RPM buying Doug's team. 

A lot of details remain to be worked out for the acquisition to be finalized. In the end, I guess I don't care if Petty cars race Dodges, Ford, Toyotas, or friggin' soap box derby cars. As long as Petty is around, I can't help but be a fan. But geez Louise, accepting Paul Menard in a Petty car will be about as painful as eating a plate of beets and brussel sprouts. Yuck. Guess I better start working myself up a soul patch. 

 TMC