May 30, 1976 - World 600

THE storyline of the 1976 Winston Cup season was the instant classic finish of the Daytona 500. The titans of NASCAR - Richard Petty and David Pearson - separated themselves from the field, battled side by side in the remaining laps, and then crashed coming through the tri-oval. Petty spun through the infield grass, but he almost did so across the finish line as the winner. But he didn't. Pearson richoeted off Joe Frasson, straightened his Mercury, pushed in the clutch to keep the engine running, and crawled at a school zone speed to win his one and only Daytona 500. Folks still talk about that finish 40 years later.

The Petty team shrugged off the one that got away, and the King won again immediately in the next race at Rockingham. Interestingly, however, Petty's mojo at Daytona and The Rock didn't translate to a boocoodle of wins as he'd experienced in 1975. Pearson, on the other hand, was accumulating trophies right and left during a limited schedule with the Wood Brothers. Pearson and the Woods raced in 8 of the season's first 12 races. In those eight races, Pearson pocketed four wins, a second, and a third.

The thirteen race of the 1976 schedule was the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 30 - the traditional date of Memorial Day.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

As expected, David Pearson captured the pole on the first day of qualifying. The top spot was his sixth in what eventually became an eleven-race, pole-winning streak.

Courtesy of Randy Murphy

Despite his mixed-results start in the first dozen races of the season, King Richard qualified second alongside his career rival. Two NASCAR Hall of Famers and protagonists of another legendary Daytona 500 finish in 1979 - Cale Yarborough and Bobby Allison - qualified on the second row. Dave Marcis rounded out the top five starters.

The race garnered a huge bump in press coverage because of one particular driver: Janet Guthrie. Though Guthrie wasn't the first woman to qualify for a GN/Cup race, she was the first on a superspeedway and the first since the early years of NASCAR.

Guthrie had planned to race in the Indianapolis 500. She finished 15th in her Indy Car debut in the Trenton 200 and passed her rookie test at the Brickyard. When she was unable to land the needed ride to make the 500; however, she was approached about heading south for NASCAR's 600.

A local banking businesswoman purchased a Chevy from Hoss Ellington, and arranged for it to be set-up by Will Cronkrite. A.J. Foyt had raced the car in the 1976 Daytona 500. Ralph Moody, long associated with Ford Motor Company, provided the engine for the Chevrolet. Guthrie leveraged all the support to her advantage, and she indeed qualified 27th in the 40-car field.

Courtesy of Randy Murphy

USAC - the sanctioning body for Indy - was none too happy about Guthrie's re-direct. As was the case frequently from the 1950s until the late 1970s, USAC seemed to enjoy creating slap fights with NASCAR.

The promoter at Texas World Speedway refused to accept her entry for a June 1976 USAC Indy Car race because of a rumor about her accepting an appearance fee for a NASCAR race. Guthrie also had to withdraw from the NASCAR race on Riverside's road course in June. The race fell on the same day as a USAC race. She was threatened with the suspension of her USAC license if she raced in Riverside.

Joe Millikan also planned to make his Cup debut in the 600. Millikan spent time with Petty Enterprises as a shop worker and weekend crewman from the late 1960s through the mid 1970s. He also won the Late Model Sportsman Permatex 300 race at Daytona in February 1976 with a Petty-provided crew and support. Unfortunately, Joe suffered engine failure during practice and didn't qualify for the race.

The race featured yet another debut ... Eli Gold with MRN Radio. Eli recalled these memories in an excerpt from an MRN.com Q&A:

Q: What was your first big opportunity in broadcasting? 
Gold: My first big opportunity was getting hired by MRN. I was hired in 1975, and I did not start working until May of 1976 for the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was basically an on-the-air audition. I never had done a race in my life. Jack Arute was running the network then, and he said if you do well we'll keep you and if you stink you go home. I guess I fooled them enough to still be here 39 years later.

Q: What do you remember about your first broadcast with MRN? 
Gold: A couple of things...I do remember the big promotion in May of 76 was whoever led the first lap of the World 600 was to receive the unheard sum of $1,000. That was the thing, 'Who is going to get the $1,000 to lead the first lap?' Also, shortly prior to airtime I was working Turns 1 and 2, Barney (Hall) was in 3 and 4. I don’t remember exactly what happened, but I remember the power went out. In those days we weren’t wireless. We were working on hard lines plugged into the wall. Everything went dead, and I thought my box had gone out. I told my wife you have to go down to the booth and find out what’s going on, and she looked at me like I was nuts. We had never been to a race track, but thankfully the power came back on. I also remember after the race the traffic was rather thick so we all went back to the parking lot and all of us leaning on Barney's car. He had some kind of land yacht in those days, and I asked him, “Do you think they are going to bring me back?” He said, "I think so you did OK, and I'm sure you'll be back again." Those are the three elements that I really remember from that first day. 

When the green dropped, Cale pulled a fast one on the front row. He jumped under Pearson and got past Petty as well to lead the first lap. Pearson quickly recovered to lead the next couple of laps before Cale again led the next two laps. And on and on it went.

Pearson and Cale went back and forth for the first 250 of 400 laps. Each had their turn at the front, but each stint was short-lived. A couple of other drivers took their turn at the front every once in a while, but the Silver Fox and Timmonsville Flash led all but eight of the first 250 laps.

With 150 laps to go, Petty decided it was his time to go. The King FINALLY nabbed a checkered flag at Charlotte in 1975 after more than fifteen years of trying. Matter of fact, he went back to back with wins in the World 600 and National 500. Richard and Maurice Petty and Dale Inman were more than ready to capture a third win in a row. Around lap 250, Petty put the 43 Dodge Charger in the wind. He paced the field for about 50 laps to get the race to the 3/4 mark.

Pearson, however, wasn't done. He re-took the lead from Petty and led the next 63 laps. The King then led a stretch of five laps before Pearson yet again went to the front following final pit stops by the two.

With two to go, Dick Brooks, James Hylton, and Chattanooga's Grant Adcox tangled. Quite frankly, the wreck had little effect on the outcome of the race - though it possibly could have. At the time of the wreck, Pearson had a six-second lead on Petty's 43. He made a pass in the grass to avoid the three-way accident, and he cruised the remaining two laps under caution to notch his second World 60 win in three years.

Pearson's win took place about three months after his Daytona 500 victory. Another three months or so later, Pearson claimed the win in yet another legendary race - the Southern 500. Lee Roy Yarbrough was the only other driver prior to Pearson to have won those three races in a single season. Nine years later, R.J. Reynolds bundled those three races plus the Winston 500 at Talladega to form the Winston Million incentive program.

The race was the 59th time of 63 races in their careers for a Petty-Pearson, one-two finish. The 1976 600 fell in the middle of a remarkable four-year stretch for the two drivers where neither had an off day in the race. Ponder these results over four consecutive years of 600-mile races:

• 1974: Pearson P1, Petty P2
• 1975: Petty P1, Pearson P3
• 1976: Pearson P1, Petty P2
• 1977: Petty P1, Pearson P2

When the checkers fell, the scoring slotted Guthrie in 15th - a remarkable debut that coincidentally matched the finish from her Indy Car debut. After parking her car, she quickly hugged the neck of Cronkrite.

Courtesy of Randy Murphy

The 1976 World 600 was not Dale Earnhardt's debut, but it was his second career Cup start. Earnhardt drove a #30 Chevy owned by Walter Ballard and sponsored by the U.S. Army to a 31st place DNF.

Coincidentally, the Army also sponsored the Chevrolets fielded by Dale Earnhardt, Inc. in 2007-2008, just a few years after Earnhardt's death in 2001.

TMC

1980 Coca-Cola 500 at Pocono

As my personal odometer continues to roll over year-by-year, the less I remember - or really even care - about what life was like back in my youth. But in thinking about it a bit, 1980 was a fun, interesting and even challenging year for me:

• I went to my first Daytona 500 in February 1980 and saw Buddy Baker win his only 500 in Harry Ranier's #28 "Grey Ghost" Oldsmobile 442.
• My first trip to Disneyworld was in May 1980 - at the expense of missing King Richard win the Music City 420. 
• In December 1980, a surgeon performed full-blown knee surgery on me. If only arthroscopic techniques had been more widely available back then, perhaps I wouldn't be hobbling around today like Festus from Gunsmoke.
• Our high school annual featured a candid of me wearing of course....

On July 27, 1980, an eventful race took place at Pocono - the Coca-Cola 500. Full recognition of the race's relevance didn't fully resonate with me - or likely others - that day. The race's story lines included a King's crash, the rise of a promising prodigy, the farewell of a contemporary trailblazer, and the Cup debut of a non-traditional but incredibly talented and impactful racer.

Richard Petty had a forgettable 1978 season, but he returned to form in 1979 to snag his sixth Daytona 500 victory and seventh Winston Cup championship. He had fewer wins at the mid-point of the 1980 season than in 1979, but he was hanging tough in the points standings. He was giving three-time champion Cale Yarborough and reigning rookie of the year Dale Earnhardt a good run for their money as he tried for his eighth Cup.

And then Pocono..

On lap 57, a wheel broke on Petty's #43 Monte Carlo, the back end came around, and he backed it into the boiler plate wall - HARD. The hit was in the era long before SAFER barriers or H.A.N.S. devices were even visioned much less designed and installed.

Chuck Bown spun himself to avoid hitting Richard, but then Darrell Waltrip ended up nailing the 43 right in the door.


The safety crews extricated the King from the car. But they didn't backboard him or put any sort of neck brace on him. They simply walked him to the ambulance as he grimaced in pain.

Officially, Richard suffered a 'strained neck' and pulled back muscles. The Petty team said it, Joe Mattioli from Pocono repeated it, and the media reported it.

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

Even though Richard's day ended with a painful thud, Petty Enterprises still had some success in the race. Richard's son Kyle made his Pocono debut. Having run only a handful of races from late in 1979 through the mid-point of 1980, Kyle was still very much a rookie. Yet he seemed to take to Pocono like a duck to water and finished a very respectable 7th.

Each year, Indianapolis 500 officials recognize a 'rookie of the race'. In 1980, a promising young driver from Ashland, OH named Tim Richmond won the award. Sponsored by UNO playing cards (one of the best games ever in my opinion), the personality-laden driver finished 9th in his Indy 500 debut. His performance in the 500 caught the eye of Pocono's owner Joe Mattioli. He negotiated a deal with driver and car owner D.K. Ulrich to put Tim in a stock car for the 1980 Cup race. (As a reminder once again, Ulrich was the car owner of the Schaefer beer sponsored Buick driven by Al Loquasto one year later in 1981 at Pocono.)

Tim finished a very respectable 12th in his first Cup race - five spots behind Kyle Petty. Richmond returned to Indy a second time in 1981 and finished 12th while driving for Super Tex, A.J. Foyt. But with urging from his mother, he then turned to NASCAR full-time and raced stock cars full-time until 1987 when his health situation worsened dramatically. Complications from the AIDS virus he contracted and protracted legal wranglings with NASCAR's brass sidelined Tim permanently, and he finally succumbed to AIDS in 1989.

Schaefer Hall of Famer Rev. Randy recently sent me some great photos from the 1980 race given to him and shot by co-worker Jim Jandrasits.

Jim was able to snap a photo of what would be another relevant story line to the race - the final Winston Cup start for Janet Guthrie.While not the first female race driver in NASCAR, she did break some barriers by racing with some amount of relative success - both in Indy cars and in NASCAR - as both racing series gained more popularity across the country. Guthrie started 33 Cup races from 1976 through 1980, and the 1980 Pocono event was her final one.

As a Petty fan, I'm fortunate today that Jim took some great shots of the two-car team 30+ years ago. Rookie Kyle is seen standing near pit wall near his father's 43 Monte Carlo as the cars were rolled to the starting grid.

Years before pit wagons became the norm in the pits, 'extravagance' in the pits was limited to an umbrella and an Igloo cooler of cold water. Here, King Richard can be seen talking to his crew as Kyle likely gets the punchline of a joke from NASCAR Hall of Fame crew chief Dale Inman (wearing the Ray-Ban sunglasses).

Taken from a great vantage point, Kyle is seen making a pit stop with his alternate day-glo red on Petty blue #42 scheme.

Before his vicious wreck, the King was challenging for the lead. Here here is sandwiched between the #88 Gatorade Monte Carlo of Darrell Waltrip and eventual race winner Neil Bonnett in the #21 Purolator / Wood Brothers Mercury.

Jim also had the presence of mind to snap a pic of the 1979 Rookie of the Year, Dale Earnhardt, as he pitted next to the 1979 Winston Cup champion, King Richard. Coincidentally, Earnhardt pounded the wall at Pocono a year earlier in his rookie season just as Richard did. He broke both collarbones and had to miss a couple of starts. But he returned to still claim the 1979 Rookie of the Year award.

And yes Earnhardt fans, that is Earnhardt driving a #2 car above. He didn't drive the famous #3 from the get-go because someone else was already driving with it - future car owner Richard Childress.

As Neil Bonnett headed for victory lane, second place Buddy Baker and third place Cale Yarborough call it a day and head for their haulers.

Bonnett and the Wood Brothers team took their Purolator Mercury in victory lane.

Source: Wood Brothers Racing

With apologies to the late Paul Harvey, here is ... the rest of the story.

Richard - The reality of Richard's injures weren't revealed until much, much later. Richard had indeed suffered a fracture in his neck. Incredibly and stubbornly, he soldiered on and did not miss a start. Had NASCAR known this - or had the information been leaked, its likely their hand would have been forced to sit Richard until doctors cleared him to race. Early in the next three races at Talladega, Michigan and Bristol, he turned the car over to former Petty crewman and driver, Joe Millikan.

Kyle - After a solid Pocono debut and a few other starts in 1980, Kyle began racing Cup full-time in 1981. He eventually notched a Pocono win in 1993. After the death of his son and Richard's grandson, Adam Petty, at New Hampshire in 2000, Pocono named the track's garage area as the Adam Petty Garage in his memory.

Credit: Action Sports Photography - Source: Motorsport.com

Earnhardt - With Richard's championship hopes all but gone, it was up to the veteran Yarborough and the Junior Johnson team to snag their fourth championship. The Rod Osterlund-owned team with Jake Elder as the crew chief and Earnhardt as the driver, however, may have bent but didn't break. The team withstood a strong challenge by the Yarborough team, but in the end Earnhardt earned the first of his seven Cup championships.

Richmond - After racing a part-time schedule by hopping rides with multiple car owners in 1981 and 1982, Tim finally landed with car owner Raymond Beadle and his Old Milwaukee Beer sponsored Pontiac team in 1983. After a moderately successful three year run with the Blue Max team, Tim moved to Hendrick Motorsports in 1986. He and crew chief Harry Hyde caught lightning in a bottle about a third of the way through the season. With seven wins to their credit but without the Cup, the 25 team was among the favorites heading into the 1987 season. But as Richmond's undisclosed illness began to take over, he all but faded away. Tim made an abbreviated but remarkable comeback midway through 1987 by winning back-to-back races at Riverside and Pocono. After that, however, he wasn't super-competitive and raced for the final time late in mid-August 1987.

TMC
Edited July 27, 2014

July 4 - This day in Petty history - part 2

1977 - Starting on the inside of the third row, Richard Petty leads a little over half the laps (95 of 160) and wins the Firecracker 400 at Daytona for second time in three years for his 185th career NASCAR Winston Cup victory.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

The Pre-Race

Richard's father, retired driver, and Petty Enterprises founder/co-owner Lee Petty was the race's grand marshal. Generally known as a curmudgeonly, tough ol' bird, Lee was apparently quite the socialite a couple of nights before the race.

The Pole Winner

Neil Bonnett won the pole in his Harry Hyde-prepared Dodge Charger. The duo were making their debut start under the team's new ownership flag of Jim Stacy Racing. The team had previously been owned by Nord Krauskopf and fielded red #71 Dodges with sponsorship by K&K Insurance for such notable drivers as Bobby Isaac, Buddy Baker, Dave Marcis, and Bonnett. By the mid-70s, however, Krauskopf began throttling back his support of the team. Hyde and Bonnett welcomed the change in ownership, and the newly renumbered 5 team had a good bit of success the rest of 1977. 

Photo courtesy of Ray Lamm

The forward momentum stalled, however, once the calendar turned to 1978. Stacy turned out to be an egocentric flake. Bonnett left the team in 1978 and then joined the Wood Brothers in 1979. Hyde got crossways with Stacy for reasons that have never been made real clear - other than a bunch of money was involved.

By mid-1978, Stacy all but disappeared. Unexpectedly, he returned in 1981 to buy Rod Osterlund's championship team driven by Dale Earnhardt - a good friend of Bonnett. Shortly after the ownership change, Earnhardt joined the struggling team of Richard Childress - and I think we can agree the two of them tasted a bit of success. Stacy's ego raged in 1982 and 1983 by sponsoring upwards of 5 to 6 cars per race with not much more than his last name (or his generic-sounding company names) on the rear quarter panels. But as 1983 ended, once again Stacy disappeared - never to resurface in the sport again. He was truly an odd chapter in NASCAR's history book. 

The Ladies

Three women emerged as the dominant storyline of the race. Not since the formative years of NASCAR had three women started a race in NASCAR's premier series. Janet Guthrie had already made headlines with her ground-breaking starts in the Indianapolis 500, Daytona 500, and World 600.

Credit to and courtesy of Brian Cleary / bcpix.com

She was joined in the race by Christine Beckers from Belgium and Lella Lombardi from Italy - each of whom were "one-and-done" Cup racers. Beckers drove for legendary car owner Junie Donlavey.

Papa Lee Petty - winner of the first Daytona - 500 met with the three drivers before the race.

#468634415 / gettyimages.com

The Race
The first 50 laps were very competitive with a lot of lead changes. The longest consecutive laps-led streak during the first third of the race was 7 laps. Then around lap 50, Petty found his groove and stayed on point for the next third of the race.

The 400 then unfolded almost as if it were two 200-mile events. Not quite half the race was completed before typical Florida showers interrupted the action for two hours.

Credit to and courtesy of Brian Cleary / bcpix.com

The rain finally moved out, the track's crew (with how-favorable help from Mother Nature) dried the surface, and the drivers belted in to complete the rest of the race.
Two years earlier in the 1975 Firecracker 400, the King worked with his crew all day to adjust the car. With less than 20 laps to go, Petty was able to catch Buddy Baker and pull away for the win. In the 1977 race, the #43 Dodge was again able to catch and pass the leader - Darrell Waltrip - with 19 laps to go. The big difference between 1975 and 1977, however, was the #43 STP Charger was the dominant car the final two-thirds of the race - before and after the rain.

The Victory

Once Petty cleared Waltrip, he cruised to the win by a comfortable margin over Waltrip's #88 Gatorade Chevy.

In victory lane, the King was able to celebrate the win with daughter Rebecca.

TMC Archives

A photo of Petty in victory lane was featured on the cover of the following year's 1978 race program.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

The trophy was one of the items I spotted during my visit to the Richard Petty Museum in 2011.

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

TMC

June 27 - This day in Schaefer racing history

1976 Schaefer 500
USAC Indy car race
Pocono International Raceway
Pocono, Pennsylvania
Winning driver: Al Unser, Sr.
Full results: UltimateRacingHistory.com

Some notables from the race:

• Unser's victory was his first win since 1974. I'm guessing Big Al thought nothing quenched a two-year drought better than a cold Schaefer.
• Wally Dallenbach finished 3rd. He is the father of Wally Dallenbach, Jr. who once raced in NASCAR (including for Petty Enterprises) and now works as a color announcer for TNT.
• Al Loquasto, who later drove a Schaefer Buick in the 1981 Mountain Dew 500 NASCAR Cup race at Pocono, finished 15th driving for himself.
• Johnny Parsons won the pole but finished 22nd in the race.  Ten years later, Parsons became part of the small Schaefer fraternity when he got a shot in a Schaefer / Machinists Union Indy car.

Photo courtesy of Russ Thompson

In scouring the web for information about the race, I ran across the blog Life of a Small Town Photographer. As fate would have it, he blogged about some of his experiences at the Pocono Indy races back in the 1970s. He was kind enough to give me permission to share his pictures for these next two trivia nuggets.

• A.J. Foyt, "Super Tex", had a Sucky Day and finished 31st out of 33 starters. I'm guessing this photo was made before the race vs. afterwards.

• Janet Guthrie, a racing pioneer as the first woman to drive in both the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500, finished 24th. On race day 1976, however, she had the unfortunate timing of being photographed next to the iconic Miss Hurst Shifter, Linda Vaughn.

The engine cowling cover for Unser's Cosworth engine...

Credit: brooklandsspeedway on Flickr

...and the nose of his American Racing Wheels sponsored Parnelli Jones chassis.

Credit: jkracing50 on Flickr

Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive

Race report from The Beaver County Times - including some candid language from Parnelli Jones about his former driver, Mario Andretti. Yowza.

I like this headline from the Spartanburg Herald better. The wording is more emblematic of some race day memories of the Schaefer Hall of Fame after a late Saturday night.

TMC
Edited June 26, 2014