May 6, 1973 - Talladega's Winston 500

On Sunday, May 6th, NASCAR's Winston Cup Series rolled into Talladega for the Winston 500 as the 10th race of the 1973 season. How Cinco de Mayo may have been celebrated on Saturday - if at all - in the Talladega infield is unknown. What is known, however, is the infield crowd would not have needed a made-up holiday to party as they've always done there. 

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

David Pearson and the Wood Brothers team arrived riding a remarkable streak. Pearson and his Purolator Mercury had won the four previous events in which the team raced: Rockingham, Atlanta, Darlington, and Martinsville. The team didn't enter the car at Bristol or North Wilkesboro, but it's entirely possible they could've swept them too if they had!

Harry Hyde's well-tuned, red Dodge Charger won the pole for the second consecutive year. Bobby Isaac laid down the hot lap in 1972, and Buddy Baker captured the top spot in 1973. Pearson, the defending race winner, qualified on the front row alongside Baker. Richard Petty timed third in his Hemi-powered STP Dodge, and Cale Yarborough and Bobby Allison rounded out the top five starters.

 

When Sunday's start rolled around, 60 cars took the green - SIXTY! Though the race didn't represent the largest starting field for a NASCAR race (see Darlington in the early 1950s and Daytona in the early 1960s), it certainly was the largest for the fastest track ever to occupy a slot on the Cup tour.

Baker seized the lead and pulled Yarborough and Allison with him. Pearson lagged back just a tick as the early pace developed. 

Embed from Getty Images

With the 60-car field, Baker needed only a few laps to catch the rear of the field and begin lapping cars. The caution waved as the leaders crossed the start-finish line to complete the 10th lap. Ramo Stott had blown an engine coming off turn two. Though he coasted to the grass off the backstretch to get out of the way, he left a long trail of oil. NASCAR's policy in that era was to not only race back to the caution but to also continue doing so until they caught up to the pace car. Before drivers could react and crack the throttle, about 20 cars spun in Stott's oil and wrecked badly enough to send up a curtain of impenetrable dust and smoke. 

Contemporary fans have come to expect The Big One during races at Daytona and Talladega. To that point in only Talladega's fifth season, however, no one had seen the hot mess that unfolded on the backstretch. The wreck wiped out pole-winner Baker, Yarborough, and Allison from the top five starters. It also ensnared 1973 rookie of the year candidate (and eventual winner) Lennie Pond, Ron Keselowski (Brad's uncle), and several independents. 

Wendell Scott got the worst of it with a broken leg, pelvis, and ribs. He was hospitalized for over a month, and the wreck effectively ended his racing career. He returned just once more to race in the National 500 at Charlotte that fall. 

Petty avoided the wreck, but he ran over some debris and damaged the underside of his car. Though he returned to make a few more laps, the King parked it for good around lap 50. 

Pearson took over the lead when the thinned field returned to racing. He had wriggled through the wreck but knew many of his fellow competitors had been involved in the wreck. His Wood Brothers crew didn't volunteer any information - and Pearson didn't ask. He raced the rest of the day not knowing who may have been injured or worse.

After Pearson surrendered the lead after 15 laps to pit, Charles Barrett took over the lead in only his second career Cup start. Barrett raced a Ford fielded by George Elliott, father of Bill Elliott and grandfather of Chase Elliott. Barrett's short-lived lead was followed by nice showings from drivers unaccustomed to time at the front including J.D. McDuffie, Coo Coo Marlin, and Cecil Gordon. 

Rookie Darrell Waltrip then found his way to the lead and paced the field for an impressive 26 laps before his Mercury's engine failed well shy of the race's halfway mark. Though he led a sizable chunk of laps in 1973, DW's frustration grew as his streak of engine failures and poor Talladega finishes grew to three. (As an aside, Waltrip finished P7 in that summer's Talladega 500.)

 

With most of the big dogs wrecked or otherwise on their trailers early, Pearson took over to dominate the relatively-quiet second half of the race. Perhaps fittingly though, the race finished under caution when Vic Parsons wrecked with three laps to go. 

Pearson led 96 of the race's final 102 laps - including the final three under caution. He notched his 71st career win, won his second consecutive Winston 500, and extended his 1973 winning streak to five.

Source: Winston Cup Museum

Source: Anniston Star

TMC

July 18 - This day in Petty history

1971 Northern 300
NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National race
(later known as Nextel/Sprint Cup Series)
Trenton International Speedway
Trenton, New Jersey
Winning driver: The King Richard Petty
Full results: Racing-Reference.info

Source: Florence Times/Tri-Cities Daily

Amazing the stuff you find on ebay

Photos below courtesy of Brian "200WINZ" Hauck.

Front row (in the best Bill Connell track announcer voice I can muster): On the pole - with a speed of 129.134 MPH - in the #39 See Rock City Chevrolet - from Chattanooga, TN - Friday Hassler! Starting second in a Plymouth - from Randleman, NC - Richard Petty!

The King's Petty blue Plymouth in victory lane adorned with trophies. Note the functional but not subtle use of duct tape to hold in the hood pins and patch some damage on the trunk.

After enduring a hard wreck during qualifying for the 1970 race, Wendell Scott had a far less dramatic 1971 run at Trenton. So I guess he figured there was no better way to relax after a day at the track than to enjoy a cold Schaefer beer!

Other race notables:

• Buddy Baker ran an 18-race, part-time schedule for Petty Enterprises in 1971. For this race, the Pettys did not field a second car for him. Instead, he picked up a ride in Neil Castles' car and finished 2nd.
• Ron Keselowski finished 27th in his #88 Dodge. About 40 years later, his nephew Brad Keselowski had a good bit of success in the Nationwide series racing the #88 Chevy for JR Motorsports.

TMC

July 12 - This day in Schaefer and Petty history

1970 Schaefer 300
NASCAR Grand National race
(later known as Winston/Nextel/Sprint Cup Series)
Trenton International Speedway
Trenton, New Jersey
Winning driver: The King Richard Petty
Full results: Racing-Reference.info

Notables:

• Ron Keselowski, uncle of current Sprint Cup driver Brad Keselowski, finished 27th.
• Dave Marcis finished 6th in a car owned by Bobby Allison. Bobby finished 2nd in a #22 Coca-Cola Dodge Daytona owned by Mario Rossi.

Information about Trenton Speedway in general and this race specifically is pretty tough to find. Most of the stuff I've found thus far is a single source of text copied across multiple websites. What I think I've learned is that Trenton was originally a dirt track. It was paved in the 1950s and later reconfigured to a 1.5 mile kidney-shaped track to accommodate USAC Indy cars.

NASCAR brought its Grand National series to the track as part of its Northern Tour off and on from the 1950s through the early 1970s. Eventually, the track's NASCAR date went to Pocono when it opened. Trenton continued to host a USAC Indy car race in the 1970s. The track finally closed in 1980, and the property is now the site of the NJ Grounds for Sculpture. You believe that - a race track sacrificed for artsy-fartsy sculpture culture? Now that just ain't right.

A year ago, I blogged a short entry about Richard Petty's win in the 1970 Schaefer 300 at Trenton Speedway in New Jersey. Included in the entry were two pictures shared with me by a fellow Petty fan, Brian "200WINZ" Hauck. Brian was at the race, took several pictures, and was a big enough race fan back then to hold on to all his stuff as collectibles.

Another year has passed, and WINZ has once again caused my jaw to drop with his sharing of new photos for me to use.

The official track race program.

The official entry list included as an insert to the program.


A time-speed conversion chart.

Brian kept detailed qualifying notes from the 1970 race using the above chart to convert posted times to speeds. With the rise of the internet, I seriously doubt anyone does this anymore. I'm not even sure how many baseball fans still chart pitches at games anymore either.

Most years, the race was known simply as the Northern 300. In 1970, however, the race got a sponsor, and was known for only one year as the Schaefer 300. So you just knew Schaefer would have a full-page ad in the program. And when it comes to beer, who isn't having more than one. So clearly, Schaefer is the right choice.

The program also included a pitch for what was apparently a local/regional All Star Racing League series. I'd love to get my hands on one of the Schaefer Beer trophies awarded to the winners of many of the league's races.

Richard won the race, but he had some trouble in qualifying. He wrinkled the snout of his 1970 Petty blue Plymouth Superbird but still managed to qualify 4th. Brian managed to snap a photo of the repaired #43. Today, damaged sheet metal is held together during a race by applying sheets of Bear Bond. Back in the day, however, repairs were made with strips of good ol' fashioned, battleship-gray, duct tape.

What a great racing headline; however, I'm still on the hunt for an elusive picture of the King in victory lane surrounded by Schaefer beer cans, banners, a trophy girl, etc. I'm not even sure one exists. As a Petty and Schaefer fan, however, one can have eternal hope.

As a collector of all-things-Petty and plenty-of-things-Schaefer, these photos are just fantastic in my opinion. They are unique, personalized, rare, and feature Petty and Schaefer. What more can a fan ask for? I've thanked Brian many times over for providing them. If you want to comment on these photos individually or view more of Brian's pictures, browse his Photobucket offerings.

If you'll look closely at Brian's handwritten notes, you'll see he wrote "wrecked" by Wendell Scott. Wendell destroyed his car during qualifying, but he was able to repair the car, start last, and survive to finish 25th.

Source: The Free Lance Star, July 13, 1970

Brian told me he has now provided most of what he has from the 1970 Trenton race. Yet, I'm still on the hunt for information from that period of NASCAR history. In particular, I'm still trying to get the bottom of the story for these next two photos. Does he perhaps know anything about who might have snuck into the track to paint "GO PETTY 43" on the track surface? Or 43 on the wall? Hmm, one wonders...

Brian Hauck, Mr. 200WINZ, the Schaefer Racing Hall of Fame salutes you for your being a life-long Petty fan and preserving the history of Schaefer racing. Saaahhh-LOOOOT.


TMC