The (almost) return of Curtis Turner

As I've noted before, I really enjoyed blogging over the last year or so about each of Richard Petty's 200 wins. Not only did I learn a tremendous amount about Petty history, but I also stumbled over some other meaningful minutia and NASCAR nuggets. One example soon to follow...

My memories of 1965 are pretty fuzzy - well, let's just say non-existent. I'm pretty sure its because that was the year I was born. Sleeping, eating, filling my diapers and crying took up the majority of my time. But from what I later learned as a Petty fan, 1965 is remembered as the year The King went drag racing because of Chrysler's boycott of NASCAR. For the first six months of year the year, that's about right. For the second half of the year, differences were resolved, the boycott was rescinded, the Plymouths and Dodges returned, and Petty resumed his winning ways in NASCAR.

By the time I was introduced to Richard Petty, he had over 150 wins and five NASCAR championships. I didn't know about other larger-than-life NASCAR legends such as Fast Freddy Lorenzen, Fireball Roberts, and Curtis Turner. But I learned.

Turner and Roberts were arguably the most iconic NASCAR heroes in the early 60s. Sadly, Fireball lost his life in July 1964 - about six weeks following a gut-wrenching accident and fire in the World 600 at Charlotte. I've heard some suggest his death was felt more acutely by the NASCAR fan base than the passing of Dale Earnhardt - albeit in fewer numbers.

Curtis Turner was a timber man first, a good-time-haver second, and a damn fine race driver third. Legend has it that Curtis could fly over a forest and nail an estimate of how many board feet he could yield from harvesting it. Several stories have also been published about his partying days with fellow driver Joe Weatherly. I only wish I could share a beer with someone who knew about the unpublished stories.

What many don't realize is he was the lead force behind the building of Charlotte Motor Speedway. Bruton Smith will claim otherwise, but Curtis brought that track to life. Bruton tried to build a competing track nearby but was unsuccessful. He eventually partnered with Turner to complete, open and operate CMS.

Curtis had the vision for the project and a name and the stones to get it rolling. What he didn't have as much as was needed was cash. He needed loads of it to operate the track and re-pay construction loans. He apparently signed a deal with the Teamsters Union to invest in the track. In exchange for the cash infusion, Turner agreed to do what he could to help organize drivers into the union. Bill France, Sr. was livid and banned Turner "for life" in 1961.

Four years later, the "life" sentence was rescinded. With the deaths of Roberts and Weatherly and the Chrysler boycott that sidelined the two new superstars - Richard Petty and David Pearson - France needed help.

From the mid-1950s until he was banned in 1961, Curtis was generally known as a Ford driver. He drove other makes in the early 1950s and near the end of his career, but he was most associated with Ford. When his banishment was rescinded by France, he quickly proclaimed he would resume his racing at Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds in Spartanburg, SC driving ... a Plymouth ... fielded by Petty Enterprises.

Richard had been sidelined from stock car racing himself because of Chrysler's boycott of NASCAR. When he was ready to return, Lee Petty contracted long-time NASCAR car builder Red Vogt to build a Plymouth Fury for Richard to race in the Firecracker 400. For reasons unknown to me, the Pettys didn't make the trip to Daytona. Instead, Richard returned three weeks later at Bristol and then won at Nashville a week later in the Vogt-built Plymouth.

The Spartanburg race scheduled for August 14, 1965, conflicted with a drag racing event Richard in which he had agreed to participate before Chrysler's stock car racing boycott was lifted. Lee Petty and Turner agreed to have Curtis race Richard's Vogt-built, Nashville-winning Plymouth for his return to NASCAR.

Credit: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive

One criticism of today's racing is that its too bland. Few legitimate rivalries exist. Everyone plays nice to placate their sponsors and NASCAR's TV image. But back in the day before corporate America and TV arrived, feuds were plentiful and often long-lasting. Turner's return to racing also had the potential of re-kindling rivalries from four years earlier.

Credit: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive

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

Promoter Supreme Joe Littlejohn wanted Turner in a first-class ride for the comeback. So Joe got Curtis in the seat of Richard Petty's 1964 Plymouth Fury 43...In the dusty dusk of that sultry Saturday evening, Curtis warmed up for 15 or 20 laps in one of the most electrifying displays of speed and control ever seen on dirt or maybe anywhere for that matter. That Petty-blue Plymouth thundered down the front stretch, clawing the track as Turner cocked the car for the first turn. When he came through, the nose of that Plymouth was all that was visible from the infield. With that hemi howling, Curtis' big bare hands gripped the wheel fully at right lock...With thick red plumes of dust billowing from the right-side tires, he swung wide and tore down the back chute, choreographing it the same way in three and four...The jam-packed house roared its approval with every lap.

Time trials got underway beneath the lights in what was now a hot, sticky summer dusk...Pearson had timed in for second spot when Turner pulled on to the clay. With the same flair he had show in the gloaming, Turner ripped through his warm-up and set what looked like an excellent first-lap time. Before the PA announcer could broadcast the speed, Curtis flew into the first turn determined to improve on his previous clocking and backed hard into the old wooden fence that had been pounded on for years, with the Fury's right rear spinning back around facing the wrong way. It did not look nearly as bad as it was. Curtis fired it up and limped directly back to the crew by going the wrong way down the slope to enter the pit exit as if he had driven in the west gate. It was announced that his first lap was good enough for third on the grid, and all were sure Maurice would beat out the fender and bumper and Turner would assume his spot on the inside of row two. To everyone's horror, Fury 43 was pushed onto its trailer for the trip back to Randleman...A collective moan went up from the stands and infield after time trials when that wooden gate swung open right where Turner landed in turn one. The blue and silver half-ton with Plymouth painted in big blue letters on the side, pulling 43, rumbled, rattled and squeaked up the slope of the bank, over the rim and into the darkness. ~pp. 27-28

So when NASCAR's finest raced in Spartanburg, it ended up as much ado about nothing. After Turner smacked the right rear of the Petty Plymouth on his second qualifying lap, the team simply put the car on the trailer and left. Just another chapter in a long list of Curtis Turner head-shaking, memorable, funny moments.

Credit: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive

Curtis finally made his return - probably as he'd truly planned anyway - in the Southern 500 at Darlington a couple of weeks after Spartanburg. And he did race a Plymouth. It was fielded by car owner Sam Fletcher vs. Petty Enterprises. Fletcher entered a grand total of seven Grand National races - all in 1965, and Turner was his driver for the last of those races.

By the way, check out the book Full Throttle: The Life and Fast Times of Curtis Turner if you want to learn more about this larger than life NASCAR character. Nothing in it for me - just recommending a solid book I really enjoyed.

Now if only I could score a picture of Curtis sitting at the wheel of the famed Petty Plymouth...

TMC
Edited August 13, 2014

1980 Coca-Cola 500 at Pocono

As my personal odometer continues to roll over year-by-year, the less I remember - or really even care - about what life was like back in my youth. But in thinking about it a bit, 1980 was a fun, interesting and even challenging year for me:

• I went to my first Daytona 500 in February 1980 and saw Buddy Baker win his only 500 in Harry Ranier's #28 "Grey Ghost" Oldsmobile 442.
• My first trip to Disneyworld was in May 1980 - at the expense of missing King Richard win the Music City 420. 
• In December 1980, a surgeon performed full-blown knee surgery on me. If only arthroscopic techniques had been more widely available back then, perhaps I wouldn't be hobbling around today like Festus from Gunsmoke.
• Our high school annual featured a candid of me wearing of course....

On July 27, 1980, an eventful race took place at Pocono - the Coca-Cola 500. Full recognition of the race's relevance didn't fully resonate with me - or likely others - that day. The race's story lines included a King's crash, the rise of a promising prodigy, the farewell of a contemporary trailblazer, and the Cup debut of a non-traditional but incredibly talented and impactful racer.

Richard Petty had a forgettable 1978 season, but he returned to form in 1979 to snag his sixth Daytona 500 victory and seventh Winston Cup championship. He had fewer wins at the mid-point of the 1980 season than in 1979, but he was hanging tough in the points standings. He was giving three-time champion Cale Yarborough and reigning rookie of the year Dale Earnhardt a good run for their money as he tried for his eighth Cup.

And then Pocono..

On lap 57, a wheel broke on Petty's #43 Monte Carlo, the back end came around, and he backed it into the boiler plate wall - HARD. The hit was in the era long before SAFER barriers or H.A.N.S. devices were even visioned much less designed and installed.

Chuck Bown spun himself to avoid hitting Richard, but then Darrell Waltrip ended up nailing the 43 right in the door.


The safety crews extricated the King from the car. But they didn't backboard him or put any sort of neck brace on him. They simply walked him to the ambulance as he grimaced in pain.

Officially, Richard suffered a 'strained neck' and pulled back muscles. The Petty team said it, Joe Mattioli from Pocono repeated it, and the media reported it.

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

Even though Richard's day ended with a painful thud, Petty Enterprises still had some success in the race. Richard's son Kyle made his Pocono debut. Having run only a handful of races from late in 1979 through the mid-point of 1980, Kyle was still very much a rookie. Yet he seemed to take to Pocono like a duck to water and finished a very respectable 7th.

Each year, Indianapolis 500 officials recognize a 'rookie of the race'. In 1980, a promising young driver from Ashland, OH named Tim Richmond won the award. Sponsored by UNO playing cards (one of the best games ever in my opinion), the personality-laden driver finished 9th in his Indy 500 debut. His performance in the 500 caught the eye of Pocono's owner Joe Mattioli. He negotiated a deal with driver and car owner D.K. Ulrich to put Tim in a stock car for the 1980 Cup race. (As a reminder once again, Ulrich was the car owner of the Schaefer beer sponsored Buick driven by Al Loquasto one year later in 1981 at Pocono.)

Tim finished a very respectable 12th in his first Cup race - five spots behind Kyle Petty. Richmond returned to Indy a second time in 1981 and finished 12th while driving for Super Tex, A.J. Foyt. But with urging from his mother, he then turned to NASCAR full-time and raced stock cars full-time until 1987 when his health situation worsened dramatically. Complications from the AIDS virus he contracted and protracted legal wranglings with NASCAR's brass sidelined Tim permanently, and he finally succumbed to AIDS in 1989.

Schaefer Hall of Famer Rev. Randy recently sent me some great photos from the 1980 race given to him and shot by co-worker Jim Jandrasits.

Jim was able to snap a photo of what would be another relevant story line to the race - the final Winston Cup start for Janet Guthrie.While not the first female race driver in NASCAR, she did break some barriers by racing with some amount of relative success - both in Indy cars and in NASCAR - as both racing series gained more popularity across the country. Guthrie started 33 Cup races from 1976 through 1980, and the 1980 Pocono event was her final one.

As a Petty fan, I'm fortunate today that Jim took some great shots of the two-car team 30+ years ago. Rookie Kyle is seen standing near pit wall near his father's 43 Monte Carlo as the cars were rolled to the starting grid.

Years before pit wagons became the norm in the pits, 'extravagance' in the pits was limited to an umbrella and an Igloo cooler of cold water. Here, King Richard can be seen talking to his crew as Kyle likely gets the punchline of a joke from NASCAR Hall of Fame crew chief Dale Inman (wearing the Ray-Ban sunglasses).

Taken from a great vantage point, Kyle is seen making a pit stop with his alternate day-glo red on Petty blue #42 scheme.

Before his vicious wreck, the King was challenging for the lead. Here here is sandwiched between the #88 Gatorade Monte Carlo of Darrell Waltrip and eventual race winner Neil Bonnett in the #21 Purolator / Wood Brothers Mercury.

Jim also had the presence of mind to snap a pic of the 1979 Rookie of the Year, Dale Earnhardt, as he pitted next to the 1979 Winston Cup champion, King Richard. Coincidentally, Earnhardt pounded the wall at Pocono a year earlier in his rookie season just as Richard did. He broke both collarbones and had to miss a couple of starts. But he returned to still claim the 1979 Rookie of the Year award.

And yes Earnhardt fans, that is Earnhardt driving a #2 car above. He didn't drive the famous #3 from the get-go because someone else was already driving with it - future car owner Richard Childress.

As Neil Bonnett headed for victory lane, second place Buddy Baker and third place Cale Yarborough call it a day and head for their haulers.

Bonnett and the Wood Brothers team took their Purolator Mercury in victory lane.

Source: Wood Brothers Racing

With apologies to the late Paul Harvey, here is ... the rest of the story.

Richard - The reality of Richard's injures weren't revealed until much, much later. Richard had indeed suffered a fracture in his neck. Incredibly and stubbornly, he soldiered on and did not miss a start. Had NASCAR known this - or had the information been leaked, its likely their hand would have been forced to sit Richard until doctors cleared him to race. Early in the next three races at Talladega, Michigan and Bristol, he turned the car over to former Petty crewman and driver, Joe Millikan.

Kyle - After a solid Pocono debut and a few other starts in 1980, Kyle began racing Cup full-time in 1981. He eventually notched a Pocono win in 1993. After the death of his son and Richard's grandson, Adam Petty, at New Hampshire in 2000, Pocono named the track's garage area as the Adam Petty Garage in his memory.

Credit: Action Sports Photography - Source: Motorsport.com

Earnhardt - With Richard's championship hopes all but gone, it was up to the veteran Yarborough and the Junior Johnson team to snag their fourth championship. The Rod Osterlund-owned team with Jake Elder as the crew chief and Earnhardt as the driver, however, may have bent but didn't break. The team withstood a strong challenge by the Yarborough team, but in the end Earnhardt earned the first of his seven Cup championships.

Richmond - After racing a part-time schedule by hopping rides with multiple car owners in 1981 and 1982, Tim finally landed with car owner Raymond Beadle and his Old Milwaukee Beer sponsored Pontiac team in 1983. After a moderately successful three year run with the Blue Max team, Tim moved to Hendrick Motorsports in 1986. He and crew chief Harry Hyde caught lightning in a bottle about a third of the way through the season. With seven wins to their credit but without the Cup, the 25 team was among the favorites heading into the 1987 season. But as Richmond's undisclosed illness began to take over, he all but faded away. Tim made an abbreviated but remarkable comeback midway through 1987 by winning back-to-back races at Riverside and Pocono. After that, however, he wasn't super-competitive and raced for the final time late in mid-August 1987.

TMC
Edited July 27, 2014

Thank you for your Petty contributions!

August 1, 2011 through July 31, 2012. Whew. A year. 200 wins by Richard Petty, 200 posts ... almost. Plus, I threw in a couple of bonus posts for his first professional racing start, his first NASCAR Grand National start, and his first racing win - a convertible race at Columbia Speedway.

As a kid, my uncle took me to my first race - a late model sportsman event - at Nashville Speedway in 1974. At the time, he drove a light blue Plymouth with a hood as long as a Kansas prairie. And he'd started following a young driver named Richard Petty in the early 60s because the guy drove Plymouths.

My uncle told me I better become a Richard Petty fan if I planned to follow Winston Cup racing and have him take me to races - so I did beginning in 1975. I immediately began accumulating photos, postcards, decals, newspaper articles,  programs, tickets, die-cast, magazines, autographs, patches, etc. (And my uncle did take me to my first Cup race at Nashville in 1978 and my first Daytona 500 in 1980.) Over the years, I often wondered how I could share my interest in racing with others. Before Al Gore invented the interwebs, it was pretty much impractical. But I kept wondering. More recently, I wondered how I could share my specific interest in the history of Richard Petty with others.

I started by trying to compile a list of Petty-related, daily trivia nuggets. While I still don't have 365 days' worth, I'm pretty close. The trivia I have compiled rotates daily as a side panel here and has been there pretty much since this blog began 3+ years ago.

Then I met Jerry Bushmire, a fellow Petty fan, through JalopyJournal's H.A.M.B. and TrackForum.com. It didn't take me long to realize Jerry was a bit more ... um, uh, ahem ... seasoned than me.

A friendship started immediately with our common interests in racing in general and the Pettys specifically. In one e-mail, I told him my brain fart about wanting to do something about my interest in the team from Level Cross. Who knows - maybe a blog about each of his wins or something. But I would need content. His response was "I think I can help make that happen."

Over the next few weeks of winter and spring 2011, my inbox received a deluge of new messages from Jerry with scans of Petty related articles and photos from his archives going back to ground zero of Richard's career. And I thought it was me who was consumed with The King's history.

So off I charged. I'm no Raymond Babbitt, but I originally thought I could hold my own with a lot of Petty trivia. But I learned a ton of new information over the last year. I also got input from a bunch of existing friends - as well as from a few new ones. Many are fellow Petty fans. Some didn't pull for him but respected him and still had memorable stories or other information to share. I soaked it all in and tried to work in the various anecdotes and other contributions where I could. Hopefully, I was solid in giving attribution as appropriate throughout the last year.

As the dust settles, I posted something for 198 of the King's 200 NASCAR Grand National / Winston Cup victories. Two wins eluded Jerry and me. Neither of us had anything in our collections nor was the web much help for RP's 10th win on August 15, 1962, in Roanoke, Virginia or his 40th win on September 17, 1965, in Manassas, Virginia. Got anything on these two wins? If so, pass 'em along to me at toomuchcountry (at) gmail (dot) com, and I'll feature them ASAP.

So at the risk of leaving someone out, I'm going to attempt to list the names who helped make an enjoyable project for me become a reality.

First of all - The King himself - Richard Petty. The cat was cool and talented from the time I was first lectured by my uncle to follow him. And he remains so today.

Secondly, Jerry Bushmire. Without your contributions, I would not have undertaken this effort. You are the wind benea ... No, wait. Scratch that. Not going there. Thanks and we'll leave it at that.

Travis Atkison
Former Petty Enterprises crewman, Billy Biscoe
Johnny Boone
Bumpertag
Photographer, Al Consoli
Retired journalist, Buddy Chapman
Photographer, Brian Cleary of bcpix.com
Crabber1967
Journalist, writer, musician & lifelong David Pearson fan, Monte Dutton
Writer, Greg Fielden and his great series of books - Forty Years of Stock Car Racing
FallsCity48
Mrs. Margaret Frank
Dave Fulton
Randy Gilbert
Gamecock43
Founder of RacersReunion.com, Jeff Gilder
Lee Greenawalt
Former Petty Enterprises crewman and NASCAR crew chief, Steve Hmiel
Chris Hussey
Brian 200WINZ Hauck
Writer, Tom Higgins
William Horrell
Writer, Rick Houston
Lynn Hughes
NASCAR Hall of Fame crew chief, Dale Inman
Ray Lamm
Tim Leeming
Former NASCAR Grand National driver, Paul Lewis
Charlie Lovell
Rebecca Moffitt
Doug Murph from Petty's Garage
NBickley1
Leon Phillips
Ed Sanservino
Stephen Sanders
Smyle Media owner, Don Smyle
Robbie Solesbee
Harvey Tollison
Russ Thompson
Ron Willard
Bobby Williamson
Writer, Perry Allen Wood
Paul Woody
Philly, My fellow Schaefer Hall of Fame co-founder and brother from another mother
The staff at the Richard Petty Museum
The staff at the Riverside International Automotive Museum
All the great, anonymous folks and your YouTube videos
All the folks who sold Petty related things on ebay and didn't watermark your images

I raise a hearty Schaefer scha-loot to each and every one of you. Hopefully, I'll see some of you at the track.

Finally, thanks to everyone who has read a post, left a comment, sent me an e-mail, re-tweeted a link, texted me, featured me on Facebook, etc. about these entries. I'm glad they were enjoyed.

TMC

July 31 - This day in Petty history

1965 - In only his second Grand National race back after a six-month sabbatical from NASCAR, Richard Petty wins the pole, leads 335 of 400 laps, and wins the Nashville 400 by six laps over Ned Jarrett at Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, TN to claim his 37th career NASCAR Grand National victory.

NASCAR banned Chrysler's high-performance hemi engine following the 1964 season. As a consequence, Chrysler Corporation withdrew its factory-supported Grand National teams for 1965 - including the Petty Enterprises' Plymouth team. To stay busy, be competitive and earn money, Richard and his team went drag racing for much of 1965 racing a #43 Jr. Plymouth Barracuda.

Once Bill France, Sr. and the Chrysler brass worked out their differences, Chrysler rescinded its boycott. Petty Enterprises was free to return to the world of left-handed turns. Petty's first race back was in the Volunteer 500 at Bristol. Nashville was the next event, and Richard won by six laps over second-place finisher, Ned Jarrett.

Source: The Tennessean - July 25, 1965

While the Nashville race was Petty's second NASCAR Grand National race of 1965, it was his third stock car race.  On May 2, 1965, the 43 team raced in the USAC stock car series Yankee 300 at Indianapolis Raceway Park and finished 14th in the 22 car field.

Credit: Henry Ford Museum Flickr gallery

Long-time Dodge driver (and Virginia moonshine hauler), Buddy Arrington, finished third in the race - a career-best matched by another third place finish fourteen years later in the 1979 Winston 500 at Talladega.

Arrington was the hand-me-down beneficiary of older Petty cars and parts for years, and his son Joey Arrington builds a lot of the high-performance, after-market engines installed by Petty's Garage in customer Mopar vehicles. So in some respects, I kind of view Buddy's third place finish at Nashville as a quasi-Petty top 5.

Once Chrysler chose to lift its boycott and allow its factory-supported race teams to return, Lee Petty intimated Richard might make his return in the July 4, 1965, Firecracker 400 at Daytona.


For whatever reason, Petty Enterprises didn't field a car for Richard at Daytona, and he made his return a couple of weeks later at Bristol. That doesn't mean, however, the Petty team wasn't involved at the beach. Red Vogt hired Nelson Stacy to run the race in a Petty Enterprises-prepared Plymouth, and Richard's brother - Maurice Petty - led Stacy's crew for the race.

The King made his GN return at Bristol on July 25, 1965 - but it wasn't a great return. Tiny Lund blew an engine, and G.C. Spencer and Junior Johnson got caught up in it. Petty slowed and was about to avoid it, but J.T. Putney plowed into the rear of Petty's car. The 43 continued for a few laps but then had to park it.

The Petty team thrashed on the car over the next week, banged out the damage, painted the repairs and hauled it six days later to Nashville - albeit without a driver's side 43.

Result in race number 2 of Petty's return? Victory lane. Bang.

Photo courtesy of Russ Thompson

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

TMC

July 30 - This day in Petty history - part 2

1966 - Continuing his mastery of Nashville's Fairgrounds Speedway, Richard Petty nabs the pole, leads all 400 laps, and captures the Nashville 400 for his 47th career NASCAR Grand National victory.

Petty swept the track's two races in 1964, won the one event he entered in 1965, won this race by 5 laps over second place Buck Baker in 1966, and three-peated in 1967. He won four more races between 1969 and 1980. In addition, Jim Paschal three-peated from 1961-1963 - the first one with car owner Julian Petty (Richard's uncle) and the next two with Petty Enterprises. Yeah, I'm pretty sure those Level Cross fellers had that place figured out.

With Richard's domination of the event, one has to dig deeper to find additional storylines for the race. But dig I did and found three - all with a connection to of all drivers, Henley Gray.

The 1966 Nashville race was the first Grand National start for country music singer and racing enthusiast, Marty Robbins. Marty made frequent starts at Nashville in late models, and many of his races had to be worked around his scheduled appearances on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. While Marty is most remembered for his um... uh... err... unique purple and yellow painted #42 Dodges, he made his first GN start in a plain white #53 Ford. Starting behind Robbins in car #74 was independent driver Henley Gray. 

Photo credit Fred Marchman ~ Provided courtesy of FallsCity48

Marty ran about three dozen Cup races from the late 1960s through 1982. Sadly, he suffered a heart attack and passed away in 1982. For the spring 1983 race, the track memorialized Marty's gifts and passion for racing by naming the race the Marty Robbins 420. I spent time at the track for this event rather than go to my high school prom. I've never regretted the decision to do so.

Program cover courtesy of Russ Thompson

Henley Gray earned a career best 4th place finish in the race.  In a career spanning 14 years and 374 starts, the journeyman garnered only five Top 5 finishes - with the '66 Nashville finish being the best one. For me, Henley will always be known as having one of the best combovers in all of NASCAR - right up there with the late Benny Parsons.

Also making his first NASCAR Grand National start was one of middle Tennessee's iconic racers - Coo Coo Marlin from Columbia, TN. Coo Coo was a weekly race regular at the fairgrounds and was a four-time late model sportsman champion there (including in 1966). His first Grand National start, however, didn't come until this race. For the first couple of seasons as Coo Coo increased his number of GN starts, he ran #07 Chevrolets. Beginning in 1972 and for the rest of his career, he doubled his number to 14. For his first career start, however, he started and finished 8th in a #97 Ford owned by ... yep, Henley Gray.

 

Photo credit Fred Marchman ~ Provided courtesy of FallsCity48

My how times have changed. How many drivers today would help unload a car from the hauler? Or wash it? And with a smile! 

 

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

TMC

July 30 - This day in Petty history - part 1

1963 - Richard Petty notches his 24th career victory by winning the Pickens 200 on the half-mile, dirt track at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in South Carolina.

GPS was a fixture on the NASCAR Grand National circuit from the mid-1950s through 1971. The track's races, like many others, were trimmed from the series in 1972 as part of the newly-branded Winston Cup Series.

The track itself, however, continues operating to this day. The dirt was replaced with asphalt in 1970, and local drivers still hone and prove their skills on the half-mile bull-ring.

Petty won the Greenville-Pickens race in car number 41 - one of his half-dozen or so wins in a car numbered other than 43. Richard finished second two days earlier at Bristol in number 43, and teammate Jim Paschal finished third in number 42. Perhaps the turnaround time was too short to adequately prepared the 43, and the 41 may have been raced in its place. (Paschal did not enter the Pickens 200.)

Long-time, independent driver Frank Warren finished tenth in car number X. He ran the number just one more time - a week or so later at Columbia Speedway in a race coincidentally also won by Petty.

As a kid, my uncle introduced me to racing in the early 1970s and strongly suggested I become a fan of the King. I didn't have the opportunity to see him race or know much about his beginnings in the late 1950s or his rise to greatness in the 1960s. But I learned quickly about his appreciation for his fans by signing autographs.

I think its interesting the writer of this article makes note of that point - in 1963! (As an aside, the writer's name was Rocky Stone? Really?)

"I wasn't worried about my gasoline because I had a pit stop after 65 laps. What I was worried about was my tires," Petty said while signing a host of autographs.

Credit: The Times-News of Hendersonville, NC via Google News Archive

TMC

July 29 - This day in Petty history

1967 - Starting second alongside pole-winner Dick Hutcherson, Richard Petty leads 131 of 400 laps and wins the Nashville 400 at Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, TN.

In this photo published in The Tennessean, Petty is shown looking over his engine before the race as a crewman stands nearby.

The crewman is Joe Millikan. About 7 or 8 years later, Petty Enterprises fielded late model sportsman and ARCA cars in selected races with Joe as the driver. In 1979, Millikan joined L.G. DeWitt's Winston Cup team to compete for Rookie of the Year. He had a reasonable year as he finished 6th in the points (tops among all rookies ... and many veterans), won the pole position for Nashville's SunDrop 420, and collected 20 top 10s in 31 starts. The bad news was he was in the same rookie class as Dale Earnhardt, Terry Labonte and Harry Gant, arguably the top rookie class in NASCAR history - and his car owner was looking to exit the sport. Earnhardt won a race and finished 7th in points despite having missed four races because of an injury suffered at Pocono. And in early 1980, DeWitt folded the team, and Joe was out of a full-time ride.

The start of the race with pole-winner Hutcherson choosing to start on the outside of the front row.

Petty spent the first half of the race just trying to get out of his own way. The 43 Plymouth burned through several tires, and the King even spun on his own following a blown tire.

Source: The Nashville Banner - July 31, 1967

The Petty Enterprises team, however, never lost its composure. As the race entered its second half, the 43 regained its mojo and headed for the front. Petty passed Chattanooga, TN's Friday Hassler with about 130 laps to go and banked his 65th career NASCAR Grand National victory with a 5-lap win over second-place finisher James Hylton.

Source: The Nashville Banner - July 31, 1967

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

TMC
Edited July 29, 2014