March 9, 1969 - Rockingham's Carolina 500

The 1969 NASCAR Grand National season began in  November 1968 followed by Riverside's road course race in January and Daytona's Speedweeks in February, The circuit then began its grind two weeks later with the Carolina 500 at North Carolina Motor Speedway.

   

The Silver Fox - still dark-headed at the time - put his Holman Moody Ford on the pole in Wednesday's qualifying session. Perhaps as motivation for a bit of extra speed, he taped to his dash a picture of his victory lane smooches from his Daytona qualifying twin win.

 

Second round qualifying was rained out on Thursday - stretching an already long-week in Rockingham even longer. Race day was a bit overcast, but the cars were pushed to the grid and the drivers belted in.

Pearson and Isaac led the field to the green. Donnie Allison and Charlie Glotzbach in in Cotton Owens' Dodge tried to stay with the front row at the jump.

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The King started fifth in his Petty Enterprises Ford but didn't have the best outing in Rockingham's final race on the low banks. Following the race, he quipped "Well, look at it this way. We've got the the car handling great on the straightaways. Now all we have to do is get it to handle through the corners. At least we're halfway there."

Courtesy of Dave Fulton

On race day, Pearson's blue and gold #17 Holman Moody Ford was the class of the field. Class of the Field, however, didn't mean a win would come easily. 

With the manual scoring system in place at the time, NASCAR and the teams became confused about who was in front of whom and who was on the lead lap. 

The challenges of the scoring system were revealed early in the race. At one point, NASCAR officials couldn't figure out who the leader was and allowed 22 laps to be run under caution before the pace car finally picked up Cale Yarborough as the leader. That decision set crew chiefs along pit road to gnashing their teeth and rending their garments as no one believed the Wood Brothers' Mercury with Cale aboard was the leader.

As the race neared its end, Mario Rossi, Bobby Allison's car owner and crew chief insisted Allison was in front of Pearson. But NASCAR officials shrugged their collective shoulders, chomped on a toothpick I'm sure, said Nope, and allowed the race to continue.

Petty wasn't the only driver to have an up-close encounter with the guardrail. Pearson went to the high side himself and popped the Armco twice. It was during those misadventures that Rossi believed Allison gained ground on Pearson.

When the checkers finally fell, Pearson was flagged the winner with Allison scored in second - the only other car on the lead lap. Cale came home third, and Paul Goldsmith and Petty rounded out the top five. The win was Pearson's 48th career victory and the first of five wins at Rockingham.

Source: Charlotte Observer

Though Pearson took the trophy to his home a few miles down the road in Spartanburg, Allison and Rossi sulked their way out of the track. A day later, both remained convinced the #22 Coke Machine had won the race. Even Dick Hutcherson (Pearson's crew chief) wasn't entirely convinced the 17 had gone the full distance, but he wasn't about to surrender the official win. 

Source: Spartanburg Herald

As noted earlier, Petty took his rough day in stride. Rather than blame the crew, stew at the media, point fingers at other drivers as is often seen in contemporary Cup racing, the King largely laughed it off as that's racing.

Source: Charlotte Observer

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March 5, 1978 - The Rock's Carolina 500

The 1978 Winston Cup season opened in January in southern California rather than in February at Daytona as has been the case since the late 1980s. Cale Yarborough won the season opener at Riverside's road course. Bobby Allison won the Daytona 500 after a mid-race wreck wiped out the fast trio of Richard Petty, David Pearson, and Darrell Waltrip. And Benny Parsons picked up a popular win in the season's third race at Richmond.

As the calendar turned to March, the Cup Series rolled into North Carolina Motor Speedway - Rockingham - The Rock - for the Carolina 500.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

On the first day of qualifying and a cold one at that, Neil Bonnett picked up the pole in his Harry Hyde-prepared Dodge Magnum as folks hunkered down in mid 30s temps. The pole was his second in a row after also starting first at Richmond. Waltrip timed second and was again the bridesmaid for the start. For the third time in four races, Waltrip started from the front row - but without the benes of being the pole winner.

Allison, Yarborough, and Donnie Allison rounded out the top five starters. Richard Petty, the previous year's Carolina 500 winner, could muster no better than tenth and started alongside his perennial rival, Pearson. Petty raced his winning Dodge Charger for the final time at Riverside, but the Petty Enterprises team struggled to find the desired speed in the three races with its version of the Dodge Magnum. 

An overnight heavy snowfall postponed the second round of qualifying on Friday. NASCAR floated the idea that the back half of the field would be slotted based on practice speeds. Instead, track clearing efforts and "warming temperatures" in the 40s allowed the second round to be held on Saturday as well as the annual Union 76 Pit Crew Championship. Parsons' crew led by Jake Elder won the competition.

When the green fell on race day, Waltrip seized the lead from Bonnett and led the first 33 laps. Waltrip's friend, competitor, and future adversary, Bobby Allison, then went to the point and led for 119 of the next 136 laps. 

Though Allison was leading, Waltrip maintained a solid pace. When smoke began to trail from the #88 Gatorade Chevy around lap 65, however, NASCAR black flagged him. Ol' DW was none too happy about having to pit and blamed the smoke on a short-term problem with an overfilled transmission. He was convinced the smoke would soon dissipate. Nonetheless, he had to honor the black flag. After addressing the issue and losing several laps, he was no longer a factor and eventually finished 21st.

The next 100 laps or so saw multiple leaders. Bobby, Pearson, Cale, Parsons, and Dick Brooks in Junie Donlavey's Truxmore Ford all got time at the front. None held the lead for more than 20+ laps. 

As the race moved past halfway, however, Pearson's #21 Mercury seized the lead and clicked off a ton of laps. The Silver Fox led for 166 laps as others began their strategy as to how to retake - and hold - the lead in the waning laps.  

With about 60 laps to go, Bobby Allison wasn't feeling well and could race no further. His brother, Donnie, was summoned to relieve Bobby in Bud Moore's Ford. Though he quickly ran to Bobby's aid, he wasn't quite prepared to do so. Following the race, Donnie quipped:

When they told me Bobby needed help, it was almost too late. I had just opened a can of beer. I thought, boy, is this going to taste good. Then someone grabbed me and said Bobby was sick or something. I dropped the beer and took off. I couldn't turn Bobby down. 

As Donnie belted in to Bobby's #15 Ford, Pearson and Parsons began going toe to toe at the front. With about 40 laps to go and Parsons mirroring Pearson's laps, Benny decided it was go-time. Pearson arc'd into turn one, and Benny took more of a straight-line entrance into the corner. The minor difference was just enough, and Parsons nicked the corner of Pearson to send him spinning. Benny and a fast-closing Donnie in his brother's car slipped under the 21.

Pearson managed to avoid hitting the wall, gathered his car, and angrily set off in pursuit of Parsons' #72 Chevy. Seven laps later and with a calming heart rate, Pearson pulled back alongside Parsons and went back in front - and this time to stay.

For the first time since the 1977 Southern 500 at Darlington - six months earlier - Pearson was first under the checkered flag. The win was his first at Rockingham since sweeping both races in 1973. He also captured milestone Cup win number 100. 

Donnie got by Parsons to notch a P2 for Bobby, and the King finished fourth. The top five was easily his best finish so far in the Magnum after back-to-back poor finishes and DNFs at Daytona and Richmond.

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

Source: Spartanburg Herald

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Daytona's 1969 and 1971 Twins

David Pearson is the second winningest NASCAR Cup driver of all time. His 105 wins rank second only to the King, Richard Petty. Included in Petty's 200 wins are seven Daytona 500 victories. Seven! Pearson captured only a single trophy in the Great American Race. The one he nabbed, however, was certainly one for the ages: the 1976 Daytona 500.

Though the 1976 500 ranks as Pearson's best known Daytona victory, his win tally includes two additional February wins.

Pearson rolled into Daytona in February 1969 as the defending champion from 1968. Driving the blue and gold Holman Moody Ford, he piled up 16 wins and 36 top 5 finishes in 48 starts. Petty also won 16 races with his Plymouth in 1968 yet finished third in the points.

Things looked a bit different the following February though. Pearson returned in his #17 Ford...

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...but Petty was now in the Blue Oval camp as well after doing the unthinkable and leaving Plymouth.

 

Buddy Baker captured the pole for the Daytona 500 on February 9th with a speed of 188+ MPH. Bobby Issac laid down the second quickest lap locking him and Baker into the front row for the 500. Qualifying continued in the days to follow to set the line-up for the twin qualifying races. 

On Wednesday, February 19th, Pearson became the first driver to break 190 MPH. Though the fastest lap was now his record, Pearson had to start 15th in his qualifying twin because of when the lap was set. 

From 1959 through 1968, the qualifying races were 100 miles each. Beginning in 1969, the races were extended to 125 miles. The idea was the cars would have to pit at least once for fuel rather than stretching fuel mileage to run the full race distance without a stop.

Baker took the green from the top spot earned by his pole-day run in the first of the two twins on Thursday, February 20th. After a couple of laps out front, however, he pulled his Cotton Owens Dodge behind the wall to preserve the car for the 500. Pete Hamilton, the 1968 Rookie of the Year, took over the lead and held it for 14 laps in the #1 A.J. King 1969 Dodge Charger. A few years later, Hamilton's Charger became a late model sportsman car for Dave Marcis - and eventually a show car for Goody's Headache Powders and R.J. Reynolds.

As Hamilton pulled the field around the 2.5 mile superspeedway, Pearson made his way through the field from his 15th place starting spot. He went to the point on lap 18 and stayed there for six laps until surrendering the lead to pit. Cale Yarborough then set the pace for 19 laps in the Wood Brothers Ford. With six laps to go, however, Pearson's powerful Holman Moody Ford caught and passed Yarborough. The #17 led the remaining laps to capture the win.

The victory was Pearson's 47th career Grand National / Cup win and his first at Daytona since the 1961 Firecracker 250. Pearson could not extend his good fortune from the 125 to the 500. He finished sixth, two laps down to winner LeeRoy Yarbrough.

Source: Daytona Beach Morning Journal

Two years later, Pearson was back at the Beach with Holman Moody. The #17 had Purolator Filters on the side as a sponsor - a company that joined him in the years to follow with the Wood Brothers.

     

A.J. Foyt captured the pole for the 500 in the Wood Brothers' car. Isaac once again qualified second as he did two years earlier. Pearson's qualifying time placed him in the second twin rather than the first one that he won in 1969.

Isaac started from the pole in the twin as a result of his pole day second fastest time. Buddy Baker started alongside him in the Petty Enterprises #11 factory-backed Dodge.

 

Credit: Al Consoli

Though he started fourth, Pearson rocketed to the lead on the first lap and held it for the first three laps. The two powerful Hemi-powered Dodges of Isaac and Baker then diced for the next 20+ laps with neither leading more than a couple of laps at a time. 

With about 20 laps to go, Pearson went back to the front. Baker's Maurice Petty-built Hemi, however, refused to concede to Pearson's Ford and stormed back to the front to lead for nine laps. 

Pearson drafted Baker's Dodge and once again took the lead with 10 to go. Baker pursued Pearson's 17 doggedly and eked out the lead once again - but only for a single lap. Pearson found the extra oomph he needed and led the final fix laps to win his second twin in three years.

 

The win was Pearson's 59th victory of his GN/Cup career. As was the case in 1969, Pearson's success on Thursday did not transfer to the 500. He finished fourth to the King. Petty captured this third Daytona 500 trophy as Pearson continued to seek his first.

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January 18, 1976 - Winston Western 500

NASCAR entered 1976 with several storylines:

• Could additional team sponsors be signed to shore up many teams who struggled in 1975?
• Would fan attendance increase if the number of quality, sponsored cars participated?
• Richard Petty captured the Cup title in 1975 with 13 wins in 30 races - his second consecutive, fourth in five years, and sixth overall. Could he keep the mojo rolling?
• After a season of once again racing for his own team, how would Bobby Allison fare with Roger Penske's CAM2 team?
• With Holly Farms Chicken returning as a sponsor for the second year, how would Cale Yarborough fare with Junior Johnson's team as they pursued a full schedule?
• In their fifth season together, what kind of results would David Pearson and the Wood Brothers have as they ran a limited schedule of about two-thirds of the races?

The 1976 season opened as it had since 1970 with a 500-mile race at Riverside International Raceway's road course. Though many fans, drivers, media, sponsors, etc. viewed the Daytona 500 as the beginning of the season, the mid-January race gave the drivers and teams a chance to shake off the rust and get ready for superspeedway testing and Speedweeks that soon followed.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

Interestingly, NASCAR and Riverside scheduled the race on the same day as Super Bowl X. No one would book such an event in this day and age. Though still a spectacle in the mid 1970s, the Super Bowl wasn't nearly on the level that it is today making such dual scheduling feasible. As fans watched the non-televised Riverside race from the stands, greater America watched the Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Dallas Cowboys on TV from Miami.

Allison qualified Roger Penske's car on the pole. Though the team would race a Mercury the rest of the season, Allison raced his trusty AMC Matador with Penske's CAM2 sponsorship colors. Pearson joined Allison on the front row. Benny Parsons, Buddy Baker, and Dave Marcis rounded out the top five starters. Petty's Dodge developed engine issues during practice and returned to notch his starting spot on the second day of qualifying.

Courtesy of Daniel Mensinger

At the drop of the green, Allison set sail and led the first 18 laps before yielding to Dave Marcis for a lap as Allison hit pit road. As Allison made his stop, the Matador's engine failed. NASCAR did not have a rule prohibiting engine changes in that era. So the Penske crew spent the next hour thrashing to install a new engine in Allison's #2.

     

Allison re-entered the race but remarkably blew another engine with two laps to go in the race. Somehow, however, he still managed to eke out a 15th place finish.

The King, Richard Petty, roared through the field from his 27th place starting spot to take the lead on lap 20.  After leading a few laps, Parsons assumed the top spot followed by a rotation of drivers over the next few laps. The lead changed hands over the next 60 or so laps between Parsons, Marcis, Yarborough, Pearson, and Petty. The valves in Petty's STP Dodge Charger, however, once again began failing. He pulled behind the wall on lap 83 with a DNF to open his pursuit of a third consecutive title.

With Allison and Petty on the sidelines or on the trailer, Pearson broke the logjam of multiple leaders when he seized the lead and paced the field for 74 of the next 77 laps. He surrendered the lead briefly as he made a scheduled stop on lap 159 allowing Yarborough to retake the lead for a lap.

As Cale made his stop a lap later, Pearson returned to the lead and did not surrender it again for the remaining 32 laps. Pearson captured his 88th career Cup win, his second road course win, and his first at Riverside. The Wood Brothers also enjoyed their their fifth Riverside win with Dan Gurney having won the others in 1964-1966 and 1968. 

Source: San Bernardino County Sun

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January 16, 1977 - Winston Western 500

The first race of the 1977 NASCAR Cup season was the annual event on Riverside International Raceway's nine-turn road course. In a change from prior races, the 1977 season opener was a 500 kilometer race vs. 500 miles. The change lopped off about 200 miles and a couple of hours.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

Cale Yarborough started from the pole in Junior Johnson's Holly Farms Chicken Chevrolet. David Pearson joined him on the front row in the Wood Brothers' Purolator Mercury. Darrell Waltrip, Jimmy Insolo, and Dave Marcis rounded out the top five starters. 

Waltrip was entering his second full season with the DiGard Gatorade #88 team. Though the results to-date had been hit and miss - largely because of constant turmoil within the team's ownership and leadership, Ol' DW was entering his salad days that continued until the mid 80s. 

Crew member Gary Nelson rode the rise with Waltrip. After having worked with Ivan Baldwin's west coast race team, Nelson joined DiGard in the offseason. The 1977 opener at Riverside was Nelson's first race as a Cup team member. Nelson, of course, grew to have a phenomenal career with teams such as DiGard, Hendrick Motorsports, and SABCO Racing. He did so despite starting his career looking a bit like actor Owen Wilson.

Pearson entered 1977 after having a dominant - though limited - 1976 season in the Woods' 21 Mercury. Although the team did not run the full schedule for the championship, Pearson won 10 times in 22 starts - including both Riverside races. As the new season began, he picked up right where he left off with the 1976 roadies by leading lap one of the 1977 race.

Pearson may have won 10 races, but Yarborough won the 1976 title. He too was ready to continue excellence into the new year. Cale  roared back by Pearson on lap two, and he quickly set the pace for the race.  

After Pearson led lap one and Yarborough flashed across the line to lead lap two, Bobby Allison must have decided it was his time to shine...or maybe not. After racing for Roger Penske in 1976, Allison returned to his own team with an AMC Matador. He qualified a respectable eighth but grenaded an engine on the fourth lap. His red-white-blue car suddenly had orange flames added to the sides as he headed for the sand to extinguish the flames.

Source: Newport News Daily Press

Yarborough dominated the race and led every lap through lap 103 when disaster struck. With a five-second lead over Pearson and only 16 laps to go, Cale committed a mental mistake and got off into the sand. He looped his Chevrolet allowing Pearson to catch and then pass him, but Yarborough managed to straighten his car and returned to the track in in hot pursuit. 

Cale couldn't, however, make up the lost distance. Pearson led the remaining laps and won his third consecutive Riverside race as Yarborough finished nine seconds behind him in second. Richard Petty, Marcis, and west coast racer Sonny Easley completed the top five finishers.

The victory was win #98 for Pearson. Not only was the win his third consecutive one at Riverside, but it was also his fourth consecutive California win. He also won the 1976 season ending race at Ontario Motor Speedway.

Source: LA Times

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Nashville's Sterling Beer Trophy

Nashville's Fairground Speedways opened in 1958, and quickly built a solid reputation for its annual NASCAR Grand National race, the season-ending Southern 300 late model event, and the weekly modified and later late model sportsman programs.

A new tradition began in 1969. Sterling Beer introduced the rotating champion's trophy. The winning driver's name of the track's annual late model sportsman division points title was added to the trophy. The driver apparently retained custody of the trophy for the following season, and it was then returned to be awarded to the new champion. The trophy was to be permanently retired only if a driver won three track championships.

The trophy was first awarded to Dave Sisco who captured the track's LMS title in 1969. Sisco advanced to NASCAR's Cup series in 1971 where he raced as an independent pretty regularly through 1977.

The second recipient of the champion's trophy was Darrell Waltrip in 1970. After a few additional seasons in Nashville, Ol' DW moved up to Cup where his accomplishments are well known.

A few days before the annual awards dinner, Sisco and Waltrip rehearsed the passing of the trophy to the new champion.

Source: The Tennessean

Waltrip celebrated his championship with his wife, parents, and inlaws. A portion of the trophy can be seen on the table at the right edge of this photo.

Coincidentally, Waltrip secured Sterling Beer as his sponsor for the following season. Sterling also sponsored the Sterling Beer 100 late model race in July 1971, and Waltrip used his champion's trophy and postcards to help promote it.

Source: The Tennessean

Flookie Buford earned the honor of hoisting the champion's trophy in 1971. He won 13 LMS races at Nashville from 1969 through 1974. His son, Joe Buford, later became a four-time track champion and is Nashville's all-time win leader.

Buford's promotional photo for the 1972 season included his R.C. Alexander-owned Ford Fairlane and the champion's trophy from '71.

Buford won his second consecutive championship in 1972, and he became the first driver to have his name on the champion's trophy twice.

The 1973 season was another turning point for the track. After three years with banking steeper than Bristol, Nashville lowered its banking to 18 degrees where it remains to this day. Despite the change in configuration, Waltrip captured his second championship in four years. For much of the season, Buford contested Waltrip in an effort to win his third consecutive championship. After going winless, however, Buford's car owner replaced him ending any hope for Flookie to capture the champion's trophy for a third time and permanently.

Before being awarded the champion's trophy for the second time, Waltrip looked it over along with the other hardware with mini-stock division champion Maurice Hassey and limited sportsman division champion George Bennett.

Source: The Tennessean

The 1974 track champion was an out-of-towner. Jimmy Means traveled each week from Alabama, and he outpointed the local contingent of drivers. Interestingly, photos haven't surfaced of Means being awarded the champion's trophy. Perhaps Waltrip wasn't ready to surrender it to the new champion - or maybe he was too busy with first few races of the 1975 Cup season to make the transfer. Nashville's awards dinner was March 1, 1975 - right in the thick of Waltrip's commitment to a three-race stretch of Daytona, Richmond, and Rockingham.

Means did receive his 1974 Winston Racing champion's helmet. Though he didn't receive the rotating champion's trophy, the helmet went into a bit of rotation on its own. Some time later, Jimmy passed along his helmet to his son, Brad. More recently, Brad passed along the helmet to good friend, Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Future NASCAR inspector, Walter Wallace, won his second track title in 1975 and received the champion's trophy from Don Naman of Alabama International Motor Speedway. Wallace earned his first championship in 1967 - two seasons before the introduction of the champion's trophy.

Courtesy of Russ Thompson

As Jimmy Means did in 1974, Alton Jones traveled from Alabama each week and won the track title in 1976. How he did so is a bit of a mystery. Jones won three feature races as compared to the eleven victories by rookie Mike Alexander. Consistent finishes by Jones helped him in the end, however, as Alexander had some struggles with a few DNFs and injuries.

The ninth and final season to be recognized on the rotating trophy was in 1977. Steve Spencer of Old Hickory, TN, a Nashville suburb, captured the title over drivers such as Alexander, Sterling Marlin, Dennis Wiser, and P.B. Crowell III. Spencer later became the personal pilot for Marlin.

Though Spencer's name is the last one engraved, the champion's trophy rotated once more. Racers and fans returned in 1978 for yet another season of Late Model Sportsman racing. All were stunned when track operator Bill Donoho announced the sale of his rights in the track's lease to Lanny Hester and Gary Baker. The new operators then announced weekly racing would not continue in 1979 as they focused on track improvements and larger events.

In that final season, Mike Alexander earned his first Nashville track LMS championship. As with Jimmy Means, Walter Wallace, and others, he was presented a Winston Racing Series commemorative champion's helmet. Because of the change in track operators and cessation of the weekly racing for 1979, the formal awards dinner to recognize the 1978 champions was scuttled. Consequently, Alexander was not presented the champion's trophy.

The trophy, however, had been returned by Spencer - or at least had remained at the track during the year. Knowing what it represented and knowing he earned it, the Sterling Beer Champion's trophy rotated once more to an ... ahem, permanent location.

Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway is now readying for racing again this season under new management. In this writer's opinion, 2020 would be an ideal year to renew the tradition of a rotating champion's trophy. Of course, it would need to be a new trophy as the 1969-1978 one has been retired.

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