January 23 - This day in Petty history

1972 - Richard Petty wins the Winston Western 500 at Riverside International Raceway in southern California. Scheduled for 191 laps on the road course, the race is shortened to 149 laps because of dense fog.

Though the race was not the first one at Riverside, the event was known for the first time as the Winston Western 500. R.J. Reynolds' Winston cigarettes began sponsoring NASCAR's top series in 1971 and took over title sponsorship of Riverside's season-opening race in 1972.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

The win was Petty's 141st victory - and his first with STP as his primary sponsor. Even the most casual NASCAR fan knows Richard Petty for his autograph, cowboy hat, sunglasses, and mustache. And many more easily associate the iconic day-glo STP red and Petty blue colors as a natural fit for the 43.

The combination of the two colors, however, almost didn't happen. The sponsorship agreement between STP and Petty Enterprises was reached just a few days before the Riverside race. But let Richard tell the story of what almost happened ... and what did happen.

As Richard said and history knows, the two parties agreed on the details. The press conference was held, and then Richard flew on to Riverside.

The newly-labeled STP Plymouth as it raced ... and won ... at Riverside:

Credit for following two photos to Beentherebefore at the H.A.M.B. at JalopyJournal.com:

A final 'first' for the race - The event was the first NASCAR Winston Cup star as a car owner for the now legendary Roger Penske. His driver, Mark Donahue, started an AMC Matador but finished 39th in the 40-car field. No worries though as The Captain went to have a modicum of success in the decades to follow.

TMC

1971 Schaefer 500

On July 3, 2010, I blogged about the inaugural 1971 Schaefer 500 Indy car race at Pocono. In combing the web for information about the race, I thought I uncovered some neat photos from the race, a scan of the race program, and some trivia nuggets.

Tonight, however, an extra bonus was made available - a YouTube clip from the race. With Bud Lindemann narrating, the episode does a great job of featuring vacationers in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania and the yeoman's efforts of all involved in finishing construction on the new track so the race could run as scheduled.

A couple of things to be attuned to:

• 3:36 mark - Soon-to-be NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough in his limited time in USAC's Indy cars
• 6:39 mark - Jim Hurtubise's Miller High Life Mallard
• Legendary NASCAR announcer and Vermont short-track owner, Ken Squier, on the race call
• And most of all, Schaefer sponsorship, signage, and consumption.

With Tuesday's announcement that Best Buy will leave the Richard Petty Motorsports #43 car, I'm convinced more than ever the King should pursue Schaefer as his sponsor.

Special thanks to Petty message board poster Stimlad for this requested fictional

I've already got the TV tagline for victory lane:

This is the one race to win when you're winning more than one!

TMC
Edited: 2013-05-28

July 3 - This day in Schaefer racing history

The Inaugural 1971 Schaefer 500
USAC Indy car race
Pocono International Raceway
Pocono, Pennsylvania
Winning driver: the late Mark Donohue
Full results: Racing-Reference.info

Program and scoring tower photos source: Permission from Frank Hadl at Picassa

Thanks for the pics Frank and especially for your service in Vietnam!

Source: Wikipedia

Source: Toledo Blade via Google News Archive

Source: First Schaefer 500 recap at Motorcaster

Some notables from July 3, 1971:

• Donohue's win was the first career Indy/Champ car win for car owner, Roger Penske. Gee, I wonder whatever happened to that guy.
• NASCAR interloper, Cale Yarborough, finished 32nd in a 33 car field.
• Another NASCAR regular, Donnie Allison, continued his dalliance with Indy cars and finished 18th.
• Bill Simpson finished 18th. He ended his racer career in 1977 and then turned to a career of innovative racing products. He founded Simpson Performance Products. His most controversial moment came when Simpson products were used in Dale Earnhardt's car when he died at Daytona in February 2001.
• For those who follow NASCAR's Silly Season on Jayski.com regularly like I do, Donohue was Jay's favorite driver back in the day.

TMC
Edited 2011-12-21: For video clips from the race, jump to this post.