May 19, 1975 - Dover's Mason-Dixon 500

The 12th race of the 30-race, NASCAR Winston Cup Series 1975 schedule was the Mason-Dixon 500 slated for Sunday, May 18th at Dover Downs International Speedway.

Coming off his fifth championship season in 1974 and third title in four seasons, Richard Petty kept the mojo rolling in '75. He'd already won five of the season's eleven races. And despite some engine hiccups in the Daytona 500, his STP Dodge had the strength to draft with Benny Parsons and help BP win it. Having won four times at Dover - including three of the track's first four Cup races between 1969 and 1971 - the King certainly ranked among the favorites to win once more.

David Pearson was also a previous Dover winner with three consecutive victories from 1972-1973. After three stellar seasons with the Wood Brothers from 1972-1974; however, Pearson had gone winless through the first third of the 1975 season. Though many believed he and the 21 team could contend for the win at Dover, it was anyone's guess if he would do so.

Having said that - and to the surprise of no one, Pearson plopped his Purolator Mercury on the pole. In seven previous Dover starts, Pearson had four poles and started no worse than fifth. Buddy Baker qualified second in Bud Moore's Ford. The King, Cale Yarborough, and Dick Brooks rounded out the top five starters. 

Darrell Waltrip laid down the eighth quickest time - and was perhaps aided by full flowing adrenalin. Ol' DW was a week removed from his first career Cup win at his home track, Nashville's fairgrounds speedway.

As the race got underway, Pearson seized the hole shot and led the first ten laps. Once Baker got Bud's Ford wound up though, he roared past Pearson and led the next eleven laps.

When the first caution flew around lap 20, the leaders hit pit road for an early stop. Good ol' Coo Coo Marlin stayed on the track and found himself scored as the leader for a handful of laps. After he surrendered the lead to pit and the race returned the green, Baker went back to the point - but only for a lap. 

Fourth place starter Yarborough in his white, Junior Johnson Monte Carlo - recently adorned with Holly Farms Chicken as a sponsor - shot past Baker to grab the top spot. Yarborough had won the previous year's Mason-Dixon 500 after leading 200+ laps but winning only because the King inexplicably ruptured an engine while leading with three laps to go. 

Credit: Lee Greenawalt

Once out front, Cale found his groove and intended to make short work of the the 500-mile marathon. He led a stretch of 70+ laps before making an emergency stop for a cut tire. As he pitted, Pearson took over for a couple of laps before the handling suddenly soured forcing him to pit road as well.

Benny Parsons, who'd started way back in 23rd spot, had worked his way into the top 10 during the first 100 laps and found himself out front as Cale and Pearson made their stops. Ten laps later, rain arrived.

Cale returned to the attention of his crew as did Pearson, Petty, and pretty much everyone else. Parsons, however, stayed on track. Light rain persisted, the field continued under caution, and BP remained in the lead lap after lap after slow lap.

NASCAR wasn't quite ready to stop the race and instead allowed the field to continue circling the track. As the average race pace fell precipitously, the Wood Brothers crew had plenty of time to diagnose their handling woes. As it turns out, the 21 had a broken shock mount. Over the next 30 laps, Pearson pitted eleven times to make the needed repair.

After those 30 laps when the rain wouldn't relent and Parsons wouldn't pit, NASCAR threw in the towel for the day. When the red flag was displayed, soggy fans headed for the parking lots as the cars headed for the garage at lap 140 - well short of halfway and an official race.

Source: Wilmington Morning News

Drivers, crews, and much of the crowd returned on Monday to give it another go. Parsons picked up where he left off on Sunday afternoon by leading the opening five laps of chapter two - albeit under caution before the race returned to green. Pearson had new life after believing his handling issues were resolved by replacing the broken shock mount. And Cale looked to remind the field that despite the overnight delay he still had the the car to beat.

Instead of returning to his dominating way, Yarborough struggled throughout the new day. He didn't lead another lap and puked a motor just before lap 300. Shortly before Cale's exit, Petty had his own issues - though they didn't result in a DNF as happened to Yarborough.

Independent Dean Dalton blew a right front tire and spun into the fence between turns one and two. Rather than go low, Petty guessed Dalton may slide down the track and took the high line. The King then whipped his wheel hard left but nonetheless clipped Dalton and slid himself to the muddy apron. Safety crews pushed the 43 from the mud but not before Petty had lost valuable track position. He fell further behind as the Petty Enterprises crew made a few battlefield repairs. Though he soldiered on, the four time Dover winner could only muster a third place finish, ten laps down to the winner.

As the race made its way into the second half on the second day, Parsons' #72 Monte Carlo continued to hang with Pearson's Mercury. Pearson led big chunks of laps, but Parsons occasionally made his way back out front.

With 140 to go, however, Parsons suffered the same fate as Yarborough: engine failure. Buddy Baker inherited P2 with Parsons out of the picture. Yet he too lost an engine - but in more spectacular fashion than Parsons or Yarborough. With about 30 laps to go, Baker's engine let go as he sailed through turn one. His Ford swapped ends, it side slapped the wall, and flames erupted from underneath the car as Baker rolled down the banking to a stop.

With virtually every other name driver out of the race, Pearson led the final 140 laps and won by seven laps over second place Cecil Gordon. The P2 was a career best for the independent race who later worked for Richard Childress Racing during Dale Earnhardt's Goodwrench era.

As Pearson celebrated his 85th career Cup win, fourth Dover victory, and first of 1975, a reporter asked him how his motor lasted the full 500 miles when much of his competition broke one engine after another. The Silver Fox replied "I guess they didn't have the right oil filter."

Audio of Universal Racing Network's radio broadcast of the race is available on Appalachian State's library website. 

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

TMC

April 29, 1973 - Martinsville's Virginia 500

The ninth race of NASCAR's 1973 Winston Cup season was the Virginia 500 at the iconic Martinsville Speedway.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

Two weeks earlier, David Pearson won the Rebel 400 at Darlington. After the tour skipped the next weekend for Easter, Pearson picked up where he left off by winning the pole at Martinsville in the Wood Brothers Mercury. 

Donnie Allison qualified alongside Pearson in the #88 DiGard Chevy. Independent Cecil Gordon timed third - a start that was his second career best and topped only by a P2 start at Bristol a few weeks earlier. Bobby Allison and Richard Petty rounded out the top five starters.

The King made his first Martinsville start in a Dodge. A year earlier at Martinsville, Petty Enterprises announced Petty would begin a switch from Plymouth to Dodge. The 43 team continued to run a Plymouth on short tracks the rest of 1972 and began using the Dodge Charger on superspeedways. The team went all-in with the Charger in 1973.  

The year got off to a pretty good start with three wins in the first eight races - including King's fourth Daytona 500 victory. The team, however, also had three DNFs due to engine failures in that same time span.

When the green dropped, Pearson hugged the inside and led the first 60 or so laps. The Allisons never had a shot at keeping pace with him. Bobby fell out on lap 31 with engine woes followed by Donnie about 15 laps later with a similar issue.

Sixth place starter Cale Yarborough's engine, however, was just fine. After Pearson's initial stint, Cale went to the point and paced the field for 311 of the next 333 laps.

As short a day as the Allison's had, Richard Brown's day was even worse. The independent driver lost power after only 15 laps and loaded his car for the trip home. Brown himself wasn't done though - but perhaps he should have been. Fellow independent Ed Negre needed a relief driver around the midpoint of the race, and Brown belted in to the #8 Mercury to assist. Shortly after returning to the track, however, Brown stuck the car in the fence. 

Credit: Bryant McMurray / UNC Charlotte Murrey Atkins Library

The official reason for Negre's DNF was "suspension", but it's unclear if the suspension failure happened before or after Brown walloped the wall. Two years later, Negre put another driver with far less experience than Brown in his car at Charlotte. That driver was Dale Earnhardt who made his Cup debut in the 1975 World 600.

Edit: Negre's son, Norman Negre recalled this great story from that day via Twitter.

Dad was driving. It started smoking, and he came in and tried to fix it. He then went to the garage and told me to fix it. Valve covers were cracked, and I replaced them. Then I couldn’t find Dad. Richard was out of the race so I asked him to make a lap see if the smoke was gone. He stuck it right in the wall.

I walked around to the car. Richard got out and said the throttle stuck. Walking back to the pits, Dad was standing there with his arms crossed - mad - and he started chewing me out. Richard said "Ed, it’s not his fault. The throttle stuck."

Dad said "It’s been sticking. I’ve been flipping the switch all day." I said "you didn’t tell me the throttle had been sticking, Besides that, where were you???" He said "I was in the bathroom." His story is he was sitting there, heard the wreck, and then "Ed Negre is in the wall!!!" Dad thinks to himself "I’m in the bathroom. They must have the wrong guy."

That’s the story why Richard Brown was driving the car at Martinsville!

As Cale led lap after lap, Pearson's day started to come unwound. Around the time Brown shortened up Negre's car, Pearson's gas cap came off - a safety no-no. For a few decades, NASCAR has mandated a dump can connection system. In the early 1970s, however, teams still used conventional filler necks and gas caps which had to remain in place. The loss of Pearson's gas cap resulted in an unscheduled stop and loss of a lap to Yarborough. Shortly thereafter, Pearson lost a second lap when he cut a tire and made another unscheduled stop.

About the time Yarborough's long stretch of leading ended for a moment, Petty's day ended for good. The King had won 11 of the previous 14 races at Martinsville, but the Dodge debut didn't go well. Instead of adding a fourth win to his 1973 resume, the record books reflect a fourth DNF due to engine failure.

Credit: Bryant McMurray / UNC Charlotte Murrey Atkins Library

Pearson earned back one of his two laps under a caution, but Yarborough's dominance began to suggest he would not get a shot at unlapping himself a second time. But then...

As Cale was prepared to make a green flag stop, the seventh yellow flag of the day flew. The caution was needed to allow an ambulance to cross the track with a fan showing signs of heat stroke, a heart attack or some related medical emergency. 

Yarborough and car owner Junior Johnson were incensed at the timing of the caution. Though they likely didn't have all the facts at the moment, they believed the timing was suspect and were beyond frustrated that NASCAR didn't give the teams a heads-up so they could plan pit strategy accordingly.

Pearson was able to get back on the lead lap during the caution but still needed to get around Yarborough to take the lead. Twenty or so laps later, he did just that. As it did to start the race, the #21 Mercury led another sizable stretch of laps until about 60 laps to go. 

Following the final caution of the day, Yarborough got the jump on Pearson as the racing resumed. He led a lap but then washed up in turn one allowing Pearson to slide back under him for the lead. For the rest of the day, Cale's #11 Chevy rolled in the tire tracks of Pearson in an effort to close a race in which he'd dominated.

Credit: Bryant McMurray / UNC Charlotte Murrey Atkins Library

With about eight laps to go, Yarborough made his final move. He dove to Pearson's inside, but he clipped the grass and spun. By the time he gathered his car to head in the right direction, he was a half-lap behind. Pearson cruised the rest of the way to notch his 70th career win - and his only one at Martinsville.

His win earned the Wood Brothers their second Martinsville victory. In a coincidental bit of trivia, their first one was claimed in 1968 with Yarborough at the wheel with Pearson finishing second in his Holman Moody Ford.

Cale could not be convinced he gave back two laps to Pearson with the way he ran all day. And to add insult to injury, the trophy presented to him for leading the most laps was from the Dogwood 500 modified race scheduled a month earlier. The race had been rained out and rescheduled for May, and the track may have mixed the trophies following April's Cup race. One has to wonder if Jerry Cook got Cale's trophy when he led the most laps en route to winning the modified race.

Credit: Bryant McMurray / UNC Charlotte Murrey Atkins Library

Source: Spartanburg Herald

TMC

April 1, 1973 - Atlanta 500

NASCAR's 1973 Winston Cup season opened with wins by its heavy hitters, although one was a veteran of only five Cup starts. 

• Mark Donohue - a superstar driver but with only a handful of NASCAR starts - won the season opening race on Riverside, California's road course giving Roger Penske his first win as a NASCAR Cup owner. 
• Richard Petty won the next two races - the Daytona 500 and Richmond 500.
• David Pearson dominated the Carolina 500 at Rockingham by leading 491 of 492 laps.
• Cale Yarborough topped Pearson by one lap by leading all 500 laps of the Southeastern 500 at Bristol. 

The circuit remained in the south for the sixth race of the season, the Atlanta 500, at Atlanta International Raceway.

 

As has frequently been the case at Atlanta over the decades, the story of the first couple of days of race week was rain. The first round of qualifying was scheduled for Thursday, but rain negated all on-track activities. The drivers returned Friday, and the cars were pushed to pit road even though the prospects of completing the round seemed bleak. Sure enough, rain arrived again after only a couple of cars made their laps. The rest of the day was scratched as was the final attempt on Saturday. 

Unlike today's era where NASCAR has an established policy for setting a race's line-up when qualifying cannot be held, no such procedure existed in 1973. Instead, NASCAR divided the entrants into two buckets and randomly drew the starting order from each. The first group included the 17 drivers NASCAR viewed as the quickest. Not so coincidentally, the "quickest" also included the most popular drivers, those most likely to win, those with more prominent sponsors, etc. 

The remaining entrants were put in a second drawing which didn't exactly go over well with some of the group who believed they deserved consideration for the first group. The driver most notably upset about the ad-hoc process was a rookie originally from Owensboro, Kentucky named Darrell Waltrip.

Waltrip was especially bent after drawing the 39th starting spot and thinking he should have started no worse than 17th. Through some off-track dealing with another driver, Waltrip took the green flag from the 18th spot. 

Following the draw, NASCAR official Lin Kuchler acknowledged Waltrip should have been in the first group. Once the line-up was set though, it was too late to make the change. To borrow a line from Goodfellas: 

We had a problem, and we tried to do everything we could. And we couldn't do nothing about it. That's it.

Source: The Tennessean

As the drivers found ways to spend three days watching rain, The King made some use of his extra time. He crafted makeshift heel pads for his boots from a Styrofoam cup. Petty burned his heels the previous Sunday as he pursued Cale all day at Bristol.

With that, Richard ... dismounted from the big, Petty-blue tractor cab, heading for the track's infield restaurant, the Caution Café, where the lunch menu offered country fried steak, turnip greens and cherry cobbler for only $2. Petty limped as he walked, favoring his right leg.

"Yep," he said, "burned my heel good up at Bristol, Tennessee last weekend. Engine exhaust through the floorboards. Nothin' I could do about it - it was like some cat was down there with a blowtorch, treatin' me to a blister. A lot of folks, they sort of think race drivers aren't athaletes, that the car does all the work. Now in a pro football game, the ball's in play for only about six or seven minutes, and there's two squads to split the time, offense and defense. A race driver's workin' for three or four hours with no time-outs, and his life is on the line every second. Oh, they get bunged up good, those ballplayers, but I don't believe they ever get a hotfoot like this un."

Then, while the rain still poured down on the blossoming dogwoods of northwest Georgia, Richard cut out a couple of pads from a Styrofoam coffee cup to protect his sore heel and sat back to await [Andy] Granatelli's arrival. If he winced at all while he waited, it was probably his heel talking. - Sports Illustrated

USAC Indy Car regular Gordon Johncock drew the top starting spot. Johncock piloted Hoss Ellington's Chevy with a one-time, unique sponsor: L'eggs panty hose. Bobby Isaac started second in Bud Moore's Ford. Jim Vandiver, Yarborough, and Benny Parsons rounded out the top five starters.

Isaac, Yarborough, and Parsons were regular NASCAR competitors and consistently ran up front. Ellington's car was always quick even though its Atlanta driver had few NASCAR starts on his resume. Vandiver, however, wasn't neither a Cup regular or a consistently quick car. Yet he was included in the 17-driver group for the first drawing. His inclusion, along with a couple of others, likely added to DW's bitterness of having to sit at the kid's table for the second drawing. 

The driver with whom Waltrip swapped spots was Charles Barrett who was making his Cup debut. Barrett, a Georgia late model racer, started the race in a George Elliott-owned #09 Ford. A few years later, Elliott began fielding Fords with his sons, Bill, Ernie, and Dan.

When the race got underway on a rainless Sunday afternoon, Yarborough was the early lap bully. He seized the lead on lap one and pulled the field around the 1.5 mile oval for the next 40 laps. Pearson, Petty, and Isaac then took turns at the point before Cale returned to lead another 30 laps or so. 

Pearson began to tip the laps led ledger a bit more his way as he led a stretch of 43 of 50 laps as the race neared the one-third mark.

As Pearson and Yarborough jousted at the front, Petty hung around with plans to seize the lead again if the top two couldn't hang at the front. Instead, it was the 43's engine that left the party early. Petty puked a motor a few laps shy of halfway. His STP Dodge swapped ends, and he drilled the guardrail as former teammate Buddy Baker and Waltrip spun behind him. Petty nearly sailed over the fence and seemed headed for nearby McDonough, GA as Baker and Waltrip continued. 

With the King out of the picture, the Timmonsville Flash and Silver Fox continued to wage battle over the next 100 laps. For the most part, neither driver could hold the lead for more than a few laps before the other returned to the point. 

As the race entered its final triad, Yarborough's Chevrolet gained the upper hand. He overtook Pearson and returned to the lead with about 100 laps to go and stayed there for the next 40+ laps.

With just a bit more than 50 laps to go, however, Yarborough blew a hammy - in a manner of speaking. Smoke began to bellow from his car, and he faded from the front. Pearson once again reassumed the lead, and he cruised the remaining laps in his Wood Brothers Mercury to capture his 68th career victory. 

Isaac finished the day as he started it - in second place. Parsons finished third - a finish that paid big dividends as he eventually won the 1973 Winston Cup title. Baker recovered from the spin in Petty's wreck to finish fourth in his Harry Hyde-prepared Dodge. And despite all his late race woes, Yarborough still managed to hang around long enough to eke out a P5.

Other finishers of note:

• After winning the season-opener at Riverside, the Atlanta race turned out to be Mark Donahue's final Cup start. He finished a less-than-memorable 30th after losing an engine. Sadly, he died two years later following an accident during a practice session for the Austrian Grand Prix.
• The race was also the final Cup start for Pete Hamilton, the 1968 NASCAR Grand National Rookie of the Year. Hamilton won three races in 1970 - all in the #40 Petty Enterprises Plymouth Superbird - and his 125-mile qualifying race for the Daytona 500 in 1971 for long-time owner Cotton Owens. He continued to be involved in motorsports over the years - particularly with southern late model drivers.
• Charles Barrett finished 18th in his Cup debut - right where he would have started had he not traded spots with Waltrip. 

Source: Atlanta Constitution

TMC

March 19, 1967 - Bristol's Southeastern 500

The seventh race of the 1967 NASCAR Grand National season was the Southeastern 500 at Bristol International Speedway. The Bristol-then was a far cry from Bristol-now. The track name, seating capacity, and most important to most - the track surface - was completely different than they are in 2021. 

The six races of the season were won by a Who's Who of Racing with Hall of Fame names such as Fast Freddy Lorenzen, The King Richard Petty, Mario Andretti, and Dan Gurney. As the teams pulled into East Tennessee, however, 1966 Rookie of the Year driver James Hylton sat atop the points. 

Despite winning ROTY, finishing third in the 1967 Daytona 500, and leading the points, Hylton's arrival at Bristol wasn't a sure thing. His partner in their independent racing organization decided the costs were simply too prohibitive to continue. With no one to share the burden - including no factory support from Dodge, Hylton was at a crossroads. 

After working out an exit plan with his partner though, the points leader did tow to Bristol in an effort to keep things afloat as long as he could. Unfortunately, Hylton's challenges continued as he fell out of the race with over 100 laps to go.

Source: Greenville News

Darel Dieringer captured the pole in Junior Johnson's Ford, and Lorenzen lined up alongside him in his pearl white #28 Holman Moody Ford. The King qualified third, and Dick Hutcherson timed fourth. Independent G.C. Spencer rounded out the top five starters.

Famed Baltimore Colts quarterback, Johnny Unitas, served as the grand marshal for the race. His appearance at Bristol prefaced his fantastic 1967 season as he later captured the NFL's Most Valuable Player award for the season.

Dieringer led the first two laps before Petty took over to lead four laps. As the King led, Joe Edd Neubert had himself a handful in his first NASCAR GN race. He spun in front of the race leader leaving Petty little room. The King went as high as he could and scraped between Neubert's car and the guardrail. Though he narrowly slipped by, a cut tire two laps later (presumably from the incident) sent Petty into the fence and onto the trailer. 

With Ol' Blue done for the day, Hutcherson moved out front on lap seven and kept all challengers at bay until lap 54. Jim Paschal forced his way by Hutch and pulled the field for about the next 60 laps.

David Pearson soon took his Cotton Owens Dodge to the point. He led until lap 189 before surrendering his lead to Dieringer. For the next 300 laps or so, fans enjoyed a great battle between Hutch, Dieringer, and Cale Yarborough. All led sizable chunks of laps as Pearson stayed in the mix with the trio.

With 18 laps to go and the checkered flag within reach, Dick Hutcherson had stretched his lead to a full lap on Yarborough and two laps over third place Pearson. But as Ray Wylie Hubbard sings in Mother Blues, love and fate are mysterious things in this funky old world.

Hutch suddenly blew an engine in his Ford and just like that was done after having led 209 laps. When green flag returned, Cale was back in the lead with a one-lap advantage over Pearson and pulling away. But then like Hutch, he too fell into a pit of misfortune. His Wood Brothers Ford ran over some debris causing the #21 to blow a tire.

With so few laps remaining and a full-lap lead over second place, Cale opted to stay on track in an attempt to run the rest of the race on the tire's inner liner. Pearson gave chase to get to Cale, pass him, make up his lap, and pass the 21 again. He accomplished just that within a few laps and continued on to a welcomed but unexpected win. 

Pearson's 29th career win was his first of five victories at Bristol. Hutcherson would coincidentally serve as Pearson's crew chief in his Holman Moody years, and Pearson of course later piloted the Wood Brothers car that Yarborough occupied in 1967.

Source: Charlotte News

TMC

January 16, 1977 - Winston Western 500

The first race of the 1977 NASCAR Cup season was the annual event on Riverside International Raceway's nine-turn road course. In a change from prior races, the 1977 season opener was a 500 kilometer race vs. 500 miles. The change lopped off about 200 miles and a couple of hours.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

Cale Yarborough started from the pole in Junior Johnson's Holly Farms Chicken Chevrolet. David Pearson joined him on the front row in the Wood Brothers' Purolator Mercury. Darrell Waltrip, Jimmy Insolo, and Dave Marcis rounded out the top five starters. 

Waltrip was entering his second full season with the DiGard Gatorade #88 team. Though the results to-date had been hit and miss - largely because of constant turmoil within the team's ownership and leadership, Ol' DW was entering his salad days that continued until the mid 80s. 

Crew member Gary Nelson rode the rise with Waltrip. After having worked with Ivan Baldwin's west coast race team, Nelson joined DiGard in the offseason. The 1977 opener at Riverside was Nelson's first race as a Cup team member. Nelson, of course, grew to have a phenomenal career with teams such as DiGard, Hendrick Motorsports, and SABCO Racing. He did so despite starting his career looking a bit like actor Owen Wilson.

Pearson entered 1977 after having a dominant - though limited - 1976 season in the Woods' 21 Mercury. Although the team did not run the full schedule for the championship, Pearson won 10 times in 22 starts - including both Riverside races. As the new season began, he picked up right where he left off with the 1976 roadies by leading lap one of the 1977 race.

Pearson may have won 10 races, but Yarborough won the 1976 title. He too was ready to continue excellence into the new year. Cale  roared back by Pearson on lap two, and he quickly set the pace for the race.  

After Pearson led lap one and Yarborough flashed across the line to lead lap two, Bobby Allison must have decided it was his time to shine...or maybe not. After racing for Roger Penske in 1976, Allison returned to his own team with an AMC Matador. He qualified a respectable eighth but grenaded an engine on the fourth lap. His red-white-blue car suddenly had orange flames added to the sides as he headed for the sand to extinguish the flames.

Source: Newport News Daily Press

Yarborough dominated the race and led every lap through lap 103 when disaster struck. With a five-second lead over Pearson and only 16 laps to go, Cale committed a mental mistake and got off into the sand. He looped his Chevrolet allowing Pearson to catch and then pass him, but Yarborough managed to straighten his car and returned to the track in in hot pursuit. 

Cale couldn't, however, make up the lost distance. Pearson led the remaining laps and won his third consecutive Riverside race as Yarborough finished nine seconds behind him in second. Richard Petty, Marcis, and west coast racer Sonny Easley completed the top five finishers.

The victory was win #98 for Pearson. Not only was the win his third consecutive one at Riverside, but it was also his fourth consecutive California win. He also won the 1976 season ending race at Ontario Motor Speedway.

Source: LA Times

TMC

Nashville's 1975 Winston 200

Nashville Speedway opened its 1975 season with the 200-lap Winston Salute To America 200 for NASCAR's national Late Model Sportsman division.

Track promoter, Bill Donoho, landed a field of NASCAR's top national LMS drivers including Neil Bonnett, Jack Ingram, Butch Lindley, Tiny Lund, L.D. Ottinger, and Morgan Shepherd.

Several local and area racers entered as well including 1974 Nashville LMS champ Jimmy Means, James Climer, Alton Jones, Rod Stillings, Dorris Vaughn, Paddlefoot Wales, and promising rookie P.B. Crowell III. Fans also enjoyed the return of old school, Nashville veterans Bob Burcham, Freddy Fryar, Coo Coo Marlin.

Donoho made a promotional effort to move the needle even further in his favor by recruiting Cup drivers Buddy Baker, Cale Yarborough, and Darrell Waltrip. The Cup schedule provided a break between Darlington and Martinsville, and the trio came to middle Tennessee with the promise of a little extra pocket change.

Source: The Tennessean

Butch Lindley set a track record and won the pole - but was then disqualified. In response to noise concerns (an issue the track still faces today with loads of new neighbors), the track implemented a rule requiring mufflers on the car. Lindley's car did not have one nor did Ingram, Ottinger, or Waltrip. All were allowed to add a muffler and re-qualify.

After the round of do-overs, Jones won the right to start first. Waltrip lined up alongside him in R.C. Alexander's #84 Ford.

Donoho's promotional efforts were rewarded as the grandstands were packed for the season opener. Unfortunately, however, the race did not live up to the pre-race hype based on the heavy hitters in the line-up.

First, three-time defending national LMS champion Ingram, failed to make the race because of a faulty distributor. Following the start of the race, Baker wrecked just a half-lap into the event. On the subsequent restart, Waltrip and Jones crashed while battling for the lead off turn four, and Yarborough piled into them. The Cup trio and Jones rejoined the race, but all had loaded their cars on the trailers by lap 20. The casualties continued including:

• Bonnett - quarter-mark
• Coo Coo - halfway
• Shepherd - competitive, but not behind and wrecked while pushing to make up lost distance

Ottinger remained well away from everyone else's trouble and built a comfortable lead. Other than a caution with about 60 laps to go to close the field, the remaining racers presented little challenge to Ottinger. He walked the dawg on 'em and won easily over second place Lund.

Lindley recovered from his rules-snafu to finish fourth, and Crowell notched a solid sixth in his racing debut. After earning rookie of the year honors in 1975, he joined rookies Mike Alexander, Sterling Marlin, and Dennis Wiser in 1976 as a quartet of hot shoes branded the Kiddie Corps.

Speaking of Alexander, he enjoyed the spoils of victory the same night as Ottinger. Driving for his father and Waltrip's LMS car owner that night, R.C. Alexander, Mike pocketed his first career victory by winning the 50-lap limited sportsman division preliminary race on Nashville's quarter-mile track.

Courtesy of Mike Alexander

Source: The Tennessean

Waltrip returned to Nashville the Cup race three weeks after the season opener. He captured his first career Cup win in the Music City 420 in his own #17 Chevrolet with crew chief Jake Elder.

Lund made his first start at the fairgrounds since the May 1972 Mr. D's 200 Grand National East race. After two decades of part-time seasons in NASCAR's Cup, Convertible, Grand Touring / Grand American, and Grand National East divisions, Tiny planned to race as many national LMS races as possible in an effort to win the title. Sadly, Lund died in a savage accident during the Talladega 500 in August 1975.

Ottinger won Nashville's 1975 season-opener and captured another signature track victory by winning the Permatex Southern 400 in September with an assist from Waltrip. 

Alexander advanced to Nashville's LMS ranks in 1976. With multiple wins at his home track and others across many southern states, Alexander got several Cup opportunities. His greatest break came as the replacement in the Miller High Life Buick in mid-1988 following Bobby Allison's accident and head injuries at Pocono. Unfortunately, Alexander suffered head injuries of his own at the Snowball Derby in Pensacola in December 1988. Though he returned for a handful of Cup races over the next couple of years, he officially retired in 1992.

TMC

October 7, 1973 - National 500

The next to last event of the 28-race 1973 Winston Cup season was the National 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The 1973 schedule is tied with 1985 for the fewest Cup races in the modern era.

The primary story line entering the race was the tight points battle going on between Richard Petty's pursuit of this third consecutive title, Cale Yarborough, independents James Hylton and Cecil Gordon, and the underdog contender Benny Parsons. But Charlotte's race weekend ended up having plenty of unexpected, supplemental story lines.

Fred Lorenzen abandoned Hoss Ellington's Chevrolet in late 1972 after deeming the car as non-competitive. Ellington phoned Charlie Glotzbach to offer him a handful of rides during the season, and Glotzbach accepted the challenge.

Chargin' Charlie wore out the field on the first day of qualifying day to claim the pole. David Pearson who may have held a bit back during practice ended up laying down the quickest lap before Glotzbach's run knocked him off the pole. Afterwards, Glotzbach said to the media "I didn't figure on Pearson running that fast. I thought the man I had to beat was Cale. That Pearson must have been sandbagging." Yarborough qualified third followed by Bobby Allison and Petty.

Rapid fire, up-to-the-minute, news blurbs are available at our fingertips today via Twitter. Back in the day, however, folks (at least South Carolinians) had Gene Granger’s notes columns – including an ooh that had to hurt yet funny update on Marty Robbins.

On Saturday as final tech inspections and qualifying began, NASCAR uttered the words made famous by Lee Corso on ESPN: Not so fast my friend. Inspectors determined Ellington's team had monkeyed with the required carburetor restrictor plate.

Glotzbach's pole-winning time was disallowed, and he was forced to re-qualify in the last session. Though fastest in the session, he had to start his #28 Chevy in 36th position.

Source:  Spartanburg Herald-Journal via Google News Archive

David Pearson was elevated from second to the top starting spot with Cale alongside him. With Pearson up front, he and the Wood Brothers' #21 Purolator Mercury began a streak of 11 consecutive poles at Charlotte stretching to the 1978 National 500. Bobby Allison was moved to third and Richard Petty to fourth.

Starting 17th in Junie Donlavey’s #90 Truxmore Ford was an established Carolina late model hot shoe making his Cup debut: Handsome Harry Gant. As Gant readied for his first Cup start, another legendary driver was making his final one.

Wendell Scott made a return from a savage wreck at Talladega several weeks earlier to make one final start. He put Doc Faustina’s #5 Kmart Dodge Charger in the field in 38th starting spot.

The field lined up and ready for the green.

Glotzbach's weekend went from good to bad to worse. After winning - and then losing - the pole, he then crashed coming out of turn 4 on lap 47. Pearson plowed right into Glotzbach, and the pole winner's day was done. Darrell Waltrip who was still looking to make a favorable impression upon car owner Bud Moore also found himself collected in the melee. Cale and Richard dodged the accident and continued on to the finish.

Cale dominated about two-thirds of the race in Junior Johnson’s #11 Kar Kare Chevy. He led 257 of the race’s 334 laps. Though he and Petty swapped the lead from time to time, The King led only 52 laps and finished second to Yarborough – the only other car on the lead lap.

Cale held on and went to victory lane. Colbert Seagraves, son of R.J. Reynolds' executive Ralph Seagraves, joined the Junior Johnson team in victory lane and got the opportunity to hold the winner’s trophy.

Source: Colbert Seagraves

Gant finished a respectable 11th in his Cup debut, and Wendell Scott went out on a high note. He rallied from 38th starting spot to finish 12th. Parsons finished fourth and held a slim points lead heading into the final race of the season at Rockingham - a race in which he experienced a career of highs and lows in one day.

Dick Trickle finished fifth in his only Cup start of 1973 and just his third career start. He raced a #1 Richard Howard-owned Chevy and a teammate of sorts to Yarborough.

Long-time hard charger Buddy Baker completed 228 of 334 laps. During the race, NASCAR officials informed Baker's crew chief Harry Hyde that they planned to inspect the #71 Dodge's restrictor plate after the race. Hyde and car owner Nord Krauskopf said "nope". They ordered Baker to park the car, and the team left CMS. Consequently, NASCAR DQ'd Baker and placed him 41st, last in the running order.

Source:  Spartanburg Herald-Journal

Allison finished third in his self-owned Chevy but raised a ruckus as soon as the checkered flag fell. He paid a $100 fee and protested the cars of Yarborough and Petty. Allison believed their engines may have been oversized or something else was amiss allowing them to generate more HP than his engine. NASCAR insisted all cars were going to be checked despite Allison's protest.

Source:  Spartanburg Herald-Journal

CMS president and promoter Richard Howard was very vocal in his support of Cale as the winner. His support was certainly expected. After all, Howard just happened to be the listed car owner of Yarborough's Chevy (as well as for Trickle's fifth-place car).

A day later, NASCAR conceded its inspection process could use some improvements. Yet, they refunded Allison his protest fee and said the finishing order would stand. The race was the tenth of 31 times that King and Cale finished in the top two spots.

Source:  Spartanburg Herald-Journal

TMC