August 21, 1976 - Friends, Rivals, Wrecked, Resilient

Week to week, the storyline of the 1976 Late Model Sportsman division at Nashville Speedway was the Kiddie Corps. Rookies Mike Alexander, Sterling Marlin and Dennis Wiser along with second year driver P.B Crowell, III grew up quickly and took a shine to Nashville's 18-degree banked track.

Though competitive, Marlin and Wiser needed another season before banking their first wins. As spring turned to summer in '76, however, Alexander and Crowell toted home trophies on a regular basis. Both pushed veteran Alton Jones for the points lead. Jones was twice the age of the quartet and had loads of experience, but the noob drivers went toe to toe with him each Saturday night.

Nashville was long known for its promotions that helped put butts in seats. In mid-August, the slate of double features for mini-stock, limited sportsman, and LMS divisions was accompanied by a performance by Chattanooga's Gene Beene - aka the Human Bomb.

My family went often to the Fairgrounds in the mid 70s, but our attendance wasn't guaranteed. Race nights depended on my father's work obligations, summer trips to grandparents, and alignment of ticket prices with family finances. But that August night, I wanted to be there. I simply had to be there - especially to see some fool blow himself up with dynamite.

Though the mid-show explosion is what caught my eye in the newspaper ad, the racing was still the key to the night. Newport, TN's L.D. Ottinger raced - and won - frequently at Nashville in the 1970s. His trips, however, were generally tied to marquis events such as 200-lap LMS races that awarded points towards NASCAR's national LMS title.

Yet, Ottinger opted to tow to middle Tennessee for a couple of meaningless 25-lap features. (Never mind Nashville hosted a 100-lap national LMS feature the following Saturday - a race in which L.D. planned to participate.) L.D. made quick work of the first 25-lap LMS feature with Alexander finishing second.

Before round two of the night's w races began, it was then time for Gene Beene to cheat death. I was all-in. I clung up to the fence by one hand, fist pumped with the other, let primal screams fly, and dared Gene Beene to blow himself to kingdom come.

Well, that's not exactly true.

When I recently reminded my mother of that night's promotion, she remembered things a bit differently:

Oh yes! I remember! I did not remember his name but remember your reaction. You anticipated going to races that night from the time they first announced it. We went, but you could not bear to watch. You wanted to, but you cringed at the thought. Seems like you went up higher toward the concession stand when it came time for him to do it and kept peeking back. It was rather scary at the thought. I am not sure that I did not close my eyes!

Okay, so perhaps my 11 year-old machismo wasn't well developed. I do, however, recall the the involuntary adrenalin rush following the *KABOOM* once I realized Gene Beene had survived.

After the mini-stock and limited sportsman races on the quarter-mile track, fans soon witnessed another explosive event on Nashville's big track.

Ottinger again set sail in the early stages of the second LMS feature, and Jones followed him in second. Alexander and Crowell raced near one another for third and fourth. On lap seven, however, things turned bad. Alexander cut a right front tire as the duo sailed through the turns. He collected Crowell, and both of them slammed into the wall.

Source: Nashville Fairgrounds Racing History

Crowell took the brunt of the hit in his rib cage. Alexander suffered knee ligament injuries after initially thinking he had a broken leg. As friends, both tried to get to the other to ensure all was OK.

With Alexander and Crowell's cars on trailers and the drivers transferred to the hospital, the veterans controlled the remaining laps. Jones tried to keep pace, but Ottinger prevailed to capture his second win of the night.

Credit: Marchman Family Collection / Nashville Farigrounds Racing History

Despite their disclosed injuries (and likely undisclosed concussions), both bruised but not broken racers returned the following Saturday to compete in the Bob Hunley 100. Returned bruised but not broken the next Saturday for the Bob Hunley 100. After pocketing two 25-lap wins on August 21, Ottinger returned and nabbed the Hunley race as well.

Article sources: The Tennessean archives

TMC

July 10, 1976 - Nashville racers tie one on

On July 15, 2018, Michael House edged Willie Allen to win a 100-lap Pro Late Model feature at Nashville's Fairgrounds Speedway.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: @WillieAllen26 and Michael House battle back to the checker on the last lap of the PLM race. Don’t miss the next race on August 4th. Admission will be $5! pic.twitter.com/C503qlToFQ

— Fairgrounds Speedway (@FGSpeedway) July 18, 2018

Forty-five years earlier in 1973, Jimmy Means won his first Nashville Late Model Sportsman race by edging past Bob Burcham to capture the Frank Reed Memorial 100 by an unmeasured yet generally accepted even closer margin of victory.

Neither finish, however, matched the outcome of an LMS feature on July 10, 1976.

Track promoter Bill Donoho did his best on Saturday, July 3, 1976, to juggle racing and bicentennial fireworks while also tackling intermittent showers. Fans got to ooh and ahh over exploding shells and colors and during a handful of races. Most of the second half of the night's events, however, were postponed because of the rain.

As an aside, a day later on the 4th of July - the USA's bicentennial - the track hosted a double-bill of Gary Wright (♫ Dream Weaver ♫) and England's Peter Frampton. Several years later, Frampton became a Music City resident where he remains today.

A week later on July 10, the track's racing slate included a bonus - the remaining laps of a limited sportsman race and the additional LMS race nixed the previous Saturday.

About a month earlier, Alexander wrecked his Mercury Cougar on June 13th. Alexander lost the handle in turn 3 as he pursued race leader and friend, P.B. Crowell, III late in a 30-lap feature. He tried to gather it back, but he popped the wall in turn 4 and came to rest against the inside guard rail.

After a couple of weeks of repairs, Alexander had the Cougar back at the Fairgrounds - albeit without a fresh coat of paint. The primer grey car with a crudely sketched 84 on the sides looked better suited for off-season testing than Saturday night racing.

Alabama's Alton Jones took the lead on the fourth lap of the opening 25-lap feature. Alexander raced in his tire tracks as he looked for a way around the track's points leader. Finally, on the last corner of the last lap, Alexander dove to the inside of Jones. As Larry Warren displayed the checkered flag, Alexander drew even with Jones.

The finish was too close to call, and track officials officially declared it as a tie between the two drivers. Both parked at the start-finish line after the cool down lap as fans were told about the result. 

Crowell won the next two 25-lap features that evening. In the second of three races, Alexander popped the wall in his recently repaired but unpainted Cougar. 

Cup regular Bobby Allison was coincidentally injured in a wreck during a late model race in Elko, Minnesota the same evening Alexander scored his tying win and P1 in a four-driver match race. A dozen years later, Alexander was chosen as the driver of the #12 Miller High Life Buick when Allison suffered a career-ending head injury in a Cup race at Pocono.

TMC