Nashville's 1979 CRC Chemicals 250

Nashville's fairgrounds speedway opened the 1979 season with many changes and an equal or greater number of questions.

Gone was long-time promoter and track operator, Bill Donoho. Replacing him was the duo Lanny Hester and Gary Baker. Hester formerly raced at the fairgrounds in the mini-stock division and started a few NASCAR Baby Grand National events. Baker was a Nashville tax attorney whose most notable client was Waylon Jennings. The two assumed Nashville's lease from Donoho in 1978 after buying Bristol earlier in the season.

One of the first changes made by Hester and Baker was to rename the track from Nashville Speedway to Nashville International Raceway - perhaps to align it with Bristol's full name. The other significant change was dropping the weekly racing series - a staple of the track since its opening in 1958.

The primary reason given for the elimination of weekly racing was to allow more time for Hester and Baker to implement needed upgrades. As it turned out, few noticeable facility upgrades were made.

Although the track did not run its traditional slate of weekly races, NIR did host two Cup races, two Baby Grand races, an ARCA event, and three national late model sportsman features. The first of the three LMS races was the season-opening CRC Chemicals Nashville 250 on April 14, 1979.

The race was conveniently scheduled on an open weekend for Cup drivers between Darlington and Martinsville. In years past, Donoho often enticed at least a couple of Cup regulars to participate in the first race of each season. For the 1979 opener, however, only Bobby Allison entered.

Hester and Baker had hoped Darrell Waltrip would enter - particularly on the heels of his stirring victory at Darlington a week earlier, but Allison was the lone Cup representative. It's possible the show money wasn't thick enough for some to make the trip - particularly since the race was the night before Easter Sunday.

For much of 1976-77-78, fans grew to embrace four young drivers nicknamed the Kiddie Corps. Two of the drivers - Mike Alexander and Sterling Marlin - had quickly become veteran racers, but the other two kind of faded away a bit. Alexander and Marlin returned as expected winners from the local crowd for 1979 and were joined by 1977 track champion Steve Spencer and rookie Tony Cunningham.

In addition to several changes in track operations, 1978 Nashville LMS champion Alexander surprised many with a big change of his own. From his start in 1974, Alexander raced Fords - primarily because of his father's ties to a Ford dealership. R.C. Alexander fielded competitive Fords for many drivers dating back almost 20 years. Yet when the the 1979 season began, Mike was at the wheel of a Pontiac - a PONY-ACK! as King Richard would say.

Alexander and his dad built the car for Waltrip - but then bought it from DW before it hit the track. Mike raced it for the first time in Daytona's 300-mile LMS race in February. Waltrip coincidentally won the race. Marlin and Alexander finished second and ninth, respectively, in their Daytona debuts.

Source: The Tennessean

Alexander landed more than Waltrip's car. He also picked up some support from him as a sponsor.

Long-time LMS racer Gene Glover of Kingsport, TN won the pole. Glover's son Tony later became well-known as crew chief for Morgan-McClure drivers Ernie Irvan and Sterling Marlin. The field included Allison, the local contingent, and several regional LMS racers including Jack Ingram, Butch Lindley, Jody Ridley,and Morgan Shepherd.

Once the green fell, however, many of the favorites developed all sorts of trouble well before time to show their hand. For starters, Allison developed ignition issues at race time and withdrew before even taking a pace lap. And Jack Ingram fell out after only 24 laps.

Early racing included Asheville NC's Bob Pressley and Alexander in his new Pontiac. On lap 42, however, Alexander got KO'd by a runaway wheel from Steve Spencer's car. Both Spencer and Alexander's new car were finished for the night.

The two "Ley" drivers - Ridley and Lindley - had a good battle as well. Lindley, a frequent winner of big races at the Fairgrounds in the 1970s, was again in the hunt for about two-thirds of the race. Engine issues around lap 180, however, doomed his fortunes.

With the strongest competition loaded on their trailers and a two-lap lead on Glover, Pressley set his cruise control and easily led the remaining laps. He even made a casual late pit stop - just because. In doing so, Glover made up his lost distance but was no threat to match Pressley's car.

Cup driver Richard Childress greeted Pressley in victory lane. Though he didn't drive in the event, Childress's Cup car was sponsored by CRC Chemicals.

Marlin, Ridley, and Shepherd rounded out the top five. Sterling finished one lap down to Pressley, and Ridley and Shepherd were down two laps.

Source: The Tennessean

Pressley had no issues in the race. Actually, his only annoyance the whole day was too much ice in his Co' Cola cup!

Source: The Tennessean

Finishing order:

1. Bob Pressley
2. Gene Glover
3. Sterling Marlin
4. Jody Ridley
5. Morgan Shepherd
6. Tony Cunningham
7. Charlie Chamblee
8. Dennis Wiser
9. Carl Langford
10. Ricky Diehl
11. Butch Allen
12. Bobby Hailey
13. Butch Applegate
14. Mike Potter
15. Butch Lindley
16. Paul Dean Holt
17. Mike Alexander
18. Steve Spencer
19. Jack Ingram
20. Phil Spickard
21. Richard Waters
22. Bobby Allison

 TMC

June 25 - This day in Petty history

First of all, Happy Birthday to the apple of my eye - my daughter, "toomuchculture".

1972 - Richard Petty wins the pole, leads a dominating 186 of 250 laps, endures a brutally hot Texas afternoon,  and wins the Lone Star 500 at Texas World Speedway in College Station, Texas for his 145th career NASCAR Winston Cup victory.

The King's Texas win was his career first in a Dodge. His previous 144 victories over the last 14 years had been in Plymouths (135) and Fords (nine wins in 1969). A couple of races before Texas, Petty Enterprises began a transition to Dodges for the 43, and Petty notched a victory shortly after the change.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

A couple of other memorable points from the race:

• Racing legend, A.J. Foyt, was the pace car driver for the race.
• Columbia TN's CooCoo Marlin earned a career best at the time with a third place finish. He later matched it with a pair of additional thirds at Nashville Speedway in 1973 and 1975.
• Clarence Lovell, made 16 career Winston Cup starts in 1972-73. He earned a career best 4th place finish at Talladega in the 1973 Winston 500 but was killed in a highway accident a few days later. In 1972, his primary sponsor (and the race's title sponsor) was Lone Star Beer. Today, Lone Star (web | Twitter) is alive and well and widely available in Texas and other selected locations in the US. The label is owned by Pabst Brewing which makes the brew a Texas cousin of Bench Racing's preferred beer, Schaefer.

Courtesy of Charles Lovell, Clarence's brother

As noted in the following article, independent driver Richard Childress slipped in oil from driver Doc Faustina's blown engine. After spinning, Childress flipped and landed in a ditch. Yes, it was THAT Richard Childress - who later found greater fame and fortune as the car owner for Dale Earnhardt.

Faustina's involvement, however, may have some Petty-related trivia attached to it. In my recent blog about our visit to Petty's Garage, I included photos of sheet metal from a #28 Dodge Charger late model. The body had been removed as part of the restoration of the 1970 Pete Hamilton Superbird built by Petty Enterprises. The chronology of the car's history included in a Mopar Muscle magazine article goes something like this:

• Hamilton won with the Superbird in February 1970.
• The car was re-skinned as a Plymouth Road Runner and taken to Riverside in January 1971.
• Driver Doc Faustina expressed an interest in the car and then bought it.
• The car was repainted and numbered #5.
• Faustina re-skinned the car as a Dodge Charger for the 1973 season.
• The Dodge was later sold to a west coast last model racer who re-painted it and numbered it as #28.

Faustina only raced 10 times in his career as a driver from 1971 to 1976. However, he also fielded a Plymouth and Dodge for other drivers from 1971-1976 including Richard Childress, Harry Gant, Wendell Scott, and James Hylton.

Its highly likely, therefore, that the engine that blew in Faustina's car at Texas was a Maurice Petty-built hemi in the Petty Enterprises-built Plymouth originally raced as a Superbird by Pete Hamilton to his win in the 1970 Daytona 500. (As I also learned from really knowledgeable folks at Randy Ayers Modeling Forum, Wendell Scott made his final career start in the 1973 National 500 at Charlotte driving ... a #5 Doc Faustina Dodge. This likely means he too piloted what was once the Petty-built Plymouth.)

#80457767 / gettyimages.com

Care to listen to the radio broadcast of the entire race? MRN's coverage of the 1972 Lone Star 500 featuring Ken Squier, Marvin Panch, and Barney Hall is available at MotorRacingNetwork.com ... or click below to listen.

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

TMC
Edited June 24, 2014

The Schaefer Schummer of 2011...so far

As has been well documented, the Schaefer Hall of Fame and Ring of Honor has been alive and well at a couple of speedways in 2011 - with still a few more to go before the season ends. But as we often say ...

Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.

(If I haven't given attribution in the past, I certainly need to do so now. That great slogan is credited to 2011 SHOF inductee Rev. Randy Esq.)

Here are a few other ways SHOFers and SROH members have schelebrated their 2011 Schaefer Schummer ... so far.

Schaefer Ring of Honor member, Bubba, made a rare appearance this schummer with his Schaefer Schushi.

Sticking with the fishing theme, the Georgia Chapter of the Schaefer Ring of Honor represented itself on the lake quite admirably. SROH member Bruton and his brother, Dale JR Ewing, hauled in 40 bluegill plus one honking-sized catfish! Being a fisherman, he might have suggested the two of them matched Schaefer for fish, but somehow I doubt it.

Rev. Randy Esq., the most recent inductee into the Schaefer Hall of Fame, wasted no time leveraging his enshrinement to his advantage. He had the opportunity to meet famed car owner, Richard "Rowdy Pounder" Childress.

Though this had to have been a memorable event, I wish the esteemed Rev. could have worn his Schaefer shirt under his button-down. It would have been cool to see him rip it as if he were Superman getting ready to rescue the party.

Randy is also getting ready to race in the Chump Car World Series event at Virginia International Raceway this weekend. With the extreme heat being experienced this summer, he thought it would be a good idea to order a "cool shirt" to circulate water against his skin as he drives.

Check out the manufacturer. Though spelled differently, the spirit is there. Nothing keeps you cooler on a hot schummer day than a cold Schaefer.

Speaking of the heat, Bruton once again took his Schaefer experience to Daytona Beach, Florida in July.

He loaded up his truck before heading for Florida for the Firecracker ... Pepsi ... Coke 400. Packing the old school beer in the truck convinced him to go old school with his hats. Here he is sporting the Union76 colors, formerly the official fuel of NASCAR.

Once he settled in at Daytona International Speedway, he wanted to make sure all around him knew how old school he was. An STP cap, an RPM/A.J. Allmendinger retro-Richard Petty scheme koozie, his SROH shirt, and of course an ice cold Schaef.

One word of caution for future races though Bruton: As you are mugging for the camera, you might want to keep an eye on guys around you who may be conspiring to kick your ass so they can steal your Schaefer.

After returning home from the beach, Bruton continued his fine ways of Schaefervangelism with family, friends, and neighbors. Upon tasting an offered Schaef, one of his neighbors quipped "Hmm, it's not that bad."

Bruton also excels at pairing Schaefer with great meals. A couple of examples include hot wings and fries...

...and another includes a tasty-looking pork tenderloin.

TMC even got into the action away from the track. One of my experiences was more taxing than enjoyable. After spending the weekend at Kentucky Speedway, I returned to reality to seal my cedar fence. I only needed 9 hours, 20 gallons of sealer, and 2 Schaefers to complete the job.

A BRIEF INTERRUPTION FOR A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Fellas, this label provides sound advice for any strenuous activity ... including sealing a fence.

Back to the blog...

But while Schaefer helped make a tough job bearable, I did experience some good Schaefer-related times earlier this year in Portland, OR.

A friend of mine took me to a several great places. Sadly, I must say procuring a Schaefer during our crawl wasn't possible - but great Schaefer experiences were shared nonetheless.

One place we quaffed some local brews was The Pub At The End of the Universe...

Another place was the Clinton Street Pub which served two of Schaefer's cousins - Hamm's and PBR. Once inside, I was pleased to find they had another cousin on draft - the long-tenured, Pacific Northwest Olympia. As with all the other yard-beer brands Pabst now owns, I'm quite certain the original recipe for Oly is no more. Yet for nostalgia reasons, I had to have one.

My eyes quickly opened and my pulse quickened when I saw this clock. I truly thought that yes indeedy I was going to get a west coast Schaefer after all. However, it wasn't meant to be. The clock was merely decorative and not a promotion for the beers they had. Close but no cigar ... err ... Schaefer.

After our pub crawl ended, we went to the infamous Voodoo Doughnut.

I was goaded into trying a doughnut bar with maple glaze and crisp bacon on top. One word: phenomenal. Even when downed ... near midnight ... upon multiple varieties of Portland brew.

The next day, I drove to Tillamook, an Oregon coastal town a couple of hours to the west of Portland. Todd Snider, one of my favorite singer-songwriters, lives in Nashville now but is originally from Portland. He has a great song titled Tillamook County Jail.

So opting for a bit of a when in Rome attitude, I found the Tillamook city limits sign and the police department and jail and decided to enjoy a bit of a Schaefer in their presence. (I was able to enjoy at least ONE west coast Schaefer - the one I packed in my suitcase.) Not the entire thing mind you - just enough to get my photo-ops and move it on down the line. I was a photo-op seeking tourist - not someone stupid enough (hopefully) to get an extended-stay, behind the scenes tour of the jail.

You may have to watch the video and listen to the lyrics for context.

Finally, the triple-digit heat of 2011 sometimes makes one conjure crazy images if too much time is spent in it. There have been a couple of times this year that it's happened to me. One odd image I visioned was my attempting to drink a can of Schaefer larger than me!

Though to be honest, I've not yet reconciled if it's a nightmare ... or sweet dreams.

To be continued...

TMC

July 26 - This day in Schaefer racing history

1981 Mountain Dew 500
NASCAR Winston Cup race
Pocono International Raceway
Pocono, Pennsylvania
Winning driver: Darrell Waltrip
Full results: Racing-Reference.info

Indy car driver and Pennsylvania native, Al Loquasto, makes his NASCAR debut driving a #99 Schaefer beer sponsored Buick Regal for car owner and part-time driver D.K. Ulrich. The race was Loquasto's first of six career Cup starts - all with Ulrich.

  Ulrich and Loquasto talk in the garage during practice.

Source: D.K. Ulrich collection

Loquasto - ready for driver introductions and wearing his "game face".

Source: Rick Houston, Stock Car History Online

The Schaefer Buick in action on the track! Loquasto started 32nd and finished 24th.

Source: D.K. Ulrich collection

Read Rick Houston's entry at Stock Car History Onlinefor a re-visit about the search to find photos of the Schaefer-sponsored Loquasto car. (July 2011 edit: SCHO is no more, but Houston's article lives on here.)

The final lap - Richard Petty leads Cale Yarborough and eventual winner Darrell Waltrip.

Source: Reading Eagle

Other race notables:

• Richard Petty took the while flag in the lead but was passed on the final lap by Darrell Waltrip. The King finished 2nd four car lengths behind Waltrip.
• Kyle Petty finished 8th in only his 2nd race at the triangle-shaped track.
• Richard Childress finished 23rd in his next-to-last race as a driver racing as a struggling independent. After his next start at Talladega, he stepped aside as a driver and hired reigning Cup champion and 1979 Rookie of the Year Dale Earnhardt. The rest, as they say, is history. He made a final start as a driver in the last race of the season at Riverside in a start-and-park car for Junior Johnson to give Darrell Waltrip extra cushion in earning points to claim the 1981 points championship.

TMC

Monday's Mumblings

What a weak title. But it's late, and I invested my time in typing the following vs. titling it. Who says Twitter is useless? I won a Best Buy Racing hat on Twitter for my submission of this picture I took of Elliott Sadler's #19 Best Buy Dodge at Richard Petty Motorsports shop back in May. Not on Twitter yet? C'mon and join us. Follow TMC there as well as Best Buy Racing.

  Denny Hamlin had some unbelievable horsepower Sunday at Martinsville. He needed it too with several late race re-starts against Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Juan Pablo Montoya. With his FedEx sponsorship, it was as if he opted for same day air delivery vs. 2-day ground. Dave Despain aired a new Speed TV show Sunday night titled "On Assignment". The debut show featured the building of Talladega. I'm pretty sure, however, the folks at Comcast didn't get the clear message about who visioned and built the track.

Let's see, Little Brian would have been about 7 years old when Dega opened. I'm reasonably sure he could not have accomplished the feat of building the track and then standing up against the gaggle of drivers who refused to race on it. The guy may have been dumb smart enough to develop the Chase for the Championship, but track building at such a young age still seems a far fetched idea. 

Richard Childress recently had an open house at Richard Childress Racing in Welcome, NC. The best quote of the gathering came from MRN Radio's Barney Hall. His quote about meeting Richard Childress for the first time: "He was so green he thought Johnny Cash was a pay toilet." 

Writer Dustin Long recently sat down with Kyle Petty, Larry McReynolds, and Jimmy Spencer to talk about the state of the sport. Some really interesting and candid comments were made by the three of them - many of which didn't exactly make the boys at the beach jump with joy. [Click here] for the 6th and final report in the series. The article includes links to parts 1 through 5. Read 'em all. 

Juan Pablo Montoya continues to impress me with his versatility on the varied Chase tracks. His on-track aggressiveness makes some of the drivers uncomfortable. For me, I applaud it. If it takes a new school driver to return old school racing, so be it. Rarely is anyone else willing to lay the wood to any of the HMS cars so it's good to see JPM and his take-no-prisoners approach. 

It's beyond me how Jeff Gordon can whine about getting roughed up by JPM. Gordon's a vet who remembers racing with Rusty, Earnhardt Sr., Rudd, etc. - or maybe he's forgotten with all the old guard gone by now. 

On the flip-side, Joey "J-Lo" Logano and Brad Keselowski thinks they've earned their stripes enough to run over folks whenever they damn well please. A suggestion to ya boys - 2 words: Ernie Irvan. Don't become him. 

Rick Houston of Stock Car History Online recently recorded his debut podcast. Do you like old school racing - or just want to learn more about the history of the sport and its characters from the past? Sample the podcast at SCHO, then give it a listen with iTunes, and subscribe to future podcasts. 

Our Nashville Predators NHL franchise and Baker-Curb Racing recently announced a cross-promotional marketing agreement. For now, a Predators emblazoned BCR Nationwide car will be at the Sommet Center, home of the Preds.

  Whether a Preds car hits the track itself in 2010 is uncertain. I hope to get by the BCR shop again soon and take some up close photos. Also, I've been planning to blog about my ideas for an NHL/NASCAR cross-promotion relationship for over a year. I need to get that written - perhaps after these last 4 races are run. Stay tuned. 

 TMC