Today's Cup schedule seems to run forever as it begins in February and finishes in November. The schedules of the 1950s and 60s, however, were a true grind for those who made a legit effort to race in all or the majority of the races.
The 45th race of the 53-event 1957 season was scheduled for September 15th at Langhorne Speedway in Pennsylvania. The 300-mile race was a NASCAR Sweepstakes event - a blended race of Grand National hard-top sedans and drivers from NASCAR's convertible division.
Paul Goldsmith won the pole in Smokey Yunick's #3 Ford convertible. Fireball Roberts qualified second in his hard-top sedan. Glen Wood and Lee Petty made up the second row. Bob Welborn rounded out the top 5 starters. The rest of the 48-car field was set with the quickest ragtops starting in the inside, odd-numbered positions and the sedans filling the outside, even-numbered slots.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
Several starters were drivers from the northeast making their one and only or at least an infrequent GN start including:
George Bumgardner - only start
Bobby Abel - only start
Roger Baldwin - 2nd of two career starts
Jerry Benjamin - 4th of 5 career starts
Art Binkley - 4th of 5 career starts
Don Gray - 3rd of 5 career starts
Dick Klank - 6th of 7 career starts
Tommy Elliott - 6th of 7 career starts
Ken Marriott - 4th of 5 career starts (4 at Langhorne and 5th in inaugural Daytona 500)
Huck Spaulding - 6th of 9 career starts
Dutch Hoag, modified ace of the northeast - 4th and final GN race
Fans witnessed a great back and forth battle between Goldsmith and Fireball during the first third of the race. Each led a handful of laps before being passed.
Fireball was finally able to shake Goldsmith as the race neared the 100 lap mark. Two additional challengers then made their way to Roberts' bumper. First, Bill Amick of Portland, Oregon got by Roberts to lead 19 laps. Like Goldsmith, Amick's time up front was short-lived. Roberts re-took the lead, and Amick later lost an engine near the 200-lap mark.
After Fireball led for a 63-lap stint, he began having steering issues. Multi-time NASCAR Short Track Division champ Jim Reed went out front for 44 laps as Roberts fell further behind. Then Reed developed engines issues of his own, and he fell out of the race after only 220 laps.
As the race cleared the two-thirds mark, Gwyn Staley arrived. Staley was driving a Chevrolet convertible for owner Julian Petty and started the race deep in the field in 25th. He led the remaining 85 laps to take the win by a half-second or so ahead of unknown Whitey Norman. Though close at the time for the fans and drivers, a post-race scoring recheck revealed Norman was actually two laps down to Staley.
Johnny Allen came home third. The little bit of remaining drama involved the fourth and fifth place finishers. With four laps to go, Buck Baker eased by Rex White into fourth place. On the last lap, however, Baker's Chevy ran out of gas. He coasted helplessly to the finish, and White was able to pass the fading Baker to reclaim fourth.
Although Staley raced Julian's convertible, NASCAR records recognize his win as a Grand National victory. His car was the only convertible of the top five finishers.
The race also turned out to be the final Grand National race at Langhorne. Staley needed a shade over four hours to capture the win. It seems like that would have been like an eternity to wrestle the wheel around Langhorne's one-mile, dirt circle. Yet at the time, the mark was a race record.
Staley's win was also the last of three career Grand National victories. All were won in 1957, and all were at the wheel of Julian Petty's Chevrolets.
September 14, 1952: Starting deep in the field, Lee Petty wins at the famed but treacherous one-mile, dirt Langhorne Speedway in Pennsylvania.
Herb Thomas started from the pole position for the 250 lap race, but he never led a lap. He crashed, completed 61 laps, and finished 37th in the 44-car field. Fonty Flock qualified second and led 50 laps, but he too exited early. A blown motor relegated Fonty to a 26th place finish.
Bill Blair and Dick Rathman each led a sizeable chunk of laps. Blair was on point 89 laps and finished second to Petty. Rathman had a solid race - just not a great one. He qualified eighth, led 61 laps, and finished fifth. With 41 laps to go, however, Petty took over the lead and kept it the rest of the way. After starting 24th, the driver of the #42 Plymouth worked his way to the front and led the laps that mattered.
Many race fans today (myself included) often long for a return to racing like in the good ol' days. Interesting how we all often overlook the bad ol' days that accompanied the good times. In his book, Real NASCAR: White Lightning, Red Clay, and Big Bill France, Daniel Pierce noted:
One of the major problems encountered by NASCAR in the early 1950s was that, despite some improvements in safety, stock car racing continued to be a dangerous and even deadly pastime. A basic design flaw in the Hudsons made them especially prone to end-over-end rollovers. As Smokey Yunick observed, the "Hudson's rear quarter panels were deep and strong and the rear axle shafts were weak by racing standards. So when the axle broke, rear wheel was loose, but trapped in this strong wheel housing. This cause the Hudson to bounce ass-over-head violently." This type of rollover caused Jesse James Taylor serious head injuries when his Hudson flipped in the first turn on a 1951 race at Lakewood Speedway. It took rescue workers fifteen minutes to extricate him from the wreckage... Similar Hudson axle failures led to the deaths of drivers Larry Mann at Langhorne and Frank at Luftoe at Lakewood, both in 1952... The state of emergency medical care at the track did not help the situation much either, as Smokey Yunick noted "Back then, a local doctor with a bag and an ambulance or a hearse, or maybe just a fire truck was all we had." ~ pp. 145-146
As noted, Larry Mann crashed his Hudson during the 1952 Langhorne race. He suffered significant trauma and head injuries in the wreck and passed away in a Nazareth, PA hospital later that evening. Mann's death was the first fatality in NASCAR's
young Grand National series. Eerily, he drove car number 43.
Wow! How long has it been since I updated folks on the antics of the Schaefer Hall of Fame and Ring of Honor? Blogging about the legacy of Richard Petty's wins has kept me pretty well occupied. However, the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Schaefer Schelebration is upon us. So its probably a good idea I update folks on what members of the Schaefer Hall of Fame and Ring of Honor have been doing the last six months or so.
SROH member, 200WINZ, has become a good friend and is also a dyed-in-the-wool Petty fan. He knows his Petty trivia, walks a nice line between old school and the contemporary and has quite the artistic hand (example 1 and example 2). So I have to admit I was a bit conflicted by his 'tribute carving' of TMC last October. Should I be flattered ... or insulted?
As always, SHOFer Uncle Dave always brings it. Last Christmas, he complemented his white trash Christmas decor with ... what else ... but a Schaefer.
As the calendar turned to 2012, UDR made his frequent pilgrimage to Florida. And nothing screams ROAD TRIP like a visit to Waffle House. Yes'm, I'll take mine Scattered, Smothered & Schaefered.
TMC recently traded in his Crapberry and got with the times by replacing it with an iPhone. I quickly re-branded it as my iSchaef. Being somewhat of a creative and frugal sort, Uncle Dave sent me a picture of his version of the iSchaef (including his waaaaay out-of-date Alltel flip-phone).
SROH member Rick probably attends more races annually than any other member of the SHOF and SROH. Lately, he has stepped it up a notch with some solid photo contributions. He does, however, need an improved nickname. Any suggestions for him?
He enjoyed MNN (Monday Night NASCAR) back in February after the Daytona 500 was washed out on Sunday.
Despite race fans staying away by the thousands at Bristol, Rick kept his streak alive of hitting both races at the half-mile track and represented the SROH well from on high.
He even had the fortunate and impromptu opportunity to get a photo-op with a true beer drinker - actor George Wendt, better known as NORM! from the 1980s sit-com Cheers
Rick also photo-text messaged me a pic of a friend of his with the collection of Bristol trophies to be awarded that weekend. My immediate reaction was: Daaaang, I didn't realize Kyle Petty had lost so much weight.
To prove he is no one-trick-pony, Rick took the Schaefer colors to a non-NASCAR setting - Key West, FL. Nice touch Rick to incorporate Rick's Bar over your head.
Philly, co-founder of the SHOF and co-host of the annual Coca-Cola 600 Schaefer Schindig, is an opportunistic individual. In other words, he strikes when a great opportunity ... is free.
Earlier this year, a promotional event to promote NAPA Auto Parts' was held with NHRA's Antron Brown and NASCAR's Martin Truex. The duo spent time at Charlotte Motor Speedway and then at the Z-Max Raceway drag strip. And who was there to enjoy this free event? Yep, Philly.
Following the on-track demos, the event moved indoors. There Philly had the opportunity to share a meaningful conversation with Antron. Three miscues for Philly though - a lavender shirt, a tie at a racetrack and no Schaefer. Still, a great opportunity - because why? Because once again, say it with me, it was free.
As for TMC, I've tried to do what I can to continue advancing the brand - even when it seems Schaefer's parent company, Pabst Brewing, is allowing the brand to just fade away.
As many of us did, I celebrated the novelty of the Daytona 500 ... at night ... on a Monday ... with a Schaef.
Earlier this spring, I pulled off what I think was one of my best hail mary's. With the assistance of some Google searches, a couple of phone calls, and some correspondence, I connected with former CART Indy car driver, Kevin Cogan, via his brother.
After a troubled start to his Indy career in the early 1980s, Cogan returned in the mid-1980s and drove a Schaefer-sponsored car in 1989. He had one of the most violent wrecks ever experienced in the Indy 500 - yet fortunately wasn't injured seriously.
Cogan faded away from racing in the 1990s and began a career in real estate in southern California. I sent a letter recapping the Schaefer Hall of Fame and our members' interest in racing along with a this photo from a race at Mid-Ohio. His brother worked with me to get Kevin the letter and photo. In return, Kevin returned the photo to me autographed.
In April, I had the good fortune of traveling to Princeton, NJ for a speaking engagement. On my drive from Philadelphia's airport to Princeton, I stopped in Washington Crossing, PA. This town sits on the location where General George Washington encamped his troops before crossing the Delaware River and launching a raid at Trenton, NJ during the Revolutionary War.
We all remember from our history classes the illustration of Washington standing proudly in his boat as it crossed the river. What I wish we knew is what words were said to motivate the tired, cold, scared but committed and bold troops. I'd like to think George told them "I'll buy each of you a 30-box of Schaefer following our victory and safe return." But, I guess that probably wasn't what was said because Schaefer wasn't founded for almost another 70 years.
After finishing in Princeton, I visited SROH member 200WINZ in Trenton. We made the short drive to Langhorne, PA - former site of the legendary "Big Left Turn". The track hosted many open wheel championship races as well as NASCAR events. A Sam's Wholesale Club now sits on the property once occupied by the track. However, a commemorative historical marker for the track was placed on a neighboring Ford dealership.
I simply had to pay tribute to this legendary but now lost track the only way I knew how: Schaaa-LOOT!
A couple of weeks later, I found myself in Denver, Colorado. One of our evenings was spent taking in the Colorado Rockies and L.A. Dodgers game. The game even had a Tennessee connection as former UT Vols baseball great Todd Helton took a few mighty cuts during the game.
However, to enhance the fan experience, I do think they should rename Coors Field as Schaefer Schtadium.
I only learned about Langhorne over the last few years. It was one of the oddest-shaped tracks ever built - an almost perfect circle vs. most other tracks built as ovals (until the Charlotte 'quad-oval' and Daytona 'tri-oval' phases began).
Langhorne's relevance for NASCAR has long been gone. I have learned, however, Lee Petty earned one of his 54 wins there.
