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

July 3 - This day in Schaefer racing history

The Inaugural 1971 Schaefer 500
USAC Indy car race
Pocono International Raceway
Pocono, Pennsylvania
Winning driver: the late Mark Donohue
Full results: Racing-Reference.info

Program and scoring tower photos source: Permission from Frank Hadl at Picassa

Thanks for the pics Frank and especially for your service in Vietnam!

Source: Wikipedia

Source: Toledo Blade via Google News Archive

Source: First Schaefer 500 recap at Motorcaster

Some notables from July 3, 1971:

• Donohue's win was the first career Indy/Champ car win for car owner, Roger Penske. Gee, I wonder whatever happened to that guy.
• NASCAR interloper, Cale Yarborough, finished 32nd in a 33 car field.
• Another NASCAR regular, Donnie Allison, continued his dalliance with Indy cars and finished 18th.
• Bill Simpson finished 18th. He ended his racer career in 1977 and then turned to a career of innovative racing products. He founded Simpson Performance Products. His most controversial moment came when Simpson products were used in Dale Earnhardt's car when he died at Daytona in February 2001.
• For those who follow NASCAR's Silly Season on Jayski.com regularly like I do, Donohue was Jay's favorite driver back in the day.

TMC
Edited 2011-12-21: For video clips from the race, jump to this post.

June 30 - This day in Schaefer racing history

1974 Schaefer 500
USAC Indy car race
Pocono International Raceway
Pocono, Pennsylvania
Winning driver: "JR" Johnny Rutherford
Full results: Racing-Reference.info

TV commercial for the race.

Indianapolis 500 multi-time winner Bobby Unser captured the pole position. A trio of STP-sponsored drivers qualified second, third and fourth: Steve Krisiloff, Wally Dallenbach Sr. and Gordon Johncock. Race winner Rutherford lined up fifth.

Source: Lawrence Journal World via Google News Archive

Source: Reading Eagle via Google News Archive

Pre-race scoring pylon showing the top five starters of Unser (48), Krisiloff (60), Johncock (40), Dallenbach (20) and Rutherford (3).

Credit: Frank Hadl at Picassa
Thanks for the pics Frank and especially for your service in Vietnam!

Unser, Dallenbach, and Mario Andretti hogged most of the laps. The three of them combined to lead 171 of the race's 200 laps. Rutherford led 18 laps himself, however, including the final 13.

Rutherford's opportunity to take the lead came at the expense of others. Dallenbach had engine problems while leading with a baker's dozen laps to go, and Johncock ran out of gas while leading - though he did eke out a third place finish one lap down to Rutherford.

But as has been the case many times throughout the history of racing, it's often better to be lucky than good.

Source: The Hour via Google News Archive

Credit: Frank Hadl at Picassa

Source: Reading Eagle via Google News Archive

Some notables from June 30, 1974:

• Al Loquasto, who later drove a Schaefer-sponsored Buick in the 1981 Mountain Dew 500 NASCAR Cup race at Pocono, finished 11th.
• Sam Sessions finished 30th driving for legendary NASCAR innovator and trickster Smokey Yunick.
• Rookie Tom Bigelow finished 19th. No special trivia here. I just enjoy the thought of introducing myself as "Tom. Tom Bigelow. Yes, I'm just a Bigelow".
• Though the Pocono 500-mile race was only three years old, JR became the first driver to win the Indianapolis 500 and Schaefer 500 in the same season.

Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive

TMC
Edited June 28, 2014

June 29 - This day in Schaefer racing history

1975 Schaefer 500
USAC Indy car race
Pocono International Raceway
Pocono, Pennsylvania
Winning driver: "Super Tex" A.J. Foyt
Shortened by rain after 170 laps and 425 miles
Full results: Racing-Reference.info

Gordon Johncock won the pole in his #20 Pat Patrick-owned Wildcat. Foyt took the outside of the front row. Jerry Grant, Bobby Unser and Johnny Rutherford rounded out the top 5 starters. The start of the race was delayed two hours as rains pelted the track - a common occurrence for Pocono races.

Credit: Frank Hadl at Picassa
Thanks for use of the pic Frank and especially for your service in Vietnam!

The race was a competitive one with multiple drivers taking their turn at the front for a limited number of laps. Lap leaders included Johncock, Rutherford, Pancho Carter, and Mario Andretti. Each time a driver took the lead, however, it wasn't long before Super Tex passed them back for an extended stint.

Source: Reading Eagle archives June 30, 1975

When the day was done, A.J. tallied 115 laps as the leader. Johncock led the second most laps with 29 and was perhaps the only other car capable of hanging with Foyt for the win. But while running second and trying to overtake another car, Gordo simply lost it and backed it into the wall ending his day at lap 140.

The end of the race was affected the same way as the start of it - with rain. With 32 laps to go, showers returned to bring out the caution. Two laps later as it intensified, the race was called and Foyt was shown the checkered flag.

Credit: Frank Hadl at Picassa

Some notables from the race:

• Johncock's teammate, Wally Dallenbach finished 2nd. He is the father of Wally Dallenbach, Jr. who once raced in NASCAR (including for Petty Enterprises) and now works as a color announcer for TNT.
• Al Loquasto, who later drove a Schaefer Buick in the 1981 Mountain Dew 500 NASCAR Cup race at Pocono, finished 12th driving for himself.

Credit: jkracing50 at Flickr

• NASCAR's Bobby Allison, driving for Roger Penske, jumped the fire line to USAC Indy cars and finished 27th.
• Tom Bigelow finished 21st. No special trivia here - I just like saying "Bigelow".

Foyt arrives to a soggy victory lane with gloomy clouds still lingering above the track.

Source: Palm Beach Post via Google News Archive

Race highlights


TMC
Edited June 28, 2014

June 27 - This day in Schaefer racing history

1976 Schaefer 500
USAC Indy car race
Pocono International Raceway
Pocono, Pennsylvania
Winning driver: Al Unser, Sr.
Full results: UltimateRacingHistory.com

Some notables from the race:

• Unser's victory was his first win since 1974. I'm guessing Big Al thought nothing quenched a two-year drought better than a cold Schaefer.
• Wally Dallenbach finished 3rd. He is the father of Wally Dallenbach, Jr. who once raced in NASCAR (including for Petty Enterprises) and now works as a color announcer for TNT.
• Al Loquasto, who later drove a Schaefer Buick in the 1981 Mountain Dew 500 NASCAR Cup race at Pocono, finished 15th driving for himself.
• Johnny Parsons won the pole but finished 22nd in the race.  Ten years later, Parsons became part of the small Schaefer fraternity when he got a shot in a Schaefer / Machinists Union Indy car.

Photo courtesy of Russ Thompson

In scouring the web for information about the race, I ran across the blog Life of a Small Town Photographer. As fate would have it, he blogged about some of his experiences at the Pocono Indy races back in the 1970s. He was kind enough to give me permission to share his pictures for these next two trivia nuggets.

• A.J. Foyt, "Super Tex", had a Sucky Day and finished 31st out of 33 starters. I'm guessing this photo was made before the race vs. afterwards.

• Janet Guthrie, a racing pioneer as the first woman to drive in both the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500, finished 24th. On race day 1976, however, she had the unfortunate timing of being photographed next to the iconic Miss Hurst Shifter, Linda Vaughn.

The engine cowling cover for Unser's Cosworth engine...

Credit: brooklandsspeedway on Flickr

...and the nose of his American Racing Wheels sponsored Parnelli Jones chassis.

Credit: jkracing50 on Flickr

Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive

Race report from The Beaver County Times - including some candid language from Parnelli Jones about his former driver, Mario Andretti. Yowza.

I like this headline from the Spartanburg Herald better. The wording is more emblematic of some race day memories of the Schaefer Hall of Fame after a late Saturday night.

TMC
Edited June 26, 2014

June 26 - This day in Schaefer racing history

1977 Schaefer 500
USAC Indy car race
Pocono International Raceway
Pocono, Pennsylvania
Winning driver: Tom Sneva
Winning car owner: "The Captain" Roger Penske
Full results: UltimateRacingHistory.com

Super Tex A.J. Foyt knocked off fellow Texan Johnny Rutherford to capture the pole. After a week of sparring with track management, Foyt was boo'd - BOO'D - after laying down the quickest lap. The very popular Foyt had captured his fourth Indy 500 just a month or so earlier. So to hear boo-birds was quite the unexpected reception, but at least Super Tex recognized the jeers were from adults and not kids.

Source: The Evening News via Google News Archive

Flickr user jkracing50 has some great photos of Sneva from race weekend - including one of a shirtless, flip-flop wearing, jorts sportin', mullet head getting the chance to watch Tom pull into victory lane.

Credit jkracing50

Credit jkracing50

Credit jkracing50

Source: Spokane Daily Chronicle, July 27, 1977

Source for above two: Reading Eagle, July 27, 1977

Some notables from June 26, 1977:

• Joe Saldana finished 10th. Saldana is the father of Joey Saldana, current World of Outlaws driver.
• Al Loquasto, who later drove a Schaefer Buick in the 1981 Mountain Dew 500 NASCAR Cup race at Pocono, finished 28th driving for himself.
• George Snider completed a lousy one lap and finished 33rd - dead last - driving for Bobby Hillin. Yes, Hillin. As in Bobby Hillin, Sr. - father of future NASCAR rolling chicane driver, Bobby Hillin, Jr.

Source: Wilmington NC Star-News via Google News Archive

Sports Illustrated ran a feature article about Sneva's win ... and Foyt's antics ... in their July 4, 1977, issue. Unfortunately, the race's title sponsor received zero mentions. The 'sports magazine' erroneously referred to the race as the Pocono 500.

TMC
Edited June 26, 2014

June 25 - This day in Schaefer racing history

1978 Schaefer 500
USAC Indy car race
Pocono International Raceway
Pocono, Pennsylvania
Winner: Al Unser, Sr.
Full results: UltimateRacingHistory.com

Source: The Henry Ford Museum

Some notables from June 25, 1978:

• Al Loquasto, who later drove a Schaefer Buick in the 1981 Mountain Dew 500 NASCAR Cup race at Pocono, finished 9th.
• Joe Saldana finished 21st. Saldana is the father of Joey Saldana, current World of Outlaws driver.
• Bubby Jones finished 27th driving for Bobby Hillin. Yes, Hillin. As in Bobby Hillin, Sr. - father of future NASCAR rolling chicane driver, Bobby Hillin, Jr.

Source: Reading Eagle via Google News Archive

TMC
Edited June 24, 2014