May 11, 1958 - Bob Welborn Wins Greensboro

Greensboro Speedway in North Carolina hosted only three Grand National races. Paul Goldsmith and Buck Baker won the first two in 1957. The final one was run on May 11, 1958.

Source: Greensboro Daily News

A year earlier, the track was the site of an epic yet apparently (mostly) true story involving driver Tiny Lund and the full Petty family. Many times legendary motorsports beat writer Tom Higgins has told and written about the turn of events that took place before the start of the April 1957 race including in this column he wrote for the Charlotte Observer.

Lund had driven five races for the Petty team in 1957, and the association ended bitterly.

Prior to a race in Greensboro, a flatbed from a trailer truck was being used as a stage for driver introductions. So happened that [Lee] Petty and Lund were starting in fairly close proximity, so they passed on the stage.

An obviously disparaging remark was made, and knuckles started flying.

"The deal was, Tiny and Daddy had a falling out," said Richard Petty. "To spite Daddy, Tiny was telling the other teams about some special, secret things we did to our cars. Daddy confronted him about it, and they went to it right there in front of everybody. I think Daddy took the first swing."

"Tiny" was a joke of a nickname for Lund. He stood 6'5" and weighed between 250 and 275 pounds.

Lee Petty stood 6'3" and weighed about 175.

"Daddy and Tiny scuffled onto the deck of that flatbed, and he was whipping Daddy pretty bad. Me and my brother Maurice, both still teenagers, jumped in to try and help Daddy. Well, Tiny was whupping all three of us.

"This is when my mother got involved. She came on that stage and started pummeling Tiny in the head with her purse. She was raising pump knots on poor ol' Tiny.

"The reason is, she had a .38 caliber pistol in that purse!"

Back to 1958's edition - where I'm sure some fans arrived earlier than usual just in case a fracas erupted again.

Greensboro's local feller, Bob Welborn, qualified in the top spot in a #44 1957 Chevrolet. Sources I've checked suggest Julian Petty was Welborn's car owner of record; however, I'm not entirely convinced of that stat.

Throughout 1958 (and for much of the rest of his career), Welborn raced car #49. Recent NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Rex White made 16 GN starts in car #44 in 1958. Some records indicate White made most of those starts in Julian Petty's cars. In speaking with White in October 2014, however, he insisted he never raced for Petty. Max Welborn, Bob's brother, fielded GN cars in that era - some numbered #44.

Bob Welborn raced full-time in 1958 with Julian in the convertible division, but they raced only part-time in the GN series. The day before the Greensboro race, Welborn finished 6th in the Rebel 300 convertible race at Darlington. With Greensboro being only one day later and a "hometown" track for Welborn, I'm thinking Bob may have hitched a ride in his brother's car as Julian took the ragtop home to tweak it for its next event.

Regarding the race itself, Perry Allen Wood noted in Silent Speedways of the Carolinas:

They dropped the curtain on the little dirt track on Sunday afternoon, May 11, 1958. A gorgeous day saw 19 entries take the spring green for a quick 150-lap, 50-mile war. Hometowner Welborn, at the peak of his career, went wire-to-wire winning handily over [Lee] Petty, [Junior] Johnson, [Speedy] Thompson and Doug Cox. The event took just over 65 minutes, then Greensboro's speedway slipped into the misty memory of how it was. ~ p. 239

Source: Greensboro Daily News

TMC

Uncle Julie

As Richard Petty began his career and long before he became known as The King, he was generally recognized simply as "Lee Petty's son". In the late 1950s, Lee's name and reputation was right up there with Fireball Roberts, Curtis Turner, Tim Flock and Junior Johnson.

Lee had eight siblings - most of whom from what I've gathered weren't involved in racing. One older brother, however, Julius Hilton (Julian) Petty was a NASCAR regular.

Born April 1, 1916, Julian (also known to some as J.H. or Uncle Julie) drove a few Grand National races in the early 1950s without much success. As a car owner, however, he notched 23 wins with a handful of drivers behind the wheel in NASCAR's Grand National and short-lived convertible divisions.

View image | gettyimages.com

In addition to the three starts he made as a driver, he fielded a car for NASCAR pioneer Jimmie Lewallen in the early 1950s. The garage he owned and operated also sponsored Lewallen for a couple of races in 1953 when Jimmie ran the car number later made famous by Julian's nephew.

Julian's best year as an owner was 1958. Though others won races for him before and after, Bob Welborn rang up thirteen victories in cars fielded by Julian in NASCAR's Grand National and Convertible divisions. Welborn also won in Julian's Chevy in NASCAR's short-lived Short Track Series division. Records for the division are poor; consequently, I'm unsure how many additional trophies the duo may have claimed.

Near the end of 1958, Julian interestingly sold all his equipment to Roy Tyner. It's interesting to me because (1) Julian's pairing with Welborn was BANK in 1958 - a trend likely to have have continued into 1959 and (2) Julian married Roy's mother - Grace Tyner - in 1959 after her first husband passed away in 1958.

Source: Wilmington News via Google News Archive

Perhaps the sale to his step-son was a strategic or family play - or perhaps Julian was just done with racing. Either way, he didn't step away from NASCAR permanently. He returned in the early 1960s and enjoyed a bit more success with driver Jim Paschal.

Julian's son and Richard's cousin - Gene Petty - was involved in racing as well. Gene was instrumental in helping Mike Skinner get his start in NASCAR.

Lee was two years older than Julian. Lee passed away in 2000 - just a few weeks after his 86th birthday. Julian died in 2003 - just a few weeks before his 87th - and was laid to rest without a grave marker next to his parents in a Greensboro, NC cemetery.

Source: FindAGrave.com

Over the next few months, I plan to blog about as many of Julian's wins as I can. Each will be posted on the anniversary date of the race. Articles, photos and stories from those 1950s races are pretty hard to come by. Please email me at toomuchcountry(at)gmail(dot)com if you have something from that era to share, and I'll be happy to include the info in my posts with full attribution.

TMC