August 22, 1958 - Lee Petty Banks Bowman Gray

August 22, 1958: Starting second, Lee Petty piloted his #42 Oldsmobile to a spirited win over Shorty Rollins in a 200-lap, 50-mile race at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, NC. Rookie Richard Petty in a #2 1957 Oldsmobile started 11th and finished 20th. (There is a trivia question for you - what car number have Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt shared?)

The race was Bowman Gray's second NASCAR Grand National event, and it was a 'sweepstakes' race - a blend of hard top and convertible series cars.. The first was about three months earlier on May 24, 1958, and it was won by Bob Welborn in a Chevrolet owned by ... Julian Petty, Lee's brother.

The August race was a reversal of fortune for Welborn. Julian Petty again fielded a Chevy for Welborn. Although he won the spring race, he completed only one lap in Julian's #49 Chevrolet and finished 23rd - dead last - in the August race. Julian fielded a second car in the August race for Ken Rush. He finished 14th in a #44 Chevrolet.

Greg Fielden writes in Forty Years of Stock Car Racing - Vol. 1:

Old pro Lee Petty eked out a half-car length victory over rookie Shorty Rollins in the exciting climax to the 50-mile sweepstakes race at Bowman Gray Stadium.

Petty took the lead from Rollins with 19 laps remaining on the quarter-mile paved oval. The two drivers treated the crowd of 12,000 to a spine-tingling conclusion. Rollins' last lap bid fell short by only a few feet.

George Dunn put his Mercury on the pole and led the first 10 laps. Petty, who started second, nosed to the front on lap 11 and stayed there for 126 laps. Rollins, who started sixth found the 'groove' and began pressing Petty at the half way point. He was able to push his Ford into the lead on lap 137 and led until Petty made the final pass.

Bob Welborn qualified third, but his Chevrolet was taken out with transmission failure after just one lap.

Petty won the 50-miler at an average speed of 39.258 mph. ~ p. 316

Source: Spartanburg Herald Journal via Google News Archive

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August 16, 1957 - Lee Petty Owns Old Bridge

August 16, 1957: Starting third, Lee Petty leads a handful of laps early in a 100-mile race at Old Bridge Stadium in Old Bridge, New Jersey. Then with nine laps to go, he went back to the point and claimed his 28th career NASCAR Grand National victory.

Rex White won the pole and dominated the race by leading 177 of the 200 laps on the paved half-mile. But as Greg Fielden notes about the race in his book, Forty Years of Stock Car Racing - Volume 1:

Lee Petty used a late race caution to close in on the rear bumper of leader Rex White, then dashed to victory...

White finished second, 2.0 seconds behind the Petty Oldsmobile. Third place went to Jim Reed. Marvin Panch came in fourth, and Jack Smith finished 5th.

White, making a stab at his first Grand National win, had taken the lead in the 15th lap and was holding nearly a lap lead when a three car crash involving Chuck Hansen, Dick Klank and Bill Benson brought out the only caution flag. The yellow light was on for four laps.

White led the charge when the green came out with 10 laps to go. But Petty muscled his way under White and led the final nine laps. ~ pp. 275-276

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August 13, 1954 - Lee Scores Southern States

Driving a #42 Chrysler, Lee Petty wins his sixth race of the season in a 200-lap, 100-mile race at Southern States Fairgrounds in Charlotte, North Carolina on August 13, 1954. The event was the first Grand National race at the track, and GN races continued to be promoted on the Carolina half-mile, dirt track through 1961.

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

At the southeast corner of Sugar Creek Road and US 29 in Charlotte stands a shopping center with lots of Asian and empty stores anchored by a Park N Shop that is as much eyesore at is is supermarket. Its stands on the site of the Southern States Fairgrounds that held 17 100-mile Grand National races from 1954 to 1961. It actually lasted two seasons after the opening of the Charlotte Motor Speedway. However, there is no trace of it left to stir the imagination; no rusting guardrails, no pine trees popping through the concrete grand stand, no wooden fairgrounds fence, not even a bullet-riddled light pole. There is no magic in a dirty asphalt parking lot 45 years after the show closed. Postcards of the old fairgrounds show a lovely lake in the infield that today has been reduced to a miserable little litter-strewn rivulet surrounded by scrub brush and all that nasty pavement. ~ p. 194

 The footprint where the track once stood...


View Larger Map

And a postcard view of the track as referenced in Wood's book... 

Lee won three Grand National races (1954, 1957, 1959) and one convertible series event at the track (1958). In 1960, Richard Petty won his first career Grand National / Cup race in the the next-to-last GN race at Southern States.

Future Petty Enterprises driver Buck Baker started from the pole in the 1954 inaugural race but finished fifth. The rest of the starting line-up and lap leaders apparently were not documented or simply were lost to time. Based on the article below, Lee didn't lead the entire race. He took over the lead from Baker with 50 to go, and then went on to a two-lap victory over second place Dick Rathman.

Source: Spartanburg Herald Journal via Google News Archive

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Edited August 12, 2014

August 12, 1962 - Jim Paschal Wins Weaverville

August 12, 1962: Going three-for-three in three mid-season races after being re-hired as a Petty Enterprises driver, Jim Paschal wins the Western Carolina 500 at Asheville-Weaverville Speedway driving a #42 Plymouth. Teammate Richard Petty lost one spot from his 6th place qualifying run and finished 7th in his #43 Plymouth.

Jack Smith won the pole for the 500-lap race on the half-mile paved oval. Paschal's qualifying speed matched Smith's hot lap; however, Smith was awarded the pole simply because he qualified first. Go figure. Dadgum Petty drivers - they've never been able to catch a break over the years (tongue planted firmly in cheek).

Source: Daytona Beach Morning Journal via Google News Archive

Smith took the lead from the drop of the green and led about one-third of the laps. But Paschal then took over the lead from Smith on lap 164, and he led the remaining 337 laps for a dominating victory.

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

The Fifth Annual Western North Carolina 250 ran on Sunday, August 12, 1962, under beautiful summers skies. The question was whether the track could handle 500 summertime laps. A field of 25 took the green, led by pole-sitter Jack Smith, who paced the field for 163 laps until tire troubles gave the lead to Paschal. Unchallenged in a Petty Plymouth, Jim led 337 circuits for his fourth win of the year at a race record of over 77 miles per hour. ~ p. 224

Source: Charleston News and Courier via Google News Archive

Earlier in 1962, Paschal raced several times for car owner Cliff Stewart. Then in the summer, he was hired to once again pilot a Petty Plymouth. (He'd previously driven for the team a few times in 1960-61.) In the next five races, he rattled off three wins - all in the Petty car - at Bristol, Nashville and Asheville-Weaverville. Sandwiched between the three wins were two more starts for Stewart in Chattanoga, TN and Huntsville, TN. Following the race and win at Asheville-Weaverville, Paschal raced in the majority of races for the rest of the season, and all of his starts were for the Petty team.
 
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August 7, 1955 - Lee's Win Sweeps Winston-Salem

August 7, 1955: Starting from the inside of the second row, Lee Petty leads about a third of the 200-lap, 100-mile race on the half-mile dirt track at Forsyth County Fairgrounds near Winston-Salem, NC. Future Petty Enterprises driver, Jim Paschal, finished second in a #78 Oldsmobile. Bob Welborn finished sixth in a Chevrolet fielded by Julian Petty, Lee's brother.

Before NASCAR Grand National races began making annual stops at the more well-known Winston-Salem track - Bowman Gray Stadium - two GN races were promoted at the county fairgrounds track. Both were in 1955, and Lee Petty swept them. The first one was May 29, 1955 when Petty's win on the little-known Carolina bullring was overshadowed by the stunning death of Bill Vukovich at the Indianapolis 500.

The track and fairgrounds as they looked in the mid 1960s...

... and the property as it looks today near the sports facilities of Wake Forest University - with the footprint of the track still visible though long gone.

In his book, Silent Speedways of the Carolinas, author Perry Allen Wood writes about the race:

A wilting Winston-Salem Sunday, August 7, 1955, thankfully rode well on the safe side of the ill winds that owned auto racing. The field included 22 top shoes such as Tim Flock's Chrysler 301 on the pole with teammate/brother Font outside in 300. Petty completed the Forsyth County sweep for 1955 in a new Dodge. Paschal was runner-up in the Helzafire Olds... [Herb] Thomas lost a clutch for 21st. [He] was returning after a vicious flip at Charlotte two months earlier, but his Yunick Hudson failed. Then, after 122 Hudson starts, 38 wins, and a Grand National title in that marque, Herb never raced a Hudson again. Mr. Hudson went Chevy and within a month, Herb and Smokey won their Southern 500. ~ pp. 178-179  

UNC Asheville student, William Tate, wrote a master's thesis about several old Carolina tracks - including a piece he researched on the fairgrounds race track.

Another track that came on the Grand National circuit from a local or state fairground was Forsyth County Fairgrounds in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Later known as Dixie Fairgrounds, the track was originally built for motorcycles and horse racing. Barbara Taylor asserts that, “the half-mile dirt oval was built circa 1929.” During the 1955 Grand National NASCAR season, two races were held at the fairgrounds. In fact, they were the only two strictly-stock events held at the track.

As NASCAR grew, local drivers that drove in smaller series began to drive on the top circuit. The other race ran at the Forsyth County Fairgrounds took place on August 7, 1955.  The Winston-Salem Journal stated that among the potential favorites for the upcoming race was, “(Billy) Myers, who dominates sportsman racing but has yet to win a strictly-stock, late model event.” Including Myers, other local entrants consisted of Lee Petty, Jim Paschal and Bob Welborn. According to the August 8th Winston Salem-Journal, 5,500 attended the race and saw Lee Petty once again beat Jim Paschal for the victory. Local racer Billy Myers finished 9th in the field. In only two races at the track, Lee Petty dominated 100% of the time.

As Tate noted, the fairgrounds were later renamed Dixie Fairgrounds. Racing ended in the early 1960s, but the Dixie Classic Fair has continued annually each October (web | Twitter).

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Edited August 6, 2014

August 5, 1962 - Jim Paschal Nabs Nashville

August 5, 1962:  In his second start of the season in a Petty Plymouth, Jim Paschal wins for the second time. Starting third, Paschal wins the Nashville 500 on a hot summer afternoon at Nashville's Fairgrounds Speedway. Teammate Richard Petty finished second.

Johnny Allen won the pole in his #46 Pontiac, and Petty started alongside him in second with a unique looking #43 on the side of his Plymouth.

In his book, Forty Years of Stock Car Racing - Volume 2, Greg Fielden writes:

...Paschal's smooth and steady pace netted a four lap victory in the sweltering Nashville 500.

The 35 year-old High Point, NC veteran poked the nose of his Petty Engineering Plymouth into the lead in the 203rd lap and was never headed in the wreck-marred 500 lapper. Three caution flags for a whopping 108 laps kept the winning average speed down to 64.469 mph.

Johnny Allen started on the pole for the third time in his career and led the first 46 laps. Petty and Paschal traded the lead for the rest of the race except for a 12 lap stint led by Buck Baker's Chrysler. Tire problems foiled Allen. A blown tire sent him to the pits while leading, which gave the lead to Petty. Allen got back out on the track and was hustling to make up lost time when another tire blew, sending his Holly Farms Pontiac into the wall.

Wendell Scott broke a spindle on lap 256 on his Chevrolet and ripped out 20 wooden fence posts. The caution flag was out for almost a half hour while track maintenance workers repaired the retainer barrier.

I found it interesting how times have changed. Rather than display the red flag and pause the race until track repairs could be completed as is often done today, NASCAR opted to have the drivers circulate under caution for what must have been a ridiculously agonizing 30 minutes. When the race resumed and the checkers fell, Paschal had led a whopping 307 laps of the race. Petty paced the field 135 laps, and Allen led his 46 laps to match his car number.

Nashville's Grand National races generally weren't widely covered by the motorsports media. The go-to sources I've begun to rely on for old articles for this series didn't provide a lot of value for this race. Instead, I went old school for this back-in-the day by trolling through microfilm of Nashville's local paper, The Tennessean, at Nashville's public library. What was reported in virtually every paper of the nation on August 6, 1962, was the death of America's premier sex symbol of the day.

Credit: The Tennessean

After winning the pole and leading 46 laps, Johnny Allen was likely frustrated with his tire issues and his DNF - especially with the muggy, middle Tennessee heat. But a month later in the Southern 500, I'm guessing Allen would have taken Nashville's 90s over the heat he endured at Darlington.


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August 4, 1963 - Paschal's Music City Triple Play

August 4, 1963: For the third consecutive year, Jim Paschal wins the Nashville 400 at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.

A couple of days before the race, starter Johnny Bruner and driver David Pearson posed for a promotional photo-op at Nashville's Mercury Motel. Pearson made his first of five career Nashville starts in the race.

Source: The Tennessean

Richard Petty won the pole in his familiar #43 Plymouth. 1960 NASCAR Grand National champion Rex White started alongside Petty. Paschal started third in a second Petty Engineering #42 Plymouth. Tiny Lund started sixth and featured prominently as a story line of the race. As noted in the following article from The Tennessean, Tiny essentially predicted the outcome of his own race with his remark "It's a good place for tearing up equipment."

Source: The Tennessean - August 4, 1963

By laying down quickest time, Petty got to choose his lane. He chose to start on the outside of row 1 alongside White. Eventual winner Paschal started third - on the inside of the second row.

For reasons not understood, Petty's car raced without a number on the driver's side door. Petty raced a #41 Plymouth in the previous race five nights earlier in Greenville, SC. Two nights before Greenville, the teams raced at Bristol where Petty battled Fred Lorenzen but finished 2nd in #43. Perhaps the team came to Nashville straight from Greenville and simply ran out of time to finish painting the 43 car - especially if the left side was used up a bit at Bristol. Who knows. But with numbers on the roof and trunk (and presumably the right side door) and the recognizable Petty blue base paint, I'm sure fans, track announcer and the crew had no trouble identifying the Randleman Rocket.

Source: The Tennessean

Russ Thompson is a life-long Nashvillian and is the unofficial historian of the speedway. He has forgotten more about what has occurred over the decades at the fairground than I'll ever care to know. A couple of years ago, he posted a blog entry about the 1963 race - much of which is excerpted below.

Twenty-one cars started the race, and it was a relatively star-studded field for the 39th race of a 55 race schedule... Starting third was Richard’s Petty Enterprises teammate Jim Paschal. Paschal was looking for his third consecutive win in the big summer race. Other big names in the field were Fred Lorenzen (on his way to the first $100,000 season in stock car racing history), defending series champion Joe Weatherly, Buck Baker, Ned Jarrett, Bobby Isaac, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, and ’63 Daytona 500 winner Tiny Lund. Local favorite Jimmy Griggs secured a ride for his hometown race.

Jim Paschal had taken the lead by using savvy pit strategy. Lund was still running well on lap 194 when his engine blew at the end of the back straight. As Lund’s car slid into the guard rail, he was hit by David Pearson. Pearson’s car pushed Lund’s on top of the railing, destroying two of the billboards that surrounded the track. Rex White was following close behind and ran under the rear of Lund’s car as it was on the guard rail, ripping the right front corner of the roof off just as if you’d used a giant can opener. White received lacerations on his arm that required stiches.

Lund’s car, after being hit in the rear where the gas tank was located, burst into flames with the nose of the car through the guard rail and the back pointing down the banking. Debris, smoke, and leaking fuel littered the track.

Lund was slow to crawl from the wreckage. Part of the reason was because, in spite of his nickname, Tiny Lund was a big man. He stood over 6 feet tall and weighed in at over 250 pounds. So his race car is on fire, he’s been through a harrowing crash, and he climbs out on top of a banked turn. The cars on the track have slowed for the wreckage and debris scattered across the track. As Lund stumbled down the banking, he staggered right into the side of the car driven by Cale Yarborough, putting a huge dent in the passenger door. Cale’s car owner, Herman Beam, wasn’t very happy with Cale when he brought the car back with a dented door that didn’t result from an accident with another car.

This series of photos gives a good sense of Tiny's violent accident.

Photo sequence source: The Tennessean - August 5, 1963

The crash scene viewed from a distance. (As an aside, I remember a mid 1970s ARCA race at Nashville when a car leaped the turn 1 wall just a few feet behind where Tiny hit. That driver also knocked down some of the billboards. But I digress...)

Photo courtesy of Steve Cavanah

And the efforts of a local towing service to haul Tiny's found-on-road-dead Ford out of Nashville's guardrail. Reckon Tiny had AAA coverage back then?

Photo courtesy of Steve Cavanah

Russ Thompson continued in his post:

Just 7 laps after the crash, as it has been known to do in Nashville on a hot summer day, an afternoon thunderstorm moved across the Fairgrounds, stopping the race for an hour and 24 minutes.

Between the red flag for the crash and another for rain, darkness was now an issue. Officials decided to stop the race after 350 laps. Jim Paschal scored his third straight Nashville 400 win, followed by Billy Wade, Joe Weatherly, Richard Petty, and Buck Baker.

Paschal not only won his third straight Nashville 400, but he also won all three in Petty cars. His wins in 1962 and 1963 were with Petty Engineering / Enterprises. Lee Petty's brother - Julian Petty - owned the #44 Pontiac Paschal drove to the first of his three straight wins in 1961.

Source: The Tennessean

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

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Edited August 3, 2014