April 9, 1966 - Greenville 200

Richard Petty and David Pearson were sidelined from NASCAR racing for much of the 1965 season because of a Chrysler boycott. With the suits from Mopar calling the shots (and controlling the flow of funds), Petty's Plymouth and Pearson's Cotton Owens-owned Dodge teams were caught in the crossfire.

Chrysler and NASCAR resolved their issues midway through the season, and Petty and Pearson began a gradual return to racing. In February 1966, Petty seemed ready to return to his dominant form fans last saw in 1964. He notched his second Daytona 500 win, and the team had to be optimistic about continuing their winning ways and getting a second title.

Pearson and Owens, however, had different ideas. They too had the Hemi engine that Petty's 43 ran. And as the meat-and-potatoes short-track portion of the really got underway in 1966, the #6 Dodge was indeed formidable.

Greenville-Pickens Speedway in South Carolina hosted the eleventh race of the 1966 season, the Greenville 200, on April 9th - the day before Easter Sunday. The drivers had already raced in Columbia, South Carolina on Maundy Thursday, and they were slated to race again on Easter Monday at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem. The circuit took Easter Sunday off, but my hunch tells me plenty of shops were humming to tweak cars for Monday after the two South Carolina races.

The only reason for auto manufacturers to support race teams - then and now - is to sell cars. Period. The only reason for race teams to compete, however, is to pursue wins. Generally, those two agendas align. Sometimes they don't. Dodge was pushing its 1966 Charger to consumers. Owens and Pearson, however, hadn't yet figured out how to make the model a winning race car. Instead, they fielded and won with a 1965 Dodge and even a 1964 model converted from a show car. The duo brought a two-race winning streak in the older model to Greenville.

Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive

Tiny Lund won the pole, and Pearson qualified alongside him. At the drop of the green, Tiny got the hole shot and led the first 39 laps. Pearson then went to the point and matched Tiny with a 42-lap segment of his own out front. Lund did manage to squeeze in three more laps as the leader - presumably during a pit stop sequence.

Pearson, however, was determined to put the aged Dodge back out front for keeps. He retook the lead, and he led the final 116 laps to win his third consecutive race by a full lap over Petty. Lund developed transmission issues, lost six laps to Pearson, and still finished third despite his DNF.

Pearson's win streak grew to four with a win two days later at Bowman Gray. The race was also the 11th of 63 times Petty-Pearson finished 1-2 finish in their careers.

TMC

November 21, 1971 - Wilkes 400

The next-to-last race of the 1971 season for NASCAR's Grand National drivers was the Wilkes 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway on November 21. The race was originally scheduled for September 19th.

As the end of 1971 season drew near, the drivers were competing in the first season under the branding of the Winston Cup Grand National Series.

To help fill the field at Wilkesboro, NASCAR allowed cars from its Grand American division to participate in the Cup race. This decision meant the full-size Cup cars would race alongside Camaros, Firebirds and Mustangs from the GA series.

The Grand American cars were lighter and smaller, and many believed they had an advantage on the short tracks. As an offset, the GA teams were required to use narrower tires and only allowed three crew members over the wall on a pit stop.

Source: Danville Register

Chargin' Charlie Glotzbach won the pole in qualifying driving a full-size, Richard Howard-owned Chevrolet. Rain arrived on race day, however, forcing a postponement until Halloween, October 31.

As NASCAR and track officials scrambled to find a replacement date, questions remained about what do about the qualifying order that was already set.

Once the new date was set and communicated, the decision was made to scrap the September qualifying and hold a "do over" session. When the cars returned in late October, Glotzbach picked up where he'd left off in September. He again snagged the pole in the Howard-owned, Junior Johnson-prepared Chevy.

Remarkably after Glotzbach's second top qualifying run at the track in six weeks, rains arrived yet again. The star-crossed race was postponed a second time until November 21.

Finally, the weather cooperated on the third attempt. Fortunately the rains stayed away, and qualifying and the race were completed in their entirety.

The qualifying times were tossed after the first attempt at the race in September. After the October postponement, drivers and teams were given an option in November: stand on the October time or qualify a third time.

Initially, Glotzbach and Junior Johnson weren't on the same page. Eventually they agreed to qualify a third time rather than risk losing the pole to a quicker lap. And once again, the #3 Chevy (a white one - not a black one) won the pole meaning he ran the quickest lap in three different sessions in three different months to finally start the race P1.

The second place starter was Richard Petty in his full-size Plymouth with third going to Bobby Allison in a full-size Ford. Richard Brown and Dave Marcis rounded out the top five starters - both in GN cars. The highest qualifying Grand American entrant was Tiny Lund who started sixth in his a Ronnie Hopkins-owned Camaro.

Source: Sumter Daily Item via Google News Archive

Though the rains did not return, early winter temps did. It would be a cold, windy, fall day when the drivers finally took the green. Glotzbach led the first 41 laps before yielding to Bobby Allison for six laps. Then Petty went to the point where he remained until lap 74.

The next few laps saw a tussle between Allison and Tiny Lund with each taking a brief turn out front. On lap 79, however, Ol' Blue returned to the front. Petty put his Plymouth out front again and began to pull away as he frequently did at Wilkesboro.

Credit to Don Hunter, courtesy of SmyleMedia.com

With only 50 laps to go, however, Petty's Hemi inexplicably broke a valve spring while holding a two-lap lead. He was able to continue, but his lap times slowed dramatically. And the field was in hot pursuit.


On lap 360, Glotzbach caught Petty's ailing Plymouth to take over the top spot after having unlapped himself. But while looking out his windshield, he also had to keep an eye on his mirror. Tiny Lund, who at one point had fallen back by four laps to the leader, had made up his laps and was pushing his Camaro towards the front.

With five laps to go, Tiny shoved his #55 Pepsi Camaro by Glotzbach and took the checkered flag after building a six second advantage.

Credit to Don Hunter, courtesy of SmyleMedia.com

Tiny reveled in the victory and quickly brushed off the criticism by some who claimed the smaller Camaro had a distinct advantage. Junior Johnson noted after the race a piece of Glotzbach's rear-end suspension broke with 10 to go. If another few laps had been needed, Charlie would probably have lost the right rear wheel. Instead, he was fortunate to end up with his second place finish. The King salvaged a third place finish even after the disappointment of losing what seemed to be a book-it win.

The victory was Tiny's last of five career Grand National wins. NASCAR's record books reflect Lund's Wilkesboro win in his Grand American Camaro as a GN / Cup victory. Interestingly, however, Bobby Allison's win at Bowman Gray in a Grand American Mustang in July 1971 is not credited as a GN / Cup win.

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

Three weeks later, the 1971 season concluded at the short-lived Texas World Speedway. With the first ever Winston Cup title secured at Richmond the week before Wilkesboro, the 43 Plymouth did at Texas what it often did so well most everywhere else: win.

TMC

July 14, 1966: Pearson, Petty and Putney the Putz

Fonda Speedway hosted its first NASCAR Grand National race in 1955. Junior Johnson split the laps led with Tim Flock about 50/50. Flock led the first half of the race, and Junior led the second half to claim the win.

After that race, the Grand National division didn't return to Fonda for eleven years until July 14, 1966. The track became part of the "northern tour" along with tracks such as Trenton Speedway in New Jersey; Islip Speedway on Long Island; Oxford Plains in Maine; Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta, NY; and Bridgehampton Raceway's road course in New York.

The half-mile, dirt Fonda Speedway - just shy of an hour west of Albany NY - was built along the banks of the Mohawk River. A 2011 Hemmings.coms article described the track as such:

...Fonda is a profoundly quirky place. The backstretch, once a canal towpath, was aligned to miss a cemetery (whose graves proved to be empty when they were later moved). That gave the track an odd elliptical shape, with one end cramped and the other no-lift wide. Errant cars have plunged into the Mohawk River, and still do. The grandstand was thrown up in three old sections. It's weirdly wonderful.

The "garage area" was least green in July 1966 rather than 10 acres of dusty dirt or muddy slop. Plus, crews had little time to do much tweaking of their cars. The teams' tight schedule over that mid-July stretch was:

• July 7 - Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas, VA
• July 10 - Bridgehampton Raceway in New York
• July 12 - Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine
• July 14 - Fonda
• July 16 - Islip Speedway on Long Island

Tiger Tom Pistone made his one and only Fonda start in 1966. He is shown sporting a grin for a couple of reasons:

• He qualified fifth (though an engine issue relegated him to a 20th place DNF).
• He was wearing an epic Batman t-shirt - presumably for the Adam West-led TV series that debuted in January 1966.

Credit: John Grady

Another driver with a big smile on his face was Bobby Allison. He had won his first GN race two days earlier at Oxford Plains Speedway in his trusty Chevelle.

Source: Bobby Winnett at Randy Ayers Modeling Forum

Richard Petty claimed the pole in his Hemi-powered #43 Plymouth. Independent driver J.T. Putney timed second. Tiny Lund, 1965 GN champion Ned Jarrett and Tiger Tom rounded out the top five starters.

When the green flag waved, Putney took advantage of the rare occasion of starting up front. He went toe-to-toe with Petty, led the first lap, and settled into an early groove to lead the first 30 laps or so. Then on lap 35 - after losing the lead to Petty - things didn't go quite so well for Putney. One writer went so far as to say Putney pulled one of the ten dumbest moves in racing. Ever. With all the dumb things racers have done, that is saying something to be in the Top 10.

From the 2011 Hemmings.com article:

J.T. Putney started the #19 car ... on the front row alongside Richard Petty and took the lead. I had been standing in turn two with my camera and shot this photo when Putney hit the backstretch fence. I would say he was driving over his head because you could see him coming off two and hitting the fence with his back end, lap after lap, until Putney finally went so high he was forced to take the lower tow road, which was kind of an escape road. There was quite a drop down to the tow road, probably 10 feet. Putney stayed on it and roared back up on the track right in front of Tiny Lund, who hit him and caused a pileup. Putney and Lund were two huge guys who then confronted each other in the infield. Supposedly, Tiny punched Putney and knocked him unconscious. NASCAR fined Tiny for doing it, but I still think that Putney just fainted.

Source: Hemmings.com. Credit: Frank Simek.

Bobby Allison started the race with a smile on his face. But the smile quickly turned to a look of concern when he realized his Chevelle had been shortened on both ends - simply because of a bone-headed, reckless move. Lyle Stetler had to be furious as well. He had two cars taken out in the avoidable accident - one driven by him and the other by Tiny who settled matters with Putney for both of them.

Source: The Leader-Herald

Buddy Baker in #00 was making his second of five consecutive starts for car owner Emory Gilliam. Though he started sixth, a faulty axle relegated him to 19th place finish in the 31-car field.

Source: Hemmings.com. Credit: Frank Simek.

A couple of weeks after the Fonda race, Baker and Gilliam signed a unique sponsor for Bristol's Volunteer 500. John Jay Hooker - lawyer, political gadfly, and CEO of STP Corporation in the mid-1970s - ran for governor of Tennessee in 1966. He incorporated his name into the appropriately numbered car driven by Baker.

Petty assumed the lead after Putney's unfortunate trip out of the track, down the access road, through the cemetery, back onto the track, and into a wad of other cars. He paced the field for 13 laps before his career rival, David Pearson, assumed the lead.

Pearson led about 40 laps before Tiger Tom made his presence known. Tiger set the pace for 32 laps before having to make a pit stop. As Tiger's car hit pit road for service, Petty's 43 took back the lead for four laps. Pearson then again took the lead from Petty in a script played out frequently over a two-decade period.

The King got back around Pearson with just under 50 laps to go. With less than 40 to go, however, Pearson in his #6 Cotton Owens' Dodge took the lead yet again. Petty hung tight with Pearson and hounded him constantly over the remaining laps.

With a couple of laps to go and Petty in hot pursuit of Pearson's lead, the 43 broke loose. Petty lost the car but gathered it to soldier on. The gap was enough, however, to allow Pearson to roll on the remaining circuits and nab his eleventh win of the season. Petty still managed to finish second, and home track racer Rene Charland finished third in his seventh of nine career GN starts.

Courtesy of Ray Lamm

The race was the 14th time Pearson and Petty finished in the top two spots. Over their careers, that stat grew to a remarkable string of 63 races through 1977.

Source: The Leader-Herald

Though the King came up a little bit short in 1966, he returned in 1967, won the pole again, dominated the race, and claimed the Fonda 200 win. Though he didn't win the pole in 1968, he again led the most laps (180 of 200) and picked up another trophy in the Grand National division's final race at Fonda.

Remarkably, Allison managed to race his car the next race. He took his demolished Chevelle to a cousin living in New York. Over a two-day period, the front fenders and hood were replaced and the rear of the car rebuilt. Allison made the show at Islip Speedway much to the surprise of NASCAR officials. He not only qualified for the race - but he won his second career GN race four days after his first victory.

TMC

May 13, 1972: Grand National East at Nashville

From the 1960s through 1970, NASCAR's Grand National (Cup) schedule averaged about 50 races each season. In 1971, R.J. Reynolds climbed aboard, and the Winston Cup Series was born. The series had a transition year in 1971 with 48 races before dropping back to around 30 that became the staple until the mid 1990s.

When the schedule was dramatically slashed, many traditional tracks - particularly in the eastern time zone - lost their race dates. Perhaps as a way to ease their way out of relationship vs. leaving cold turkey, NASCAR formed the Grand National East series. The series only lasted for a couple of years; however, NASCAR later formed the Busch North Series in the mid 1980s to fill a similar role.

The series ran several tracks discarded from the Cup schedule such as Columbia, Hickory, Myrtle Beach and Kingsport. In 1972, the series ran the Mr. D's 200, its one and only event at a track that remained on the Cup schedule - Nashville Speedway.

Mr. D's was a fast food seafood restaurant created by the parent company of Shoney's restaurants. The chain's name was a nod to one of Shoney's founders, Ray Danner. Its first store was opened in Donelson, a suburb of Nashville, and happens to be where I grew up and lived from the late 1960s through the early 1980s.

Within a year or two of its opening, the name was changed to one more widely recognized today - Captain D's. I guess Cap'n had more of maritime, 'fishy' name than Mister. (For those unfamiliar with Captain D's, think Long John Silver.)

On Saturday May 13, 1972 - Mother's Day weekend - the GNE series raced at the Fairgrounds. The race was co-sanctioned with NASCAR's Grand American division, a series made up of pony cars such as Mustangs and Camaros.

Source: Russ Thompson - Nashville Fairgrounds blog

Some of the drivers who entered the event were Winston Cup regulars - albeit independent drivers and/or those who weren't typically considered amongst the front runners. The field included such drivers as:

• Jim Paschal who raced Cup actively through much of the 1960s and won frequently as a driver for Petty Enterprises
• NASCAR HOFer Buck Baker whose heyday was in the 1950s when he won 2 GN titles
• D.K. Ulrich - long-time driver and owner for a multitude of up-and-comers including Al Loquasto 
• Richard Childress who struggled for 15 years as a driver before striking gold as the owner for Dale Earnhardt
• Elmo Langley, a two-time GN winner who later became NASCAR's pace car driver
• Dick May - an independent who later became a rep for STP
• Wayne Andrews - a regular participant and winner in the Grand American series
• Tiny Lund, winner of the 1963 Daytona 500 and a multi-race winner in the GNE division.
• Cup regulars and brothers, Bobby and Donnie Allison

L to R: Tiny Lund, Bobby Allison, Jim Paschal

The Cup series raced on May 7th at Talladega but didn't run again until May 28th in the World 600 at Charlotte. Having a couple of weeks off gave some of the Cup regulars a chance to run the Nashville event (and presumably pocket a little show money from track promoter Bill Donoho).

Bobby Allison brought a #49 Coca-Cola Mustang Fastback to Nashville. The car was owned by Mel Joseph and had been raced in a few Grand National / Grand American combo races - including at Winston-Salem's Bowman Gray Stadium in 1971. Allison took the checkered flag over Richard Petty in the Mustang; however, NASCAR did not (and still doesn't) recognize the victory as an official Winston Cup win for Allison. (Interestingly, Petty wasn't given the win either.)

Perhaps as expected, Allison laid down the quickest lap to nab the pole. But the margin to second was maybe closer than he had counted as veteran Paschal showed he still knew the quick way around the track. (Paschal won three consecutive GN races at Nashville in 1961, 1962, and 1963).

Darrell Waltrip, Nashville's 1970 late model champion, won the preliminary late model race. He won the short, 30-lap feature six days after making his Cup debut in the Winston 500 at Talladega. The fans were winners because some of the national drivers also raced in the late model event plus were out-qualified by many of the locals.

Source: The Tennessean - May 13, 1972

For a while, Waltrip raced P.B. Crowell's creamsicle orange-and-white #48 Chevelle. But in 1972 as a new sponsor came aboard, Waltrip's 48 sported a transitional white with blue accent scheme.

Credit: Russ Thompson

Paschal had to give up his front-row starting spot after puking a motor in practice. Tiny Lund who was injured in a bizarre accident when a tire fell on him moved to the front row to take Paschal's vacated spot. With his injuries, however, his team made a driver swap at the first caution. Waltrip who'd won earlier in the day and obviously knew the track well took over for Tiny. (I am curious about how well Tiny's seat fit Waltrip back in those days!)

The Fairgrounds once had the oddest of pit roads. Drivers came through turn 4 on the .596-mile track, crossed the start-finish line, turned left onto the inner quarter-mile track, pitted, returned to the track, crossed the start-finish line again (though not completing another lap), and headed for turn 1. Drivers, officials and scorers were frequently confused as to who was on what lap, who had pitted, etc.

The confusion was present again during the GNE race. Rather than slow or stop the race to sort out things, officials let 'em race and tried to figure it out on the fly. As a result, the scoreboard was bouncing around with 'lead changes' though no passes were being made on the track.

Allison got out front about one-third of the way through the race. Waltrip tried to make the best of a good opportunity in Lund's car and did his best to track down Bobby. But after running like a scalded dog, Waltrip's car lost an engine with about 15 laps to go. Allison then cruised home to take the victory. Waltrip and Allison would wage many more battles over the next 10-12 years - especially in the early 80s on the Cup level.

Source: The Tennesseean - May 14, 1972

Courtesy of Russ Thompson

As Russ Thompson noted in his blog post, NASCAR apparently enjoyed what they saw at Nashville that weekend. Perhaps as a result, the track earned a second date on the Cup schedule. From 1973 through 1984, the Fairgrounds featured two races a season - a distinction several tracks didn't have, then or now.

I encourage you to visit GrandNationalEast.com authored by Jeff Droke, long-time crewman for James Hylton, for more information about the series.

TMC
Edited August 27, 2014

August 4, 1963 - Paschal's Music City Triple Play

August 4, 1963: For the third consecutive year, Jim Paschal wins the Nashville 400 at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.

A couple of days before the race, starter Johnny Bruner and driver David Pearson posed for a promotional photo-op at Nashville's Mercury Motel. Pearson made his first of five career Nashville starts in the race.

Source: The Tennessean

Richard Petty won the pole in his familiar #43 Plymouth. 1960 NASCAR Grand National champion Rex White started alongside Petty. Paschal started third in a second Petty Engineering #42 Plymouth. Tiny Lund started sixth and featured prominently as a story line of the race. As noted in the following article from The Tennessean, Tiny essentially predicted the outcome of his own race with his remark "It's a good place for tearing up equipment."

Source: The Tennessean - August 4, 1963

By laying down quickest time, Petty got to choose his lane. He chose to start on the outside of row 1 alongside White. Eventual winner Paschal started third - on the inside of the second row.

For reasons not understood, Petty's car raced without a number on the driver's side door. Petty raced a #41 Plymouth in the previous race five nights earlier in Greenville, SC. Two nights before Greenville, the teams raced at Bristol where Petty battled Fred Lorenzen but finished 2nd in #43. Perhaps the team came to Nashville straight from Greenville and simply ran out of time to finish painting the 43 car - especially if the left side was used up a bit at Bristol. Who knows. But with numbers on the roof and trunk (and presumably the right side door) and the recognizable Petty blue base paint, I'm sure fans, track announcer and the crew had no trouble identifying the Randleman Rocket.

Source: The Tennessean

Russ Thompson is a life-long Nashvillian and is the unofficial historian of the speedway. He has forgotten more about what has occurred over the decades at the fairground than I'll ever care to know. A couple of years ago, he posted a blog entry about the 1963 race - much of which is excerpted below.

Twenty-one cars started the race, and it was a relatively star-studded field for the 39th race of a 55 race schedule... Starting third was Richard’s Petty Enterprises teammate Jim Paschal. Paschal was looking for his third consecutive win in the big summer race. Other big names in the field were Fred Lorenzen (on his way to the first $100,000 season in stock car racing history), defending series champion Joe Weatherly, Buck Baker, Ned Jarrett, Bobby Isaac, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, and ’63 Daytona 500 winner Tiny Lund. Local favorite Jimmy Griggs secured a ride for his hometown race.

Jim Paschal had taken the lead by using savvy pit strategy. Lund was still running well on lap 194 when his engine blew at the end of the back straight. As Lund’s car slid into the guard rail, he was hit by David Pearson. Pearson’s car pushed Lund’s on top of the railing, destroying two of the billboards that surrounded the track. Rex White was following close behind and ran under the rear of Lund’s car as it was on the guard rail, ripping the right front corner of the roof off just as if you’d used a giant can opener. White received lacerations on his arm that required stiches.

Lund’s car, after being hit in the rear where the gas tank was located, burst into flames with the nose of the car through the guard rail and the back pointing down the banking. Debris, smoke, and leaking fuel littered the track.

Lund was slow to crawl from the wreckage. Part of the reason was because, in spite of his nickname, Tiny Lund was a big man. He stood over 6 feet tall and weighed in at over 250 pounds. So his race car is on fire, he’s been through a harrowing crash, and he climbs out on top of a banked turn. The cars on the track have slowed for the wreckage and debris scattered across the track. As Lund stumbled down the banking, he staggered right into the side of the car driven by Cale Yarborough, putting a huge dent in the passenger door. Cale’s car owner, Herman Beam, wasn’t very happy with Cale when he brought the car back with a dented door that didn’t result from an accident with another car.

This series of photos gives a good sense of Tiny's violent accident.

Photo sequence source: The Tennessean - August 5, 1963

The crash scene viewed from a distance. (As an aside, I remember a mid 1970s ARCA race at Nashville when a car leaped the turn 1 wall just a few feet behind where Tiny hit. That driver also knocked down some of the billboards. But I digress...)

Photo courtesy of Steve Cavanah

And the efforts of a local towing service to haul Tiny's found-on-road-dead Ford out of Nashville's guardrail. Reckon Tiny had AAA coverage back then?

Photo courtesy of Steve Cavanah

Russ Thompson continued in his post:

Just 7 laps after the crash, as it has been known to do in Nashville on a hot summer day, an afternoon thunderstorm moved across the Fairgrounds, stopping the race for an hour and 24 minutes.

Between the red flag for the crash and another for rain, darkness was now an issue. Officials decided to stop the race after 350 laps. Jim Paschal scored his third straight Nashville 400 win, followed by Billy Wade, Joe Weatherly, Richard Petty, and Buck Baker.

Paschal not only won his third straight Nashville 400, but he also won all three in Petty cars. His wins in 1962 and 1963 were with Petty Engineering / Enterprises. Lee Petty's brother - Julian Petty - owned the #44 Pontiac Paschal drove to the first of his three straight wins in 1961.

Source: The Tennessean

Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire

TMC
Edited August 3, 2014

May 16, 1958 - Lee Wins a Ragtop Race

May 16, 1958: Starting second, Lee Petty leads about half the race in an Oldsmobile and wins a 200-lap, 100-mile NASCAR convertible series race at the dirt fairgrounds speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Tiny Lund won the pole and led the first half of the race before surrendering the lead to Petty. Tiny and Petty Enterprises had somewhat of an interesting relationship. He drove a second #188 Petty Enterprises car for a few races in 1957 as Lee's teammate, and he returned 10 years later to drive four more races in a #42 Plymouth as a teammate to Richard Petty.

Tiny's brief stint with Petty Enterprises in 1957 apparently didn't end amicably. As writer Tom Higgins has told the story on more than one occasion:

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 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 teen-agers, 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!"

Read more here: http://www.thatsracin.com/2011/05/12/62231/tom-higgins-feudin-fussin-and.html#storylink=cpy

Greg Fielden describes the 1958 Charlotte race in his book, Rumblin' Ragtops - The History of NASCAR's Faboulous Convertible Division:

Petty sped across the finish line seven laps in front of runner-up Ken Rush to nail down his first convertible triumph... The half-mile dirt course became an obstacle course within the first 35 laps. Two A-frames broke on the rutted surface, an accelerator linkage broke off another car, and a steering assembly broke on another. Many of the cars which finished looked like the runnin' wounded. ~ p.98

Lee started 28 races in NASCAR's limited-life convertible series. His victory at Charlotte was his first of only two career wins in the series. The second one came in July 1959 at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in South Carolina.

TMC