July 15: A Jersey Girl Birthday & Morristown Memories

July 15th and its the birthday of ... Schaefer Hall of Famer Kuzzin Kari!

July 15th also has a nice racing legacy including...

• The 1969 Maryland 300 in Beltsville, MD won by Richard Petty
• The 1971 Islip 250 near Long Island, NY also won by Richard Petty
• The 1978 Nashville 420 that was flat dominated by Cale Yarborough to sweep the two Nashville races that season. Also, Petty raced his ill-fated Dodge Magnum. After Nashville, The King raced the Dodge only six more times before switching over to Chevrolet.

Photo courtesy of Russ Thompson

Photo courtesy of Russ Thompson

But with Kuzzin Kari being an original Jersey girl, I thought I'd focus on July 15th as the anniversary of the final NASCAR Grand National race run at Morristown Speedway in New Jersey. The big cars were scheduled to race 200-laps, 100-miles on the track's half-mile, dirt surface. Georgia's Tim Flock won the pole and the race in his #300 Carl Kiekaefer Chrysler.

In his book, Forty Years of Stock Car Racing, Greg Fielden summarizes the storylines of the race:

Tim Flock, the lanky Atlanta star, proved its just as profitable to be lucky as it is to be good as he rode a wave of good fortune to win the 100-mile race at Morristown Speedway.

Flock led the first 150 laps, but made a pit stop to correct a badly worn right front tire and lost two and half laps in the process. Junior Johnson picked up first place and led for 40 laps. The Atlanta flash, however, was charging hard to make up the deficit, but it appeared that he was too late. Then the lucky break ... misfortune struck the Johnson Olds as a tire blew with the checkered flag in sight. Tim flew by as Johnson headed for the pits. Johnson wound up fourth, four laps behind the winner.

Lee Petty finished second to Flock, two laps back. [Dave] Terrel was third, with [Bobby] Johns and Jim Reed rounding out the top five.

A crowd of 9,000 jammed the grandstands to watch Flock average 58.092 mph on the half-mile dirt track. ~ pp. 188-189

Nine thousand people? By executive order, I declare a new Schaefer Hall of Fame goal - to have 9,000 Schaefer HOF and Ring of Honor members. We already have nine Schaefer HOFers. So we're umm, err, well, we're .10 percent there - but going in the right direction!

Tim Flock and Lee Petty pretty much had Morristown figured out. The Grand National series ran 5 races at the half-mile track from 1951 through 1955. Look at these finishes:

• 1951 - Tim Flock wins pole and race, Lee Petty 2nd in the race
• 1952 - Lee starts 3rd and wins the race, Flock qualifies and finishes 2nd
• 1953 - Lee 3rd, Flock not entered
• 1954 - Lee 6th, Flock not entered
• 1955 - Tim Flock wins pole and race, Lee Petty 2nd in the race

Adding in another Petty trivia nugget for the 1955 race, as I try to do as often as possible, Bob Welborn started third and finished eighth in a Chevrolet fielded by Julian Petty.

So while reflecting on a couple of The King's 200 wins, the ending of his relationship with Dodge, Cale' blistering of the competition at Nashville, and NASCAR's legendary Tim Flock's win in the Garden State, the Schaefer Hall of Fame and Ring of Honor wish fellow Schaefer HOFer Kuzzin Kari ...

Happy Birthday! SCHA-LOOT!!

Schaefer HOF entrant #9 - Kuzzin Kari

TMC

July 11, 1952 - Lee Petty Mops Up Morristown

July 11, 1952: Starting third, Lee Petty wins a 200-lap, 100-mile race on the half-mile, dirt Morristown Speedway in New Jersey. Petty's win was his first in almost a year - with the previous one coming in Rochester, NY on July 31, 1951.

Morristown hosted five NASCAR Grand National races. Tim Flock won the first one in 1951 and the last one in 1955. Lee, Dick Rathman, and Buck Baker won the other three.

#81964533 / gettyimages.com

The race was the last of 11 career Grand National starts for trailblazing woman driver Louise Smith. She started and finished 30th in the 32-car field. In the book Girls Go Racing, author Dani Ben-Ari writes:

Known as the "First Lady of Racing", Louise Smith had a relatively short career, racing from 1949-1952. Yet during that time she managed to win 38 races in numerous events including late models, NASCAR modified (which accounted for 28 of those victories), midgets and sportsman.

Born on July 31, 1916 in Barnesville, GA, Louise became a racecar driver only because she became bored while watching her first event at the Daytona Beach and Road Course in 1949. It was then she decided to participate instead of remaining a spectator. She drove her family's brand new Ford coupe, which she promptly wrecked. But it was enough to get her into the record books as part of the first female trio to compete together in a NASCAR event, along with Ethel Mobley and Sara Christian whom she also raced with at Langley Speedway that same year. Her last race was held at Morristown Speedway.

Although Louise stopped racing in 1952, she returned to the sport nineteen years later as the owner for several drivers, including Ronnie Thomas in 1978... She passed away at the age of 90 on March 4, 2006. ~ pp. 13-14

Regarding the race, Greg Fielden writes in Forty Years of Stock Car Racing - Vol. 1:

Petty scampered past Tim Flock in the 125th lap and led the rest of the way. As he pushed his Plymouth past Flock's Hudson, he waved "bye bye" to his rival and sped uncontested to the $1,000 top prize.

Flock finished second and Neil Cole third. Ralph Liguori ran a strong race to finish fourth, Ronnie Kohler came in fifth.

Herb Thomas led the first 49 laps after winning the pole position. After losing the lead to Flock, he was forced into the wall by a slow car. Thomas lost a lap in the incident, but came on like gangbusters. He made up the lost lap and was closing in on the leader when a wheel bearing burned out after 123 laps. As Thomas limped to the pit area, Petty zipped past Flock and set sail. ~ pp. 91-92

Driver Duke Keller started only one GN race - the 1952 one at Morristown. But he certainly had a memorable race, and he proved he deserved his "Duke" nickname. Fielden writes:

Duke Keller flipped his Henry J in the fourth lap. The roof was mashed onto the steering wheel, but Keller was able to climb out unhurt. He beat and banged on the roof, raised it enough distance to get back in the car and drove for two more laps. A badly bent chassis forced him out after six laps. ~ p. 92

Until reading Fielden's recap of the race, I'd never heard of the short-lived Henry J. I suppose Keller's car resembled this street version.

TMC