August 22, 1982 - Champion Spark Plug 400

Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip both changed teams in 1981, and both tangled for the Winston Cup title. Waltrip prevailed over Allison as the the championship battle came down to the final race of the season at Riverside, CA's road course - a season without lucky dogs, stages, or a playoff.

In 1982, Waltrip remained with his green, Mountain Dew-sponsored team. Allison left the #28 Harry Ranier team and got a green, beverage-sponsored car of his own. He joined the #88 DiGard, Gatorade team - the car Waltrip vacated after the 1980 season. Despite the move, Allison again challenged Waltrip for the Cup in '82. He was seeking his first title as Waltrip looked to repeat.

As the season hit the two-thirds mark, the teams arrived at Michigan International Speedway for the Champion Spark Plug 400. Waltrip had banked seven wins through that part of the season, and Allison had notched five victories - including the Daytona 500.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

As an indication of what was to come over the rest of the 1980s, Bill Elliot won the pole in his #9 Melling Tool boxy Thunderbird with Waltrip lined-up alongside him. Ricky Rudd and Buddy Baker made up the second row, and Buddy Arrington qualified an impressive fifth in his Chrysler. The starting spot was the third best of his career.

Kyle Petty timed eighth - easily his best start in his limited 1982 schedule in the #1 STP/UNO, Hoss Ellington car. He raced a Pontiac - the only time he did so when racing for Ellington. It's possible the Ellington car was actually from the Petty Enterprises fleet as Hoss normally fielded a Buick or Chevrolet in other 1982 races.

Country singer Marty Robbins attempted to make his first Michigan start in three years. He could not, however, muster enough speed. His qualifying lap ranked 37th for a race that only slotted 36 cars. Two other drivers - Al Loquasto and Ronnie Thomas - had qualifying speeds slower than Robbins. They earned provisional starts over Robbins based on higher ranking owners' points.

Marty returned to start one more race in his #22 purple and yellow, self-sponsored Buick, the Atlanta Journal 500 in November, before sadly passing away from a heart attack in December.

When the green fell, Elliott seized the early lead. After six laps, however, Waltrip went to the point for nine laps. Then Yarborough led - then Allison - then Geoff Bodine - then Dave Marcis - then Arrington, Tim Richmond, and Morgan Shepherd. Yes, nine drivers led at least one lap before one of them took the top spot for a second time (Richmond). Through the first third of the race, Allison was the only driver to lead more than a dozen laps in one stretch.

Elliott's plan for a solid day ended early when he clobbered Loquasto. Ricky Rudd made a move to pass Waltrip. He couldn't quite pull it off, tried to slide back into line, and nicked Loquasto as they overtook him. Loquasto then spun and collected Elliott in the process.

Rudd and Richard Petty also spun but straightened their cars and continued onward. Elliott went to the garage for extensive repairs. He returned to the track and finished the race but no longer as a factor in it.

Fans saw things settle down a bit during the second half of the race. Rather than a large number of drivers leading a small number of laps, a few controlled the final 100 circuits. Waltrip, Petty, and Allison were the lap bullies, and they let Bodine lead only a single lap of the last 100.

As the raced near its end, Waltrip developed an engine issue. He finished the race but faded to 7th, two laps down to the leaders. With about 25 laps to go, the King trailed the leader Allison by almost 4 seconds. But Petty focused, found another line that worked, and began cutting into Allison's lead. 

With two to go, Allison's mirror was full of the day-glo red and Petty Blue 43. Petty had recovered from his spin on lap 20 and was looking to win for the first time since the 1981 edition of the Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan.

As Allison took the white flag, Petty was all over him and made a couple of moves to set Allison up for the winning pass. Allison twitched as he came out of turn 4 - his car losing grip - and perhaps doing a bit more mirror driving than forward facing racing.

Allison held on to his lead and flashed across the start-finish line with Petty just a half car-length or so behind.

The race was the 51st and final time Petty and Allison finished in the top two positions of a Grand National / Winston Cup race.

Allison pulled to within one victory of Waltrip by besting the 43 at Michigan. He'd win two more times in the final third of the season. Waltrip, however, won five more times in the final 10 races of the season and claimed his second consecutive title at Riverside. Petty, on the other hand, unfortunately went the rest of the year without a win.

The race as it aired on ESPN....

TMC

August 25, 1974 - Michigan's Yankee 400

Michigan International Speedway joined NASCAR's Grand National schedule with two races in 1969. The second one, the Yankee 600, was scheduled for mid-August. From then until now, Michigan's second race has always been slotted for the back half of the month.

The 1974 Yankee 400, the 22nd race of the season, was no exception with its scheduled date of August 25, 1974.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

Coming into Michigan, three drivers had won all but one of the first 21 races. Cale Yarborough and Richard Petty had each captured eight trophies, and David Pearson was victorious four times in only thirteen starts. King Richard was rolling too with three consecutive wins at Atlanta, Pocono and Talladega as the teams headed for Michigan.

Pearson in the Wood Brothers' #21 Mercury and Buddy Baker in Bud Moore's #15 blue-and-white Ford started on the front row.

Yarborough in Junior Johnson's Carling Beer Chevy and Petty in the famed STP Dodge made up the second row. Bobby Allison - the only winner of the season other than Petty, Pearson and Yarborough - qualified fifth in Roger Penske's Matador.

At the drop of the green, Baker hammered down, got the jump on Pearson, and led the first three laps. Pearson took the lead away from Baker on lap four and led for eight laps before Baker recaptured it for a couple more.

Middle Tennessee's independent driver David Sisco then got some prime time exposure by leading four laps. Sisco started 13th and led a total of 15 laps throughout the day on his way to a ninth place finish. The race ranked among the top performances by Sisco over his seven-year, 133-race Cup career. Sisco recently passed away on July 25, 2016, at the age of 79.

After Sisco's time out front for a few laps, the lead changed hands again. And again. And again. And again. Over the course of the 200-lap race, fans witnessed forty-four lead changes. Only three times did a leader bank a double-digit number of laps out front.

The lion's share of the laps were led by two of the big three in '74: Pearson and Yarborough. The duo took turns swapping the lead much of the day. By mid-race, the two of them were the only two to lead.

With about 35 laps to go, Pearson decided show time was over. He passed Yarborough yet again to take the lead and never relinquished it. And as the race neared its conclusion, Yarborough couldn't even hold second.

With 15 laps to go, Cale hit pit road for an unscheduled stop. Petty's Dodge Charger rallied past Cale's #11 Chevy to nab second despite the 43 leading only two laps during the day.

The race was the 52nd of 63 times that Petty and Pearson finished in the top two positions.

TMC

June 15, 1975 - Motor State 400

Michigan International Speedway hosted the midpoint of the 1975 Winston Cup season. The Motor State 400 was the 15th of the season's 30-race schedule.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

On the track, the season had three storylines:

• Benny Parsons' win in the Daytona 500
• Darrell Waltrip knocking down his first Cup victory, and 
• Richard Petty's dominance. 

Petty captured his fifth title in 1974 and kept the mojo rolling during the first half of 1975. Through the season's fourteenth race at Riverside, the King had won seven of them. (And many folks get tired of Kyle Busch seemingly winning all the time.)

After winning back to back races in Charlotte's World 600 and Riverside's Tuborg 400, Petty flew 3,500 miles to Fairbanks, Alaska for a two-day, charity event appearance at North Pole Speedway.

Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Petty then gathered his gear and flew another 3,500 miles or so to Michigan. The King himself arrived in time for practice and qualifying. His luggage - including his driving uniform - ehh, not so much. I can imagine some of the snickers and grins from the crew as Petty had to suit up in an old uniform found in the dark recesses of the transporter.

In qualifying, two best buddies, Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison, captured the front row. The second row was made of two professional rivals - David Pearson and Petty.

Credit: John Betts of RacersReunion.com

After winning his first Cup race in May at Nashville's Fairgrounds Speedway, Darrell Waltrip found himself in a pickle following qualifying at Michigan. He lost an engine during practice in his self-owned, Jake Elder-led Chevy and and then had issues with the replacement engine. As a result, he didn't muster a qualifying lap and faced a DNQ. Waltrip worked a deal with independent driver Jabe Thomas to take over his spot. By the skin of his teeth, DW lined up 35th in the 36-car field.

On race day, fans were greeted with that awful reality: rain. Lots of it. Everyone waited for the oft-sought weather window to open. The weather was intense, and the track temporarily lost phone service and electricity. After a 3-1/2 hour delay, however, the window finally opened. It was time to go racing!

Once the green flag dropped, the fans got a great race in exchange for their patient wait. The lead swapped hands 44 times among nine drivers in the 200-lap race. Only six times did the leader hold serve for a double-digit number of laps. Three drivers, however, dominated the overall laps led: David Pearson, Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough.

Any chance Yarborough may have had at the win went out the window when his stubbornness busted him. He went ape after thinking he'd been docked a lap by NASCAR officials for passing the pace car under caution. In anger, he headed for the garage and parked his car. His Herb Nab-led crew had to convince him he had not been penalized a lap. Cale fired 'er back up and headed back into the fray. When the dust settled, he'd cost himself a lap and finished fourth.

The caution flew with about 60 laps to go, and the leaders hit pit road - several laps earlier than desired for the final, planned stop. As is often the case with contemporary Cup races at Michigan, the remaining laps were  raced with drivers and crew chiefs concerned with fuel mileage.

With 40 to go, The King found himself out front and seeking his 8th win of the season. As happened more than once between the two, Petty and Pearson pulled away from the rest of the field to settle it between themselves.

Twenty laps or so later, the handling of Petty's Dodge began to worsen just a little bit. Pearson was able to close the already small gap, and he completed the pass for the lead with 18 laps to go. The Silver Fox didn't pull away too comfortably though. Petty stayed right with the 21 until the end. When the checkered flag fell, however, Pearson captured his second win of the year with Petty about two car lengths behind. The race was the 54th of 63 times for a Petty-Pearson, one-two finish.

Dave Marcis made his final pit stop at the same time as Petty and Pearson. Though the 21 and 43 had enough fuel to go the distance, Marcis ran dry on the last lap. Fellow Dodge driver Frank Warren pushed Marcis across the line to take P3 ahead of Cale in fourth. Waltrip rallied from his near-last place starting spot to finish fifth and on the same lap as Marcis and Cale.

Source: Hillsdale Daily News

Source: The Daily Pantagraph

TMC

Racing's Home Tracks: Part 2 of a IV-part Trilogy

NASCAR's insistence everyone have a "home track" has metastasized into a full-blown epidemic.

After bringing awareness of this crisis to the masses two weeks ago, I wanted to continue with many more cringe-worthy examples.

During the recent Save Mart 300 in California, we were led to believe by PRN Radio and FoxSports1 on-air folks that at least four drivers claimed Sonoma as their home track. Though to be fair, the persistent matching of Cup drivers ... and teams ... and sponsors ... and manufacturers ... to a home track isn't limited to just PRN and FOX.

We were told Jeff Gordon began his racing career at Sonoma - despite having moved to Indiana when he was 14 years old.

The Dinger - A.J. Allmendinger - obviously claims Sonoma as his home track.

Never mind his home town of Los Gatos, California is 90 miles away.

Sophomore Cup and Target Racing driver, Kyle Larson, also claims Sonoma as his home track...allegedly.

I guess it's irrelevant his home track before making the transition to NASCAR was Calistoga Speedway.

Oh. Wait. Maybe it's Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California.

Finally, Target Racing's former driver (and current GEICO discounted participant), Casey Mears, has claimed Sonoma as his home track...

...when he wasn't claiming Auto Club Speedway in Fontana as his home track.

Mears isn't the only driver confused about his home track - nor the only Chip Ganassi Racing driver to be confused. Nashville's Fairgrounds Speedway was (and still is) indeed the home track for two-time Daytona 500 winner, Sterling Marlin. After all, he was a multi-time track champion at Nashville, made his first Cup start there, piled up tons of late model wins, helped his dad Coo Coo Marlin at the track, etc. He was able to make the transition to Cup after cutting his teeth at Nashville, and he continues to race at Nashville.

But Nashville fell off the Cup schedule after 1984. No problem. Sterling was assigned Bristol as his replacement home track. The facts of (1) his never running a weekly series at the track and (2) the 5+ hour driving distance from his home made little difference to the PR folks.

The city of Chicago was poetically labeled by Carl Sandburg as The City of the Big Shoulders. That statement needs to be true to hold aloft the legacy of all the drivers who claim Chicagoland Speedway as their home track - regardless that it isn't for any of them. (The fact Chicagoland isn't even in Chicago is a different thought altogether.)

Future NASCAR Hall of Famer (tongue deeply in cheek), Danica Patrick, is originally from Roscoe, Illinois - 2 hours from Joliet, IL. Such the sweetie, she kindly adopted Chicagoland as her home track as if it were a puppy.

Danica has long since left Roscoe, and apparently now calls Scottsdale, Arizona home. I think. Regardless, Phoenix International Raceway is now her home track - simply because she bought some real estate nearby.

Paul Menard's home track is the Milwaukee Mile in his home state of Wisconsin.

Whoa, easy there you wild and crazy guy. Milwaukee isn't on NASCAR's Cup schedule and never has been. You should know better than that. Looks like his PR team learned that factoid, and NardBurns was assigned Chicagoland as his true home track.

The roots of Venturini Motorsports go back to the 1950s. The team's drivers have been stalwarts of the ARCA circuit for decades. So where is its home track? Chicagoland of course - the track that opened in 2001.

Whew, time for a sanity break.

I've never a particularly big fan of Jamie McMurray. Haven't jeered him - I just haven't pulled for him either. Normally my response to him during driver intros is a tepid ehhh. But I may now become a Big Mc fan. Jamie recognizes just because he IS from Missouri doesn't mean Kansas Speedway is his home track. Kudos Jamie, well done.

But just because Jamie Mc gets it doesn't mean others do. Let's continue...

Yuengling, the country's oldest brewery, has only been involved with NASCAR since 2014. Yet, the beer - BEER! - has a home track.

Hell, not only is it absurd for a beer to have a home track, Yuengling isn't even the original beer sponsor at Pocono. What brand was? Oh yes: Schaefer.

Speaking of a sponsor for Ty Dillon, he let loose an eye-rolling whopper in 2014 by stating Atlanta Motor Speedway is his second home track. 

Why? Because he went to AMS as a kid and it's "so close to my house in North Carolina." The distance between Atlanta and Dillon's NC home is approximately 350 miles. Ty, you were so close in your estimate of distance...or not.

The absurdity continues with this beauty from Auto Club Speedway. They announced themselves as the home track for Rusty Wallace's driving school. That "news" was about as goofy as Rusty posing as an analyst on ESPN broadcasts and MRN Radio.

Sticking with the southern California track, ACS is always stated by the lemmings as the home track for Toyota. TRD builds engines nearby, crates them, and then ships them to North Carolina.

This news asserts Martinsville Speedway was former driver Jeff Burton's home track. Burton and his brother Ward are from South Boston, Virginia. Early in their racing careers, both ran the half-mile South Boston Speedway regularly. South Boston still hosts races today. From 1960 through 1971, 10 10 Grand National / Cup races were held at the track. Until 2000, least one Busch ... errr, Xfinity Series race each year was scheduled at South Boston. Jeff raced in eight of those events and could rightfully have called South Boston his home track - but not Martinsville.

I'll close with a Triple Crown of head-scratching, home track, hilarity courtesy of Chevrolet.

The brand has been involved with racing for decades. Drivers from coast to coast and north to south have raced a Bowtie. Yet, Chevy itself has a home track? Sure, why not. And where else would it be but Michigan International Speedway.

Wait - we talkin' NASCAR or Indy car? Indy? Oh then I'm sure Chevy meant that other Michigan track - the Raceway at Belle Isle. Yes, the track where CART hosted races beginning way back in ... well, not that far back ... in 1992.

And to reinforce Chevrolet's enduring love for its home track, it has yet a third one - the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

TMC

19 Shades of (Henley) Gray Part 1

From the time I was introduced to racing, I was a Petty fan. I get it though. Some could have labeled me as a front-runner. Petty was already a multi-time champion and the all time leader in wins by the time I learned about him. Petty Enterprises was a 'money' shop. The team worked hard to keep their edge, but no question the Level Cross bunch benefited from cash flowing from Chrysler Corporation and STP. Truthfully though, I became a King fan primarily because he was a class act and because I thought his STP Dodge Charger looked cool.

Even being a committed Petty fan, I also pulled for the underdogs. Before NASCAR exploded in the 1990s, independent drivers could eke out a reasonable living towing from race to race. The teams had limited financial backing, a thin crew, an ability to make the most from cars and parts discarded by others, and an unmatched work ethic. I always wanted the best for guys such as Buddy Arrington, James Hylton, Jimmy Means, Coo Coo Marlin, etc. Henley Gray from Rome, GA was another of that long-tenured independent group of drivers.

The beginnings

After cutting his teeth in racing on some local short tracks plus a couple of Grand National starts, Henley committed to becoming a full-time GN driver in 1965. He built his own car - a practice he continued throughout his career.

Source: Rome News-Tribune via Google News Archive

He also started providing cars for others pretty early in his professional racing career. For example, Henley provided the car in which Coo Coo Marlin made his first Grand National start at Nashville in 1966. As a driver, Henley finished 4th in that race which turned out to be a career best for him.

Henley was a regular fixture on the GN / Cup tour from the mid 1960s through the mid 1970s. His driving career, however, was permanently altered during qualifying for the Champion Spark Plug at Michigan. When a suspension part broke at speed, Gray's Chevrolet hooked left off turn four and slammed into the end of a pit road wall. The wreck sounds similar to one Mark Martin had at Michigan in 2012 - the big difference being Henley hit the end of the wall head-on.

Source: Spartanburg Herald Journal via Google News Archive

Henley's Michigan injuries and long recovery resulted in his hanging up his helmet as a driver. Instead, he continued his involvement in racing as a car owner and fielded cars for a number of drivers until the early 1990s.

Driving turns to full-time owning

Gray drove #97 early in his career (or fielded it for others as he did for Marlin). By 1970, however, he began running #19 regularly. The number became closely associated with him until his days in NASCAR were completed. After he was done, #19 then became associated with drivers/teams such as Loy Allen Jr., Evernham / Gillett / Richard Petty Motorsports (Casey Atwood, Jeremy Mayfield, Elliott Sadler), and now Carl Edwards in his 2015 ride with Joe Gibbs Racing.

One driver hired to drive the #19 at the 1977 National 500 at Charlotte was raw rookie Dale Earnhardt. He piloted Gray's Chevy as he made only his 4th career Cup start. John Evanich, Mark Agee and others did a nice job at Randy Ayers Modeling Forum researching and chronicling the history of the car borrowed and fielded by Gray and driven by Earnhardt.

Leading up to his Michigan accident, Henley was apparently becoming a bit jaded with life and perhaps with racing. The wreck changed him though - and more than just physically. It gave him a new perspective on life and an appreciation for those around him who cared deeply. As he recovered, he composed a letter to his friends in racing and requested newspapers to print it to spread his feelings of gratitude.

Source: Daytona Beach Morning Journal via Google News Archive

In 1978, Gray seemed to be on the verge of a bigger deal financially. Ohio beer distributor Woody Fisher wanted to race at the Cup level. Fisher (profiled a couple of times here previously) had raced off-and-on the past few years, primarily in USAC and ARCA events. His biggest win was at Daytona in the 1977 ARCA 200 in a yellow and Petty blue Dodge Charger purchased from, built by and maintained by Petty Enterprises.

Woody hired on with Gray in 1978. After skipping the season opener at Riverside, the team focused its efforts on Speedweeks and the Daytona 500. The preparation simply didn't translate to the track. Fisher completed just one lap in his qualifying race - a race won by A.J. Foyt in a Buick - and the #19 missed the Big Show.

Fisher and Gray regrouped and made the next race at Richmond. The results were unfortunately about the same. Fisher lost a rear-end in the 19, and he finished 28th in the 30-car field after completing only 74 of 400 laps.

As racers do, the team loaded up and headed to the next event: Rockingham. Sadly, the race was a case of SSDD for the 19. Fisher spun, wrecked the red 19 on the first lap and finished dead last.

Courtesy of John Evanich

FINALLY, the team got on track with a 'moral victory' finish the next race in the Atlanta 500. After starting 34th, Fisher took care of the car, lost a few laps, but still finished 20th in the 40-car field.

Gray's long-time sponsor, Belden Asphalt, was on the side of those first few races with Fisher. But Woody apparently had a plan to bring his own money to the table to help Gray. Whether he planned to partially fund the costs from his own pocket or arrange some beer sponsorship is unknown. Either way the car had a new look when the team arrived the next week at Bristol for the Southeastern 500. The red paint and Belden Asphalt lettering were gone. In their place was the yellow and Petty blue paint Woody had sported on his Petty-built Dodges.

Credit: Woody Delbridge from RacersReunion.com

Something apparently happened, however, between Fisher and Gray in the week before Bristol. Woody's colors and name were on the Chevy, but he wasn't behind the wheel. Dick May, who raced frequently for Gray, was brought in to qualify and race the car.

Fisher didn't return for the next few races, and May continued to race the 19 for Gray. I'm uncertain if Fisher's absence was by design based on his schedule, a call by Gray to park Woody because of limited experience and poor results, undelivered sponsorship dollars, or some other reason.

Gray wasn't finished with Fisher though. The Cup series arrived in Dover for the Mason-Dixon 500 in mid-May. Instead of the Chevy Malibu used frequently earlier in the season, the team brought a Monte Carlo - painted in yellow and Petty Blue with Woody's name on the door. This time the car bore #10 (Dick May was again behind the wheel of the #19).

Credit: Richard Stockman of RIS Photography

As happened at Bristol, Fisher didn't get on track with the car. Fellow independent driver (and future NASCAR pace car driver) Elmo Langley was put in the car for qualifying and the race. Fisher didn't return to Gray's team nor to Cup.

Though Fisher's days in Cup were over, his paint scheme continued. Henley replaced the 10 with #19, and continued running the yellow and blue combo for the next several years.

About two months after Dover, James Hylton borrowed the Monte Carlo from Gray for the 1978 Nashville 420. He modified the 19 to make his traditional #48 and had Walter Ballard qualify the car. Hylton's Olds had been wrecked by Al Holbert at Charlotte and Michigan preceding the Nashville race, and Hylton may have simply needed a car to get through the race and preserve some owner points. Race results show; however, Ballard didn't start the race and was credited with a last place finish.

Credit: Jeff Droke of nashville420.com

To be continued...

TMC