August 7, 1964 - Rambi Raceway in Myrtle Beach

Myrtle Beach's Rambi Raceway opened in 1958, and track hosted nine Grand National races from 1958 through 1965. As a car owner, Julian Petty experienced early success at Rambi with Bob Welborn as his driver. Welborn won the track's first two marquis events - a NASCAR convertible division race in July 1958 and the Grand National race a month later.

The GN drivers arrived in Myrtle Beach in August 1964 for a 200-lap race. What many likely couldn't have anticipated is that the race was to be the next to last GN race at the track. Ned Jarrett was looking for his third consecutive win at Rambi having won in 1962 and 1963.

Records show only twelve drivers qualified for the race. The limited number is tied with six other GN/Cup races for the smallest starting line-up. The others are:

• August 1953 - Hickory NC
• August 1956 - Oklahoma City
• May 1959 - Nashville Fairgrounds
• April 1961 - Richmond (won by Richard Petty)
• May 1964 - Savannah
• October 1964 - Savannah

Factory Mopars swept the top two starting spots. David Pearson won the pole in Cotton Owens' Dodge, and Petty qualified second in the Petty Enterprises Plymouth. Lee Roy Yarbrough, Jimmy Pardue and Jarrett rounded out the top five starters.

Pearson mashed the gas at the drop of the green and seized the lead. He pulled the field around the half-mile dirt track for the first 78 laps. The lead then changed hands - presumably because of a series of pit stops. Jarrett took over the top spot, set sail for 80+ laps, and likely smiled as neared his third straight win at the track.

With just under 40 laps to go, however, Pearson took his Dodge around a fading Jarrett. Pearson was unchallenged the rest of the way, and he won by a full lap over second place Petty. Jarrett completed the race, but he finished fourth - eight laps down to the winner.

Though the finish wasn't very close, the race was the eighth of 63 times for a Petty-Pearson, 1-2 finish.

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August 15 - This day in Petty history

As I blogged my series about each of Richard Petty's 200 wins from August 2011 through July 2012, my hope was to:

• blog about each of his wins
• include an article or photo in each post
• include as many personal accounts as possible, and
• address other interesting aspects of each race beyond Ol' Blue getting the checkers.

Looking back, I've thought "Dang son, ya did it. Well almost..."

Two races eluded me. One was Petty's 10th career Grand National win at Starkey Speedway in Roanoke, VA. I couldn't find any photos, articles, program, ticket stub, or video, and no one I encountered along the way had any personal memories to share.

I've continued to revisit my posts and edit them as I find additional information. With the passing of another year, I'm now glad to say I can cross one of the two remaining wins off my list. I now have a new #200wins post vs. an edited one. I found an article about the August 15, 1962 Roanoke race in the archives of the Spartanburg Herald. I'm not sure if I overlooked it in 2011, if I didn't check that page, or what happened. But I now have it.

Jack Smith won the pole for the 18-car race with Petty to his right on the front row. Ned Jarrett, Bob Welborn and G.C. Spencer rounded out the top 10 starters for the 200-lap race on the quarter-mile paved oval.

At the drop of the green, pole-winner Smith grabbed the lead and rode the point for the first 8 laps. Third place starter and future NASCAR Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett got by Smith on lap 9, and he paced the field for the next 152 laps.

With 40 laps to go, however, the King went door-to-door with Gentleman Ned and took the lead. Once out front, Petty put his Plymouth into the wind and went the distance to take the checkers. Richard won driving a #42 Petty Plymouth. The win was his first of only two victories with the number most commonly associated with his father, Lee Petty. (The second win in #42 was at Augusta in 1965.)

Four of the top five qualifiers finished up front - Petty as the winner, Jarrett in third, Welborn in fourth and Smith in fifth. Joe Weatherly finished second after starting seventh in Bud Moore's Pontiac.

Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive

The sixth place finisher was Tom Cox in Cliff Stewart's Pontiac - a car Jim Paschal piloted for much of the season. Paschal left the team about two-thirds of the way through the 1962 season to go race for ... Petty Enterprises. Stewart hung around the sport as an owner for another two decades or so. He generally fielded entries in a handful of races during most of that time. He expanded to a full-time schedule in the 1980s with drivers such as Geoff Bodine and Rusty Wallace, and he earned his second and final win as a car owner in 1981 at Martinsville with Morgan Shepherd driving.

#106442176 / gettyimages.com

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June 5, 1960 - Lee Petty Rumbles in Richmond

June 5, 1960: Driving a #42 finned 1960 Plymouth, Lee Petty leads 18 laps - the final laps - and wins the Richmond 200 at Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds in Richmond, Virginia. Son Richard finished sixth. While I've been unable to land a photo from the Richmond race, the Pettys raced matching Plymouths looking similar to these.

Fellow NASCAR Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett started from the pole for the first time in his Grand National career and led the most laps; however, he ended up third - one lap behind winner Lee and second place Rex White.

Again, I don't have a photo of Jarrett's car from Richmond. However, I suppose it looked a good bit like the Ford he raced earlier in the year in the Daytona 500. That car is shown here racing alongside a driver with only two career starts but perhaps the greatest name in all of racing history: Johnnie Dollar.

Source: RealRacinUSA.com

Lee's victory didn't come without some anxiety and extra effort. About half-way through the race while running second, he blew a right front tire and had to make a quick stop. He fought his way through the field in the second half of the race, battled eventual 1960 Grand National champion Rex White, edged past White with less than 20 to go, and continued on to claim his 52nd of 54 career wins.

Source: Spartanburg Herald-Journal via Google News Archive

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May 3, 1959 - Lee Monopolizes Martinsville

May 3, 1959: - Starting deep in the field in 24th, Lee Petty motors to the front, leads 337 laps, and wins the Virginia 500 at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia. Driving an Oldsmobile, he won by 5 laps over runner-up Johnny Beauchamp who had relief-driver help from Larry Frank.

The win was Lee's 40th career Grand National victory and his third win of the season (the second was at North Wilkesboro).  Coincidentally, Beauchamp also finished second to Lee in his first win of the season in the inaugural Daytona 500.

Bobby Johns (who later raced for Petty Engineering) and Joe Lee Johnson qualified on the front row.

#111369572 / gettyimages.com

Richard Petty made his Martinsville debut. Like Lee, he struggled in qualifying and placed 25th, one spot behind his dad. But again like Lee, he picked his way through the field and finished 7th. Lee's victory was the final of his three wins at Martinsville. With a solid debut, Richard picked up where Lee left off and won 15 times in his career on the Virginia half-mile.

NASCAR Hall of Famer Junior Johnson finished 3rd with relief driver help from Ned Jarrett, a fellow, future HOFer. Greg Fielden notes in his book, Forty Years of Stock Car Racing - Volume 2:

Johnson was holding better than a lap lead when he pitted on lap 308, giving the lead to Petty for good. A long stay in the pits dropped him to third place. On lap 347, Johnson pitted again and passed out. Jarrett took the wheel and drove the car home third. Johnson later said exhaust fumes had overcome him. ~ p. 25

With deadline pressures to submit race reports to sports editors, mistakes can be made by reporters or complete information may not be available at press time. The following race report notes Roy Tyner finished fourth with Tiger Tom Pistone in 5th. However, when NASCAR posted the final results, the two spots were reversed.

Source: St. Petersburg Times via Google News Archive

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June 26 - This day in Petty history - part 1

1964 - Starting second, Richard Petty leads 58 laps and opportunistically captures his 33rd career victory by winning a 200-lap race at Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds Speedway in Spartanburg, SC. (Read this NASCAR.com story about the lost Spartanburg track.)

Between 1962 and 1965, the eight NASCAR Grand National races were split between two NASCAR Hall of Famers: The King with three wins during the span and Ned Jarrett with five.

In his book Silent Speedways of the Carolinas, Perry Allen Wood tees up the beginning of the 1964 race this way:

The next one was held on Friday night, June 26, 1964, and fell into a twilight span of 39 days between the horrific crash on May 24th that had Fireball Roberts' life oozing away in a Charlotte hospital bed and his last breath of July 2nd. Nine race were held in those 39 days and Spartanburg had the ninth ... The pole went to the Spartanburg Dodge team of [David] Pearson and [Cotton] Owens with Petty outside. The most victorious stock car drivers of all time sat on the front row.

It started innocently. Pearson set a torrid pace... On lap 115, Petty pitted for some Pure, lost a lap, and the others moved up one. There the routine 100-miler ended. On lap 127, Buddy Baker in an orange Dodge was four laps back in eighth and came upon [J.T.] Putney's blue Chevy. Buddy caught him in the right rear as they powered through turn two, they slid backwards into the steel rail, and performed simultaneous acrobatic barrel rolls, landing wheels down. ... The stage was set for the Fairgrounds' greatest and most enduring finish that the witnesses will never forget. ~ pp.20-21

Baker's barrel roll was only the warm-up action to the race's main event: second-year driver Billy Wade in Bud Moore's Mercury vs. veteran Jarrett in Bondy Long's Ford and whose driving that night may have been anything but gentlemanly. Wood fills the better part of a page and a half in his book describing the battle between the two drivers.

...Wade went after Jarrett with all he had as 6,000 spectators went wild ... This continued for 25 laps until Wade went into turn three side-by-side with Ned but bounced hard off the fourth turn steel after getting into the loose stuff in a failed outside pass ... Darting and dashing, bumping and ramming, fainting and diving, Jarrett used it all ... Jarrett dogged Wade out of turn four and popped him real hard, and all that red dust boiled up as Bill's Merc did a 360 ... Wade vowed "I'll get him if I have to wait on him." ... Billy probably broke the track record catching Ned in traffic ... With 15 laps to go - Jarrett and Wade roared alone out of turn four, down the stretch, and readied to cut the throttles as they set up for the first turn. Only Bill never cut the throttle. As Ned cut and cocked his Ford into the turn, Wade blasted him... Jarrett's racer lifted on the left rear, flipped a couple of times, glanced of that battered wooden fence, and landed glass up ... As for Wade, he had enough speed left to pulverize that sorry plank fence ...Wade stayed in the track, although he did a couple of rollovers himself. ~ excerpted from pp. 21-22.

Recovering from their rollovers, the two committed drivers somehow managed to get their cars going again in an attempt to finish the race. However, neither were able to continue to the end though Jarrett still finished 5th and Wade 6th.

Wood then wraps up the finish of the race and Petty's win - which were quite tame compared to the drama that had unfolded over the previous 75 laps.

While those two were crashing the boards with splinters and dust flying, Petty drove under Wade's car as it was in mid-air. [LeeRoy] Yarbrough rode that wooden fence and dirt bank thrill-show style nearly on two wheels and chased Petty down the backstretch. The last ten were raced in stunned silence, and Petty cruised under the checkers by a half mile over Yarbrough in a Plymouth one-two sweep. ~ p. 23

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

As a follow-up to Wade's memorable night, he and Moore hit a hot streak about two-thirds of the way through the 1964 season. The team won four consecutive races - two on road courses at Watkins Glen and Bridgehampton, NY and two on short tracks at Islip, NY and Old Bridge, NJ.  Those wins were all Wade would ever claim. Tragically, he was killed in January 1965 during a Goodyear tire test.

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April 14 - This day in Petty history

1963 - Richard Petty wins his 17th career race. He starts second, leads 325 of 400 laps, and wins the South Boston 400 on Easter Sunday at South Boston Speedway in Virginia.

Future and fellow NASCAR Hall of Fame member Ned Jarrett won the pole and led the first 75 laps.

View image | gettyimages.com

Then during a pit stop, the 43 exited ahead of Jarrett and never looked back.

View image | gettyimages.com

Petty's teammate, Jim Paschal, finished second - two laps down to Richard - driving a #41 Petty Plymouth. Jarrett finished 3rd. Eventual 1963 season champion Joe Weatherly bummed a ride for the race and finished dead last in the 16-car field. The name of his car owner for the race - Worth McMillion - sounded like it was straight out of the movie Stroker Ace.

Petty takes the checkers...

Source; Halifax Gazette

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

Edited 2012-04-14: After carefully reading the above article, reader Dave Fulton noted its final sentence. Junior Johnson had to skip the South Boston race because he was in California being fitted for a car he planned to race in the 1963 Indianapolis 500. As it turns out, Johnson did not qualify for the event at the Brickyard. Fulton also shared a link to the following video about a restoration of the car Johnson drove in his attempts to qualify for Indy.


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Edited April 5, 2015

April 9 - This day in Petty history

1967 - Starting from the pole, Richard Petty outlasts Bobby Allison and Dick Hutcherson, and notches his 52nd career victory by winning the Hickory 250 at Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina.

Greg Fielden noted in his book, Forty Years of Stock Car Racing - Volume 3:

A hard, abrasive dirt track and fast speeds overtaxed the available tires, and winner Petty used 16 tires in winning the 100 miler - in all probability a record. "I don't think I've ever had to use that many tires in a 100-mile race," commented Petty afterwards. ~ p. 127

When the time the teams returned for their second 1967 visit in September, they found the track re-surfaced from dirt to asphalt. It was among the first moves made by new track promoter, Ned Jarrett, following his retirement from driving. Petty won that race as well - giving him wins at Hickory in its last race on dirt and first race on asphalt.

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

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March 2 - This day in Petty history

1963 - After qualifying second and on the outside of the front row, Richard Petty lucked into his 15th career victory by winning a 200-lap race Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds speedway in Spartanburg, SC. (Read this NASCAR.com story about the lost Spartanburg track.)

Petty led only 2 laps - the final two after Ned Jarrett ran out of gas. Gentlemen Ned managed to get a bit more gas to eke out second while Petty teammate Jim Paschal finished 3rd in a #42 Petty Enterprises Plymouth. Petty's victory was the fourth straight short-track win for Petty Enterprises in the 1963 season - two by Paschal and two by Richard.

The race on the half-mile dirt track was just six days after the Daytona 500 on its 2-1/2 mile superspeedway. Despite the differences in the tracks and race strategy, Jarrett ran short of fuel with the victory in sight for the second race in a row. (He ran out of gas with nine laps to go at Daytona.)

Perry Allen Wood wrote in his book, Silent Speedways of the Carolinas:

The race started on what became a warm Saturday afternoon with [Junior] Johnson jumping out front and the rest of the field in tow ... Jarrett held the lead with the Plymouths of Petty and Paschal in hot pursuit until lap 183 when rookie Johnny Clements spun that old Chevy right in the groove ... and was t-boned by another rookie, Frank Waites. The leaders bore down on the scene, and Jarret slipped by high. But when Petty tried to follow, he rattled off that infamous board fence damaging the right front fender and suspension ... Jarrett looked to be home free, but Petty pitted as Lee and Maurice hammered out the fender and added ten gallons of Pure Firebird without losing a lap. They restarted, and Ned dashed away but not far. With three to go, the baby-blue 11 sputtered out of gas. Ned rolled in, got a splash and barely nipped for Paschal for second. ~ p. 17

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

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October 5 - This day in Petty history - part 1

1963 - Richard Petty wins his 26th career race in a 200-lap race at the quarter-mile Tar Heel Speedway in his own backyard of Randleman, NC. Petty Engineering teammate Bob Welborn finishes 3rd in a #42 Plymouth.

Tar Heel Speedway hosted only three NASCAR Grand National races - all in the 1963 season (one in November 1962 and the other two in 1963). Petty-prepared Plymouths won all three of them. Jim Paschal nabbed the first two (the second win in car #43), and Richard completed the team sweep with this October 1963 victory.

Fred Lorenzen dominated the early part of the race leading the first 159 laps. But as they say in golf, "drive for show, putt for dough". Freddy lost a differential and ended up finishing 5th. Meanwhile, Petty led the final 40 laps for the win.

The resolution of the article below is a bit tough to read. But if possible, note the dust-up between two future NASCAR Hall of Famers David Pearson and Ned Jarrett. According to Greg Fielden's Forty Years of Stock Car Racing - Volume 2, Pearson dumped Jarrett on lap 1. Jarrett's crew repaired the car and sent him back onto the track. Around the mid-point of the race, "Gentlemen Ned" pulled a Cole Trickle and turned into the side of the Silver Fox to end his race early. Afterwards, Jarrett said "I can be just as mean as anybody, and I will if I have to be."

Ned's frustration may have been escalated because it was the second year in a row he'd been wrecked...at the same track...on the first lap.

Courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

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