September 7, 1958 - Julian Petty's bookends day

The next to last race of the 1958 NASCAR convertible division season was a 150-lap race on the half-mile, dirt Wilson Speedway in Wilson, North Carolina.

Julian Petty's 1957 Chevrolets were fast - as was often the case in 1958 in the convertible and Grand National divisions. Ken Rush in Julian's #44 Chevy, and teammate Bob Welborn qualified on the front row with Rush.

Starting 11th was Richard Petty in his family team's #42 1957 Oldsmobile. The race was only his second convertible start and seventh NASCAR start overall.

Ken Rush's last name was appropriate - if he wanted to be the first one to leave the track. On the 12th lap, he lost the car coming out of turn four and rolled his convertible down the frontstretch. Rush remarkably suffered only a bruised shoulder and arm, and he returned to race the next week. Though I'm sure his wreck brought the crowd to their feet, Rush left Wilson with a 23rd and dead last finish.

All was not lost for Julian as an owner though. Welborn did what he'd been doing pretty much all season: winning. Though I haven't found any detail about lap leaders, Welborn did lead the lap that mattered most - the last one. With Welborn's win, Julian went home with bookend finishes - cars that finished first and last in the race.

Brownie King finished third, a career best finish for him in a combined 120 or so GN and convertible division starts.

Petty finished fifth - his first top 5 in NASCAR competition. The weekend was a pretty good one for the Petty clan as Lee finished third in in the Grand National race in Birmingham, AL the same day. Coincidentally, Richard's first top 5 in a Grand National race was also at Wilson Speedway. He finished third at Wilson in March 1959.

One confusing point about the race is its distance. Some materials I've referenced indicate the race was 150 laps and 75 miles. The wire service report I found in several newspapers, however, states the race was 200 laps and 100 miles. Either way, the constant between them all is Welborn again took the top prize in a 1958 convertible race.

Source: Greensboro Daily News

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August 8, 1958 - Ken Rush Inherits Southern States

Prior to the opening of Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1960, NASCAR's Grand National and Convertible divisions raced on other tracks in the Charlotte - Concord area. One of those races was a 200-lap, 100-mile ragtop race on Sunday, August 3, 1958 at the dirt, half-mile Southern States Fairgrounds in Charlotte.

Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive

As the cars readied for qualifying, a summer shower arrived and gave the track and the fans a good soaking. Bob Welborn and Soapy Castles had already made their laps, and Fred Harb was on the track when the rain began to fall. Promoter Bruton Smith and his crew tried to run cars on the muddy surface to help pack it and ready it for racing.

What followed was a comedy of errors. A few cars and a tow truck toured laps around the banked dirt oval. After while, however, they started sliding from the high muddy side to the low loose dirt. Even the wrecker had to winch a cable and pull itself out - only to slide back down to where it initially had become stuck. Finally, the decision was made to postpone the race about a half-hour before the scheduled start. Not long after the announcement was made, however, the sun returned. The track was soon ready for racing, but the decision to postpone had already been made. No make up date was initially announced, but Bruton and NASCAR soon decided to try again on Friday the 8th.

Source: The Statesville Record and Landmark

Curtis Turner, who would lead the effort to build Charlotte Motor Speedway, won the pole for the Southern States race when the drivers returned five days later. Two-time Grand National champion, Buck Baker lined up alongside Pops. Lee Petty timed third in one of his infrequent convertible division starts, and Joe Weatherly started on the outside of the second row.

Lee Petty's son, Richard, planned to run what would have been his second convertible start and fifth overall career start after racing in Grand National events at the Canadian National Exposition in Toronto, Civic Stadium in Buffalo, and Wall Stadium in New Jersey.

The day before the original date of the Charlotte convertible race, Lee raced in the first Grand National race on Bridgehampton, New York's road course. After the convertible race was postponed, Papa Lee returned home and likely told his 21 year-old son "I got this." As a result, Richard went back to servicing his dad's car in the pits. About a 1-1/2 years later, though, the future King captured his first of 200 career GN / Cup wins at the Southern States Fairgrounds.

The race was not a good one for the #42 Petty Plymouth. Problems with the rear-end relegated Lee to a 15th place DNF. The car was likely the same one (minus the hard top roof) Lee raced 24 hours earlier in a 200-lap GN race in Columbia, SC.

Turner apparently was unable to leverage his top qualifying spot. Buck Baker got by him right away and proceeded to dominate the race. After leading 183 laps and with victory in sight, Baker broke a ball joint and lost one of his front wheels.

Ken Rush, NASCAR's 1957 Grand National Rookie of the Year, had been tooling behind Baker. Rush was driving a #44 1957 Chevrolet fielded by Julian Petty as a teammate to Bob Welborn. When Baker broke, Rush assumed the lead and led the remaining 17 laps.

Source: Rumblin' Ragtops - The History of NASCAR's Fabulous
Convertible Division by Greg Fielden

I suppose Rush's win was a bit of an upset considering how dominant Bob Welborn and Curtis Turner had been in the convertible series that year. Rush's victory was his only one in 106 combined starts in NASCAR's GN and convertible series.

Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive

Rush's career as a NASCAR convertible division driver ended after 1959 when the series was disbanded. He continued to run a Grand National race or two each year from the early 1960s through his final one in 1972.

He found perhaps his greatest success in NASCAR's Grand American division - a support series from the late 1960s through the early 1970s. He had the distinction of being the first winner at Talladega, Michigan and Dover - all in 1969 - when the GA races were held the day before the Grand National races.

View image | gettyimages.com

Rush passed away at the age of 80 in October 2011.

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July 19, 1958 - Bob Welborn Grabs Greenville

NASCAR's convertible division raced at Greenville-Pickens Speedway on July 19, 1958. The 200-lap, 100-mile race was the third of four ragtop races at the track from 1956-1959 in the short-lived series.

Greenville-Pickens (web | Twitter) continues to operate today with a full slate of late model hot shoes.

Car owner Julian Petty fielded three cars in the 1958 race. Two-time convertible division champion Bob Welborn drove his customary #49. Ken Rush belted into a #44 Chevy, and Jim Paschal - who later raced and won for Petty Enterprises in the 1960s - started 9th in #49A.

The race was held the day after Julian's brother Lee and nephew Richard raced north of the border in Toronto Canada. Lee won the race which frankly is better remembered as the King's first career Grand National / Cup start.

In looking at the finishing order, one might think the race was uneventful. The top 10 starters finished in the same order except for the third and fourth place finishers who swapped spots from where they began the race.

The race, however, did have some late race drama. Knoxville, TN's Tootle Estes made a late race pit stop with about a dozen laps to go.

View image | gettyimages.com

Ken Rush - NASCAR's 1957 Grand National Rookie of the Year - was leading and headed towards the win. Instead of taking the checkers, however, Rush clipped Estes' car as he pulled back onto the racing surface after completing his stop. The collision caused Rush to hit a dirt bank, and the hit negated his chances for victory.

Welborn assumed the lead and led the remaining laps to claim his fifth convertible win of the season. Teammate Rush recovered from his late race encounter with Estes to finish 3rd - albeit 3 laps down to the winner.

Fin	St	#	Driver
1	1	49	Bob Welborn
2	2	76	Larry Frank
3	4	44	Ken Rush
4	3	87	Buck Baker
5	5	21	Glen Wood
6	6	36	Tootle Estes
7	7	41	Whitey Norman
8	8	66	Roy Tyner
9	9	49A	Jim Paschal
10	10	999	Wilbur Rakestraw

Source: Star-News via Google News Archive

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April 26, 1958 - Welborn Wins Hickory

Two-time defending NASCAR convertible division champion Bob Welborn continued his 1958 hot streak in tact on April 26, 1956. The Denton, NC driver won his fifth consecutive race with car owner Julian Petty.

Twenty-three ragtops showed up for a 150-lap, 60-mile race at Hickory Speedway's dirt track. Jimmy Massey snagged the pole position in a Petty Engineering 1957 Oldsmobile, and Welborn timed second in Julian's Chevrolet.

NASCAR Hall of Famer and co-founder of the legendary Wood Brothers Racing team, Glen Wood, parked his Ford after only one lap with a blown engine. Fellow NASCAR Hall of Fame member, Buck Baker - making only his second convertible start of 1958 - exited the race three laps later when of all things his seat broke loose. Joe Weatherly, making his first convertible start since his win at Richmond a month earlier, suffered the same fate as Wood and Baker. Unlike the two of them, however, Little Joe made it to the half-way point of the race. But he then lost the steering on his Holman Moody Ford and was done for the day.

With some of his toughest competition sidelined early, Welborn set sail as he'd done over his past few races. He took the checkers with only one other car on the lead lap with him. Ken Rush was the runner-up in in a second Julian Petty-owned #44 Chevy. Julian's third entry driven by Possum Jones wasn't as fortunate. The throttle in Possum's #48 Chevy played dead on him, and Jones finished 19th after completing only 33 laps.

Pole-winner Massey finished third in Lee Petty's Oldsmobile, one lap down in his only convertible start for Petty Engineering. (Lee likely didn't attend the race as he was probably on his way back home to North Carolina after having raced in Manassas, VA on April 25th.) Though I don't have absolute proof, it stands to reason the Olds raced by Massey was the same car Richard Petty raced in his racing debut at Columbia Speedway on July 12, 1958. Two years later, Massey was behind the wheel of a Wood Brothers Ford and was chasing Richard Petty's Plymouth for the win at Martinsville. I blogged about Massey's Run back in 2012.

Welborn and Julian seemingly could not be stopped in the spring of 1958. The Hickory win was their fifth consecutive NASCAR win in a series of Grand National and convertible races entered. (Julian didn't field a car in a few GN races during that streak.)

The streak ended with the Hickory win. Welborn continued, however, with quality top 10s in the next three races before returning to victory lane twice more to complete his month of May.

04/05/58   Fayetteville (GN) - win
04/07/58   Winston-Salem (CV) - win
04/13/58   Weaverville (CV) - win
04/20/58   Martinsville (GN) - win
04/26/58   Hickory (CV) - win
05/02/58   Columbia (CV) - 3rd
05/04/58   Wilson (CV) - 2nd
05/10/58   Darlington (CV) - 6th
05/11/58   Greensboro (GN) - win
05/24/58   Winston-Salem (GN) - win

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June 25, 1958 - Lee Petty's Pennsylvania Paydirt

June 25, 1958: Starting second, Lee Petty wins a 200-lap, 100-mile race on the half-mile, dirt Lincoln Speedway in New Oxford, PA - or Abbottstown - or Hanover. All are within a stone's throw of one another. I guess the town name just depends on who you ask.

Ken Rush started first in a Julian Petty-owned #44 Chevrolet - his second of only two career poles. When the race was completed, however, Rush had faded to twelfth in the 31-car field. NASCAR Hall of Famer Buck Baker finished second, and Bob Welborn finished third in a second Julian Petty entry. Future Petty Enterprises driver - Jim Paschal - finished seventh.

Finishing an unimpressive 25th was driver Mario Rossi racing in his fourth and final NASCAR Grand National race as a driver. Rossi turned his focus to what he did best - working on cars. In the late 1960s, he fielded his own cars for The Alabama Gang - first Donnie Allison and later, his brother Bobby. In the early 1970s, the paths of Rossi and Donnie Allison crossed again when Rossi was hired by DiGard to crew chief for Allison. In mid 1975, Allison was fired and replaced by a rising driver from Franklin, TN: Darrell Waltrip. From the jump, the two didn't mesh. In 1976, DW got his wish when the team owners fired Rossi.

Source: Lakeland Ledger via Google News Archive

Rossi pretty well fell off the radar a few years after leaving DiGard. He disappeared in 1983 - and hasn't been heard from since. For more on Rossi's varied history and murky details surrounding his death (?), read this fine 2007 Sports Illustrated article by Becca Gladden (a solid person to follow on Twitter by the way).

Anyway, back to Lincoln...

The original promoter of the track was Hillen "Hilly" Rife. A few interesting nuggets about Hilly Rife as noted in a Godwin Kelly column from The Daytona Beach News-Journal include:

• In 1957, Rife was involved in a bad racing accident. Bill France Sr. ensured Rife had the proper physician and paid his medical bills.
• Their friendship continued for decades. When Big Bill's health situation worsened, Rife moved to Daytona Beach to become his personal assistant.
• Rife worked with NASCAR to start the "Northern Swing" tour for the Grand National cars. For about a 10-year span or so, NASCAR sanctioned Grand National races in places such as Islip, Rochester, Bridgehampton and Buffalo, NY; Trenton, Langhorne and Morristown, NJ; Oxford, ME; Pittsburgh; etc.

After a colorful life with a passion for racing and commitment to deep friendships, Rife passed away in 2010.

Source: FindAGrave.com

Source: Spartanburg Herald-Journal via Google News Archive

Lincoln Speedway still operates today with a slate of sprint cars and dirt late models. The track can be found on the web as well as on Twitter.

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June 18, 1959 - Lee Petty Conquers Columbia

June 18, 1959: Starting third in a #42 Plymouth and leading only the last few laps, Lee Petty wins a 200-lap, 100-mile race at Columbia Speedway in South Carolina.

Perry Allen Wood recaps the race in his book, Silent Speedways of the Carolinas:

Bob Burdick from Omaha captured his second and last career pole in just his fourth start in a T-Bird. ... But it was scar-faced Joe Weatherly from outside row one that jumped away and led the first 43 laps until he and Junior [Johnson] in old 11 roared into the first turn and found G.C. Spencer and Richard Riley tangling. Junior plowed into the rear of Joe's T-Bird and during caution, the indestructible Joe had to be lifted from the 'bird as a hastily recruited Jimmy Thompson took over. ... Buck took over for the next 82 laps until Tommy Irwin battled past in his T-Bird and looked like a winner until 11 to go. That is until Lee Petty, luckless at this place, battled by Irwin with dust flying to take the point. The Old Man rumbled under the checkers by less than a second in his high-finned white '59 Plymouth. ~ p. 52

Finishing 13th driving a #4 Julian Petty-owned Chevy was Ken Rush. Though he never drove for Lee Petty / Petty Engineering, Rush made a substantial number of NASCAR Grand National and Convertible Series starts for Lee's brother, Julian. He also won the first race held at Talladega - the 1969 Grand Touring race held as a preliminary race to the now infamous, inaugural Talladega 500. The 1957 NASCAR Rookie of the Year passed away in October 2011.

Source: The (Columbia) State - Courtesy of Gamecock43

With limited television coverage and no interwebs, newspaper writers had more opportunities to enhance their stories. The description of Junior Johnson's escaping a flaming death reminded me of P.T. Flea's circus in Disney's A Bug's Life movie.

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