The King was Fond of Pond

A recent birthday advanced me to the year of Lennie Pond.

Richard Petty and Lennie Pond struck a friendship somewhere during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Pond traveled from time to time to Level Cross during his late model sportsman years to buy parts from the Petty shop in Level Cross. His visits and success on Virginia shorts tracks caught King's eye. Lennie eventually moved to NASCAR's Winston Cup ranks with encouragement from the Pettys.

Credit: Donald Evans

In 1978, Petty and Pond helped one another in a relief role in multiple races.

In the Southeastern 500 at Bristol, both Petty and Pond were involved in an early race accident along with Darrell Waltrip and Roland Wlodyka. Petty parked his Dodge Magnum, but Ranier Racing patched Pond's #54 Chevy well enough to continue. The car had staying power, but Pond had a tough time remaining in the seat. The King took over and rallied the car to a top 5 running position. Pond later returned to his car and maintained the track position gained by Petty to finish fifth.

Credit: David Allio / RacingPhotoArchives

When the tour returned to Bristol for its inaugural night race, the two drivers reversed roles. Six days earlier at Michigan, Petty debuted his new STP Chevrolet. His first start, however, resulted in a late race wall pounding. The team borrowed a car from Henley Gray for Bristol, and King did his best to race with a battered ribcage. After Pond fell out 100 laps into the race, he took over the 43 in relief. Pond helped the borrowed ride finish fifth - coincidentally just as Petty did in Pond's car in the spring race.

*   *   *   *   * Before joining the Cup ranks full-time, Pond came *this close* to being at the wheel of a Petty car in the 1970 Daytona 500. Kinda. Maybe.

The Petty team was a Plymouth stalwart from 1960 through 1968. The racing community was stunned in late November 1968, however, when Petty Enterprises announced a switch to Ford for 1969. During the one-year run with Ford Motor Company, the team sold a 1968 Plymouth to another Virginian, Don Robertson.

Robertson partnered with another independent driver and fellow commonwealther, Jabe Thomas, to race the 1969 schedule with the Plymouth acquired from the Pettys. The car was painted slate blue and gold, and Thomas started and finished a respectable 14th at Daytona.

Robertson planned to field a second Plymouth in the 1970 Daytona 500, and he originally slotted James Cox to drive it. Cox raced eight times for Robertson in 1969, and Robertson apparently submitted Cox's name on the entry blank for the 500.

While it isn't known which car, if either, was the former Petty Plymouth, the paint on the cars does provide a suggestive clue. Thomas' #25 Plymouth arrived at Daytona painted red and gold.

The second Robertson #23 Plymouth, however, bore the base slate blue that Thomas raced a year earlier. Though the car number, gold accents, and sponsor lettering differed, the blue and gold suggest the second car may have been the Petty Plymouth.

A couple of weeks before Speedweeks, a friend urged Pond to call Thomas about the possibility of racing at Daytona for his second career Grand National start. After discussions with Robertson, all decided Pond would be a good choice to race Robertson's second Plymouth over Cox.

Source: Petersburg Progress Index

*   *   *   *   * NASCAR's 1966 Rookie of the Year, James Hylton, had also been a Mopar man in his three Grand National seasons. In the off-season before 1970, however, he sold his Dodge equipment and bought a used Holman Moody Ford previously raced by David Pearson.

Misfortune struck Hylton when he wrecked his Ford during a practice session on Monday before the Daytona 500. The damage was significant enough that Hylton realized his crew couldn't repair it in time for the race.

Robertson and Thomas knew of Hylton's problem - and that he had more experience than Pond. Unlike Lennie, Hylton was a full-time driver chasing points for the Grand National title.

As a nice gesture, Robertson turned the #23 Plymouth over to Hylton for the 125-mile qualifying race. Hylton finished 11th and earned the car a starting spot in the 500. Robertson then withdrew Cox's name as the official driver, substituted Hylton, and kept Lennie on the sideline. Hylton was obviously grateful for the opportunity to race, but he felt somewhat awkward knowing the ride had been promised to Pond.

When the day was done, Hylton finished 22nd in the 500 with teammate Thomas a few spots back in 25th. Cox's opinion about being removed from the car are unknown, and it's not clear if he even went to Daytona.

Though circumstances resulted in Pond's losing the opportunity to race in his first Daytona 500 in 1970, he soldiered on with his late model sportsman career. He moved to Winston Cup in 1973, ran the majority of the races, and narrowly won NASCAR's Rookie of the Year honor over Darrell Waltrip.

That season, Pond finally got behind the wheel of a Petty car for the first time when he relieved the King during the Southern 500 at Darlington.

TMC

March 7, 1976 - Richmond 400

From 1969 through 1975, Richmond's races were 500 laps and about 250 miles. In 1976, the length of the track's two races was dropped to 400 laps and about 200 miles. The lap count continued with the track's new (and current) 3/4-mile configuration in 1989 - though the distance became 300 miles.

The first race under the 400-laps model - the 1976 Richmond 400 - was scheduled for February 22nd as the third race of the season and the first to follow what became the legendary finish of the Daytona 500.

Bobby Allison won the pole in his Roger Penske-owned #2 CAM2 Mercury. Dave Marcis qualified alongside Allison in his #71 K&K Insurance Dodge. Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough rounded out the top five starters.

When race day arrived, however, so did a persistent rain. Richmond now runs its spring race actually in the spring. Back in the day, however, Richmond's first "spring" race was frequently hit with with cold temps, rain, snow, and sometimes postponements. Sure enough, the 1976 edition was postponed two weeks to March 7 - the week after the Carolina 500 at Rockingham. The only hiccup was if Rockingham's race was postponed as well because March 7 was also earmarked as its make-up date.

The race at The Rock went off as scheduled. But a not-so-funny thing happened to Allison on his way back to Richmond. Allison tangled with Yarborough, and he flipped his Mercury multiple times.

Though hospitalized, Allison wasn't seriously injured and still planned to race at Richmond from his top starting spot. Just in case he couldn't go the distance, however, he had his brother Donnie Allison on stand-by. Though I never was an Allison fan, his toughness could never be denied - then or now. Bruised and battered but still standing, Allison started the race, went the distance, and finished third.

Source: Free Lance Star via Google News Archive

Though Allison started P1, Marcis got the jump at the drop of the green. He set sail into turn one and paced the field for almost all of the first quarter of the race. Others soon got in on the action though. Petty and Yarborough controlled much of the middle stages of the race.

With about 80 laps to go, Virginia's own Lennie Pond found himself in the lead in a strong effort at the wheel of Ronnie Elder's Pepsi-sponsored #54 Chevrolet. The 1973 Rookie of the Year led a few laps earlier, but now it was time to hammer down and take home a trophy. After a 33-lap stint at the front and only one other car on the lead lap with him, however, Pond's fortunes inexplicably turned bad. Really bad. He tangled with Ed Negre with about 50 to go, and his day was rurnt. Instead of competing for a win, Pond went home with a dismal 23rd place finish in the 30-car field.

With Pond's departure, The King did what The King generally did at Richmond: lead. He set the pace for the next 40-odd laps and seemed to be in great position to win at Richmond for the 14th time of his career. But a couple of challenges arose to face the 43. One, his Maurice Petty-engine lost not just one but two cylinders. His Dodge Charger somehow continued, but he clearly didn't have runaway speed. Two, a couple of cautions with about 20 laps to go allowed Dave Marcis to get back on the lead lap.

The second caution with 11 laps to go was quite bizarre. While running third, Yarborough popped the inside guard rail, continued on with speed through an opening into the infield, and ran smack-dab into a parked fire truck. Cale's #11 Chevy got the worst end of the encounter, yet he still managed to a fourth place result despite the DNF.

Courtesy of Donald Evans of RacersReunion.com

The race went green again with one lap to go. Petty and Marcis were the only two cars on the lead lap, and Marcis realized the opportunity was his. He barreled into turn one and got to the inside of Petty. The two battled side by side the rest of the way including a few door rubs along the way.

At the strip, Marcis narrowly won his second of what ultimately became five career Cup victories. Accounts of the margin of victory vary depending on what one reads or cares to believe. I've seen it as close as few feet to a couple of car lengths. Either way ... Marcis was the victor, and Petty missed out on what would have been his 201st victory overall.

Courtesy of Brian Yezierski of RacersReunion.com

Source: The Progress-Index of Petersburg, Virginia

TMC