June 3, 1978: My first Cup race

As has been mentioned a time or two here over the years, one of my mother's older brothers introduced me to racing in 1974. For all the years I've known him, my uncle has seemingly lived a life of Laissez les bons temps rouler. I don't think there was any advance plans to go to Nashville's fairgrounds speedway that night. He just decided he wanted to go, drove to Nashville from about 90 minutes away, dropped by our house, asked my dad and me to join him, and off we went. I was hooked from the drop of the first green flag for the night's mini-stock races.

My aunt and uncle also took me to my first Winston Cup race - again in Nashville - on June 3, 1978 for the Music City USA 420. Again, he just made the decision to drive to town and stopped by my parents to see if I wanted to go. Though I can't recall specifically leaving our driveway, I'm sure I was in the car before my uncle could hug my mother and shake my dad's hand.

I bought my first race program that night - and still have it.

Only recently did I learn Nashville bought a ready-made program that was also sold by North Wilkesboro a couple of months earlier for its spring Gwyn Staley 400 race. I have no idea why someone would have approved the proof of the cover with U.S.A. 420 in quotation marks.

As noted on the program, Nashville's race was originally scheduled for Saturday May 13th. A week earlier, however, Talladega's Winston 500 was rained out. NASCAR rescheduled it for the following Sunday, May 14th - the day after Nashville's night race. As a result, Nashville was then forced to move its date to June 3.

Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive

One of the pre-race stories written by Larry Woody, the long-time racing beat writer for The Tennessean, was about Jimmy 'Smut' Means. Means was the fairgrounds' local late model champion. In 1976, he made the decision to head for the big time and invest his efforts and resources into Cup racing. He remained an independent driver on the circuit for almost 20 years, and he remains in the sport today as a Nationwide Series car owner for driver Joey Gase. (Twitter)

Source: The Tennessean

Most remember Means for racing car number 52 in Cup. When he raced at the fairgrounds, however, he raced number 92. His car number was used in a promotional decal for the track in the mid 1970s. Billy Hagan's Stratagraph team with driver Skip Manning was regularly using 92 when Means got to Cup, so he adopted 52. 

I remember perusing the limited inventory of the souvenir stands on the concourse behind the grandstands (no driver-specific trailers in those days) - as my uncle presumably sought out a couple of cold beers. My aunt bought me this photo of Richard and Kyle Petty - a pic I still have. After holding it for all these years, I finally had the King autograph it at Phoenix in fall 2013. Next goal: Kyle.

Another long-time independent driver, Lennie Pond, won the pole for the race. Cale Yarborough qualified second, and two-time Nashville track champion Darrell Waltrip timed third in his #88 DiGard Gatorade Chevrolet. Dave Marcis and Benny Parsons rounded out the top 5. 

For the 1978 season, Pond caught a break and latched on with upstart car owner Harry Ranier. Pond had four other poles in 1978 - the second Nashville race, one at Bristol, and both Martinsville races. He also won his only career race in the Talladega 500 that summer. Yet he lost his ride after only one season. 

King Richard had an incredible run of success from 1972 through 1977 with the STP Dodge Charger. The body style became obsolete after the 1977 season, and Petty Enterprises chose to race the ill-fated, boxy Dodge Magnum. Though Petty led several laps in the Daytona 500 and at Wilkesboro, the car rarely had a nose for the front. The 43 accumulated a few top 10 finishes, but the finishes masked how non-competitive the Magnum was. The team raced the Magnum only six more times after Nashville before ditching it for a Chevrolet Monte Carlo. 

The nine-time Nashville winner qualified seventh for the 420. (Cup regular and former Nashville track champion Coo Coo Marlin started eighth. He needed relief driving help during the race and got it from his son, relative Nashville newcomer Sterling.)

Photo courtesy of Russ Thompson

The Magnum did find a second life, however, as the starter car for Kyle Petty. In his first professional race in Daytona's ARCA 200 in February 1979, Kyle won it racing one of Richard's discarded Magnum.

Back to Nashville...

The race wasn't very memorable - unless you were a Cale Yarborough fan. The Timmonsville Flash led every stinkin' lap. Green ones, yellow ones, during pit stops, all of them. Even with the 11 car pacing the field lap after lap, I was mesmerized as the track's lights rebounded from each of the cars on a muggy Nashville night.

Source: The Tennessean

Four races later, the Cup teams returned to the fairgrounds for the Nashville 420. Cale took it a bit easier on the competition by leading only 411 of the 420 laps. Four races after the second Nashville event, Cale dominated the Volunteer 500, Bristol's first race under the lights. The victory gave the #11 Junior Johnson team three wins in Tennessee's four races that season.

Pond showed his pole run was no fluke by finishing second to Cale - albeit two laps down to the winner. The 43 Magnum surprisingly had a good third place finish. Again, however, the finish wasn't reflective of the gap between the Dodge and other teams because Petty finished four laps down to Cale.

Unfortunately, the pre-race, feel-good story about Smut Means having success at a track he knew well didn't happen. He had ignition problems, lasted only 12 laps, and finished 30th - dead last.

Following the race as was the norm in those days, the track opened the gate in the fence below the starter's stand. Fans were allowed to cross over the track and mingle among the cars, crews and drivers. I had a single objective - find the King. As we pressed towards the transporters, my uncle grabbed me by the shoulder to slow my roll and said "Here comes Cale and Junior."

They were apparently being led back across the track for media interviews. In a decision based on teenaged Petty fandom and one I now regret, I looked at my uncle as if to say hell no. The 11 car had just punished the field by leading every lap and pummeled the 43 by four laps. Why would I want his autograph? A few years later, I had another opportunity to meet Junior Johnson and DID get his autograph. To this day, however, I've never had the second opportunity to meet Cale.

As my eyes searched for the day-glo red and Petty blue Magnum, I spotted a Petty Enterprises crewman who looked vaguely familiar. Then it clicked - it was Kyle Petty! He was one day beyond his 18th birthday and nearing his high school graduation. Then as is the case 30+ years later, he was kind enough to this kid to stop for a picture with my GAF 110 camera and sign my program with my pathetic Bic ballpoint pin.

Having the chance to meet Kyle affirmed my decision to pass on Cale and Junior. But quickly I resumed my search. Finally, I spotted the STP transporter! It was a box truck with an open flat-bed trailer. The car wasn't there yet, but I was trying to get in a position so my aunt could take my photo with the transporter in the background. As she was about to snap, my uncle walked up and started laughing. He pointed to a car being pushed to the trailer. It was Buddy Arrington's #67 Magnum instead of the 43. Arrington, yet another independent driver of the era, often bought gently used Petty equipment with his limited funds - including the transporter. I had a lot of admiration for Buddy, but I was clearly at the wrong spot.

My panic mode began to amp a bit by then as I tried to figure out where the car was. If you've ever seen an STP race car live, you know how vibrant that day-glo red can be. How could I not find it? Finally, we spotted it already loaded on the truck down near the 'garage' area entrance by turn 1. (Nashville's garage was actually just an inner loop between the quarter-mile inner race track and the .596-mile outer speedway.)

I broke into a run to get there and made it in time. I didn't meet the King, but at least I did get to stand by my hero's car. Looking back, perhaps I should have taken the time to seek out Richard, Maurice Petty, Dale Inman, or any other crewman. Shoot, by then my 'in' was Kyle who I'd just met. Maybe I should've leveraged my friendship with him! But as it was, I had a smile permanently pasted on my face after seeing the car up so close.

We returned to the pits where we ran into two drivers who later sadly lost their lives doing what they loved - racing.

• J.D. McDuffie

• Neil Bonnett

After we got home and went in the house, I of course told my folks about the 43 car, meeting Kyle, and such. My uncle then announced "He's coming with us for the night." He was working a construction job in Hartsville, TN, about an hour from Nashville. He and my aunt were staying with friends in the area during the duration of the job. He didn't ask my parents if I could go with them to spend the night. He told them I was going. It was just his personality style that my parents knew well.

I don't remember if I fell asleep on the way there - or if I babbled all the way (likely the latter). But after all these years, I do remember how much it meant for them to take me to the race, help me find the 43, and treat me as if it was me who was the king that weekend.

As the decades have passed, my uncle and I don't get to see each other as often. But when we do, the conversation always and quickly turns to racing.

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

May 12, 1984: Nuttiness At Nashville

My introduction to stock car racing was at Nashville's Fairgrounds Speedway in 1974. While I won't swear to it, I think the evening's feature was a 200-lap NASCAR late model sportsman race featuring drivers such as Jack Ingram, L.D. Ottinger, Harry Gant, Morgan Shepherd and Butch Lindley. The date, the race, who won, etc. have all been forgotten, but I do remember my eyes being wide open and my heart pumping.

The first time I got to see Cup cars live was during qualifying for the 1976 Nashville 420. My first Cup race to attend was naturally at Nashville - the 1978 Music City 420. During the second half of the 1970s, I was a bigger fan of the local favorites such as Steve Spencer, Alton Jones, Sterling Marlin, Mike Alexander, Tony Cunningham, P.B. Crowell III, etc. than I was of the Cup series. After leaving for college, however, I found it harder to keep up with the local guys and really went all-in as a Cup fan.

The original ownership group sold to another in the late 70s, and the track was renamed Nashville International Raceway. California real estate developer and racing outsider Warner Hodgon bought into the ownership group (as well as stakes in Bristol and North Wilkesboro), and 'International' was dropped from the track's name. Yet then (and now) I always just referred to the track as 'the fairgrounds'.

After being known as the Music City USA 420 through the 1970s, the spring race took a title sponsor coinciding with the ownership change. In 1984, the race was branded as the Coors 420 - though a car with Po' Folks restaurant was featured on the program. Go figure. (One of the local guys was sponsored by Po' Folks ... I think.)

Coors sponsored the race as well as a car in the race - the #9 Harry Melling Ford. The team's driver, Bill Elliott, was still a season away from exploding in the NASCAR consciousness with his dominating 1985 season. A different beer brand, however, sponsored the two cars that became the story of the race - Budweiser.

In 1982, Junior Johnson announced two sport-shaking deals. One, he announced Hodgdon was investing in his team. Also, he planned to expand his operation to a two-car team in 1984. Outside investors and multi-car teams in NASCAR were both rarities up to that point. Generally speaking, the second car was way off the primary car.

Darrell Waltrip was already on board with Junior's championship winning #11 team. Neil Bonnett joined him in 1984 in a matching Chevrolet after spending a transition year in 1983 with Rahmoc Racing and 'sponsorship' by Hodgdon. Both cars were sponsored by Budweiser and Kentucky Fried Chicken, and the team was quickly dubbed Double Thunder.

The team should perhaps have been nicknamed Double Trouble. Though the two teams had common ownership, sponsors, and car makes, the 11 and 12 bunch did not function as a team as is the model for contemporary NASCAR racing. Led by crew chiefs Jeff Hammond (for Waltrip) and Doug Richert (for Bonnett), the two cars were perhaps more competitive with one another than with other cars on the track.

Yet - they were quick. On short tracks where Junior's cars historically had run well, they raced even better with DW and Neil behind the wheel.

As the Winston Cup series rolled into Music City for the 10th race of the 1984 season, Waltrip was ready to race with a high level of confidence.

• He was a two-time late model champion at the track in 1970 and 1973.
• Waltrip earned his first Cup win at the track in 1975.
• The 11 team was the defending champion of the race having won the Marty Robbins 420 a year earlier.
• DW had two wins and eight Top 10s in the first 9 races of the year. 

Sure enough, the 11 team laid down the quickest qualifying lap on Friday night to nab the pole. Ricky Rudd qualified alongside Waltrip in his Wrangler Jeans Bud Moore Ford. A couple of unsponsored drivers made up the second row: Geoff Bodine in Rick Hendrick's Chevy and Ron Bouchard in Jack Beebe's Buick. Dale Earnhardt rounded out the starting five in a second Wrangler ride, Richard Childress' Chevy.

Bonnett qualified 15th, about mid-pack, but a quick, single-lap wasn't his measurement of greatness for the weekend. Two weeks earlier, he wheel-hopped the curb at Martinsville. Doing so caused his steering wheel to spin quickly to the right - so quickly that he didn't have a chance to loosen his grip. The spin snapped Bonnett's wrist and dislocated his thumb. He incredibly popped his thumb back into place while at speed, and finished the race in fifth place. Only after returning home to Alabama was he able to have the bones set and a cast applied. The awkwardness of the cast and persistent pain when racing were challenges he had to face, yet Neil did not miss a start.

When the green flag flew on Saturday May 12, Neil spent the first 20 percent of the race working himself methodically towards the front. He finally went to the point on lap 87 and led sizable chunks of laps throughout the race. When the night was done, he'd led 320 of the 420 laps - with a broken, throbbing right wrist.

With about 10 laps to go, Neil was being hounded by the #5 Chevy of Geoff Bodine. Two weeks earlier at Martinsville, Bodine won the first Cup race for himself and Hendrick Motorsports - the race in which Bonnett had broken his wrist. Bodine got past Bonnett, but Neil fought back in an effort to reclaim the lead. Instead, he spun himself out with seven to go.

Remarkably, Bonnett was able to gather his car and pit without losing too much track position. Bodine ducked in the pits as well knowing he'd have to race Neil hard again. The race resumed with three to go with Waltrip out front (who chose not to pit). Then all sorts of a mess broke out. Cup upstart Rusty Wallace trashed his Gatorade Pontiac coming out of turn two. Bobby Allison, the reigning Cup champion, got collected, caught fire, and drove in reverse down the backstretch through three and four and then down pit road.

Bonnett was humping it on the high side as he tried to catch Waltrip. Then the King inexplicably spun his STP Pontiac and Kyle Petty looped his car into the inner wall to avoid t-boning his father's 43.

Waltrip flashed under the starter's stand taking the white and yellow flags. He checked up some to make it through the debris from the wrecks yet maintained good speed. Bonnett still went full bore, caught DW in turn four, and nipped the 11 at the line. Waltrip, his crew, and the TV announcers initially believed DW was the winner because the caution had flown a lap earlier. Bonnett believed the track was essentially still 'green' because the yellow flew as the last lap started vs. at the end of the next to last lap. In that era, cars raced back to the line when a caution happened vs. the 'frozen field' model used today.

NASCAR's officials then went into Keystone Kops mode. They directed Bonnett to victory lane. Within a minute or so, they had Waltrip drive to victory lane and had Bonnett leave. But again within a few minutes they switched back to Bonnett as the winner. The collective set of officials seemed unable to determine when the yellow flag flew and what was permissible in terms of racing back to the finish line.

As the crowd left the stands and TV left the air, Bonnett was indeed in victory lane as Waltrip's team was left fuming.

Source: Gainesville Sun via Google News Archive

Interestingly, Warner Hodgon (in slacks and buttondown shirt and getting Waltrip's glare) was part of the winning and losing end of it all. He was a partial owner of both Bud teams as well as an investor in the track whose reputation was getting dinged because of NASCAR's ineptness. But the disputed finish would soon be the least of his concerns.

Waltrip wasn't finished. He defiantly protested the finish. Junior Johnson had the unenviable position of protesting the victory by his own car. (Such a protest by a car owner against another of his own cars wasn't unprecedented. Lee Petty protested his own son's win in 1959 at Lakewood Speedway.)

Three days later, NASCAR sided with Waltrip's protest and declared him the winner and moved Bonnett back to second.

Source: Hendersonville NC Times-News via Google News Archive

 

A young Dave Despain - with hair on his head but not on his face - featured highlights of the controversial race on his weekly racing magazine show, Motorweek Illustrated.

I remember the confusing finish, but I don't remember if I saw the race on TV or listened to it on MRN. I'm thinking it was likely the latter. I was away at college, and we didn't have a TV in our dorm room. We had a TV in the rec room, but I know no one would have allowed it to be dominated by a race on a Saturday night. The guys had more important things to watch ... such as music videos on MTV.

The Coors 420 is available as part of MRN's Classic Races Podcast series. The original broadcast can be heard below, at MRN's site, or streamed through MRN's iTunes channel.


Nashville Speedway put its hooks deep into me 40 years ago, and it's amazing to think 30 years have passed since this particular race was run. Back then, I toted fewer pounds and bigger dreams. I had visions of spending many future years watching Cup racing there. No way it could ever end ... or would it?

Hodgdon's non-racing financial situation took a quick tumble in the mid 80s. His fall was so precipitous that his racing interests were drawn into the abyss. Suddenly, Junior Johnson was faced with losing his two teams and life's work as a car owner. He was able to craft a deal to buy back Hodgdon's equity and get him out of the picture.

The fairgrounds track wasn't as fortunate. The track hosted its annual summer race in July. Bodine won the Pepsi 420, but his win turned out to be the final Cup race in Nashville. With many questions surrounding Hodgdon's finances, the long-term viability of the track, and other legal complications between the track and its landlord, the city of Nashville, NASCAR chose to withdraw its sanction after the 1984 races.

Racing continues to this day at my home track - and it's truly hard to believe three decades have passed since the final year of Cup racing. But at least The Fairgrounds' Cup days went out with a bang as two teammates had to scrap like foes to settle the score.

Big thanks to Russ Thompson for many of the photos and video clip! 

TMC

May 7, 1972: Pearson Begins His Talladega Triad

After parting ways with Holman-Moody after several successful seasons including two championships, David Pearson ran a pretty spotty schedule in 1971.

In spring 1972, Pearson joined the Wood Brothers' Purolator Mercury team. The Woods already had a great start to the season with A.J. Foyt's winning the pole at Riverside and wins in the Daytona 500 and Miller High Life 500 at Ontario. With Foyt's commitment to Indy cars, he clearly wasn't in a position to run a limited yet regular NASCAR schedule. When Pearson was hired, so began a remarkable team whose success was also immediate and lasted through 1978.

In 1972, the team won the pole and the race in their first outing together - the Rebel 400 at Darlington. Two races later, the NASCAR circuit rolled into Talladega for the Winston 500.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

Bobby Issac won the pole in his Harry Hyde-prepared K&K Dodge Charger.

  Pearson plunked his Mercury right alongside him on the front row. Three legends rounded out the top 5 - King Richard, Bobby Allison and Buddy Baker. Though Petty Enterprises fielded Dodges for Baker in 1971 and 1972, the King was making his first start in a Dodge after switching from Plymouths as was announced before the spring Martinsville race. The 43 team ran a mixture of the two for the rest of the year before turning to Dodges full time in 1973.

Buddy absorbing some race strategy with Maurice Petty and long-time Petty crewman Richie Barz.

A notable racer making his first Talladega start was country music superstar and frequent racer Marty Robbins. He qualified his purple and canary yellow Dodge Charger 9th in the 50-car field.

Over the weekend of Marty's first Talladega first start, some footage was shot for a movie titled Country Music featuring Robbins. Adversaries on the track, Richard Petty and Bobby Allison, became co-stars in the footage. Allison plays the foil to Marty much as he did to the King by saying to Marty "Faron Young's one of my favorite singers."

Another driver making his first overall Cup start was newcomer Darrell Waltrip in a self-fielded #95 brown Mercury. Having relocated from Owensboro, KY to Franklin, TN, the two-time Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway late model champion Waltrip qualified mid-pack in 25th position.

#123194562 / gettyimages.com

The Alabama Gang was well represented in the race with Bobby and Donnie Allison, Red Farmer and Robert "Paddlefoot" Wales. Though I never met Paddlefoot, he frequently drove the #10 blue and gold Benward late model Chevelle at Nashville for a friend of my father's, Roy Counce.

Courtesy of Russ Thompson

Long time NASCAR independent driver J.D. McDuffie's car was 'sponsored' by Bro. Bill Frazier's ministry. Frazier's race day faith service was also broadcast over the track's PA system for what was believed to have been for the first time. As noted in the caption to the above photo of Marty Robbins, Marty agreed to sing a gospel number during Frazier's service.

Before the race, Pearson learned of the track's 'physical therapist'. Suddenly he developed a bad back and needed a massage. Who amongst us wouldn't find a similar catch in our back with such an available therapist?

Isaac and Pearson were pretty evenly matched most of the day. Pearson led 59 laps, and Isaac led 57. STP and Petty Enterprises teammates Baker and Petty led 32 and 14 laps, respectively.

Around lap 170, Isaac made his final pit stop & returned to the lead. However, the crew apparently didn't get the gas cap back on the car and it dangled in the wind for the next several laps. For reasons of who knows why, it took NASCAR officials about 10 laps to realize the 71's gas cap was indeed flopping and a couple of more to decide what to do about it.

They finally decided to black flag Isaac to force a return back to pit road. But Isaac and Harry Hyde hadn't come that far to give away a race on a technicality. So they continued onward and ignored the black flag. But with just a few laps remaining, Isaac inexplicably tangled briefly with Jimmy Crawford's Plymouth. Crawford went for a slide, and Isaac raced on. But the encounter was enough to let Pearson close the gap and motor on around Isaac to take the win.

#141927302 / gettyimages.com

NASCAR did not quit scoring the 71. I was under the impression even in the early 70s a driver got 3 laps to observe the black flag or risk having their scoring card pulled. If so, an EIRI interpretation was made that day. Isaac was able to retain his 2nd place finishing position - and apparently the driver and owner points that came with it. He was simply fined $1,500 for ignoring the black flag.

Source: Gadsden Times via Googles News Archive

I realize based on the purse sizes of that era that a $1,500 fine was more significant then vs. now. The amount was about 10% of Isaac's earnings for the day. Perhaps NASCAR felt the penalty was more significant than the points or purse he may have lost had his scoring card been pulled with only a couple of laps to go.

Pearson apparently liked Talladega's victory lane as he and the Woods returned there again in May 1973 and a third consecutive time in 1974. Surprisingly, he did NOT ever win the summer Talladega 500 race - even during that 12 year stretch when the race didn't have a repeat winner.

#104486056 / gettyimages.com

Finishing a strong fourth was The Golden (but Aging) Boy Fred Lorenzen in Hoss Ellington's Ford. Lorenzen who didn't have near the level of success in his comeback from the late 60s through early 70s raced in only six more Cup events. He retired as a driver at the end of 1972.

#141709505 / gettyimages.com

#141709585 / gettyimages.com

Fortunately, there was no "Big One" wreck to wipe out a bunch of cars. By most Talladega standards, the race was a relatively uneventful one which allowed for some levity.

The funniest story from the race involved Marty Robbins. Marty knew his limitations as a driver. He was as passionate about racing as he was his music. He knew he could race with the drivers - but didn't want to do anything stupid to screw up things for the drivers who raced full time for a living.

During a mid-race pit stop, Robbins had his crew finagle his restrictor plate to essentially negate its intended purpose. As a result, he was able to hold 'er wide open. Just because he could, he mashed the gas and passed cars like crazy - if for no other reason than to see the expression on other drivers' faces as he passed them.

After the race ended, he was to be presented an award for rookie of the race. It was then he copped to Bill Gazaway what he'd done and why he'd done it. Gazaway at first didn't want to believe him, but Marty insisted he couldn't accept the award. NASCAR was then forced to disqualify Marty and bury him in 50th and last place. The finishing position really meant nothing to Marty - all he knew was how much fun he had dicing it up with the big dogs. Listen to him tell the story beginning about the 3:45 mark of the following video.

Pearson and the Woods kept the Big Mo' rolling. In 13 more starts together in 1972, the team notched another 5 wins and 10 more top 5's.

TMC

May 4: Buddy Baker's Talladega Twin Wins

Over his multi-decade career, Buddy Baker won nineteen races. Of the nineteen, almost half were at two tracks. Four were at Charlotte,  and four happened at Talladega - including three in a row. Of his four Talladega victories, two happened to fall on the same day: May 4th.

Baker's three-race winning streak at Talladega began May 4, 1975. He let the field know early he was the man to beat by winning the pole for the fifty car field.

Long-time independent and Dodge driver Jim Vandiver won the preliminary race - the ARCA 200 - on Saturday May 3. In an odd scheduling twist, Coo Coo Marlin won the pole for the ARCA race in a qualifying session held ... a week earlier.

Vandiver's Dodge was sponsored by H.B. Ranier, father of Cup car owner Harry Ranier. The "Ranier" name figured prominently into Baker's 4th Talladega win 5 years later.

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Donnie Allison in his DiGard Chevy qualified alongside Baker. Brother Bobby Allison and David Pearson comprised the second row. The field gathers 2x2 on the pace lap as the drivers amp up for the start.

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The Cup raced was overshadowed by tragedy - which seemed to be a part of the fabric of Talladega in the 70s. Randy Owens - Richard Petty's crewman and brother-in-law - was killed during a pit stop when a pressurized water tank exploded as he tried using it to extinguish a wheel bearing fire on the 43.

A unique participant in both the 1975 and 1980 races was country music legend Marty Robbins. He wrecked out of the 75 race in his Dodge Charger and lost an engine in the 1980 event in his Dodge Magnum.

Baker was certainly the class of the field as he led 99 of the race's 188 laps. However, David Pearson led a sizable chunk as well by pacing the field for 27 laps. And Petty's 43 was out front for 22 laps as the Charger was pretty stout that day. But once Petty had to make the unexpected stop and Owens was killed, the Petty crew parked the 43 and withdrew from the remainder of the race.

Though Baker led more than half the race, his win was hardly assured as is the case more often than not at Talladega. But Baker manage to nip Pearson by about a foot to earn the win. Behind Baker and Pearson, Dick Brooks finished third. A pair of Tennesseans, Darrell Waltrip and Coo Coo Marlin, finished fourth and fifth respectively.

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Following the race, the King was clearly distraught as he tried to speak with reporters about the accident in the pits that took Randy's life.

Source: Gadsden Times via Google News Archive

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Baker nabbed his next-to-last career win on May 4, 1980 in Harry Ranier's #28 'gray ghost' Oldsmobile by nipping 1979 ROTY Dale Earnhardt by about 3 feet - not quite as close as the win over Pearson but still one for the ages.

In the preliminary Saturday race, a driver who'd made his name known on the bullrings of the midwest and started his first Cup race at Atlanta earlier in the 1980 season won: Rusty Wallace. He won from the pole in the short-lived Grand American series Alabama 300.

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David Pearson continued to show folks he still had gas in the tank after parting ways with the Wood Brothers in 1979. In 1980, he took over from Donnie Allison in Hoss Ellington's Hawaiian Tropic #1 car. The two had some immediate success with a win in the Rebel 500 at Darlington and capturing the pole for the Talladega race. Baker lined up alongside Pearson in his Waddell Wilson prepared Olds 442.

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As was the case in 1975, Baker led the most laps. However, the competition was more balanced in 1980. Baker led only about a third of the race vs. the 99 laps he led 5 years earlier. Earnhardt led 55 laps to Baker's 61. Cale Yarborough and Pearson took turns for double-digit laps as well.

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Earnhardt had a sizable lead as the laps wound down. But Baker was relentless in his pursuit of the Osterlund Olds, and he was able to get around Dale with the checkers in sight. Using Buddy Arrington as a pick on the backstretch, Baker was able to break Dale's momentum limiting his chances to pass him back.

Some footage of the final few laps of the race is available on YouTube. Unfortunately, the video can't be embedded here. But [click here] to watch Baker eke out a win over Earnhardt.

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Baker's win was the second Cup win at Talladega for car owner Harry Ranier in three seasons. Lennie Pond won the 1978 Talladega 500 for Ranier as well.

TMC

April 27, 1975: USAC's Trenton Twin Bill

On April 27, 1975, the NASCAR Cup teams raced on the half-mile paperclip at Martinsville. King Richard won the Virginia 500 to claim his 14th victory at the track.

About 450 miles northeast of Martinsville in New Jersey, USAC ran a twin bill at the famed, kidney-shaped Trenton Speedway billed as the World Series of Auto Racing. (I'm curious as to how they may have secured the rights to use the name World Series. Or did they?)

From Motor Racing Programme Covers

The day featured two 100-lap, 150-mile races for the 'champ' cars and USAC stock cars. The races had short fields - 12 in the Indy car event and 10 in the stock car race. Apparently this was by design. Long before the days of NASCAR's The Winston but akin to the early years of IROC, participation in the WSoAR was by invitation only.

Johnny Rutherford won the open wheel race with a one-lap victory over second place Gordon Johncock.

In the stock car race, Super Tex A.J. Foyt continued to show his versatility in all forms of auto racing. The skills he'd honed on USAC's stock car circuit as well as his periodic starts (and wins) in NASCAR paid off again at Trenton. Driving a #28 Hoss Ellington prepared Chevy, he led all 100 laps and cruised to the victory.

What interests me about the race, however, is the SECOND place finisher. Bobby Unser - known more for his champ car results than his stock car career - drove a Norm Nelson 1972 Plymouth to a second place finish, the only car on the lead lap with Foyt. Unser's sponsor? You got it - a Bench Racing fave - Schaefer Beer.

Source: Reading Eagle via Google News Archive 

TMC

Don't we all Desire Schaefer?

The 2014 Indy Car season is well under way with two races already in the books at St. Petersburg and Long Beach. On deck for this weekend is Barber Motorsport Park in Greenbow, AlaBAMA ... I mean, Birmingham.

While I'm primarily a NASCAR fan, I have a limited interest in other forms of motorsports. Indy Car has interested me over the years for a few reasons:

• The legacy of the heroes from the 1960s and 1970s such as Super Tex A.J. Foyt, Johnny Rutherford, the Unsers, Gordon Johncock, Mario, Andy Granatelli from STP, etc.  
• The sensational speeds from the cool-looking cars at the Brickyard as well as the pageantry of the Indy 500.
• The ever present drama within the sanctioning body's ownership and management team. Year over year, they make NASCAR's operations look like they're run like a well-oiled machine.
• Schaefer beer's sponsorship of Pocono's Indy race in the track's trying years of the 1970s.

My knowledge of Schaefer's sponsorship of Al Loquasto and Joe Ruttman in NASCAR has been well documented here. I've also learned a bit over the past couple of years about Schaefer's sponsorship of Josele Garza and Kevin Cogan in CART's days.

Until recently, I did not know of Desiré Wilson from South Africa.

Source: leblogauto.com

Wilson was an F1 hopeful who ran in several undercard series in Europe. In the early 1980s, she made her way to the US and raced in about a half-dozen or so CART events in 1983. She was hired in 1986 as a teammate to Garza by Andy Kenopensky, who managed the Machinsts Union / Schaefer-sponsored team. In Wilson's first race with the team in the Escort Radar Warning 200 Mid-Ohio on August 31, however, Garza was seriously injured in an accident.

While running in the top five as the race neared its conclusion, Garza spun off the track and suffered a vicious wreck on lap 77 of the 84-lap race (begin around 1:17 of the following video).


Garza was conscious following the accident as he was loaded into the ambulance. Long-term, he eventually recovered from his injuries. Near-term, however, the Schaefer team's top driver was sidelined. Suddenly, Desiré Wilson with fewer than 10 CART races under her belt became the team's number one driver.

Being elevated to the top team driver, however, did not mean instant success. Wilson only raced in two more CART races in 1986 - Road America and Laguna Seca - and earned deep-teen finishes in both. 

Photographer Mark Windecker kindly shared these photos from the 1986 Mid-Ohio race and allowed me to include them here. Desiré Wilson is #59, and Garza is #55.

Though Desiré did not have a stellar CART / Indy car career, she did honorably carry the Schaefer brand aboard her car and uniform. For that - and for Mark Windecker's great photos - the Schaefer Hall of Fame and Ring of Honor raises a cold one to each of them and exclaims Scha-LOOT!

TMC