May 21, 1978 - Dover's Mason-Dixon 500

The middle third of the 30-race, NASCAR Winston Cup Series 1978 schedule opened with the Mason-Dixon 500 at Dover.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

Buddy Baker captured the pole in M.C. Anderson's Chevy. Baker always had a reputation for running fast in small bursts - such as in qualifying. Yet his top spot at Dover was his first pole since the next-to-last race of the 1976 season at Atlanta. Baker's run also made him eligible for the inaugural Busch Clash scheduled for the following February.

Credit: Bryant McMurray / UNCC

Benny Parsons timed second in L.G. DeWitt's Chevy. Coincidentally, Parsons would move to Anderson's team in 1979 as Baker moved to Harry Ranier's team. David Pearson qualified third followed by Lennie Pond in the Ranier ride that would soon belong to Baker.

In an interesting twist on qualifying, drivers participated in some sort of drawing. Only the top 16 numbers were eligible to qualify on the first day. Richard Petty didn't draw high enough to lay down a first day lap. Pearson and his Wood Brothers team also missed the drawing as they were addressing an engine issue before their expected qualifying session. Yet the top 16 first-day qualifiers weren't locked in to their spots. Pearson returned on the second day, posted the third quickest lap over the two days, and knocked down the starters behind him by one spot.

Baker took off at the start to lead the first 24 laps before being passed by Pearson who led 10 of his own. Seventh place starter Darrell Waltrip then got around both of them and set sail out front for a stretch of nearly 50 laps.

Waltrip's career finishes at Dover had been nothing to boast about. He'd averaged around a P30 result for the first few years of his career. In 1977, however, the #88 Gatorade DiGard team found a little sump'n sump'n. DW finished fifth and sixth in Dover's two 1977 races, and the team looked to improve even more in 1978. 

Through a couple of cautions and cycling of pit stops, Baker, Pond, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, and Dave Marcis all took turns leading a lap or two. Waltrip, however, rallied back each time to lead sizable chunks of laps.

After leading a stretch of nearly 100 laps, Waltrip pitted during a caution on lap 333. By that point, he'd lapped most of the field and was on his way to going +1 on all of the field. 

He hit pit road for routine service. A stop that should have been a quick tire change and fresh supply of fuel instead turned disastrous. A wheel stud snapped during a left front tire change. The crew hastily replaced the stud and sent Waltrip back on track. In making the change, however, a brake line was not reconnected. After Waltrip nearly ran through another car, he eased his way back to the pits for the additional repair. After leading about 300 laps and gaining a one-lap advantage on just about everyone, Waltrip lost three laps and eventually settled for a bitter tasting P6. He had to wait two more seasons before capturing his first of two career wins at the Monster Mile.

Source: The Tennessean

Shortly after Waltrip had his woes, Baker had even greater ones. His engine failed, and he returned home with a P23. With the fastest car three laps down and the pole-winner loaded on the trailer, Pearson found his groove and led 137 of the final 150 laps.

Pearson's 101st career Cup win was his first of the 1978 season. It was also his fifth and final Dover win - all earned in the Woods' Purolator Mercury. The 21 team notched two more Dover wins with Neil Bonnett in 1979 and 1981. 

Source: Philadelphia Daily News

TMC

April 24, 1971 - Hambone to the Throne

Nashville's Fairground Speedways opened its 1971 season in April. The season was the second one on the new high banked version of the track - and the first full one as the track wasn't ready for use in 1970 until July.

Art Ellis was the surprise winner of the 1971 season opener, the Permatex 200. Sadly, Ellis's enjoyment of his victory was short-lived as he was killed in an accident at the fairgrounds a couple of months later. 

After the 200-lap opener, the regulars returned for the first of a weekly slate of races. The marquis event was a 30-lap late model sportsman feature.

Many drivers - local drivers, national LMS racers, and even Cup drivers - had disdain for Nashville's new banks. Some even argued the place could be a death trap because tires couldn't keep pace with the high speeds on the new surface. 

Two drivers that took a shine to it, however, were Darrell Waltrip and James Ham. Waltrip won five of the abbreviated season's 11 feature races in 1970 and captured his first of two track championships. Ham didn't win nearly as often as Waltrip, but he was fast in qualifying. He qualified on the front row for all 11 of 1970's LMS features.

Ham set a track record in winning the pole for the season opener. Seven days later, Waltrip topped Ham's week-old record and won the pole for the 30-lap feature. Keeping his streak alive, Ham lined up alongside Waltrip - swapping places with DW from the previous week. He did so by qualifying on only seven cylinders!

A 30-lap feature on a lightning-quick, half-mile track seemingly ends almost before it begins. Drivers have to qualify well, and they have to be up on the wheel from the jump.

And Ham was ready at the jump. He muscled by Waltrip at the beginning of the race and showed his horsepower - despite being down a cylinder. The short race had two yellow flags where laps under caution didn't count. Both allowed Waltrip to close back to Ham's bumper and the opportunity to launch past him for the win. On both restarts, however, Ham seized the lead and continued on to the win.

The feature was Ham's second track win. He earned his first a few months earlier in a 30-lap feature in October 1970. He'd go on to win twice more in 1971 - both 30-lap features. Ham raced at the Fairgrounds for several more years, but those four wins on the track's high banks were his only ones.

Following the race, folks learned the top two cars raced with impaired engines. P.B. Crowell, one of Waltrip's car owners told a Tennessean reporter after the race:

A push rod broke. A valve hit a piston and busted the cylinder wall. We lost an engine. We were lucky Darrell was able to go on and finish second. He ran on seven cylinders, that's all. 

A week later, Ham extended his front row streak by qualifying second to Waltrip for the Pabst Blue Ribbon 100. His winning streak, however, ended at one when his ill-handling car popped the wall around lap 30 - the same distance he covered to win in late April '71.

Source: The Tennessean

TMC

Nashville's Sterling Beer Trophy

Nashville's Fairground Speedways opened in 1958, and quickly built a solid reputation for its annual NASCAR Grand National race, the season-ending Southern 300 late model event, and the weekly modified and later late model sportsman programs.

A new tradition began in 1969. Sterling Beer introduced the rotating champion's trophy. The winning driver's name of the track's annual late model sportsman division points title was added to the trophy. The driver apparently retained custody of the trophy for the following season, and it was then returned to be awarded to the new champion. The trophy was to be permanently retired only if a driver won three track championships.

The trophy was first awarded to Dave Sisco who captured the track's LMS title in 1969. Sisco advanced to NASCAR's Cup series in 1971 where he raced as an independent pretty regularly through 1977.

The second recipient of the champion's trophy was Darrell Waltrip in 1970. After a few additional seasons in Nashville, Ol' DW moved up to Cup where his accomplishments are well known.

A few days before the annual awards dinner, Sisco and Waltrip rehearsed the passing of the trophy to the new champion.

Source: The Tennessean

Waltrip celebrated his championship with his wife, parents, and inlaws. A portion of the trophy can be seen on the table at the right edge of this photo.

Coincidentally, Waltrip secured Sterling Beer as his sponsor for the following season. Sterling also sponsored the Sterling Beer 100 late model race in July 1971, and Waltrip used his champion's trophy and postcards to help promote it.

Source: The Tennessean

Flookie Buford earned the honor of hoisting the champion's trophy in 1971. He won 13 LMS races at Nashville from 1969 through 1974. His son, Joe Buford, later became a four-time track champion and is Nashville's all-time win leader.

Buford's promotional photo for the 1972 season included his R.C. Alexander-owned Ford Fairlane and the champion's trophy from '71.

Buford won his second consecutive championship in 1972, and he became the first driver to have his name on the champion's trophy twice.

The 1973 season was another turning point for the track. After three years with banking steeper than Bristol, Nashville lowered its banking to 18 degrees where it remains to this day. Despite the change in configuration, Waltrip captured his second championship in four years. For much of the season, Buford contested Waltrip in an effort to win his third consecutive championship. After going winless, however, Buford's car owner replaced him ending any hope for Flookie to capture the champion's trophy for a third time and permanently.

Before being awarded the champion's trophy for the second time, Waltrip looked it over along with the other hardware with mini-stock division champion Maurice Hassey and limited sportsman division champion George Bennett.

Source: The Tennessean

The 1974 track champion was an out-of-towner. Jimmy Means traveled each week from Alabama, and he outpointed the local contingent of drivers. Interestingly, photos haven't surfaced of Means being awarded the champion's trophy. Perhaps Waltrip wasn't ready to surrender it to the new champion - or maybe he was too busy with first few races of the 1975 Cup season to make the transfer. Nashville's awards dinner was March 1, 1975 - right in the thick of Waltrip's commitment to a three-race stretch of Daytona, Richmond, and Rockingham.

Means did receive his 1974 Winston Racing champion's helmet. Though he didn't receive the rotating champion's trophy, the helmet went into a bit of rotation on its own. Some time later, Jimmy passed along his helmet to his son, Brad. More recently, Brad passed along the helmet to good friend, Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Future NASCAR inspector, Walter Wallace, won his second track title in 1975 and received the champion's trophy from Don Naman of Alabama International Motor Speedway. Wallace earned his first championship in 1967 - two seasons before the introduction of the champion's trophy.

Courtesy of Russ Thompson

As Jimmy Means did in 1974, Alton Jones traveled from Alabama each week and won the track title in 1976. How he did so is a bit of a mystery. Jones won three feature races as compared to the eleven victories by rookie Mike Alexander. Consistent finishes by Jones helped him in the end, however, as Alexander had some struggles with a few DNFs and injuries.

The ninth and final season to be recognized on the rotating trophy was in 1977. Steve Spencer of Old Hickory, TN, a Nashville suburb, captured the title over drivers such as Alexander, Sterling Marlin, Dennis Wiser, and P.B. Crowell III. Spencer later became the personal pilot for Marlin.

Though Spencer's name is the last one engraved, the champion's trophy rotated once more. Racers and fans returned in 1978 for yet another season of Late Model Sportsman racing. All were stunned when track operator Bill Donoho announced the sale of his rights in the track's lease to Lanny Hester and Gary Baker. The new operators then announced weekly racing would not continue in 1979 as they focused on track improvements and larger events.

In that final season, Mike Alexander earned his first Nashville track LMS championship. As with Jimmy Means, Walter Wallace, and others, he was presented a Winston Racing Series commemorative champion's helmet. Because of the change in track operators and cessation of the weekly racing for 1979, the formal awards dinner to recognize the 1978 champions was scuttled. Consequently, Alexander was not presented the champion's trophy.

The trophy, however, had been returned by Spencer - or at least had remained at the track during the year. Knowing what it represented and knowing he earned it, the Sterling Beer Champion's trophy rotated once more to an ... ahem, permanent location.

Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway is now readying for racing again this season under new management. In this writer's opinion, 2020 would be an ideal year to renew the tradition of a rotating champion's trophy. Of course, it would need to be a new trophy as the 1969-1978 one has been retired.

TMC

July 5, 1987 - Budweiser 200

The day after the 1987 Firecracker 400 Cup race at Daytona's superspeedway, the Busch Series regulars and several Cup interlopers raced a few hours north in Jefferson, Georgia.

Georgia International Speedway hosted the Budweiser 200 on July 5, 1987. The track was previously known as JefCo Speedway and would later be known as Gresham Motorsports Park.

Darrell Waltrip promoted the Busch races at the track in the mid 1980s through his company DarWal, Inc. Waltrip won the inaugural Busch Series race at Georgia International in 1986 and entered the first of two 1987 events.

Mark Martin won the pole, and Larry Pearson qualified alongside him. Martin led only one lap after the drop of the green. Third place starter Tommy Houston got by Martin and Pearson to take the lead on lap two. Houston and Brett Bodine combined to lead the next 30 laps.

Pearson then went to the front and began gapping the field. On lap 58, however, a yellow flag resulting from a Patty Moise spin curtailed Pearson's big lead. Cup regular and race promoter Waltrip popped Moise, and Rick Mast got caught in the melee as well.

In the era before full-face helmets became the norm in stock car racing, DW got the worst end of the deal. Race reports suggested he suffered bruises and some facial cuts. Waltrip later told Larry Woody of The Tennessean he did not suffer facial cuts but was extremely sore after taking the hit at full speed.

Pearson re-assumed the lead after the Moise-Waltrip-Mast accident and stayed out front until lap 78. Jack Ingram slowed dramatically to prepare for a pit stop. Brett Bodine checked up to avoid running over Ingram. Not expecting the pace of either car, Pearson nicked Bodine and sent him spinning. Second place running Mike Alexander slipped by Pearson to take the lead as the traffic jam sorted out itself.

A few laps later, Alexander pitted and lost a lap. He made it up, however, as other cars cycled through their pit sequence. Pearson also got his service during this time; however, NASCAR scored him as losing two laps during his stop. Pearson's team argued otherwise, but Pearson was continually placed behind Alexander on remaining restarts.

Alexander was scored as the leader for the second half of the race. When the checkers fell, he claimed his second career Busch Series win. The #84 Action Vans Buick team celebrated in victory lane and then loaded to return home.

Credit: Dick Conway / Second To None by Rick Houston

Unsatisfied with the scoring during his pit stop and the eventual outcome, Pearson's team hollered vehemently that he was on the same lap as Alexander - and ahead of him.

Credit: Conway and Houston

After more than two hours of pouring over scoring records, NASCAR officials determined Pearson indeed lost only one lap during his stop. They ruled he should have been placed ahead of Alexander, reversed their earlier decision, adjusted the lap leaders, and awarded Pearson the win.

Officials phoned Alexander the next day and made him aware of the decision. A request was also made to return the trophy. To this day, however, the visible sign of  "winner's spoils" remain on display in a Franklin, TN trophy room.

Source: Spartanburg Herald Journal

TMC

Racing, Drinking, Protesting - and there's more!

Lumberman A.J. King, Jr. of Sevierville, TN joined NASCAR as a car owner in 1967. Over the next couple of years, he fielded Mopars for drivers such as Paul Lewis, Li'l Bud Moore, and Pete Hamilton.

By 1970, however, King folded his tent and exited the Grand National ranks. Though little is known about King's arrival or departure, it's likely he experienced the racing truism of: The way to end up with a small fortune in racing is to start with a big one. (King did return as an owner/sponsor for one race in 1975. Sadly, Tiny Lund was killed in the Talladega 500 in King's Dodge.)

Though King got out of Grand National / Cup racing, Dave Marcis modified one of King's 1969 Dodge Chargers. Marcis raced it as a winged Dodge Daytona in 1970 and then returned the car to its 1969 Charger body for 1971 and 1972.

The car found new life in 1973 in NASCAR's Late Model Sportsman division. In February, Alabama's Alton Jones raced the Charger to a fifth place finish in Daytona's Permatex 300 with King Enterprises on the quarter panel as the sponsor.

Source: Alabama Auto Racing Pioneers

King and Marcis then partnered to run several short track LMS races. Marcis worked them in between his Cup schedule as he raced mostly for himself and part-time for Roger Penske.

One of the first races selected was the Permatex 200 on April 21, 1973 - the season opener on Nashville's newly reconfigured Fairgrounds Speedway. The big ol' Dodge was impressive. Marcis won the pole, dominated the first third of the race, and finished fourth.

Having fared pretty well in his first visit, Marcis returned to Nashville for another shot on Friday, May 12. He brought the '69 Charger to race in the 30-lap LMS feature that accompanied the first round of qualifying for the Music City 420 Cup race.

Though Darrell Waltrip was running for Winston Cup Rookie of the Year, he also ran a full LMS schedule at Nashville. Waltrip had been the Fairgrounds' king of the hill since 1970, and he planned to continue to laissez les bon temps rouler.

After qualifying eighth for the Cup race in his 1971 Dodge, Marcis saddled up in the '69 Charger for the short LMS race. Marcis went to the point on the seventh lap - just about the time a caution flew. On the restart, Waltrip (likely smirking) outfoxed Marcis and grabbed the lead. Just past the halfway point, Marcis regained the top spot.

And so it continued for the next ten laps. Marcis' Hemi launched down the straightaways, but Waltrip's #48 Falls City Beer Chevelle had the edge through the corners. On the last lap, Marcis found just enough oomph and pulled ahead of Waltrip to win by a couple of car lengths.

Source: Nashville Fairgrounds Racing History

Source: The Tennessean

The Cup schedule had open dates the next two weekends following Nashville's race. No Dover, Kansas, Richmond, or All-Star Race - just the World 600 on May 27. As a result, Marcis figured he'd return to Music City for yet another go at a trophy.

He and the Dodge returned for another 30-lap feature on Saturday, May 19. Neither Waltrip or Marcis contended for the win that night. Mother Nature scored the W as rain postponed the slate of races to Sunday afternoon, May 20.

A week earlier, Marcis and Waltrip battled tooth and nail under Nashville's Friday night lights. The same pattern held true the following week on a bright, Sunday afternoon.

Waltrip won the pole, and Marcis timed right alongside him. As was the case in the previous race, Marcis' Hemi could haul the mail down the straights, but the car's weight made it more of a handful through the turns. Waltrip's Chevelle, on the other hand, had the perfect set-up to handle the corners, but he surrendered HP to Marcis after they both got back in the gas. 

Source: Nashville Fairgrounds Racing History

Waltrip rapped Marcis a time or two in an attempt to rattle his cage. Marcis, however, was unfazed and maintained his rhythm. The two weaved around traffic, took alternate lines every couple of laps, yet still managed to stay together until the final lap.

Source: Nashville Area Racing History

Over the final couple of laps, Marcis again found the little extra he needed. He cleared Waltrip and won for the second week in a row. After the race, however, Waltrip's team had a bit of a surprise for Marcis.

Doc Brewington, Waltrip's mechanic, chose to protest Marcis' Dodge. He wanted the big Hemi stripped down bolt by bolt. Brewington even opted to protest the fuel cell. The car only needed a handful of gallons to run the short feature, but Brewington wanted the tear down to be as painful as possible.

With plenty of afternoon sun remaining, the tear-down began as a crowd gathered to watch. In time, Brewington and Marcis got to joking and placing side bets on what may have been legal or illegal. Meanwhile, as the tear-down continued, someone brought in a cooler of Waltrip's sponsor product supplied by his car owner and local beer distributor, Ellis Cook. 

Source: Nashville Fairgrounds Racing History

Around 9:30 PM, the evaluation was completed. Joe Carver led the inspection and concluded Marcis' Dodge was legal. Carver was the PR director for the Fairgrounds and later became the promoter at Langley Speedway in Virginia.

Marcis hastily loaded his car and gear and headed for a long, late night drive back to North Carolina. Though Brewington and Waltrip lost the protest, they figured a modest win may have been earned. Marcis arrived and won with an intact car, but he headed home with a tub of parts that would need plenty of time to re-assemble.

Source: The Tennessean

Marcis and Waltrip delighted in recapping the sequence of events during a gathering of many of NASCAR's legends at the now-gone NASCAR Cafe in Nashville.

Source: The Tennessean

Despite having to re-assemble his Hemi (or paying someone to do it), Marcis was back yet again in mid-June for the Uniroyal 100 on June 16, 1973. The duo picked up pretty much where they left off a month earlier.

Although Joe Carver was the technical inspector during Waltrip's protest of Marcis, he was still the publicity director at his core. And he drummed up some for the 100-lap event by having the two competitors race bicycles! 

Marcis once again won the pole - although L.D. Ottinger flanked him on the front row. Waltrip started eighth but had a nose for the front as usual. The usual suspects were again at the top of the field along with Alton Jones who had piloted Marcis' Dodge back in February.

Credit: Russ Thompson

When the race concluded, Waltrip returned to his customary victory lane location. Alton Jones placed second followed by Marcis. Perhaps as a case of turnabout is fair play, Marcis protested Jones and Waltrip. Jones' team refused to be torn down and was DQ'd as a result. Waltrip's car passed inspection as Marcis' car did a month earlier, and he retained the win with Marcis elevated to second.

* * * * *

A.J. King left racing but continued with the lumber business started by his father, A.J. King, Sr. He and his wife were the first patrons of a new Sevier County, TN library in 1966 - shortly before he entered NASCAR as an owner. King passed away in 1978, and his son Danny continued the family business. In 2010, the county's library moved into an even larger facility - the King Family Library. The King family contributed $2 million of the project's $11.5 million cost, and the library opened on the same spot as the original family lumber business.

* * * * *

Marcis raced the old Dodge a few more times including the 1974 Permatex 200 at Nashville. As his Cup career progressed, however, he moved on from LMS runs with the Charger. The car ended up in a private collector's hands who then restored it to a winged Dodge Daytona as Marcis had raced it.

In the late 80s / early 90s, the car was repainted to resemble Richard Petty's 1970 Plymouth Superbird. The car toured as a promotional showcar for Goody's Headache Powders.

1992 Charlotte Motor Speedway - TMC Archives

The car then found yet another life in 2003 when it was re-purposed for Winston's final season as the title sponsor of NASCAR's top series. Before the final race of the season at Homestead, King Richard drove the car that originally began as a Charger fielded by A.J. King.

Source: Getty Images

Thanks to Dave Fulton for his assistance in background research on A.J. King, Jr. and SuperbirdClub.com for its post regarding the A.J. King / Marcis Dodge .

TMC

Nashville's 1979 CRC Chemicals 250

Nashville's fairgrounds speedway opened the 1979 season with many changes and an equal or greater number of questions.

Gone was long-time promoter and track operator, Bill Donoho. Replacing him was the duo Lanny Hester and Gary Baker. Hester formerly raced at the fairgrounds in the mini-stock division and started a few NASCAR Baby Grand National events. Baker was a Nashville tax attorney whose most notable client was Waylon Jennings. The two assumed Nashville's lease from Donoho in 1978 after buying Bristol earlier in the season.

One of the first changes made by Hester and Baker was to rename the track from Nashville Speedway to Nashville International Raceway - perhaps to align it with Bristol's full name. The other significant change was dropping the weekly racing series - a staple of the track since its opening in 1958.

The primary reason given for the elimination of weekly racing was to allow more time for Hester and Baker to implement needed upgrades. As it turned out, few noticeable facility upgrades were made.

Although the track did not run its traditional slate of weekly races, NIR did host two Cup races, two Baby Grand races, an ARCA event, and three national late model sportsman features. The first of the three LMS races was the season-opening CRC Chemicals Nashville 250 on April 14, 1979.

The race was conveniently scheduled on an open weekend for Cup drivers between Darlington and Martinsville. In years past, Donoho often enticed at least a couple of Cup regulars to participate in the first race of each season. For the 1979 opener, however, only Bobby Allison entered.

Hester and Baker had hoped Darrell Waltrip would enter - particularly on the heels of his stirring victory at Darlington a week earlier, but Allison was the lone Cup representative. It's possible the show money wasn't thick enough for some to make the trip - particularly since the race was the night before Easter Sunday.

For much of 1976-77-78, fans grew to embrace four young drivers nicknamed the Kiddie Corps. Two of the drivers - Mike Alexander and Sterling Marlin - had quickly become veteran racers, but the other two kind of faded away a bit. Alexander and Marlin returned as expected winners from the local crowd for 1979 and were joined by 1977 track champion Steve Spencer and rookie Tony Cunningham.

In addition to several changes in track operations, 1978 Nashville LMS champion Alexander surprised many with a big change of his own. From his start in 1974, Alexander raced Fords - primarily because of his father's ties to a Ford dealership. R.C. Alexander fielded competitive Fords for many drivers dating back almost 20 years. Yet when the the 1979 season began, Mike was at the wheel of a Pontiac - a PONY-ACK! as King Richard would say.

Alexander and his dad built the car for Waltrip - but then bought it from DW before it hit the track. Mike raced it for the first time in Daytona's 300-mile LMS race in February. Waltrip coincidentally won the race. Marlin and Alexander finished second and ninth, respectively, in their Daytona debuts.

Source: The Tennessean

Alexander landed more than Waltrip's car. He also picked up some support from him as a sponsor.

Long-time LMS racer Gene Glover of Kingsport, TN won the pole. Glover's son Tony later became well-known as crew chief for Morgan-McClure drivers Ernie Irvan and Sterling Marlin. The field included Allison, the local contingent, and several regional LMS racers including Jack Ingram, Butch Lindley, Jody Ridley,and Morgan Shepherd.

Once the green fell, however, many of the favorites developed all sorts of trouble well before time to show their hand. For starters, Allison developed ignition issues at race time and withdrew before even taking a pace lap. And Jack Ingram fell out after only 24 laps.

Early racing included Asheville NC's Bob Pressley and Alexander in his new Pontiac. On lap 42, however, Alexander got KO'd by a runaway wheel from Steve Spencer's car. Both Spencer and Alexander's new car were finished for the night.

The two "Ley" drivers - Ridley and Lindley - had a good battle as well. Lindley, a frequent winner of big races at the Fairgrounds in the 1970s, was again in the hunt for about two-thirds of the race. Engine issues around lap 180, however, doomed his fortunes.

With the strongest competition loaded on their trailers and a two-lap lead on Glover, Pressley set his cruise control and easily led the remaining laps. He even made a casual late pit stop - just because. In doing so, Glover made up his lost distance but was no threat to match Pressley's car.

Cup driver Richard Childress greeted Pressley in victory lane. Though he didn't drive in the event, Childress's Cup car was sponsored by CRC Chemicals.

Marlin, Ridley, and Shepherd rounded out the top five. Sterling finished one lap down to Pressley, and Ridley and Shepherd were down two laps.

Source: The Tennessean

Pressley had no issues in the race. Actually, his only annoyance the whole day was too much ice in his Co' Cola cup!

Source: The Tennessean

Finishing order:

1. Bob Pressley
2. Gene Glover
3. Sterling Marlin
4. Jody Ridley
5. Morgan Shepherd
6. Tony Cunningham
7. Charlie Chamblee
8. Dennis Wiser
9. Carl Langford
10. Ricky Diehl
11. Butch Allen
12. Bobby Hailey
13. Butch Applegate
14. Mike Potter
15. Butch Lindley
16. Paul Dean Holt
17. Mike Alexander
18. Steve Spencer
19. Jack Ingram
20. Phil Spickard
21. Richard Waters
22. Bobby Allison

 TMC