May 29, 1966 - Dog Track Speedway

In the early part of the twentieth century, greyhound dog racing was all the rage in southeastern Virginia -  especially for the Navy fellers in nearby Norfolk when they were in port with extra coin in their pockets. 

When the local track's sport was shut down by state authorities, the money folk moved about a half-mile south across the state line to the small town of Moyock, North Carolina. 

Trainers continue to run the dogs at the quarter-mile track known as Dog Track Speedway for several years, and the bettors followed. In the mid 1950s, however, North Carolina joined Virginia in doing away with dog racing which put the track out of business.

The facility was resurrected to host auto racing instead of the helpless dogs. The local promoter landed NASCAR in 1962 to begin a five-year streak of Grand National races. Putting their dog days behind them and positioning the track for the future, Dog Track Speedway was converted from a quarter-mile, dirt track to a third-mile, paved surface in time for the August 1964 GN race.

NASCAR's circuit raced once on the rebuilt oval in 1964, twice in 1965, and returned in 1966 for what turned out to be the locale's final big time event - a 300-lap, 100-mile swan song.

The King, Richard Petty, plunked his Plymouth on the pole. Petty raced the same team Plymouth Marvin Panch raced to the win in the World 600 a week earlier. 

Source: Newport News Daily Press

Though available resources note Petty raced #43 at Moyock, it's quite likely he raced #42 as still painted on Panch's Plymouth from a few days earlier. 

David Pearson qualified second. Independents Tiger Tom Pistone, James Hylton, and Elmo Langley rounded out the top five starters.

When the green dropped, the King set sail in pursuit of his first Moyock victory. As he'd done frequently the previous few years, Ol' Blue found an early groove and intended to go wire to wire for the win. With the race a bit shy of the one-third mark, however, the 43's ignition began misfiring. Petty came to the attention of his Dale Inman-led crew, but nothing could be done in the moment to rescue the day. The car was loaded for the five-plus hour tow back to central North Carolina.

With Petty loaded and ready to head home, Pearson took over and went the distance unchallenged. He led the remaining 200+ laps to score his 19th career win. Despite the improvements made to the track, Dog Track Speedway no longer had healthy support and ceased operations later in 1966.

Source: Newport News Daily Press

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May 28, 1961 - Charlotte's World 600

When the famed Daytona International Speedway opened in 1959, a smaller track sat right off to its edge - the Daytona Beach Kennel Club. The track was a greyhound racing facility owned by John Masoni. 

As an effort to promote the track and bolster betting... errr, races, Masoni lauched a race team in 1960 and hired mechanic Ray Fox to lead his efforts. He hired Junior Johnson as his driver, and *BOOM* just like that Fox and Johnson won the second annual Daytona 500. Johnson won twice more in 1960 before moving on to Rex Lovette's Holly Farms Chicken Pontiac team in 1961. 

Though not at the same level as in 1960, Masoni returned in 1961 and ended up fielding cars for a handful of drivers. After putting established drivers such as Jim Paschal and Marvin Panch in his cars, Masoni gave young South Carolina driver Davie Pearson a shot in the World 600 - though late in the game.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

A week before the 600,  Richard Petty and Joe Weatherly won twin qualifying races. Their wins set them up for a front row start in the following Sunday's 600 and eased any anxiety they may have had about qualifying. Of course, neither driver ever showed much outward anxiety about their racing efforts anyway.

NASCAR sanctioned two Grand National points races in California as the regulars were in North Carolina. Lloyd Dane won at Riverside's road course the same day the good ol' boys ran the qualifying races in Charlotte. Eddie Gray then won a 100-mile race at the famed Ascot Stadium the day before the 600. No one in either race was a regular on NASCAR's GN circuit, so it's not as if anyone paid a points price for going coast to coast to coast in a matter of a few days.

Ralph Earnhardt finished second to Petty in the first qualifying race, and Johnson was runner-up to Weatherly in the second qualifying race. Unlike Daytona, however, where the qualifying races help set the odd and even starters, Charlotte's heats set only the front row. The remainder of the cars had to re-qualify for position in the days leading up to the 600.

Between Sunday and midweek, Johnson bailed from Masoni's car and latched on with the Holly Farms ride. Needing a driver, Masoni reached out to Pearson who hadn't even raced in the twin qualifying heats. The 1960 Rookie of the Year had made a handful of starts in 1961 with results that were all over the board. He jumped at the chance to get in Masoni's car and promptly put down the quickest lap during Wednesday's session to lock in the third starting position. 

Despite finishing second in his qualifying race, Earnhardt ended up starting sixth in the 600 in Cotton Owens' Pontiac - the team Pearson joined in 1963.

The Petty team entered a second car for the 600. Family patriarch and the all-time winningest NASCAR driver (at the time), Lee Petty, continued his recovery from injuries suffered in a savage, over-the-wall accident at Daytona in February. Yet the team soldiered forward. 

Richard raced his yet-to-be-famous #43 1961 Plymouth, and California's Marvin Porter was hired to pilot the team's #44 year-old Plymouth. Porter finished fifth in his qualifying race yet didn't fare so well when he re-qualified 31st. Things turned worse in the 600 when an engine failure doomed the effort to 45th place finish in the 55-car field.

Little Joe got the jump on Ol' Blue at the start. Weatherly led the first lap before Pearson jumped from his third starting spot to lead the next lap.

Weatherly rallied back to lead the next few laps before Earnhardt put Cotton's Pontiac in the wind to lead 75 of the next 120 laps or so. 

As the race neared halfway, Earnhardt faded a bit as Petty, Pearson, and Fireball Roberts hogged the top three spots. The trio exchanged the lead after each led a chunk of laps and set themselves up for the final quarter of the race. 

Several laps shy of lap 300; however, the caution waved for a vicious accident. Reds Kagle tore through the guardrail between turns three and four. His car came to a sudden stop as the guardrail pierced through the car mangling Kagle's left leg. Remarkably, Kagle survived though he did lose his leg to the accident. 

When the race returned to green after about 25 caution laps to tend to Kagle, Pearson seized the lead. While running second with about 70 laps to go, Petty's engine met the fate of his teammate. The pole winner, who had already endured engine failures in a few other races earlier in the season, cruised helplessly to the garage and had to wait another day for his third win of the season.

With his toughest competitor sidelined, Pearson built a three-lap lead over Fireball. Fox was in position to lead his team to another big win - when racing luck turned against him and Pearson.

As Pearson headed down the back stretch on lap 398 and looking for the white flag, his right rear tire blew. Being on the backstretch helped him a bit as he didn't spin. In the era before safety inner liners, Pearson's tire went kablooey and collapsed to the rim. He dropped to the apron and slowed his speed to a crawl in an attempt just to keep the car going straight for the next one and a half laps. 

Fireball stayed in the gas to make up as much lost time as possible. Though he made up a lap and then some on the leader, Pearson coaxed his car around the final four corners to score his first career NASCAR Grand National victory.

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Source: Charlotte News

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May 18, 1968 - Langley's Tidewater 250

NASCAR completed the first third of its 49-race, 1968 Grand National division schedule with the Tidewater 250 at Langley Field Speedway in Hampton, Virginia. 

Track promoter Henry Klich noted how NASCAR was evolving. New speedways had opened or were on the drawing board. Several dirt tracks had begun a conversion to a paved surface. So after years of operating as a dirt track, Klich replaced the red clay with asphalt. The project was completed in time for the GN regulars to roll into town.

Despite Langley Field's switch from dirt to asphalt, Richard Petty captured his third consecutive pole at the track. He was also the two-time defending winner of the race after going back-to-back in 1966 and 1967.

To the surprise of no one, David Pearson joined Petty on the front row. What was a bit of a surprise, however, was Pearson's appearance at all. Just three weeks earlier, Ford Motor Company announced Pearson and his Holman Moody car would stop running the short tracks and focus on speedway races. The announcement was made despite Pearson's three short-track wins to that point of the season. In doing so, Pearson would also forfeit his shot at winning a second Grand National points title. 

In the days after the announcement, Pearson won his fourth short-track race of the year at Asheville-Weaverville followed by a win at Darlington. Ford reversed its decision, and Pearson continued to enter all races. He notched his fifth short-track race of the year at Beltsville Speedway in Maryland the night before Langley Field, and was looking to extend his winning streak to four on the newly paved Virginia track. 

Though it's not clear who or what led Ford to backpedal on their position, one person quite happy with moving forward was Pearson's crew chief, Dick Hutcherson. Just four years earlier, Hutch relo'd from the midwest and a successful IMCA stock car career to try his hand at NASCAR. 

After earning an impressive 14 wins in 104 starts, Hutch left the driver's seat after the 1967 season to become a crew chief for Holman Moody. Paired with Pearson, the duo began racking up wins on a regular basis. 

Source: Newport News Daily Press

Pearson got the jump on Petty as the race began. He led the first 55 laps around the tight track before Petty went to the top spot. 

After a few laps, Pearson got back by Petty's 43. His return, however, was short-lived as Petty once again put his Plymouth in the wind with no intentions of surrendering the lead again.

Petty led about 100 of the next 120 laps. Buddy Baker led a stretch of about 20 laps during a cycling of pit stops. Eventually, however, Petty returned to the top and seemed to be on his way to a Langley Field threepeat.

Things tightened up though with about 80 laps to go. Pearson's Ford closed on Petty's Plymouth, he got alongside him, and the two battled side by side for about 20 laps. The 43 then twitched a bit and doored Pearson's #17. As Petty cracked the throttle to straighten his car, Tiger Tom Pistone doinked him to send the King spinning. 

After popping the fence, Petty headed for the pits but lost three laps as his Dale Inman-led crew thrashed to make sure the car was okay to return to the track. Petty roared back into action and made up one of his lost laps. 

The damage and Petty's urgency to make up the lost distance were too much for the car's engine. The Hemi started bellowing smoke with about 10 laps to go, and Petty finally had to park it with four to go. The DNF was his second in as many nights and his fifth in seven races.

With Petty's late race issues, Pearson rolled on with no pressure. He led the last 60+ laps to capture his 37th career win. The victory was also his sixth short-track win of the year and his fourth consecutive victory. 

Though Petty missed out on his threepeat, Pearson began one. The Silver Fox went back-to-back with a second victory in August and then completed the triad in May 1969. 

Source: Newport News Daily Press

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May 17, 1968 - Beltsville 300

NASCAR's Grand National fleet rolled in to the small state of Maryland on a Friday night in mid-May 1968. The teams hastily prepared for a one-day show to qualify and race 300 laps around the paved, half-mile Beltsville Speedway.

Richard Petty won the pole for Beltsville's 1967 200-lap spring race and led 151 laps en route to a second place finish. He returned in September to again win the pole for the track's first 300-lap race. The King also finished one spot better than he had in the spring by leading 171 laps and capturing his first win at Beltsville and eighth in a row - a streak that ultimately grew to ten.

Petty picked up where he'd left off eight months earlier. He set a track record and captured his third Beltsville pole in a row. David Pearson, winner of the circuit's two previous races at Asheville-Weaverville and Darlington, timed second. 

Pete Hamilton qualified third. Hamilton captured NASCAR's GN rookie of the year title in 1968 and later drove a second Plymouth Superbird for Petty Enterprises in 1970. Virginia's Bill Champion and James Hylton rounded out the top five starters.

 

Petty wasted no time in regaining his groove from the previous September. He launched at the green and led 158 consecutive laps. Then as the 43 headed down the frontstretch with a 10-seconds lead over second running Pearson, POOF - the King's Hemi went up in smoke. 

In 1967, the Petty Plymouth was seemingly untouchable with 27 victories including 10 in a row. The 1968 season, however, brought new challenges. The 43 team suffered its fourth engine failure of the season at Beltsville and fourth DNF in six races. Over the next two races, the lousy streak would grow to six DNFs in eight races. 

As Petty coasted to the garage to try again another day, Pearson went to the point. The Holman Moody #17 Ford led all but twelve of the remaining laps. Bobby Isaac led the other twelve laps and finished second to Pearson.

Pearson claimed his 36th career win - and this third one in a row in the '68 season. 

Source: Baltimore Evening Sun

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May 9, 1970 - Darlington's Rebel 400

NASCAR began the second quarter of its 1970 Grand National division season with the Rebel 400 at Darlington on Saturday, May 9th. Because of state blue laws, Darlington's races were held for years on Saturday in the spring and Labor Day Monday in September for the Southern 500. 

The 1970 Rebel edition was the final one held on Saturday. A change in law or some sort of lobbying resulted in the 1971 race being scheduled for a Sunday. Darlington didn't host another Saturday Cup race until 2005 when their relocated Southern 500 was booked the day before Mother's Day for the better part of eight years.

Chargin' Charlie Glotzbach set a track record in winning the pole in his purple, winged Dodge Daytona. Bobby Allison timed second in another winged Daytona prepared by Mario Rossi. 

Defending and three-time NASCAR Grand National champion, David Pearson, qualified third. During practice prior to qualifying, Pearson clipped the wall four times. Crew chief Dick Hutcherson made several spring adjustments, and the changes helped as Pearson logged the third quickest lap without any additional misadventures with the fence. Nonetheless, the track's PA announcer had a bit of fun at Pearson's expense by introducing him to the crowd as David "Wall" Pearson.

Pearson was flanked by Pete Hamilton who was driving a second Plymouth entry for Petty Enterprises. After Hamilton's qualifying run, he commented candidly to reporter Bob Myers:

I honestly believe we are running too fast for this race track. In the fourth turn, we are headed straight for the wall coming out. There it is near impossible to avoid hitting the wall. - Charlotte News

Though Hamilton was in a second Petty team car, he had the only Petty Superbird in the race. His teammate, the King, qualified his Superbird seventh on the first day of time trials. After logging his lap, Petty returned to the track during a follow-up practice session. Just as Hamilton had observed, Petty lost the handle coming off turn four, popped the wall, sailed back across the track, and pounded the pit wall.

Source: Greenville News

Source: Charlotte News

The crew loaded the trashed Superbird, forfeited their starting spot, returned home to Level Cross, and readied the team's Plymouth Roadrunner short track car to qualify again the next day. After a quick night's work - likely with limited, if any, sleep - the team returned with its backup. The Roadrunner was plenty quick, and the King timed 12th - only five spots lower than his forfeited day one slot. Yet his weekend problems were far from over.

Glotzbach grabbed the lead at the drop of the green. After a few laps, Allison roared back by him to lead for over 50 laps. 

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After the two Dodges led the first 60 laps, its factory cousin let it be known it wanted some prime time exposure. Hamilton's Superbird seized the lead for a couple of laps before teammate Petty put the Roadrunner out front. 

Allison, however, wasn't done. His red and gold Daytona returned to the point to lead a couple of stretches for another 30 laps or so. Near halfway though, the Dodge's Hemi could handle no more. Allison was done for the day, and he headed to the garage to join Glotzbach who'd also retired with engine issues about 10 laps earlier. After starting on the front row, Glotzbach and Allison ended their days by finishing 22nd and 20th, respectively.

Four laps after Allison's exit, Pete Hamilton spun and destroyed the Petty team's second Superbird in only a matter of days.

With Glotzbach's and Allison's winged Daytonas out of the race and Hamilton's wounded Bird loaded for the ride home, Petty's short-track Roadrunner suddenly became the stalwart Mopar on the track. The car was fairly sporty after having led a few laps. The 43 bunch just needed to wrap up the day and hope for better ones down the road.

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About 25 laps after Hamilton's wreck, however, the Petty team's weekend devolved from bad to worse. Much worse. Similar to the wreck he experienced in the Superbird, the King destroyed a third team car with far more force and in the most spectacular fashion. As he did following qualifying, Petty pounded the wall coming off the fourth turn and drilled the pit wall. The force broke the cement wall and sent Petty's Roadrunner into a series of terrifying flips - right in front of the packed grandstands. 

The 43 crew, driver LeeRoy Yarbrough, Francis Allen (a Yarbrough crewman), and Glotzbach crewman Buck Brigance immediately broke into an all-out sprint to the car. Many fans and crew members feared the worst - especially when it seemed his body had come apart and ruptured blood onto the track. Though bad optically, it was several red shop rags that had flown out of the car. For much of his career, the King kept a wet rag in his mouth in an effort to help with hydration.

Though he was alive, the battered driver suffered a dislocated shoulder. The injury forced him to miss the next five races. The team skipped four short track races and fielded former team driver Jim Paschal in the World 600 at Charlotte.

After Petty's wreck, the race concluded with 100 caution-free laps. The final third featured great racing between factory rivals on the track but between drivers who were good friends off the track. Pearson in his Holman Moody Ford battled Bobby Isaac in the Harry Hyde-prepared Dodge Daytona. Each took turns leading sizable chunks of laps before the other went back out front.

With about 30 laps to go, however, Isaac drifted high with a cut tire. Pearson decided it was go-time and seized the moment. He eased by Isaac and led the remaining laps to capture his 58th career win. The victory was his second Rebel 400 win in three years after also capturing the 1968 Rebel 400. 

Though Petty spent the night in a hospital bed as his rival celebrated in victory lane, the King exhibited class as he always has. He called Pearson on Sunday morning to congratulate him on his win. 

Source: Charlotte Observer

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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 11, 1976: Darlington's Rebel 500

The eighth race of NASCAR's 1976 Winston Cup Series schedule was the Rebel 500 at Darlington Raceway.

Though the season was seven races old, the story to that point was the Wood Brothers team with David Pearson. The team entered only four of the first seven races, yet Pearson won three of the four at Riverside, the Daytona 500, and Atlanta. Pearson arrived in Darlington having also won three of the past four Rebel 500 races.

Richard Petty, grew a beard in conjunction with the year-long celebration of the United States' bicentennial. After growing and showing in the legendary finish of the '76 Daytona 500 with Pearson and in victory lane two weeks later at Rockingham, The King caved and shaved during the week before Darlington.

To the surprise of ... well, no one actually, Pearson won the pole. He won it for the third consecutive Darlington race and the fourth of the five previous Rebel races. Bobby Allison, the winner of both of Darlington's races in 1975, timed alongside Pearson in Roger Penske's CAM2 Mercury.

Fans were treated to a great race from the jump. Pearson led the first lap but was soon passed by Allison. Pearson battled back a couple of laps later to regain the lead, but his time there was once again short lived. 

Others soon battled past Pearson and Allison to take their own turns at the point. Buddy Baker, Donnie Allison, Lennie Pond, Darrell Waltrip, Dave Marcis, Benny Parsons, Cale Yarborough and Petty all muscled their way to join Pearson and Bobby Allison at the front at some point during the first two-thirds of the race. Throughout the day, fans witnessed 32 lead changes - a stat generally expected at other tracks such as Daytona or Talladega.

The race featured a couple of brutal accidents - though fortunately none of the drivers involved were seriously injured. Shortly past the 80th lap, independent racer James Hylton spun and was clipped by Buddy Baker. As Hylton's car swapped ends, Waltrip had nowhere to go and drilled the nose of Hylton's 48 hard enough to launch his Gatorade Chevy a bit. Both were done for the day. 

Early leader Bobby Allison also nicked Hylton. He was able to continue but was no longer competitive. Baker damaged the nose and hood of his Bud Moore Ford, but the team made some battlefield repairs that allowed the car to remain competitive the rest of the way.

About a hundred laps later, Jerry Sisco lost it coming off turn four. He popped the outside wall along the front straightway, crossed the track near the flag stand, drilled the inside pit wall, and came to a stop as flames began to emerge from the car.

Credit: Gerald Medford

Sisco's car came to rest near the Petty pit stall. Crew chief Dale Inman and crewman (and future crew chief) Barry Dodson instinctively rushed to Sisco's aid. They leapt the pit wall and pulled Sisco to safety before rescue crews arrived.

Credit: Don Hunter / Smyle Media

Sisco, the brother of Cup racer and 1969 Nashville late model sportsman champion Dave Sisco, had only three Cup starts on his resume prior to Darlington. With the hit and near miss, his Cup days ended after his fourth one. 

Though Sisco did not return to NASCAR, his racing days continued. He returned in the early 1980s to race in the Grand American Division at Nashville's Fairgrounds Speedway. Sterling Marlin's streak of consecutive track championships ended at three when Sisco won the title himself in 1983. He was later inducted into Nashville's Hall of Fame in 2012.

Car owner Wayne Day, Nashville PR Director Tom Roberts, and
1983 Grand American track champion Jerry Sisco
Source: Tom Roberts

By the time the race reached it's final 100 laps, the Track Too Tough To Tame had taken its toll on many. Ol' DW was nursing some bruises from his tough hit on James Hylton. Bobby Allison hung in as best he could after also tangling with Hylton. Cale Yarborough's engine failed around lap 170, and Richard Petty's Dodge suffered the same fate about 30 laps later.

Buddy Baker, however, was still up on the wheel. Despite the damage suffered in the Hylton crash, he remained in the hunt. He and Pearson swapped the lead several times in the second half of the race - with Baker leading most of them. 

With about 20 laps, Parsons looped his car to bring out the final caution of the day. At the time of the yellow, Baker had once again gone to the front, led a sizable chunk of laps, and gapped second place running Pearson a bit. 

As the race returned to green, Pearson had a renewed opportunity. With about 10 to go, he eased the Purolator Mercury past Baker's Ford and continued to win yet another time at Darlington. Though Baker wasn't happy with P2, he had to be pleased at leading over 200 of the race's 367 laps - most of them with a damaged car.

Pearson's 91st career win was also his sixth at Darlington and fourth of the past five Rebel races.

 

Embed from Getty Images

Source: Charlotte Observer

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March 25, 1967 - Greenville 200

NASCAR's Grand National division rolled into South Carolina on Easter Saturday for the eighth race of the 1967 season for the Greenville 200 at Greenville-Pickens Speedway. 

Looming over the early part of the season was a potential Chrysler boycott - just two years removed from when big names such as Richard Petty and David Pearson were sidelined as part of their factory alliance. Once again, the Mopar Brass wasn't happy with NASCAR and its allowances for Ford Motor Company. If Chrysler boycotted again, the Petty team would be parked as would Cotton Owens' team with Pearson. Rumors began to surface that both teams might consider leaving Chrysler though denials from both camps soon followed.

Dick Hutcherson won the pole in Bondy Long's Ford (which likely added to Chrysler's boiling point). Three-time Greenville winner Pearson joined him on the front row in Owens' Dodge. Pearson banked two of his three Greenville wins the previous season and was going for three in a row. Elmo Langley, Big John Sears, and Jim Paschal rounded out the top five starters. 

Pearson got the jump on Hutcherson at the start and led the first 74 laps before a caution for a two-car spin sent the drivers to the pits. Sixth-place starter, Richard Petty, received great pit service and put the 43 in the lead as the race returned to green. 

Unfortunately, Petty collided with Hutcherson as they exited the pits. Though King took the top spot, he faded after a couple of laps because of damage from the pit exit collision. About 20 laps or so later, Petty's Plymouth became more than a handful. The car swapped ends in turn four, and he found himself looking directly at oncoming traffic. That was it for the King, and the Plymouth was loaded on the trailer for the trip back to Level Cross.

Throughout the second half of the race, Hutcherson pursued Pearson in an attempt to get the lead. Pearson's Dodge never surrendered, however, and Hutcherson began to fade a bit as the race neared its end. 

Pearson had a dominant night to capture his third consecutive Greenville win, his second in a row after winning at Bristol, and the 30th of his GN career. He led all but two laps - the two led by Petty near halfway. Paschal finished second as Hutcherson faded to seventh with a bum wheel.

The win turned out to be Pearson's final one for Cotton Owens and his last in a Dodge. A disagreement, a misunderstanding, a difference of opinion, or whatever it was about a month of so after their Greenville win, Owens released Pearson. After missing a few races, Pearson then linked up with the famed Holman-Moody team - a move that kept his mojo going in the final years of the 1960s.

Source: Greenville News

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March 21, 1976 - Atlanta 500

As NASCAR's 1976 season hit March, a couple of storylines had begun to develop.

• The partnership of the Wood Brothers team and driver David Pearson was strong as a brahma bull with wins in the season-opener at Riverside in January and the Daytona 500 in February.
• Legendary mechanic and crew chief Harry Hyde had his #71 Dodge Charger running well with Dave Marcis as they picked up a win at Richmond, the pole at Rockingham, and top 10 finishes at Bristol and Riverside.
• Cale Yarborough and Junior Johnson were ROLLING with top 5 finishes in four of the first five races of the season - including a win at Bristol. The lone blemish was a dead-last finish at Daytona after an engine failure on lap 2.
• Richard Petty's season was quite eccentric - especially compared to his dominating 13-win season in 1975. He had notched a win at Rockingham along with the oh-so-close P2 finish at Daytona and another second behind Marcis at Richmond. But he also had poor finishes at Riverside and Bristol.

The circuit hit Atlanta for the sixth race of the season, and several of those drivers occupied the top five starting spots.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

Marcis claimed his second pole of the year, and Pearson put his Purolator Mercury on the front row alongside him. Petty and Cale occupied the second row, and Benny Parsons rounded out the top five.

Parsons signed on for an exhausting four-days of racing. In addition to his responsibilities for practice, qualifying, and racing in Atlanta, he shuttled back and forth between Georgia and Florida to join David Hobbs as a teammate in the 12 Hours of Sebring IMSA race.

Source: Louis Galanos

Source: Pensacola News Journal

Despite a dismal 27th place finish at Bristol, the King was content with his third place starting spot for Sunday at Atlanta. The 43 team also agreed to let F1 champion and ABC-TV race analyst Jackie Stewart take the STP Dodge Charger for a spin to record some footage for a feature during the Wide World of Sports condensed broadcast of the race.

Source: Atlanta Constitution

The race was super competitive as a number of drivers led throughout it. No one other than Yarborough and Buddy Baker in Bud Moore's Ford led a double-digit number of laps for the first two-thirds of the event. 

Despite the numerous leaders during that stretch, a few folks had a tough time during it. Pole-winner Marcis exited around lap 100 with a failed engine. Bobby Allison's engine also failed in his Roger Penske-owned Mercury near the 200-lap mark followed soon by Petty's Dodge and Baker's Ford with similar woes.

As the race entered the final third, a battle emerged between Pearson and Parsons. With 30 or so laps to go, however, Pearson found his mojo and maintained a gap on Parson's #72 Monte Carlo. The checkered flag flew over Pearson for career win #90, and Parsons was the only other car to finish on the lead lap. Yarborough finished third followed by Lennie Pond and Darrell Waltrip.

Parsons fared better in Atlanta than he did in Sebring. Hobbs got the team's BMW to the lead before making a stop for a driver change. Shortly after Parsons took over, however, he took an offroad excursion through some weeds. The cooling system was damaged, and the team lasted only six hours in the event.

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

Source: Atlanta Constitution

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March 18, 1973 - Rockingham's Carolina 500

The 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup season opened in January at Riverside International Raceway. Mark Donohue won his first and only Cup race in the Winston Western 500. The victory earned Roger Penske his first Cup win as a car owner.

The King, Richard Petty, captured the next two races on tracks that couldn't have been more different. He won his fourth Daytona 500 and followed up a week later with a win on Richmond, Virginia's half-mile bullring. 

The tour then headed for the sandhills of North Carolina for the fourth race of the season, the Carolina 500 at Rockingham.

David Pearson and the Wood Brothers #21 Mercury team stumbled out of the gate in 1973. Pearson won the pole at Riverside but finished 22nd. A month later, the team returned to Stuart, Virginia with a 33rd place finish at Daytona after losing an engine. 

Leonard Wood knew how to build power plants, however, and the car returned with a fast one at Rockingham. Pearson won the pole - his second of the young season. Benny Parsons qualified on the front row alongside Pearson in L.G. DeWitt's Chevrolet. Coincidentally, DeWitt also owned the Rockingham track. The King, Bobby Allison, and Buddy Baker comprised the rest of the top five starters. 

The annual Union 76 pit crew championship was held on Saturday before Sunday's Cup race. Baker's crew led by the crusty and crafty Harry Hyde won the competition. Though Hyde's #71 Dodges were historically lightning quick on the track, his crew often received criticism for slow stops during races - mistakes that may have cost his drivers various races. So to nail the quickest time during the crew contest was sweet as apple jack shine to Hyde.

Source: Charlotte Observer

Some suggested Baker's crew win may have needed as asterisk as the Wood Brothers team did not participate. For years before the 1973 contest - and for years to follow, the Woods were known as the most consistently quick crew on pit road. In March 1973, however, the team opted to have the crew arrive on race morning vs. the day before in order to compete in the crew contest. In the current Cup era - even before the arrival of COVID, it has become common for several teams to fly their crews in on race day or perhaps the night before. In the early 1970s, however, most pit crews had dual (or more) roles to get the car ready for practice, qualifying, and the race. 

When the green flag flew on Sunday, the 21 crew was in their stall as Pearson took off from his top starting spot. Petty launched from his third starting spot to latch on to the bumper of Pearson's Mercury. It quickly became apparent the Wood Brothers had put Riverside and Daytona behind them and only looked forward. 

Petty's STP Dodge rolled lap after lap in the tire tracks of Pearson's car, but he never could muster a pass. Pearson ceded the lead to Bobby Allison on lap 71 as the Woods' crew went to work. After a single lap, however, Pearson went back to the point with Petty still dogging him. 

The top two got a bit of a scare a few laps shy of the race's halfway mark. Independent Dave Sisco from Hohenwald, Tennessee spun right in front of Pearson and Petty. Both jumped to the high line to scoot past Sisco.

As Pearson regained his mojo after the near miss, he made a motion to wipe his "brow" across his helmet as he came down the front straightaway. After the race, car owner Glen Wood quipped, "That's the first time a driver of mine ever flashed me a sign like that, but I know what it means."

Pearson was eventually able to lap Petty, yet the 43 continued to apply the pressure. With about 120 laps to go, however, the Dodge's Hemi could no longer handle the pressure. Water poured from the 43 as Petty pulled his car behind the wall with a DNF.

With Petty done for the day, Pearson was able to relax a bit - at least for a while. Late in the race though, his crew let him know Cale Yarborough was on the charge in Junior Johnson's Chevrolet. 

Despite Yarborough getting within range, Pearson maintained a comfortable lead and capped off a dominating win. The box score showed that Pearson led 491 of the race's 492 laps. Baker, Allison, and Dick Brooks rounded out the top five finishers.

Source: Gaffney Ledger

Cale's rally was truly impressive as he raced much of the day with a broken seat. In truly a different era for NASCAR, the safety issue was the least of the team's concerns - or even NASCAR for that matter. Johnson tried to wedge the seat with a block of wood during a pit stop but without much success. Yarborough simply hung on as best he could and strong armed the #11 Chevy through the corners. Once the race was over, Johnson was more upset at the crewmen responsible for the seat than he was at Yarborough's narrow loss.

Source: Charlotte News

Pearson's 67th career Cup win was also his second at Rockingham. His previous win was in the 1969 Carolina 500.

Source: Spartanburg Herald

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