April 7, 1966 - Columbia 200

NASCAR's Grand National teams arrived in South Carolina for a Thursday night rumble. The Columbia 200 was held on the venerable, half-mile, dirt Columbia Speedway.

Curtis Turner debuted Ford's Fairlane the previous weekend at Hickory Speedway - a debut that came with a bit of controversy after NASCAR DQ'd Turner and the Fairlane two races earlier at Bristol. 

Ford had greater plans than just the introduction of a new body style. As an answer to Chrysler's Hemi engine, Ford rolled out it's single overhead cam engine - the SOHC. After a good bit of back and forth in the early part of the season, NASCAR finally approved the new engine - but with a caveat. The Ford factory teams could run the engine but with an additional 400 pounds of weight.

NASCAR's announced its ruling Wednesday, April 6 - the day before the race at Columbia. Race day or not, Ford did not take the decision lightly. Ford reacted by immediately parking their factory-supported cars meaning race fans would not see the following drivers race for the foreseeable future:

• Cale Yarborough with Banjo Matthews
• Fred Lorenzen and Dick Hutcherson with Holman Moody
• Ned Jarrett with Bondy Long
• Bobby Issac with Junior Johnson
• Curtis Turner and Marvin Panch with the Wood Brothers

Source: Charlotte News

Yet as they say, the show must go on. It did in 1965 without Dodge and Plymouth. And it did so again in 1966 without the Blue Oval drivers - starting at Columbia.

Tiger Tom Pistone won the pole - coincidentally in a Ford though Tiger's car was an independent operation rather than a factory-backed team. Pistone's qualifying effort rewarded him with his second of five career poles.

J.T. Putney joined Pistone on the front row. The effort resulted in a career-best starting position for Putney - an effort he matched two more times, both later in 1966. Buddy Baker, John Sears, and Stick Elliott rounded out the somewhat surprising top five starters.

Richard Petty had quite the adventurous night at the track on which he'd win eight times between 1963 and 1971. He leapt the guardrail during qualifying and left the track. The Dale Inman-led crew thrashed on the car to get it race ready from the 18th starting spot in the 24-car field.

Pistone set out to let folks know his fast qualifying speed was no fluke. He seized the lead at the start and led the first 50+ laps. David Pearson's Dodge and the Plymouth of Paul Goldmith led the remainder of the first half of the race - along with Putney who eked out one lap up front.

Just before halfway, Petty's ill-handling Plymouth spun giving him yet another Goody's headache. The King managed to right the 43 and salvaged a sixth place finish, five laps down to the winner.

The second half of the race, however, was dominated by Pearson. Once his red and white Dodge sniffed the lead right after the halfway mark, the car stayed at the point. Pearson led the entire second half allowing Pearson to capture his 15th career win. It was also his second consecutive win in 1966 after winning four days earlier at Hickory.

Source: High Point Enterprise

TMC

August 19, 1965 - Sandlapper 200

NASCAR's Grand National drivers arrived in Columbia, SC on August 19, 1965, for the Sandlapper 200. The Thursday night event was a 200-lap affair on Columbia's half-mile dirt surface.

Though many of the drivers raced the track earlier in the season in April's Columbia 200, that race was missing a couple of star drivers. Neither David Pearson nor Richard Petty raced in the event because of the Chrysler boycott against Bill France Sr. and NASCAR. When many of the issues were resolved around mid-season, Petty and Pearson were greenlighted to return to GN racing at most tracks including Columbia.

Dick Hutcherson won the pole for the Sandlapper, and Junior Johnson lined up outside of him on the front row. Ned Jarrett and Tiny Lund nabbed the second row, and career rivals Petty and Pearson started fifth and sixth.

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

The Mopar boys were back, and the place was jammed with no threat of rain. Many came out to see if Curtis Turner would make his long-awaited return, and he did but to watch. He tried at Spartanburg five days earlier and crashed in time trials.

Ford had the top four spots, but Chrysler was back and hungry. Junior put the yellow Holly Farms 26 out front at the onset and stayed there as the weeding-out process got underway. On lap two, Bob Derrington, Tiger Tom Pistone, and J.T. Putney had a grinding crash at the head of the homestretch for the first caution...

Leader Johnson snapped the throttle linkage and loaded up for 17th. That gave the lead to Hutcherson, who kept that gold and white 29 on the point, only slowed by a couple more cautions...

The career of Sam Smith ended at 108 laps when he bounced Sam Fogle's yellow Ford off a dirt bank, and his Grand National dream evaporated in 13th place. That is about when Cotton made a wedge adjustment to get more traction coming off the turns, and Pearson's Dodge went from OK to great. On lap 116, the Dodge passed [Hutcherson's] gold Ford and except for a few laps during pit stops, Pearson was gone...

It was a Pearson-over-Petty finish this time by about a second with Hutch third on the lead lap... It was an outstanding race, taking Pearson almost and hour and three quarters to gain his 12th career win. ~ p. 64

Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive

The race was the 9th of 63 times that Petty and Pearson finished in the top two spots.

TMC

August 18, 1966 - Sandlapper 200

NASCAR's Grand National drivers arrived in South Carolina on August 18, 1966, for some short-track racing on a hot, summer, Thursday night. The Sandlapper 200 was scheduled as a 200-lap race on the half-mile, dirt Columbia Speedway.

Eleven days earlier, Richard Petty won the Dixie 400 at Atlanta International Raceway. The big storyline from the race - even more so than Petty's win - involved two tricked-out cars by legendary innovators and car owners Junior Johnson and Smokey Yunick. Fred Lorenzen raced Junior's infamous Yellow Banana Ford, and Curtis Turner belted into Smokey's Chevrolet. Both cars had all sorts of questionable parts and body shaping, yet both were allowed to race. Many were upset at the spectacle though the fact neither car won helped settle folks down a bit.

Turner felt like folks took life and racing a bit too seriously. Following Atlanta, he agreed to what was expected to be a one-race deal in Junior's Holly Farms-sponsored car at the next race at Bowman Gray Stadium. Though his career had started to wind down, he wanted to give the fans and fellow competitors a fair night of racing if they felt they didn't get that at Atlanta. The Bowman Gray race was postponed a couple of weeks because of rain. Turner agreed to stick with Junior at the next race anyway which turned out to be at Columbia.

In his book Silent Speedways of the Carolinas, author Perry Allen Wood describes Turner's arrival in Columbia with his good faith gesture:

Holly Farms wanted Curtis to look good and told him for the race he had to wear a suit. And he did...a business suit. "I dipped this one in the fireproof stuff this morning," Turner explained to the throng of onlookers glued to his every move. He loosened the tie a bit, hiked up the long sleeves some, and sans jacket, stuck that baby on the front row to everyone's delight. ~ p. 66

Turner's show and front-row qualifying run upstaged the pole winner. Bobby Allison was all business, and he laid down a track record lap to nab the pole. Petty, David Pearson, and Elmo Langley rounded out the top five starters.

Wood continued in his book with a recap of the night's racing action:

When the big field roared off, Turner bulled his way past [Allison's] little Chevelle and took the lead. It was very tentative, but he held it for 134 laps with Allison, Pearson, Petty, [James] Hylton, [Dick] Hutcherson and [Buddy] Baker beating and banging away behind him.

Other fun took place on lap 17 when a furiously-racing Tom Pistone was passing them as he got to them and lost it entering turn one. Tiger struck the railing at the perfect angle to launch the two-tone blue '64 Ford over it and into the lighted sky, then into darkness. It nosed harmlessly down, settling among the small trees and shrubs fringing the backside of the first turn embankment. ~ p. 66

Turner made his only scheduled stop, but it didn't go according to plan. An excruciatingly slow stop pinned Turner deep in the field - but it also gave the fans plenty to watch as Pop picked his way back through the field.

Petty was out for a couple until pesky and popular number 2 scooted under and Allison had the lead. The Hueytown Hustler held the point for 30 laps until his 327 cubic inches started wilting.

On lap 167, unstoppable David Pearson powered past Petty and ambushed Allison for the lead... With Turner screaming past a rapidly fading Allison and closing on the others, a three-car Armageddon was at hand.

With less than five to go, [J.D.] McDuffie got crossed up and ditched his Ford along the backstretch for 12th, bringing a caution flag that doused a surely explosive finish. Under the yellow, Pearson rolled to the checkered flag with Petty and Turner lined up right behind. Even though nearly 10,000 enthusiasts did not get to see the incredible race to the wire that was inevitable, no one felt cheated. ~ p. 67 

Pearson claimed his fourth consecutive Columbia win in the '66 Sandlapper 200. Also, the race was the fifteenth of 63 times Petty and Pearson finished in the top two spots.

TMC

July 12, 1958 - Bob Welborn Captures Columbia

The Fourth of July is celebrated as the nation's birthday. One could argue perhaps that July 12th should be a national holiday for Petty fans.

Lee Petty was an established NASCAR star - a Grand National champion who was headed for his second of three career titles in 1958. One of his crewmen began as a crewboy - his son, Richard. After being rebuffed by his dad to begin driving himself at age 18, Richard waited three more years to begin his career. That driving debut happened in a NASCAR convertible race on July 12, 1958 at Columbia Speedway in South Carolina.

Though Petty's start turned out to be a seminal moment for racing, 24 other drivers likely didn't care about the kid from Level Cross being in the field. They were there to race and to win - not to acknowledge the future.

Fireball Roberts claimed the pole for the 200-lap, 100-mile race in his #22 1957 Chevrolet. Qualifying alongside him was Bob Welborn in his Julian Petty-owned #49 Chevy. Possum Jones timed 6th in a second, #48 Julian Petty Chevy. Richard lined up in 13th.

With about 60 laps to go, Johnny Allen had a wreck that could have negatively affected racing in a grand way. Coming out of turn 4, he left the track and tore up about 10 rows of grandstands. Apparently the seats weren't occupied and fortunately no one was injured - including Allen.

Fireball and Welborn came to the pits to get fuel for the stretch run of the final 50 laps. Julian's crew put some fuel in Welborn's car - but the team wasn't sure if they got enough. He got back on the track in front of Roberts, and then endured 25 miles of getting rapped in the bumper as Fireball tried to find a way by him.

On the last lap, Roberts made his move as Welborn's car began running on fumes. But he didn't have quite enough. Welborn nipped Roberts by about a half car-length as his car ran dry.

Credit: The State of Columbia SC

Welborn's fourth win of the season extended his convertible division points lead, Richard had a pretty good start to his career with a sixth place finish, and car owner Julian Petty had a great day. As Welborn celebrated the win in his ragtop at Columbia, Jim Paschal won in Julian's hard top Chevrolet in the Grand National race at McCormick Field in Asheville, NC the same afternoon.

TMC

August 29, 1959 - Lee Petty Cruises in Columbia

August 29, 1959: Lee Petty wins a 200-lap, 100-mile Grand National race on the half-mile Columbia Speedway in South Carolina. The race line-up wasn't exactly a who's who of NASCAR as only thirteen cars started the race.

In Perry Allen Wood's book, Silent Speedways of the Carolinas, he seemed to write about the race with a shoulder shrug of resignation that it wasn't the top showing by a NASCAR field.

The steamy Saturday night found the smallest field that would ever race at Columbia Speedway on hand for its third major race of '59. Of that Buck Baker's dozen, eight were zipper tops, which also ran the convertible circuit. That dinosaur of a tour concluded is fourth and final season the Sunday before... Combined with the fact that the Southern 500 was coming up in nine days, it made sense to convert the old ragtops to hardtops, the zipper tops, and use them instead of their good stuff. Even so, it seems odd that there were so few running that night... They drew for the pole and Ned [Jarrett]'s lucky streak continued as he literally grabbed the pole. The attrition on the tired iron took a heavy toll as a variety of mechanical ills depleted the field and Lee with usual top-notch equipment won handily. ~ p. 52

But Bob Talbert from Columbia's newspaper, The State, had a different slant when reporting on the race in the moment. In reading Talbert's recap of the night's events - heavy rains, a flu epidemic, and a tragic roaring pit fire - one might think the race should have been named the Pestilence & Famine 200.

Source: The (Columbia) State (HT to Gamecock43)

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June 18, 1959 - Lee Petty Conquers Columbia

June 18, 1959: Starting third in a #42 Plymouth and leading only the last few laps, Lee Petty wins a 200-lap, 100-mile race at Columbia Speedway in South Carolina.

Perry Allen Wood recaps the race in his book, Silent Speedways of the Carolinas:

Bob Burdick from Omaha captured his second and last career pole in just his fourth start in a T-Bird. ... But it was scar-faced Joe Weatherly from outside row one that jumped away and led the first 43 laps until he and Junior [Johnson] in old 11 roared into the first turn and found G.C. Spencer and Richard Riley tangling. Junior plowed into the rear of Joe's T-Bird and during caution, the indestructible Joe had to be lifted from the 'bird as a hastily recruited Jimmy Thompson took over. ... Buck took over for the next 82 laps until Tommy Irwin battled past in his T-Bird and looked like a winner until 11 to go. That is until Lee Petty, luckless at this place, battled by Irwin with dust flying to take the point. The Old Man rumbled under the checkers by less than a second in his high-finned white '59 Plymouth. ~ p. 52

Finishing 13th driving a #4 Julian Petty-owned Chevy was Ken Rush. Though he never drove for Lee Petty / Petty Engineering, Rush made a substantial number of NASCAR Grand National and Convertible Series starts for Lee's brother, Julian. He also won the first race held at Talladega - the 1969 Grand Touring race held as a preliminary race to the now infamous, inaugural Talladega 500. The 1957 NASCAR Rookie of the Year passed away in October 2011.

Source: The (Columbia) State - Courtesy of Gamecock43

With limited television coverage and no interwebs, newspaper writers had more opportunities to enhance their stories. The description of Junior Johnson's escaping a flaming death reminded me of P.T. Flea's circus in Disney's A Bug's Life movie.

TMC

July 18 - This day in Petty history - part 2

Another bonus blog entry about the history of Richard Petty nestled amongst my posts about his 200 wins...

1958 - Richard Petty makes his first of what became 1,184 career NASCAR Grand National / Winston Cup starts. He started 7th in a field of 19 cars in a race apparently known as the Jim Mideon 500, a 100-lap race on the 1/3-mile paved track at the Canadian National Exposition in Toronto, Ontario. Why the race was named a '500' when it was only 100 laps on a short-track is beyond me. Or maybe, just maybe *gasp* Wikipedia might be wrong. What!! It can't be. Or can it?

NASCAR's Nationwide series has raced in recent years in Montreal and a couple of times in Mexico. And a few NASCAR drivers raced Winston Cup-type cars in exhibition races in Australia in the late 1980s and Japan in the 1990s. But to date, the 1959 Toronto race remains the one and only official, NASCAR Grand National / Cup race ever held outside the United States. Even though CNE only hosted one Grand National race, the track had a history of racing and fast cars.

About a week earlier, Richard made his professional racing debut driving a #42 Oldsmobile in a convertible race at Columbia Speedway in South Carolina. He, crew chief Dale Inman, and crewman (and Maurice Petty's father-in-law) Red Myler, bolted a roof to the car, updated the car number to #142 (to distinguish Richard's car from Lee Petty's #42), and hauled it to Canada.

Richard wrecked his Oldsmobile and finished 17th in his debut GN start. Well, kinda. Apparently, he wasn't super fast in his debut start. His father came up on him at speed, realized the car was holding him up, treated him like any other backmarker and punted his own son into the fence ending his night. All was not lost for the Petty family, as Lee did go on to win the race.

In the book King Richard I authored by Petty and William Neely, Richard recalled:

Daddy didn't give me any special consideration on the racetrack. I was just another car to him, and he would just as soon beat me as he would a total stranger...I was in third or fourth spot, and it was late in the race. Cotton Owens was leading and Daddy was chasing him. They both came up to lap me. Cotton knew I was a rookie so he backed off to give me time to get through the corner. He knew he could pass me coming out of the turn. Well, this was the chance Daddy had been waiting for. When Cotton backed off, Daddy went charging right by him. The only trouble was here I was right in Daddy's path. He hit me and knocked me into the fence. The impact tore the bumper clean off my car...I didn't say anything after the race, but it made me mad. I mean all I was trying to do was stay out of the way, and he came barreling in there and wham! he knocked me into the boards. It wasn't easy fixing up those cars; he knew that. But that was how Daddy drove. ~ pp. 142-143.

During the King's final season as a driver, Pepsi released an 8-bottle set commemorating highlights of Petty's career. Among them was a bottle recognizing his first start in 1958. (I'll pardon Pepsi's error of referring to it as his first "Winston Cup" race.)

Then - one year later to the day...

1959 - Richard wins his first professional stock car race - a 200-lap NASCAR convertible race at Columbia Speedway in South Carolina. The win is not included in Petty's 200 Grand National / Winston Cup victory total.

Source: The News and Courier, July 20, 1959 via Google News Archive

It was his only win in the convertible series, and the event was the final convertible series race at Columbia. NASCAR ended the convertible series at the end of 1959, and Richard turned his focus to full-bodied sedans.

Greg Fielden recaps the race in his book, Rumblin' Ragtops: The History of NASCAR's Fabulous Convertible Division:

Richard Petty, driving a new '59 Plymouth Convertible, scored the first victory of his career in the 100-miler at Columbia Speedway. ... Petty, who turned 22 two weeks earlier, was taking his second ride in the Plymouth after driving '57 Oldsmobiles for parts of two seasons. His father Lee provided him with the new car at Daytona for the July 4 Sweepstakes Firecracker 250 - two days after his 22nd birthday. ... Petty became the third youngest driver to win a major NASCAR division contest. ... Petty was asked how it felt to finally crack victory circle. "The only difference I can tell you is first place pays more than second," he said. Petty pocketed $900 of his 56.382 MPH ride. Jack Smith chased Petty for the second half of the event, but had to settle for second place. ~ p. 123

Driver Larry Frank got very mad that night. He thought he had a good chance of winning the race at Columbia. He let off a bit to ride and conserve his tires - until Tiny Lund spun him. Larry was normally a calm and level-headed driver. But with his opportunity to win having sailed out the window, he got so mad he socked Tiny Lund right in the mush and broke his nose.

Photo (and story) courtesy of Margaret Frank, Larry's widow

Blog reader, fellow Petty fan, and Columbia resident - Gamecock43 - came through once again. He personally visited the archives of the Columbia library and found the following article in the July 19, 1959, edition of The State newspaper. Simply put, its a treasured contribution to this year-long blog series.


TMC

July 12 - This day in Petty history - part 2

A bit of bonus Petty trivia sprinkled amongst my posts about his 200 wins...

1958 - Driving a #42 1957 Oldsmobile, Richard Petty makes his professional racing debut. He finishes 13th in a 200-lap, 100-mile NASCAR convertible series race at Columbia Speedway in South Carolina. Coincidentally, Bob Welborn wins the race in a Chevrolet owned by Richard's uncle, Julian Petty.

The race is not included in Petty's tally of 1,184 NASCAR Grand National / Winston Cup starts; however, the wheels were set in motion for one heckuva racing career and the eventual coronation of NASCAR's undisputed King.

The man himself spoke about his memories of transitioning from a crewman on his dad's team to being behind the wheel of his own car.


Dale Inman - Richard's cousin, best friend, and crew chief for the vast majority of his starts - tells a funny story about the beginning of Richard's driving career.


Sports Illustrated published an article about Petty's first start in its July 14, 2008 issue - almost 50 years to the day Richard first put on his helmet at Columbia. The article also mentions his first career Grand National start in Toronto, Ontario Canada about one week later.


In Richard's almost 60 years of racing as a driver and now an owner, he has selflessly signed thousands of autographs. Someone had to be the first. Tim Leeming from Columbia - one the great new racing friends I've met at RacersReunion.com - was at Richard's first race in 1958 and apparently got autograph number one from the future King of Stock Car Racing. (begin at 2:38)


A reader and fellow Petty fan from Columbia gave Bench Racing a huge boost. He visited the Columbia library's archives, found the following article from the July 13, 1958, edition of The State (South Carolina's largest newspaper), scanned it, and e-mailed it to me. Simply fantastic.

Credit: The State - but Yeoman's Effort: Gamecock43

TMC

May 2 - This day in Petty history

1963 - Richard Petty collects his twentieth career race by winning the Sandlapper 200 from the pole at Columbia Speedway in South Carolina.

Petty won by three car lengths over second place Buck Baker in the 200-lap, 100-mile event. Richard won in car number 41. Brother Maurice finished 20th in the 24-car field driving a second Petty Enterprises number 43 Plymouth.

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

They lined up with Richard on the pole and Buck barely missing quick time in second... Honestly, it was a weak field as some drivers on the way up did not have good rides and those on the way down did not either. A lot of never-will-bes filled in the grid. When the green waved, it was Richard, Buck, and Ned [Jarrett] distancing themselves from the pack. Cautions marred the event as Bobby Issac crashed out for 21st, Maurice Petty did the same for 20th, and [Joe] Weatherly in a borrowed ride followed suit for 19th... At the front, Petty led, but Jarrett and Baker would not go away. The cautions ended after 13, and it was a sprint to the finish with Richard Petty finally wining in Columbia. But he did it with Buck Baker beating away at his back bumper. ~ p. 59

As a side note, Joe Weatherly bounced back from this wreck to have a successful season. He claimed his second consecutive championship in 1963 racing for nine different car owners.

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

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April 30 - This day in Petty history - part 3

1970 - Starting 7th on a spring Thursday night, Richard Petty wins his 105th race by leading about half of the Columbia 200 at the Columbia Speedway dirt track in South Carolina.

Rookie Larry Baumel (who?) won the pole. A few of the big dogs raced - including Petty, Bobby Allison, and Bobby Isaac, but the majority of the entrants were independent drivers intent on putting up a good fight.

A recap of the race is detailed in Perry Allen Wood's book Silent Speedways of the Carolinas. Wood references Ron Kaye in his narrative. Kaye was apparently an easier-to-pronounce alias for driver Ron Keselowski - uncle of contemporary Cup driver and now Twitter legend, Brad Keselowski:

At the start, [Johnny] Halford put his Dodge out front for a mile or so before Ron Kaye, as Keselowski billed himself, led for nine. Kaye tangled with Baumel and sailed into a ditch along the backstretch between the rail and a wooden plank fence, vanishing from view ... On lap 30, a bone-jarring crash occurred when [Roy] Tyner, Dick May and Ed Negre mixed it up at the head of the main straightaway. With the pretenders dropping like flies by halfway, Richard Petty took over and checked out. Allison had a Mario Rossi Dodge from Spartanburg in the runner-up spot a lap back with Isaac three back in third. Petty's victory was in a car he drove for owner Don Robertson. It was Robertson's first career win. ~ p. 73.

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

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April 8 - This day in Petty history - part 1

1971 - Starting fourth, Richard Petty wins the Sandlapper 200 at Columbia Speedway in South Carolina to score his 124th career victory. The race is the first NASCAR Grand National race on Columbia's paved surface after many years as a dirt-track.

Leon P., a fellow member at RacersReunion.com, remembers...

1971 was a long time ago, but if I remember correctly James Hylton was on the pole and Petty was like 5th or 6th (TMC: 4th). The race started, and James led a while. Then Benny Parsons got the lead and led for a long time. Then Richard got the lead and pulled away a good bit. I think with about 20 or so laps to go Benny started closing in on him. I could not believe it. I wanted a Ford to win. I could not believe Benny Parsons was going to win this race. I mean he was hauling ASS. With about 5 laps to go Benny was there, but on the last lap Benny spun up high in turns 3 and 4 and the rest is history. The King won, but it was a darn good race.

Perry Allen Wood, author of Silent Speedways of the Carolinas, agreed to let me share these two photos from the race. The first is of Perry with the King - a photo included on page 77 of this book ...

And the second is a close-up shot of writer Jim Seay interviewing Petty after his hard-fought victory. This photo was included on page 83 of Wood's book.

Photos courtesy of Perry Allen Wood

Perry dramatically recaps race day on pages 77-79 of his book:

April 8, 1971, was the night of the first Grand National race since the Columbia Speedway's paving. One race car unloaded that morning from its trailer hooked to the truck with a big silver box and blue cab. Written in blue on the sides of that silver box were the words "Plymouth by Petty." Richard was there hours before others teams, getting extra practice indicative of why he was to be The King.

... As the sun rose higher, the sounds of rattling chains and clanging and squeaking haulers and trailers coming in over the hump at the entrance to turn one filled the air ... Time trials began, and in a minor surprise, James Hylton put his yellow Ford 48 on the pole obviously with a new track record - almost 12 miles per hour faster than the dirt record.

... Just as the sun set, the green fell and Hylton took off, leading the opening 37 laps before (David) Pearson swiped it. Benny (Parsons) had his L.G. DeWitt Ford out front as Petty, (Dick) Brooks, (Bobby) Allison, Hylton, and (Charlie) Glotzbach hung close, swapping positions just behind ... With 81 laps to go, Petty passed Parsons and led for a few laps until Brooks slipped by for two. Petty got it back and held on for 74 rounds when Benny edged alongside with three laps to go. But Richard was not about to give the ex-Detroit cabbie from Ellerbe his first big league win and slammed back past him on the penultimate laps ... It was a memorable day and night for the last Thursday Grand National run here.

Source: National Speed Sport News

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

TMC

April 6 - This day in Petty history - part 1

1967 - On a South Carolina Thursday night, Richard Petty wins the Columbia 200 at Columbia Speedway in South Carolina. The King picks up his 51st career victory by starting second and leading 169 of the 200 laps.

Lap leading segments were split between Petty and former Petty Enterprises driver, Jim Paschal. Dick Hutcherson won the pole; however, he never led a lap.

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

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August 27 - This day in Petty history

1971 - Richard Petty wins his 136th career race from the pole in the Sandlapper 200 at Columbia Speedway in South Carolina.

With R.J. Reynolds joining the sport with its Winston cigarettes as the series' title sponsor, the 1972 schedule was cut to 31 races from 48 races in 1971. As a result, Petty's win at Columbia turned out to be the final NASCAR Grand National/Cup race at the track. 

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

The race included a mixture of the full-sized Grand National cars such as Petty's Plymouth and Dodge Chargers and the smaller-sized cars from NASCAR's Grand American series such as Ford Mustangs and AMC Javelins. As noted in this article, the race was the third event with cars from the two series. If you read the article, you will find that NASCAR and the track promoter were still fiddling with the rules two days before the race. Its not just a recent phenomenon folks.

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

[T]his was Columbia Speedway's goodbye in its final race. Time trials were completed with Petty on the pole and H.B. Bailey of Houston outside in a red Pontiac Firebird 36...The first half mile went to Petty, but [Ron] Keselowski crashed out for last, 30th, just like last time here...On the 55th circuit and still badgering leader Petty every lap, H.B. got the Firebird crossed up entering the first turn and pulverized the rail, nearly leaping off into the night...From the green flag to the checkers, it boiled down to a war between Petty and Grand American superstar [Tiny] Lund and [Jim] Paschal...With 13 laps to go, Petty made a daring move under those infield lights as he out-horsepowered the Camaro and Javelin down the backstretch, passing Tiny just as they braked for turn three. From there, [nothing] could keep Petty from his second straight victory in a row here and seven for 24 overall. (pp. 80-81)

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

TMC

Edited August 24, 2014

August 17 - This day in Petty history

1967 - Richard Petty wins from the pole in the Sandlapper 200 at Columbia Speedway in South Carolina to earn his 67th career victory. In winning, he breaks the record for the number of wins in a season.

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

TMC

August 8 - This day in Petty history - part 2

1963 - Richard Petty notches his 25th career victory by winning the Sandlapper 200 at Columbia (SC) Speedway from the pole.

Columbia Speedway is a track in a class of its own. For many years, it was a half-mile dirt track where Petty ran his first professional race and won his first race (both in the NASCAR convertible series). Father-son drivers, Buck and Buddy Baker, also scored their first wins at Columbia.

Source: Sumter Daily Item via Google News Archive

When R.J. Reynolds signed on to sponsor NASCAR's top series as Winston Cup, most of the half-mile and under dirt bullrings were dropped from the schedule. Columbia tried to adapt by paving the track; however, the track was indeed dropped after 1971. Local races continued to be run at Columbia until the late 1970s when it was finally closed. Many tracks of the past have been lost forever to new developments or complete abandonment. Many committed folks, however, have worked diligently recently to keep the track around a bit longer. Events with old-school drivers have been held at the track in the hopes folks will remember the good ol' days or learn about them for the first time.

One bit of non-Petty trivia about the race. Independent driver, Frank Warren, was most often associated with car number 79, Chrysler products, and Native Tan as a sponsor - at least he was for me during the 70s.

But in the 1963 Columbia race, he raced car number...err...letter 'X'. That's it. The letter X - no numerals. Maybe X was intended to mean 10, who knows. But from what I can tell, it's the last time NASCAR allowed a car to run a letter to identify it.

Tim Leeming, fellow member at RacersReunion.com, had the good fortune to see a lot of the King's wins. Here are great memories from him from the 1963 Columbia race.

A group of friends of mine and I had started a Richard Petty Fan Club in February 1962 and held meetings once a month. By 1963, we had grown to about 20 local members - all of us kids (teens) with a great interest in the fortunes of Richard Petty. In August 1963, we got more intense and decided to officially "charter" our fan club with what little bit we knew about such things. We typed out a "charter" on an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of paper and painted in the words "CHARTER, RICHARD PETTY FAN CLUB OF COLUMBIA" in Petty Blue model car paint.

Richard was to be in Columbia on August 8th for the Sandlapper 200 at Columbia Speedway and was to spend the day at Burnside Chrysler-Plymouth dealership. We met him there that morning when he got out of the truck, and he signed the Charter for us. That night at Columbia Speedway, Lee signed the Charter as well. So, we were now official. I still have that framed Charter hanging on my wall.

That was also the day my parents (who previously would only say they "wouldn't walk across the street to see a race if it was free") got to meet Richard because the Winn-Dixie where they shopped was next door to Marion Burnside Chrysler-Plymouth. I was able to get them to meet Richard (thanks to Richard's willingness to step next door). From that moment on, my parents were huge fans, started attending races, and eventually bought a motorhome to travel to almost all the races in the Southeast.

That night at Columbia Speedway, Richard won the pole and led more than half the race. But as I recall, he had to chase down David Pearson late in the race to take the win. I vividly remember Richard talking to my mother after the race in the pits. What an ambassador he was.

As to the Richard Petty Fan Club of Columbia, we grew to more than 400 members in 17 states and even had a member in Guam who was in the Navy. We set up a meeting in turn three of the infield at the Southern 500 in 1964, and we had more than 40 folks show up from all over: Illinois, Virginia, New Jersey, and of course North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida.

We published a monthly newsletter on an old mimeograph machine my church donated to us. We had a checking account because Marion Burnside Chrysler-Plymouth donated a check to us in 1964. To this day, I stay in contact with several members of that fan club, and all their memories are as vivid as mine as for those early days though most of them drifted away from the sport of late.

Tim gave me permission to share this photo of the King during the 1963 appearance at Burnside Chrysler-Plymouth. Note the unusual font for the 43. Thanks Tim!

As for the race itself, Perry Allen Wood recapped it in his book, Silent Speedways of the Carolinas:

Petty had the pole with [Bud] Moore's burgundy and black Bonneville 8 of Weatherly outside...The '63 Petty Plymouth scooted to a comfortable lead...On lap 102, Johnson was making a charge to the front when he lost control passing for third and launched himself over the rail at the end of the backstretch. Junior crashed down an embankment coming to rest on his lid in the bushes perilously close to some parked cars...It was not until lap 104 when Pearson took over the point from Petty and settled in for healthy period...Then Petty started reeling Pearson in, deftly banging his way by on lap 166 and holding on to beat Pearson by half a straightaway...In the battle of arguably the two greatest stock car careers in NASCAR history, Richard Petty and David Pearson went head-to-head 550 times...They finished one-two 63 times. The first time they went one-two was in this Sandlapper 200.

Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive

TMC
Edited August 8, 2014