Bleacher Report - Articles by Crabber 1967 .

NASCAR, Stop the Talladega “Flip” Flap [and Improve Competition] (Part Two)

Crabber 1967 . — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:28:09 -0500

If we can agree that flipping cars are not acceptable at Talladega, or any other track for that matter, what does NASCAR do?

At this point in time NASCAR seems inclined to do nothing.

If a very large minority of fans is seemingly unconcerned about cars flipping into the air, with the potential of entry into spectator areas, then these fans don’t understand what a disaster such an event would be.

The flipping race cars at Talladega (including the Carl Edwards flip in April of 2009) should raise concerns among fans and the sanctioning body.

Now I agree that the flip of Carl Edwards’s car was, in part, a fluke.

While it is true that Edwards’ car was returning to the track surface before it was launched off the hood of Ryan Newman’s #39, the accident came close to becoming a tragedy. See the clip on YouTube:

Carl Edwards Talladega Crash 4-26-09 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9FsYDEIZWk&feature=related .

The possibility of a car getting into the spectator areas was clearly illustrated for the first time when Bobby Allison’s 1987 accident occurred. This potential for tragedy is clearly shown in the following YouTube clip: Talladega Crash Bobby Allison Bill Elliott http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt5XCCgwulA .

But beyond such grave concerns, the current race car and the rules governing the racing has suffered due to the box that the advance of technology has forced the cars and teams into.

NASCAR’s tightening of the “box” that the teams can work within has not helped the entertainment value of the events, either.

Now for those of you who think that I am just some guy from the 60s [guilty on that point] ranting about “The Good Old Days,” I would like to point out the following comments by a person who covers all the NASCAR Cup races each week.

The AP Auto Racing Writer Jenna Fryer wrote on Tuesday, November 3, 2009 an article titled “Time to address Talladega issues.” She began the article with the following:

NASCAR will point to the 58 lead changes among 26 drivers as proof of a good race at Talladega Superspeedway.

But pushing those stats is much like a used car salesman trying to unload a lemon. You can spit-shine the product all you want, but a dud is still a dud.

Ms Fryer further commented:

It was instead the watered-down results of a technology-driven sport that has far surpassed the limitations of the 2.66-mile speedway. But still, in the end, all the measures taken by NASCAR to improve safety and reduce the eye-popping accidents that have become a staple of restrictor plate racing were for naught. The final 10 laps were still marred by two frightening accidents in which cars went airborne—bringing the total to four vehicle rollovers in two Talladega weekends this season.

Wasn’t keeping the cars on the track the point of all the safety measures?

And she concluded the article thusly:

NASCAR has many different directions it can take on fixing the issues at Talladega. The time is now to pick one.

After the completion of the Halloween 2009 Talladega race, some thoughts came to me concerning the reduction of speed and a subsequent increase in competition in NASCAR’s Cup series.

My first thought was: “Have them race trucks! The trucks are boxy, even more than the NASCAR-designed COT. And… Wait a minute… they already race trucks… Never Mind!”

My second thought was: Zipper Top cars! Follow the example of the Convertible Series (1956-59) where teams cut the tops off the Grand National (Cup) cars to run in convertible races on Saturday, then would bolt the top on (“Zipper Tops”) for the GN race on Sunday.

The fact that convertibles were slower was shown at the first Daytona 500, when the hardtops ran one qualifying race and the convertibles ran the other at a much slower speed. When the race started the hardtops ran away from the convertibles.

So, have the current cars run as convertibles instead of using restrictor plates.

But wait! Convertibles aren’t the big sellers that they were back in the 1950’s, and the manufacturers probably would not be happy as they don’t make convertible Fusions, Impalas, Chargers or Camry’s;never mind.

My third thought was: Well, cut the engines in half I’m sure the teams have something a little more sophisticated than a hacksaw that could literally cut the engines in two. A smaller engine would result in a slower car.

Now the first two ideas are pretty much absurd, but number three has some merit.

NASCAR did flirt with reducing engine size in the early 1970’s. The engine size limit was 427 cubic inches (seven liters) when six and one half liters (396 cubic inches) was considered for Daytona and Talladega.

So, although, the size limit was not reduced, the fact that Chevrolet introduced a 396 cubic inch engine in their street cars was no coincidence.

Currently, NASCAR has demanded that the new engines designed for NASCAR racing continue to follow the designs used in that part of the 20th Century.

When Toyota entered the Cup series, they had to make a pushrod, rocker arm cam-in-block V8 with a carburetor. Does anyone know if Toyota has ever built a pushrod, rocker arm engine? And how long ago did they last make an engine with a carburetor?

So should the change just be a simple reduction in engine size? If NASCAR were to try to lower car speeds (a big if) a reduction in engine size would probably be what they would do.

But what about changes that would take a new direction, that would be relevant to the automotive challenges of today?

Why not really get back to the possibility of “Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday?”

Racing true stock cars (like they did when a pushrod, rocker arm cam-in-block V8 with a carburetor WAS state-of-the-art) would possibly once more make winning a race a true sales aid.

What about a change to the series that would help push the boundaries of today’s automotive technology?

This change would entice manufacturers to enter the series because the interest generated with the general public (not just the racing public) virtually demands it?

Now the question is, how to do this?

Well, as it turns out, someone who has a lot more experience with the automobile industry than I do has an idea that addresses the above questions, and his name is Peter M. De Lorenzo.

Mr. De Lorenzo has a web site called autoextremist.com and his bio describes him this way:

After a 22-year career in automotive advertising and marketing, Peter M. De Lorenzo founded Autoextremist.com on June 1, 1999 as an Internet magazine devoted to news, commentary and analysis of the auto industry. Since then, the site has become a weekly "must read" for leading professionals within and outside the auto industry and De Lorenzo is considered to be one of the most influential voices commenting on the business today.

The idea is simple, really; the rules would simplified.

The box inside which the cars must fit would be a literal box. Overall dimensions, weight and fuel usage would be the main parameters.

The fuel limit would be simply a fixed amount of fuel for a race weekend. Safety rules would have the most detail, requiring the latest in safety developments.

Manufacturers would send their brightest minds to answer the challenges that would be presented by this sort of rules package.

As far as NASCAR is concerned, Mr. De Lorenzo has the following comments:

Even NASCAR would benefit from this new perspective, even though it’s clear that for the brainiacs in Daytona Beach change is anathema. To say that NASCAR and its ruling France family cabal operate in a parallel universe devoid of any semblance of rational thought or visionary thinking, is to state the excruciatingly obvious.

How Brian France and his minions have managed to accelerate NASCAR's already alarming pirouette into mediocrity with a numbing combination of non-decisions and a flat-out refusal to do anything proactive that might actually improve their on-track "show" or help position their antiquated, out-of-touch racing series for the future is almost beyond comprehension and will make for a nice business school marketing class case study down the road one day.

As in how not to do it.

But how could we possibly expect anything else from these masters of the oblivious? Why should we expect an immediate rule change to dramatically smaller engines, which would negate the use of restrictors in an effort to bring an aspect of throttle control and real racing back to the drivers on the superspeedways? And oh, by the way, why should we expect them to bring overall fuel-efficiency into the equation? Because a move like that would make too damn much sense, that's why.

Mr. De Lorenzo goes on to say:

NASCAR is an organization still operating in the "we've always done it this way" mode while the rest of the world has been operating in the “what have you done for us lately?" mode for a long, long time. To say that the rational world has passed NASCAR by is a gross understatement.

As I've said repeatedly, NASCAR not only adamantly believes in the "not invented here" mindset, they take the madness one step further to the point that if they didn't think of something it must not exist . I don't find this mentality to be "charming" or "quaint" or an example of some benign state of "old school" thinking; it's just pathetic.

The short story? They need to get back to stock cars, period. And for purposes of this discussion, that means taking Camaros, Mustangs and Challengers, while putting all the latest safety gear in the stock dimension bodywork, of course and using production engines with fuel-injection and dry sump lubrication, for starters and then let them go as fast as they want, as long as they deliver 15 mpg over the entire race weekend.

Mr. De Lorenzo’s full comments are on his website under the November 11, 2009 “Fumes” column titled: “For Love of the Game.” http://www.autoextremist.com/fumes1/ . If necessary scroll to the bottom of the “Fumes” page and select “Next Entry” to find the entry dated November 11 2009.

This column address most forms of motorsport, not just NASCAR and I recommend it to all thinking motorsports fansand ask them to imagine “What if?”

Would NASCAR dare to go this way? Would any sanctioning body dare go this way? Unfortunately, the answer is almost assuredly no.

In the meantime I hope NASCAR takes some sort of meaningful measures that will truly keep the cars on the ground;changes that have a chance to improve the racing as well.

NASCAR has what I call an “Institutional Memory.” This Institutional Memory is remarkable in that Big Bill France, his son, and virtually all of the people that ran NASCAR in the 1960’s have either died or retired from the day-to-day operations of the sanctioning body.

Despite this, NASCAR remembers the boycotts of the 1960’s by the manufacturers over engine and car designs. This is the reason that now we see NASCAR mandating a single engine design, as well as a race car totally designed by the organization.

The car apparently is very precious to NASCAR. Somewhat like a child to its mother. The COT may not be perfect (far from it) but its “birth mother” NASCAR seems willing to protect this vehicle design, even if (in my opinion) it could be improved.

And by “improved,” I mean a car that would be, at least somewhat, easier to drive, and not so sensitive that when it is leading the race it can easily dominate, while identical cars (NASCAR says they are) cannot catch up because of aerodynamic turbulence from the other cars.

Wasn’t one of the ideas behind the COT, was to make the cars LESS aerodynamically sensitive?

If we agree that no matter how enticing the ideas expressed by Mr. De Lorenzo are, they won’t happen, then must we be stuck with what we have?

So to NASCAR I pose these questions:

Why not slow the cars?

Why not try some changes in the NASCAR-mobile that may just make the racing better?

Why not?

NASCAR, Stop the Talladega “Flip” Flap (Part One)

Crabber 1967 . — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:41:44 -0500

[Part 1 of 2]

The most recent race at Talladega was on Halloween weekend 2009. The fact the race was held on Halloween was not the reason it was scary. The flipping race cars at the end of the race were.

The fact that Talladega is a source of controversy is nothing new. Forty years ago the very first race at the track was perhaps the biggest confrontation between Big Bill France and the drivers.

For those of you not old enough to remember the first race at Talladega, hopefully you saw the excellent “On Assignment” show by Dave Despain on Speed TV about that first race at Talladega.

The 1960’s was the era of a major tire war between the traditional racing tire supplier Firestone, and the challenger Goodyear.

This battle was occurring between the two tire companies on both the NASCAR Grand National (Cup) and USAC Champ Car (Indianapolis) circuits.

Bill France built the Talladega track (then known as Alabama International Motor Speedway) to be bigger and faster than the track he built at Daytona as a rival to Indianapolis.

The two major weak points of race cars during most of the Twentieth Century were brakes and tires. No matter what form of racing, the development of tires and brakes continually lagged behind the improvement of the race cars.

At Talladega, tires were the point of contention. The cars were almost continuously running at 200 mph, shredding the treads off the tires.

The newly formed Professional Drivers Association (PDA) was pitted against the leader of NASCAR: Big Bill France. There had been confrontations between the drivers and France over the years but Big Bill, in this case, did not use his gun to threaten the drivers.

Although the PDA was not really prepared to confront France at that point in time, the situation at Talladega forced the PDA into action.

Richard Petty had been elected as president of the PDA and his was the face seen when the cameras rolled when the press wanted a spokesman to tell what the drivers were thinking.

Prize money for the races was a major part of the funding of the race teams at that time (and virtually the entire source of the drivers' income), and the drivers did not want to miss a big payday, but the tire problem was too big to ignore.

To give you an idea of how dangerous the drivers considered the situation, when France said to a group of the drivers that they were scared, Lee Roy Yarbrough, probably the most fearless driver of the day, punched Bill France in the face.

It must be remembered that in that era drivers were still being killed on a regular basis. In 1964, two of the biggest stars of the sport, Glenn “Fireball” Roberts, and two-time champion Joe Weatherly died in NASCAR racing accidents.

Drivers were even dying during tire testing, such as Jimmy Pardue in September 1964 at Charlotte (running about 149 MPH) and Billy Wade in January 1965 at Daytona.

At Talladega in September 1969, Bill France was not going to postpone his race and the drivers were not going to race under these conditions.

Big Bill France even bought a Ford car from Holman-Moody (comparable to Hendrick Motorsports today) and made laps saying that if he could do it anyone could.

The problem was that France was running in the 150 MPH range while the drivers had been running (and shredding tires) in the 190 MPH range.

Firestone withdrew from the race (never to return to the series) and, somehow, France convinced Goodyear to supply tires. Goodyear however, did not recommend the drivers run at full speed.

The majority of the drivers left the track, but France ran his race as scheduled. Richard Brickhouse won the race in a factory Dodge Daytona, (in the car’s racing debut) and Bill France kept his control of the sport, breaking the PDA (a potential union in France’s eyes) before it could get off the ground.

In the most recent Talladega race, NASCAR had told the drivers to maintain “daylight” between the bumpers of the cars as they went through the turns.

This mandate was given to the teams the morning of the race, causing the teams to suddenly throw their carefully made plans for race-day out the window.

These conditions led to the drivers’ strategy of running nose-to-tail for large parts of the race, reminding those of us who were around in 1969 of the very first race at the track.

Brickhouse had cruised around, just “making laps” in the 150 MPH range until the last portion of the race. Brickhouse then turned on the speed to take the lead, running laps around 195 MPH.

Brickhouse averaged 153.778 MPH in winning the race, compared to Bobby Isaac (in the other Dodge Daytona) winning the pole at 196.386 MPH. (Incidentally, of the $45,637 Brickhouse won in 1969, $24,550 of it was from his win at Talladega.)

Strategy has always been a part of racing, but during this most recent Talladega race, the TV people seemed to be very peeved about the no-bump-drafting-in-the-turns mandate so that the entire broadcast was full of commentary and camera work that made the race appear to be a total bore.

Afterwards, it was time for NASCAR to get peeved. In an unprecedented move, NASCAR publicly criticized the network broadcast.

NASCAR's Director of Corporate Communications (writing under the handle of “NASCAR1948”) posted a column on the ‘community’ area of the NASCAR official website.

The post said in part:

“The ABC broadcasters certainly weren't happy with the race and they felt compelled to remind viewers of that virtually every lap. They seemed to blame NASCAR's enforcement of the rule prohibiting bump-drafting in the corners for every moment they didn't like. Along the way ABC missed a lot of very good racing.

"That's not to say that every lap was a barn-burner, but there was some seriously intense racing as well. Interestingly, a caller on Sirius NASCAR Satellite Radio this morning [Nov. 4] said that he first watched the race on ABC then listened to the MRN rebroadcast and said, "It was like two different races," referring to the excitement and action portrayed on the radio broadcast.”

The NASCAR blog page showing the complete entry about the Talladega broadcast is here: Talladega: A Second Opinion by NASCAR1948 http://community.nascar.com/nascar_says/blog/2009/11/02/talladega_a_second_opinion

(I recommend the reader check out the comments of John Daly, whose blog “The Daly Planet” discusses all forms of the TV coverage of NASCAR. The Daly Planet discussed the controversy on this page: NASCAR Waking Up To TV Issues ? http://dalyplanet.blogspot.com/2009/11/nascar-waking-up-to-tv-issues.html )

NASCAR has been painting itself into an increasingly smaller box since the frightening Bobby Allison flip into the Talladega front stretch fencing in 1987.

The must-discussed, much-maligned, “much-disgusted” restrictor plate was the NASCAR reaction to the fact that Allison’s car took to the air, taking out a long section of the catch fence.

For those who may not have seen the crash when it originally happened, there several clips on YouTube. A very good clip from the original broadcast: Bobby Allison puts a big hole in Talladega’s fence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zli2LbN0AZw&feature=related .

The fact that the Allison accident was just mere feet from entering the crowd and creating a disaster second only to the tragedy at Le Mans in 1955, would force the sanctioning body to take action.

The reaction to the June 1955 Le Mans tragedy resulted in an outright ban on simultaneous competition between cars (that is, hillclimbs were still allowed) in Switzerland that lasted until June 2007 and shorter bans in France and Germany.

The American Automobile Association (AAA) disbanded its Contest Board at the end of 1955 removing it from the sanctioning of races, while government attempts at the state and national levels to ban racing in the U.S. never succeeded.

NASCAR wanted no part in being responsible for the ending of auto racing in the United States and the imposition of the restrictor plates was its quick and easy solution to the speeds that had the capability of causing the moving wings (stock cars) to achieve flight.

So what did the fans think about the most recent race at Talladega?

A recent Rheem Racing poll on scenedaily.com asked the following question:

What should NASCAR do to make the racing at Talladega better for fans and drivers? [Like all polls of this type, these are unscientific results.] http://www.scenedaily.com/news/polls/68561252.html?oid=1&mr=1000&cid=%24cms

And these are the results of the multiple choice question.

Slow down the cars by further limiting horsepower: 6%; Slow down the cars with other changes: 24% ; Alter the track configuration so that there is less banking: 26%; There is nothing wrong with the racing, so leave it alone: 44%

As unscientific as such an Internet poll may be it is interesting nonetheless. From this poll it appears that many fans do not think that there is anything wrong.

This poll shows the unscientific nature of such an Internet poll, as I can’t help but think that more than 30% of the fans must feel that cars flipping into the air, with a potential of entry into spectator areas, are a problem.

In my opinion, flipping race cars are certainly a problem that NASCAR must address. Talladega officials have stated that the track banking will not be knocked down, so where does that leave us?

Well, that is a question that I will discuss in Part Two. See you there.

NASCAR Hall Of Fame's First Class a No-Brainer... and That's the Problem

Crabber 1967 . — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:47:57 -0500

NASCAR HOF's first class of inductees a “No Brainer,” and that’s not a compliment!

Well, it was just a matter of time until I put forth my “$1.87” worth of opinion about the first “class” of NASCAR Hall of Fame (HOF) inductees.

About one year ago, I discovered Bleacher Report. An article by Nate Powers is what caused me to join Bleacher Report:

NASCAR's Hall Of Fame To Open In 2010 by Nate Powers http://bleacherreport.com/articles/56912-nascars-hall-of-fame-to-open-in-2010

This inspired my first ever work here at B/R:

NASCAR Hall of Fame Nominees: Richard Petty, David Pearson, and...? http://bleacherreport.com/articles/57679-nascar-hall-of-fame-nominees-richard-petty-david-pearson-and

That started my string of articles, most of which have a historical "bent". After all, I love racing, and I love history, so when the two come together…well, you’ve got my attention!

But to my point: four of the five members of the first "class" of inductees were a “No Brainer.” The inaugural class includes: Dale Earnhardt, Bill France, Bill France Jr., Junior Johnson, and Richard Petty.

Dale Earnhardt, Bill France, Bill France Jr., and Richard Petty, were the "no brainer" picks, I felt, if the inductees were picked solely by the fan vote. But the fan vote was only one component of the process, so I was hopeful.

I was hopeful, but not very, that the voters on the selection committee would, at minimum not pick “Bill Jr.” to the Hall on this first ballot. Yes, I know: “What were you thinking?”

Honestly, with only five spots "available" it meant that, in reality, only one person would be truly "voted-in". I felt that the two Frances, along with Richard and Iron-head were "locks" as soon as the pool of nominees was announced.

In my most recent article: NASCAR Hall of Fame: My Comments on the Nominees and the Process (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/239046-nascar-hall-of-fame-my-comments-on-the-nominees-and-the-process ), I mentioned a [minimum] two "wing" HOF.

I feel that if the hall had two “wings,” that this would give the Hall a better, more representative, first “class” [at least]. With two “wings”, a maximum limit could be set at five for each “wing”, with no minimum for each “class.”

If the Hall was to be in the format as announced, at minimum, this first “class” should have been set for 10 people, and then the arbitrary five person figure could take effect in subsequent elections.

Why? Well, for the very reason that has inspired me to write: too many people to consider because the nominating committee did a great job, for the most part.

To quote the induction press release from NASCAR:

“ The nominees included many of the sport's legendary names:

Bobby Allison, Buck Baker, Red Byron, Richard Childress, Dale Earnhardt, Richie Evans, Tim Flock, Bill France Jr., Bill France, Rick Hendrick, Ned Jarrett, Junior Johnson, Bud Moore, Raymond Parks, Benny Parsons, David Pearson, Lee Petty, Richard Petty, Fireball Roberts, Herb Thomas, Curtis Turner, Darrell Waltrip, Joe Weatherly, Glen Wood and Cale Yarborough.”

I, for one, was a bit surprised that Richie Evans was among the nominees; but I felt it was a great pick, and it made me hopeful that the first “class” would be a bit more varied than I feared it might be.

However, I don't believe that all of the 25 in the first "pool" deserve to be in the HOF.

For example: Benny Parsons was a nice man, a great representative for the sport, and a beloved race commentator. However, I feel that he was not one of the top drivers of his era, which I would define as the drivers that everyone feels will be in contention for each race. He was certainly a second tier driver, one who could "grab" an occasional victory from the "big boys".

Certainly the "Pioneers" should be in, and so, NASCAR should have honored them by "Getting Them In" the first “class" of inductees.

Red Byron should be in. He was the first Champion, twice. The fact that Red was not a bootlegger, when most drivers [and Red’s owner] were involved in bootlegging (the training ground for so many drivers and mechanics), says a lot for his skill.

Raymond Parks should be in. The first Championship owner [twice!], and he showed everyone how the sport, the teams, and the officials, how it should be done: with class.

To see my comments on both Parks and Byron see my article:
Raymond Parks: NASCAR's Double Inaugural Championship Car Owner

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/70156-raymond-parks-nascars-double-inaugural-championship-car-owner

I continue to believe that a Hall of Fame with two wings is the way to go.

The official NASCAR release also said:

” The results of the voting for the final five chosen in this inaugural class proved competitive. Also receiving votes were David Pearson , Cale Yarborough and Bobby Allison .”

“As part of the inclusive voting process, more than 670,000 NASCAR fans submitted votes online at NASCAR.COM as part of the fan voting process. This remarkable fan feedback once again demonstrates fans' passion and knowledge of the sport and its heritage. The fans voted Petty, Earnhardt, France, Yarborough and Allison as their top five.”

At this point I must admit that the fans surprised me, and the choices they made were not bad at all.

That press release comment “Also receiving votes were David Pearson , Cale Yarborough and Bobby Allison ,” (referring to those who did not get in the HOF in this first "class"), is where the controversy really begins.

Most of the comments I’ve seen here, and at many internet sites, have been comments to the effect:”What about David Pearson?” and I must agree. David Pearson should have been in that first “class”.

[In the interest of full disclosure: I am a fan of David Pearson, having watched him win in the 1960's.]

Since I felt there was only one true "open spot", I was curious to see who would be in that final spot. I was a bit surprised that Junior Johnson was the choice.

However, Junior Johnson was an excellent choice, considering his status as one of the top drivers in his era, and he then became one of the top owners. His was a truly unique career.

In conclusion, I feel that of the first inductees into the HOF Junior Johnson was the only individual truly voted into the Hall.

Comparison of the selections made by the fans versus the final group selected, shows that this is one time where the fans showed better selection abilities than the so-called experts.

NASCAR Hall of Fame: My Comments on the Nominees and the Process

Crabber 1967 . — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:10:35 -0400

When David Yeazell left a message on my bio page about the Creature Vs. Creature: Hall of Fame Edition, I certainly was interested in putting forward my proverbial two-cents. The problem was that I’ve been working on two articles, and what with working retail hours, well, I was tardy in replying to David.

So I finally sat down recently and put down my comments about the Hall of Fame nominees to send to David, and after I was done, I said “Holy Cow, I’ve got a new article for B/R!”

And so, after contacting David, it looks like what was originally intended to be an e-mail, is presented below for your consideration.

The piece that follows, with minor touch-ups (for clarification and continuity purposes), was put down in one-sitting and I’ve decided to leave it, as much as possible, as it went down.

As always, your comments are welcome.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Hall of Fame article written by Nate Powers inspired my first writing effort on B/R:

NASCAR Hall of Fame Nominees: Richard Petty, David Pearson, and...?

So you might say I find the HOF “interesting.”

As a foreword, I still believe that the HOF must be in the format of having, at least, two ‘wings.’

In fact, as I think about it, perhaps three “wings” would be the best way:

[1] Drivers,

[2] “Owners and others” (subject to a better name, suggestions welcome)

[3] Journalists.

With the exception of Journalists, ALL candidates MUST be retired.

(I would suggest that perhaps everyone read the short “bios” on the NASCAR site to get a background on my comments to follow.)

Bobby Allison: his record says it all, he should be in. In fact, it could be argued that Bobby and his family has “invested” [or whatever might be the proper word] more in the sport (considering Bobby’s terrible accident and the death of both of his sons) than anyone.

Buck Baker: he should be in. Just read the bio in the official NASCAR release and the reasons a self-explanatory.

Red Byron: he should be in. He was the first Champion, twice. The fact that Red was not a bootlegger, when most drivers [and Red’s owner] were involved in bootlegging (the training ground for so many drivers and mechanics) says a lot for his skill.

Richard Childress: Disqualified, still active owner. He was a driver, but even when his status as an ‘independent’ is taken into account his driving career was undistinguished.

Dale Earnhardt: he will get in. I feel I would be ‘forced’ to vote for him even though I could not stand him as a driver, I respected his skill. I, however, am made nauseous by the continued god-hood bestowed upon him by so many. His widow’s continued efforts to make as much money as possible off the dead man are in extremely poor taste. Elvis and Earnhardt? Please!

Richie Evans: he should be in. His bio in the news release says it all; and in fact, the recent TV show about the nominees mentioned that Evans is the only driver [in a NASCAR major touring series] to have his car number (61) retired.

Tim Flock: he should be in. Again, refer to the short news release bio. Tim’s single season win record (later broken by R. Petty) say a lot about him.

“Bill France Jr.” (William Clifton France): As an “Other” he will get in. He was not a strong as his father, but then who was? Probably the best man for the job, due to experience, not blood lines. {As a personal comment, Brian France is not the right man.}

William H. G. France: no matter what your personal opinion of this man is, “Big Bill” will get in, again, as an “Other.”

Rick Hendrick: disqualified, still active owner. And please, would everyone PLEASE Stop kissing this guys’ butt??? It is really getting sickening. It is beginning to approach Earnhardt “god worship.” ENOUGH!

Ned Jarrett: this is a tough one.

(I’m a fan of Ned, but I don’t know if he’s strong enough to get in with the first “class.”)

His championships, win total and membership in the “50 greatest club” would probably put him in. The first driver to seriously attempt to be “media friendly”; he certainly has strong credentials for induction into the Journalists wing as well.

Junior Johnson: he would certainly be in as a car owner. He would be strong in the Driver category. If BOTH his driving and owner careers were considered together he would crush any other candidate in the ‘other’ category. ‘Other’ simply from the fact that no one had the kind of success that Junior had as a driver AND as an owner.

Bud Moore: another tough one. I’m a Bud Moore fan, and three championships are significant; but I’m not sure, especially considering the strength of the first nominees, if he would make it in on the first ballot. [This strength is to be expected, after all, it is the first year.]

Raymond Parks: he should be in. The first Championship owner [twice!] and he showed everyone how the sport, the teams, and the officials, how it should be done: with class. To see my comments on both Parks and Byron see my article: Raymond Parks: NASCAR's Double Inaugural Championship Car Owner

Benny Parsons: Sorry, as nice a man as the late Mr. Parsons was, his driving does not qualify him for the Hall, despite the one championship. Perhaps as a TV reporter in the Journalist wing?

David Pearson: he should be in. He never ran a full season, but won three championships in the three seasons in which he competed in a majority of the races. His dominance when he was with the Wood Brothers team was truly legendary.

Lee Petty: will probably get in, but others, including his son, should go in before him.

Richard Petty: It goes without saying he’ll be in the HOF.

Glenn "Fireball" Roberts: Should be in, but may not be in on the first ballot. Could have been a champion, but he chased the money, like many of his day. Certainly the first NASCAR superstar, the first driver to have endorsements, and might have been the first in Hollywood, if racing hadn’t killed him.

Herb Thomas: another strong candidate, but there are probably others who would beat him out on the first ballot.

Curtis Turner: certainly a crowd favorite. A driver with more natural talent than perhaps anyone before or since. Turner’s win record in the Convertible Series is incredible. A personal favorite, but he had too many business interests, and other interests, to bother with chasing a championship.

Darrell Waltrip: can’t stand the guy, I wouldn’t vote for him for dog catcher.

Joe Weatherly: Another favorite of mine, even if I only saw him in one race. Could have had three championships, but others may be stronger in the first ballot.

Glen Wood: others may be stronger in the first ballot. But should be a shoo-in if there were an owner’s wing.

Cale Yarborough: He should be in. His bio says it all. First triple champion and in the 50 all-time drivers.

Who would I pick, with only five votes? Now that is a good question!

I’d probably go with all drivers as my votes, as I don’t like the format as it is now constituted.

How dare they not ask me what they should have done?

Joe Weatherly, 1964, and NASCAR's not-so-good “Good Old Days.” (Pt. 2)

Crabber 1967 . — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 01:07:33 -0400

Nineteen-sixty four was perhaps without precedent, in terms of its tragic events, both for NASCAR and for American auto racing in general.

In addition to Weatherly and Roberts, a number of other drivers died during the year.

More fire

After the 1964 World 600 NASCAR race on May 24, the Indianapolis 500 ran on Memorial Day, May 30, 1964.

At Indianapolis, another fiery tragedy visited American motorsport.

Veteran driver Eddie Sachs (known as the Clown Prince of Racing) and rookie Dave McDonald were killed in a fiery crash on the second lap of the Indy 500.

McDonald crashed in Turn Four at Indy during the second lap of the race.

Sachs’ car plunged into the fireball that resulted from McDonald’s accident.

While McDonald’s death was fire related, Sachs died from blunt-force trauma that occurred when his car stuck the other cars in the accident.

The Sachs/McDonald accident resulted in the Indianapolis 500 being stopped.

This was the first time in the history of the event that the race had been stopped for an accident

As a result of this accident, the use of gasoline in the race cars at Indianapolis was banned beginning in 1965.

After these fiery accidents, Firestone began developing a version of a fuel tank they produced for helicopters to use in race cars.

This “fuel cell” featured a tear-resistant reinforced rubber ‘bladder’ filled with 90% void foam designed to prevent sloshing gas turning into explosive vapor.

This ‘bladder’ was encased in a steel container (secured to the car with steel straps) with the fuel capacity, in NASCAR applications, of 22 gallons which was the same capacity as the production gas tanks that the fuel cell replaced in the stock cars.

The Firestone “Racesafe” fuel cell was introduced January 1965.

To get an idea of what the construction of NASCAR cars of the era looked like, check out this video on YouTube.

This video gives a quick tour of the Joe Weatherly Museum at Darlington as well as a look at the inside of a 1968 NASCAR “Cup” car, whose design was virtually unchanged from 1964.

1968 SOUTHERN 500 part 1 (YouTube)

Tire Testing

In NASCAR, the bad times extended into the area of tire testing.

Tire testing was being done on the tires, due to tire failures caused by the speeds being achieved.

Testing also involved a racing version of the inner tire that was being developed. A street car version of this inner tire design was available as a production-line option as early as 1957.

Jimmy Pardue, the pole winner of the May 1964 World 600 returned to the Charlotte track for tire testing for Goodyear. He was scheduled for a series of short tire test runs.

Pardue, in the same red Plymouth that won the pole, went out for a ten lap run at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Tuesday, September 22 1964.

On lap six, Pardue ran 149 mph, about four miles per hour faster than the track record.

On lap seven, the right front tire blew. The car, lowered to get extra speed, dropped down on its oil pan, sliding toward the third turn guardrail.

The car broke the wooden support posts for the guardrail, and took out 48 feet of guardrail as the car when through.

The engine was torn out of the car, and the car went down the banking, traveling 100 feet, stopping with what was left of its nose against a steel fence.

Pardue was removed from his car by the track workers and others present and he was transported in a regular car to the hospital.

Pardue was semiconscious when he was taken to the hospital and died about two hours after he entered the hospital.

After Pardue’s accident NASCAR put new testing rules in place that required an ambulance to be present during all testing.

NASCAR also ruled that teams would no longer be allowed to lower the cars (a common trick to get more speed) during testing.

Continuing the tragic times on the USAC circuit, Bobby Marshman (who was the co-Rookie of the Year in the 1961 Indy 500 with Parnelli Jones) died as a result of a fiery accident during a tire test at Phoenix on December 4 1964.

The 1964 season generated a lot of controversy in NASCAR with tire failures and the deaths of Weatherly and Roberts causing concern among the competitors.

The drivers’ concern about the many tire failures was highlighted by the comment from Fred Lorenzen that he was contemplating retiring from racing.

This comment by Lorenzen, who in 1963 was the first NASCAR driver to win over $100,000, was an illustration of just how serious the situation had become.

The Hemi powered Chrysler cars had been several miles per hour faster than the Fords and Mercury’s in 1964.

Boycott

NASCAR took action to slow the cars down, but created more controversy when the rules for 1965 cut back on engine power hurting both Ford and Chrysler.

The Chrysler teams were hurt the most as the Hemi was disallowed. Chrysler immediately announced a boycott of the Grand National (Cup) Series.

The Charlotte (NC) Observer newspaper when previewing the 1965 season headlined the article “Ford Versus Nobody.”

In the midst of all the pre-season controversy, another tire testing death occurred in January of 1965 to once again cast a shadow over NASCAR’s top series.

Billy Wade, the young driver for Bud Moore was killed in tire testing at Daytona.

Important note: PLEASE NOTE THAT SOME OF THE PHOTOS THAT FOLLOW, WHILE NOT OVERLY GRAPHIC, MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME.

Billy Wade was fatally injured in this Bud Moore 1964 Mercury in a Daytona tire test on January 5, 1965. The announcers liked to call the '64 Mercury’s 'the Worlds Fastest Used Cars' when they raced in 1965.

Moore, who had dropped the use of the number 8 after the death of Weatherly in early 1964, dropped the use of the number 1 after Wade’s death.

Moore also changed the color scheme of the cars adding a white roof to the black-over-red colors formally used, ostensibly to reduce the heat build-up inside the black-roofed cars during the heat of summer.

When the 1965 season began, the fans showed their displeasure by not going to the races.

The 1965 Daytona 500 had attendance of 58,682 compared to 69,738 in 1964.

The poor crowds continued through the year, such as the April 1965 race at Martinsville drawing about 10,000 fans compared to 23,500 April 1964.

The Rebel 300 in May 1965 at Darlington had about 15,000 attendance, about half of the attendance of the 1964 Rebel 300 race.

Bill France finally changed the rules, and on July 25^th the Chrysler Corporation agreed to return to racing, setting up competition for the Fords and Mercury’s for the last quarter of the season.

France was under so much pressure from the track owners and promoters, led by Bob Colvin of Darlington, that he finally lifted the four-year-old ban of Curtis Turner.

But tragedy had not stopped stalking the NASCAR circuit.

In 1965 the Southern 500 was held on September 6^th. Rookie Buren Skeen spun out in the third turn of lap two.

Skeen’s 1964 Ford was struck in the door by the Ford driven by Reb Wickersham.

Skeen died on September 13^th, without regaining consciousness.

The twenty-eight year-old Skeen was survived by his wife and two sons, aged four and two.

Skeen’s seat was shoved toward the center of the car by the impact and one of Skeen’s injuries introduced a term new to race fans of the 1960’s but one that would become all too familiar to fans in the twenty-first century: basal skull fracture.

1965 Southern 500: Two laps into what would be a wreck-filled race, Buren Skeen's 1964 Ford was hit in the door by Reb Wickersham, knocking Skeen's seat to the other side of the car. Skeen’s car is shown being towed away by a wrecker.

Tragedy would once again visit NASCAR just six races after Darlington, at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Harold Kite, making his first NASCAR start since 1956 was killed in a first lap crash involving five cars in the National 400 on October 17 1965.

Kite, however, was not an inexperienced racer having raced on the MARC circuit against Curtis Turner who was in the race making his sixth of seven NASCAR starts in 1965.

The end of 1965 did not end the controversy around NASCAR.

Boycott, again.

NASCAR’s troubles continued into 1966 when Ford boycotted NASCAR after the 427 SOHC engine it wanted to use to counter the Chrysler hemi was not approved.

Fans once again stayed away from the races.

NASCAR, desperate to draw fans, looked the other way when Smokey Yunick showed up for Darlington’s Rebel 400 on April 30, 1966 with Curtis Turner driving a cunningly but obviously modified Chevrolet Chevelle.

But the crowd at Darlington for that race is only 12,000 with 5000 of those being Boy Scouts who were admitted for free.

(Refer to the photo at the beginning of this article.)

1967 Chevelle [updated from the 1966 model] driven by Curtis Turner at 1967 Daytona 500, started on the pole, led six laps, and finished in 25th with engine failure completing 143 laps of the 200 lap race. This photo is the traditional pre-race photo taken at Daytona for many years. Note how short the distance is between the front fender opening and the front bumper. Yunick moved both the front and rear wheels forward maintaining the stock wheelbase but, in essence, moving the body back, and thus increasing the weight on the rear wheels.

The Ford boycott was finally broken only when Junior Johnson entered a car for Fred Lorenzen to drive at the Dixie 400 at Atlanta on August 7, 1966.

The Johnson car, painted in his sponsor’s yellow colors, was immediately dubbed the Yellow Banana due to its outrageous shape.

Johnson’s car had a raked windshield, a chopped top, and the rear fenders sweeping upward from the rear window.

Even from the grandstands the Yellow Banana was blatantly outside the rules; but when NASCAR allowed it to race it served NASCAR’s purpose.

The Junior Johnson-built #26 Ford, driven by Fred Lorenzen in Atlanta's Dixie 400, was one of the most radical cars to ever compete in NASCAR Grand National competition. The front end of the car sloped downward, the roofline was lowered, the side windows were narrowed (the result of a chopped top), the front windshield was raked back in an aerodynamic position, and the tail was kicked up. Several of rival drivers called the car "The Yellow Banana," "Junior's Joke," and "The Magnafluxed Monster."

The boycott by Ford was quickly ended, but the Banana never raced again.

And from the time this second boycott was broken, NASCAR was wary of having their organization dictated to by the auto manufacturers.

Driver safety.

During 1965, NASCAR had still not addressed the factors involved in the death of Joe Weatherly.

When the Grand National Series had returned to Riverside on January 17 1965, Ford Motor Company required all the drivers of Fords and Mercury’s to drive the road course with the drivers’ window rolled up.

The idea behind having the drivers’ window rolled up was to protect the driver in the event of an accident similar to the one that killed Joe Weatherly.

The problem that had killed Weatherly was not addressed until 1968.

Bobby Isaac's #37 Dodge skids off the course during the Jan. 21 1968 "Motor Trend" 500 at Riverside International Raceway as Dan Gurney passes in the #21 Wood Brothers Ford. It was the first NASCAR Grand National event that included protective screens in the driver's window. The window screens use weren't mandated by NASCAR until 1970.

NASCAR finally required window nets after the Richard Petty crash at the 1970 Rebel 400 at Darlington.

Richard Petty Darlington crash 1970

As the two seasons following Joe Weatherly’s death has shown, the “Good Old Days” were filled with death and boycotts.

So the “Good Old Days” were not as great as nostalgia might lead us to believe.

END

For a look at more recent tragedies in the world of NASCAR, I suggest the following Bleacher Report article:

Nine Years Ago Today, NASCAR Changed Forever

By Clayton Caldwell

Joe Weatherly, 1964, and NASCAR's Not-so-Good “Good Old Days.”

Crabber 1967 . — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:10:02 -0400

The “Good Old Days” were not really that good. Even those of us who lived through those days must admit, upon further reflection, that the Good Days are today.

I’d like to take this opportunity to give some history, as well as a bit of personal perspective about 1964, the year Joe Weatherly died and beyond.

[Opening photo: (left to right) The '61 USAC Stock Car Champion Paul Goldsmith, a teenage Linda Vaughn as Miss Pontiac and Joe Weatherly [who went on to win the '62 NASCAR Championship] are shown during a promotional tour for the record-setting Nichels Engineering prepared Pontiacs. This photo shows the red Catalina hardtop and appears to be taken at Daytona, note the high banks and the distance to the banking.]

Not too long after the death of Joe Weatherly, I was riding with my father when he told me he wanted to stop at a place where I might see something interesting.

We pulled to a stop at a monument company! Displayed in front of the building were examples of the company’s main product: headstones.

When we got inside, Dad asked the man to show me a proposal drawing for a headstone.

The proposed headstone was for Joe Weatherly. While the actual finished design of the marker differs from my memory of the drawing, the designs’ distinctive features are intact.

The marker is in the shape of Riverside International Raceway, as it was used for the NASCAR races.

(The cars followed the track going through the “esses,” then taking the right-hand Turn Seven then going straight to the right-hand Turn Twelve, for a 2.62-mile, nine-turn lap.)

The point where Weatherly’s car impacted the wall (Turn Five) being marked on the headstone by crossed checkered flags.

Perhaps such an unusual headstone is appropriate for a man who was called “The Clown Prince of Racing.”

During the Grand National race on January 19, 1964 at Riverside Speedway in California, Joe Weatherly was involved in a horrific accident. He died as a result of injuries suffered in the accident. He was Grand National Champion for the years 1962 and 1963 and was leading the points for 1964 when the accident occurred. Burial: Forest Lawn Cemetery, Norfolk Virginia, USA.

The photo below shows Weatherly in that race at Riverside, with his window rolled down and not using a shoulder harness.

The construction of the race cars was much more basic in the early 1960’s. The photos below show the interior of a 1964 Mercury built by Bill Stroppe, the ‘official’ factory supported team. However, the construction is typical of 1964.

Shot of the inside of a Bill Stroppe-built 1964 Mercury Marauder, looking toward the rear. Note that the doors still work!

View of driver’s seat, Bill Stroppe-built 1964 Mercury Marauder. Note that the doors and the window handles still work!

Important Note: PLEASE NOTE THAT SOME OF THE PHOTOS THAT FOLLOW, WHILE NOT OVERLY GRAPHIC, MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME.

The simple roll bar structure shown in the above photos is the basic design upon which the current structure is based.

Safety, as can be seen in the photo, was nothing like it is today.

When Cotton Owens added a door bar (about at seat cushion level) on the drivers side of his Dodges driven by David Pearson, it warranted an article in the race program for the 1964 World 600.

For most of NASCAR’s existence, driver’s safety equipment was “suggested” or “recommended.” The drivers and teams were, after all, “independent contractors.”

For example, Weatherly did not like, and did not use, a shoulder harness and none was required. Weatherly said he could escape from any fire faster if he was not using a shoulder harness.

As you may have noticed in photos of Weatherly in my story about him, he is often shown wearing short-sleeve shirts and regular dress shoes; the shoes in Joe’s case usually being brown-and-white saddle shoes.

Even later, when driver uniforms were available, drivers tended to wear street shoes, David Pearson and Dave Marcis were well known for their well-worn leather shoes.

Safety testing in more recent years has shown that leather shoes are not protective in the case of a fire.

Drivers who use ‘sneakers’ or similar type street shoes are very vulnerable to fire injury, as the rubber parts of these types of shoe can melt causing major damage to the driver’s feet.

Driver’s uniforms in 1964 were regular cotton material soaked in a chemical bath and then allowed to air dry, leaving the garments stiff and smelly.

Glenn “Fireball” Roberts, although a fine athlete who worked out regularly, suffered from asthma and did not wear a treated uniform. (More on this later.)

The first protective driver uniforms used NOMEX ® a flame resistant material, which was under development in the early 1960s by DuPont, but was not available until 1967.

Weatherly’s car impacted the concrete wall in the right hand Turn Five at Riverside. This turn was part of the complex of turns commonly called the “esses” labeled as Turns Three, Four, Five and Six.

The above images show how the impact with the wall has crushed the left front fender and the headlight area of the grille on the cars’ left is totally crushed.

The impact was so hard that the windshield had popped out of its mounting, with the rubber window seal (shown in the top image) in the air to the right of the car.

This AP photo shows the track rescue workers beginning to remove Weatherly from the wrecked car.

Although the information available is not clear on this, it is generally believed that Weatherly died on impact.

Joe Weatherly's Fatal Crash (YouTube)

Or you can watch this video with overview of the entire race, with two views of Weatherly’s crash.

1964 NASCAR Motor Trend 500 Riverside

1964 World 600

On May 24, 1964 the World 600 was held, and once again, I was with my Dad and his friends in the Ford Grandstand on the front straight to watch the race.

An accident occurred half way through lap eight on the back stretch.

We weren’t quite sure what had happened, as we were without a radio to listen to the race broadcast; but we soon knew some bad was happening.

A large cloud of black smoke began to rise from the back straight.

This photo was taken from a slightly lower angle than my viewpoint in the Ford Grandstand on the front straight at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

This photo shows an overhead view of the accident, as Roberts’ car is being extinguished. The black smoke was from burning gasoline.

The accident included Ned Jarrett, Junior Johnson and Glenn ‘Fireball’ Roberts.

Roberts’ car had struck the inside guardrail rear-end first and the stock gas tank, still full of fuel, was split open and the contents burst into fire.

Jarrett’s car had also hit the inside wall with his cars’ smashed gas tank spilling gas which caught on fire as well.

Jarrett pulled Roberts from the burning car. Roberts driving suit, specially tailored to fit, had not been chemically treated and Roberts suffered burns over 80% of his body.

Roberts’s car had landed upside down and the burning gas pooled in the roof of the car.

Roberts amazed the doctors by surviving the first 48 hours after the accident, and he somehow survived, even appearing to begin recovery, until succumbing to his burns on July 2, 1964 at age 35.

The death of Joe Weatherly had still been on the drivers’ minds before the start of the race.

Roberts had mentioned to Jarrett before the start of the ‘600’ that he was thinking of retiring at the end of 1964.

Roberts in fact had recently been divorced but had wanted to wait to get re-married until he and his fiancé could have a ‘proper’ wedding.

Roberts’ fiancé visited him every day while he was in the hospital. When Roberts died she was legally entitled to nothing from his estate, and she never married.

Jarrett went on to win the season championship in 1964 and retired while still champion in mid-1965.

Johnson basically retired after the 1965 season, but competed in seven short-track races late in 1966.

[End part one]

Joe Weatherly: NASCAR's First Triple Champion… Almost. (Pt. 4b)

Crabber 1967 . — Sat, 23 May 2009 04:29:09 -0400

[continued from Part 4a]

The Nichels Engineering Pontiacs take the green flag at Darlington to set more world records.

The 1962 season had 53 races. Joe Weatherly, Richard Petty and Ned Jarrett each raced in 52 races that year and that was the order of finish in the final point standings.

Weatherly won the championship with nine wins, 39 Top Fives, 45 Top Tens, and seven poles. Petty had eight wins with Jarrett wining six times.

The Southern 500 of 1962 had caused a big problem for Joe Weatherly.

The race was the 13^thannual Southern 500 and Weatherly told track president Bob Colvin that he would not compete.

Colvin was furious, as he had a handshake deal with Weatherly and Colvin demanded that Weatherly honor the agreement. But Joe refused to have anything to do with the number thirteen.

Colvin finally devised a way to appease Weatherly. The 1962 Southern 500 was renamed the “The 12^th Renewal of the Southern 500.”

Weatherly captured the 1962 NASCAR championship on the strength of his nine wins in 52 starts. An amazing level of consistency contributed to Weatherly's title run as he finished out of the top 10 only seven times.

Weatherly drove 51 of his 52 starts in Bud Moore’s No. 8 Pontiac, and made one start in Fred Harb’s Ford at the 0.333-mile Southside Speedway just south of Richmond VA.

Weatherly finished the 1962 season with 30,836 points with an average finish of 5.0, Petty with 28,440 and an average finish of 6.9, and Jarrett with 25,336 points and an average finish of 9.3.

In 1962 Joe Weatherly is shown racing against a rising star, Fred Lorenzen in the soon-to-be-famous No. 28 Holman-Moody Ford.

Weatherly would take his second championship in the 55 race 1963 season.

Joe would start 53 races, getting three wins, 20 top fives, 35 top tens and six poles. Joe had over $74,600 in winnings.

Richard Petty raced in 54 races in 1963 and took 14 wins, 30 top fives, 39 top tens and eight poles.

Petty finished second in points with 31,170, compared to Weatherly’s 33,398 points. Petty took over $55,900 in prize money.

The points awarded for races in that era were on a formula totally different from what is used today, with point values for each race awarded by a combination of length of race and money won.

In 1963 Fred Lorenzen was the first NASCAR driver to break $100,000 in winnings for a season (one source says $122,587, while another says $113,750).

1963 was the same year that Arnold Palmer became the first golfer to break $100,000 in winnings.

Lorenzen finished third in the final season points for 1963, competing in just 29 races, compared to fourth place Ned Jarrett with 53 starts.

Over 2400 points separated the two drivers. Jarrett took over $ 45,800.

General Motors hit its peak in 1962 with the company taking about 51% of all car sales in the United States.

Racing had helped Pontiac move into third place in sales (the brand was sixth in 1957), a position Pontiac would hold through 1969.

General Motors was aware that the federal government was concerned that GM had too much of the market, and that there had been work done to possibly break up GM due to anti-trust (monopoly) laws.

As a company, General Motors was certainly concerned about drawing too much attention to itself.

Perhaps that was the reason that for 1963, Pontiac’s parent company cut back on the money used to support the racing efforts of both Chevrolet and Pontiac.

For whatever the reason, the cut back forced Weatherly’s chase of the 1963 championship into one of the most unusual championship efforts in the history of NASCAR.

Joe’s car owner, Bud Moore cut back on the races that he competed in, and Weatherly had to ‘bum’ rides with other owners at the events that Moore’s car’s did not contest.

In 1963 Weatherly drove races in cars owned by Floyd Powell, Pete Stewart, Worth McMillion, and Possum Jones, a total of 15 times, all in Pontiacs.

Weatherly also drove a Petty Enterprises Plymouth, a Chrysler for Major Melton, and a Dodge (twice) for Wade Younts.

In 1963 GM eventually announced that it would adhere to the racing ban that was still in effect with the Automobile Manufacturers Association.

Meanwhile Ford was totally ignoring the ‘ban’ in 1963 after returning to racing in 1962. Meanwhile the money for the GM teams was drying up.

Weatherly’s team eventually switched to Mercury, with Joe making his debut in a Bud Moore Mercury at the 45^th race of the season, the Southern 500.

Weatherly used a Moore Pontiac in two small races at the end of the season before finishing the 1963 season in a Moore Mercury in the Golden State 400 at Riverside CA.

Weatherly won the 1963 championship driving five different makes of cars for eight different owners!

Joe started the 1964 season in a manner similar to his 1963 season, driving for different owners in the small races that began the year.

He ran the first race of the year in a No. 8 Moore Pontiac finishing second to Ned Jarrett, having led 84 laps in a 250 lap race at Concord NC.

Joe then drove a Bill Stroppe Mercury in the second race of the season, following that with races for Sherman Utsman and Ray Osborne both times in Fords.

In the third race of the 1964 season, run on December 3 1963, Weatherly finished 12^th in Utsman’s Ford, 82 laps behind winner Wendell Scott.

Buck Baker had taken the checkered flag when he finished his 200 laps (the official length of the race) for the apparent win.

But after Scott protested it was found (after the fans had gone home) that Scott was two laps ahead of Baker.

Wendell Scott is shown as the race winner, having run 202 laps of a 200 lap race.

It was the only win for Scott in the Grand National Series, and is still the only win in the series by an African-American.

By the fifth race of 1964 season, on the road course at Riverside CA, Joe was leading the season points. Joe was driving the new Bud Moore 1964 Mercury Marauder, wearing the now-familiar number 8.

Joe Weatherly shown driving his last race, at Riverside in 1964. Note the window rolled down and the fact that Joe is not using a shoulder harness.

Mechanical problems forced Weatherly into the pits early, and he lost laps while repairs were being made.

Weatherly was back on the track trying to gather as many points as possible when, on his 85th lap of the 185-lap race, he crashed in the right-hand bend of the "esses" on the twisting road course.

There has been debate about what caused the accident. Some have speculated that an engine failure occurred, with the parts thrown out severing the brake lines.

Bud Moore has said that new type brake parts inside the drums (remember the cars all had four-wheel drum brakes) failed, causing brake failure.

Joe Weatherly, whose life was almost ended by a head injury so many years before, was killed when his helmeted head struck the wall.

Coming soon:

Joe Weatherly, 1964, and the not-so-good “Good Old Days;” (including a personal perspective.)

[And I won't be so long-winded.]

Joe Weatherly: NASCAR's First Triple Champion… Almost. (Part 4a)

Crabber 1967 . — Sat, 23 May 2009 04:16:05 -0400

Joe Weatherly competed in fourteen of the fifteen races in the 1959 Convertible Series with two wins, five top fives, seven top tens, three poles and finished seventh in points.

“The Gold Dust Twins” of Curtis Turner and Joe Weatherly, were not the factor in the Convertible Series in 1959 as they were the previous seasons.

Turner took part of the season off, not only resting his bad back, but struggling to get his dream track at Charlotte constructed.

In the first three races of the 1959 Grand National (Cup) season Weatherly drove Chevrolets and was involved in one of the most famous race finishes of the era.

In 1959, the new Daytona Speedway was the biggest, most steeply banked track the NASCAR racers had ever run on.

Ground breaking for the Daytona International Speedway didn't take place until November 25, 1957 with the first Daytona 500 being run on February 22, 1959.

Big Bill France insisted on a track 2.5 miles in length (same as Indianapolis) and after getting a pie-shaped piece of land from the dog track next door, France was able to bend the front straight and get his 2.5 mile racetrack.

The engineers working for Bill France stacked the fill material for the banking as high as it would allow resulting in 31-degree banked turns.

The lake in the Daytona infield, that exists to this day, was a result of the fill material removal to make the banked turns.

A 1959 Oldsmobile street car is used in a test run on the still unfinished Daytona Speedway. The 31-degree banking at Daytona International Speedway was the steepest in the country and it awed many drivers.

Modified driver Jimmy Thompson perhaps summed it up best when he said, "There have been other tracks that separated the men from the boys. This is the track that will separate the brave from the weak after the boys are gone."

The field for the first Daytona 500 was filled by two qualifying races, one each for the convertibles and the Grand National cars; the mixed car starting field making something called a ‘Sweepstakes’ race by NASCAR.

Amazingly the race had run caution-free and as Lee Petty in his Oldsmobile and Johnny Beauchamp in a Holman-Moody built 1959 Thunderbird caught Weatherly as they approached the front stretch.

Weatherly had led six laps during the “1959 First Annual 500 Mile NASCAR International Sweepstakes at Daytona” and Joe thought he was racing for the win as he approached the flag stand.

Joe was in fact on the verge of being put a second lap down as the checkered flag waved.

Despite the fact that Tim Flock had used a radio when he raced on the Daytona beach-road course in 1954, teams were still relying on the traditional chalk board to communicate with the drivers, which is why Weatherly didn’t really know his position in the race.

Big Bill France was standing at the base of the flag stand to see who would cross the finish line first, but Weatherly’s car blocked a clear view of Beauchamp and Petty as the three cars crossed the finish line.

Three days after the race ended Bill France announced that Beauchamp, who was originally declared the winner, had actually been beaten to the finish line by Petty. Weatherly finished fifth, one lap down.

This is the photo that decided the winner of the first Daytona '500'.

(From bottom to top) Johnny Beauchamp in No. 73 Holman-Moody built 1959 Thunderbird, Lee Petty in his No. 42 Oldsmobile, and Joe Weatherly in the E. C. Wilson-owned 1959 Chevrolet No. 48 who was actually almost two laps down, but thought he was racing for the win. (Photo by T. Taylor Warren.)

The 59 car starting field included a wide variety of makes and models: Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, Thunderbird (which NASCAR called a separate make) and Mercury, as well as now-defunct models like Studebaker, DeSoto and even a 1958 Edsel.

The fleet of Thunderbirds convinced many racers that Ford was back in racing.

But in fact, John Holman had gone to the assembly plant in Wixom Michigan and had been the highest bidder for “scrap” bodies, engines and other damaged parts the were to be discarded by the plant.

The Thunderbirds actually ran 430-inch engines that were allowed to be used as NASCAR (Big Bill France) wanted as many cars as possible to run in the debut of his new racetrack.

After three races in Chevrolets, Weatherly drove Fords in the last 14 Grand National events he raced in for the1959 season.

In the 44 race 1959 Grand National series Weatherly ran in 17 races, finished 18^th in the point standings with no wins, six top fives, ten top tens, and no poles.

In the 1959 Convertible Series, Weatherly ran ten of the 15 races, taking two wins, five Top Fives, seven Top Tens, and three poles, finishing seventh in the final season points. 1959 was the last season for the Convertible Series.

Weatherly was back in Holman-Moody cars for most of his 1960 starts. Weatherly made 24 starts (three in a Valiant!) in the 44 race season.

Weatherly got three wins, seven top fives, eleven top tens and no poles in 1960. Joe led a total of 246 laps and finished 20^th in the point standings.

Weatherly won the Hickory 250 on April 16, leading 78 laps of the 250 lap race in his familiar No. 12 Holman-Moody Ford. Weatherly’s second win was on April 17 at Wilson NC where Weatherly led the last lap of the 200 lap event.

Weatherly’s biggest (and last) win in 1960 was at Darlington in the Rebel 300 on May 14, which was part of the Grand National series (although Darlington raced convertibles through 1963). Weatherly led 107 laps of the 219 lap race.

Joe as the winner of the race was awarded, along with the usual trophy, a Rebel 300 print shirt with the race logo as part of the pattern design. The Rebel 300 shirt was presented to the race winners during those years.

Darlington, with its beauty contest and parade, was always a location for partying for Weatherly and the other drivers. Weatherly once brought a donkey to his hotel.

After paying a local farmer $100 for the donkey, Weatherly and some friends managed to get it up to the second floor balcony of their hotel.

The donkey paced back and forth on that balcony all night. No doubt Joe enjoyed the startled reaction of folks trying to sleep on the second floor when they saw the donkey.

The next day, Little Joe slapped some race stickers on the donkey and rode it in the Darlington parade.

This photo shows Joe Weatherly riding the infamous donkey in the Darlington 500 parade. Note the Rebel 300 shirt and saddle shoes that Joe undoubtedly wore later while driving in the race. The donkey was apparently ‘sponsored’ by Grey-Rock brake linings on the rear ‘fender’ and Autolite Spark Plugs on the front ‘fender.’

Weatherly won the first race of the 1961 season at the Charlotte Fairgrounds in a Ford owned by Doc White, who was the owner of the Thunderbird Joe drove in the 1959 Grand National season.

Joe then drove Pontiacs for the rest of the season, with 23 of his 24 Pontiac runs at the wheel of the No. 8 Bud Moore car.

Weatherly’s second win in 1961 was the in the fourth race of the season.

That race was the second qualifying race for the Daytona 500 (the qualifying races were awarded points for many years) and Joe drove the soon-to-be-familiar No 8 Bud Moore Pontiac.

The 1961 season consisted of 52 races, Weatherly finished fourth in the points, in 25 starts he got 9 wins (the most by any driver),14 top fives,18 top tens and 3 poles.

Typical of the now-Cup series in that era, 207 drivers drove during the 1961 season!

(It is interesting to note that one of the 207 drivers competing in 1961 was Bobby Allison who raced four times, but did not race in the series again until 1965.)

Weatherly won NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award in 1961.

Joe ended the 1961 season on a strong note winning five of the last nine races, with four of those wins coming in the last six races.

In today’s slang Weatherly was Curtis Turner’s “wingman.” In virtually every report you will see about the two, the reports will start “Turner and Weatherly did…” this and that.

Turner competed in just eight GN races in 1961, and by 1962 he had been ‘banned for life’ by Big Bill France for his money-for-union-votes effort he undertook to get funds to pay for his new racetrack.

Turner had been promised a loan by the Teamsters if he could successfully sign up drivers for a union.

Although Curtis had a complete set of Virginia law books in his original office in his home state before moving to North Carolina, he was not aware that it was against federal law for the promised loan to go through.

It appears that as Weatherly approached his fortieth birthday, and with Turner no longer around, he got serious about his racing.

Perhaps Joe decided it was time to add some Grand National (Cup) championships to his résumé.

Weatherly was likely pleased with his chances, as Pontiac won 30 of the 52 races run in the Grand National circuit in 1961.

But before the 1962 season began Joe was involved in something completely different.

Near the end of 1961, Ray Nichels who owned the USAC Stock Championship Pontiac driven by Paul Goldsmith approached Pontiac about an effort to prove the strength, endurance and speed of the up-coming 1962 models.

Nichels was based in Indiana and was aware of the Stevens Challenge Trophy, awarded by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since the 1920’s.

This trophy was awarded to manufacturers who set 24-hour speed and distance marks at the famous race track.

Ray Nichels and his two Nichels Engineering Pontiacs are preparing to set a series of Stock Car world speed records (which still stand) at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on November 20, 1961. The effort was originally scheduled to start on November 16th but was delayed by weather, and the cars ran in rain and sleet before the runs ended.(Photos: High Performance Pontiac Magazine; http://www.highperformancepontiac.com/features/hppp_0804_ray_nichels_pontiac_engineering/photo_01.html )

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway had been built not just for racing, but also as an auto test facility, as the number of manufacturers around Indianapolis at the time the track was built was greater that the number of makers around Detroit.

In 1954, Chrysler Corporation set the 24-hour record at 2,157.5 miles, with an average speed of 89.89 mph for the Stevens Challenge.

Ford Motor Company established the 500-mile record, running 111.916 mph, including a one-lap speed record of 117.832 mph.

Nichels went after all the records with two Pontiac Catalina’s, one red and one black.

While the red car was a standard Catalina body, the black car was a Police Enforcer 2-door post coupe, sold by Pontiac to law enforcement departments.

Nichels painted the doors on the black car white and added a blinking red light (supposedly for visibility concerns) which made the car look very much like a police car.

The two cars were kept as stock was possible with reinforced wheels, front spindles and roll bars the must noticeable of the safety changes.

Nichels’ drivers were Joe Weatherly, Marvin Panch, Glenn "Fireball" Roberts from NASCAR; and Paul Goldsmith, Len Sutton, and Rodger Ward, from USAC.

Delayed by bad weather, the run began at Indy at 3 pm on November 20 1961.

Despite a small accident by the ‘black-and-white’ and rain starting at 4 AM, the records were accomplished.

Nichels used a fork lift during pit stops to lift the entire car in the air for quicker stops, allowing all four tires to be changed on the cars at one time.

The red 1962 Pontiac Catalina is shown running for world records in the rain at Indianapolis. The effort started on 3 pm on the 20th, and the drivers ran the last 11 hours of the 24 hour effort in the rain, snow and sleet.

The team broke the previous 24-hour distance record in their 20^th hour.

The black-and-white Pontiac ran over 2,586 miles for the 24-hour run, for an average speed of 107.787 miles per hour.

The red Catalina ran over 2,576 miles for the 24-hour run, making an average speed of 107.343 miles per hour.

The cars had been driven the 150-mile trip from Nichels’ shop to the speedway, and afterwards, driven back to the Highland Indiana shop (21 miles from Chicago) for the USAC inspection.

Nichels then took the cars to the most famous stock car track, Darlington, to repeat the run under NASCAR supervision.

When the runs of the two cars were over, the “Certificate of Performance” signed by NASCAR car’s Joe Epton and Bill France stated that the Police Enforcer with the 389-inch Super Duty engine had run one lap at 116.580 MPH.

The car also set the 500-mile mark of 109.247 MPH (4 hours 43 minutes 52.89 seconds) and 24-hour marks of 108.819 MPH for 2612.500 miles.

[continued to Part 4b]

Joe Weatherly: NASCAR's First Triple Champion… almost. – Pt. 3

Crabber 1967 . — Fri, 15 May 2009 00:37:16 -0400

In a four part series Crabber 1967 details the amazing race of Joe Weatherly, one of NASCAR's greatest champions. Please follow Part I and Part II.

Joe Weatherly and the other Ford drivers must have been excited at the beginning of the 1957 season. The Ford drivers would have a new weapon, a supercharger.

In addition, the company had begun work for the upcoming season in the summer of 1956, so the Fords would be well prepared compared to the previous two seasons.

The 312 cubic inch supercharged Ford engine produced 325 horsepower, but was advertised at 300 to hold down customer demand, as the early superchargers were hand-made until McCulloch could get its production line running.

Restored 1957 Ford 312 'F' code engine shown as installed.

Ford intended the superchargers for use of the factory cars, even running single four barrel carburetor equipped 312-inch powered cars as back-up; while superchargers were not allowed by NASCAR in the convertible and short track divisions.

Mercury went with the 368-inch 335 horsepower engine originally used exclusively in Lincolns.

The horsepower race, which hit its peak about a decade later, was on. Chevrolet increased their engine size to 283-inches and added fuel injection for about 300 horsepower.

Pontiac began its efforts to rid its stodgy image with a 347 cubic inch engine making 325 horsepower. Oldsmobile offered a 371-inch engine making 325 horses.

However, when Kiekhaefer quit the Grand National series the heavy though powerful hemi-powered Chryslers were gone.

With Chrysler not supporting racing, the lighter, smaller Dodge (354-inch, 330-horse) and Plymouth (318-inch, 300-horse) hemi-engined cars were considered non-competitive and the top Dodge driver, Lee Petty switched to Oldsmobile.

Although not the first events in the racing season, the races of Speedweeks in February at Daytona were always a big splash.

At Daytona, Ford had 11 cars with 28 men to take care of them. Mercury had 15 cars, mostly for runs on the beach-straight time trials, and 29 crew. With engineers, public relations men and others, Ford Motor Company had over 100 people at Daytona.

Stock cars raced in that era still used mostly production parts. Ford had convinced NASCAR to allow them to reinforce the front spindles of their cars, citing safety concerns.

The possibility of front wheels coming off cars and getting into spectator areas was something no one wanted. The reinforcements were allowed as NASCAR was always open to allow variations from production parts if safety was a question.

At Daytona a fault in steering linkages on the Fords caused severe toe-in making the cars plow up the sand.

In the 160-mile convertible race on Saturday, Weatherly managed a second place, between winner Tim Flock and Billy Myers both in Mercurys.

Larry Frank spins his No. 76 Chevy as Curtis Turner in his No. 26 Ford, passes inside during the Feb. 16 1957 NASCAR Convertible race at Daytona.

Notice the front tire's extreme toe-in on Turner's Ford, the result of defective heat treatment of the production steering linkage. Although Turner started third, he led the first three laps but finished 13th in the race. Reason out: "radiator hose."

On Sunday, little-known Cotton Owens won the Grand National (Cup) race in a Pontiac; with the Fords getting a best of fifth with Marvin Panch while Weatherly took 18^th after starting 42^nd.

Despite the poor results at Daytona, the “Gold Dust Twins,” Weatherly and Turner, continued their usual partying at their Daytona ‘Party Pad.’ The Party Pad featured a fully stocked bar that had bathing beauties painted on the wall behind.

When black lights were turned on, the bathing suits would ‘disappear’ on the art work, surely amusing the party-goers (including the ‘baby dolls’) while they consumed the ‘Twins’ favorite drinks: ‘shooters’ of “CC” and Coke.

Despite the embarrassment at Daytona, 1957 began with what looked like would be a dominant performance for Ford. The Ford team appeared to be taking up where Kiekhaefer’s Chryslers had left off.

The 1957 Grand National season had begun in November 1956, and through May 5, the Fords won five of the 16 races. In the Convertible Division, Fords won 16 of the first 17 races, the exception being the Mercury win at Daytona.

The Gold Dust Twins were in their glory during that stretch in the convertibles. Of the 16 wins Weatherly got four and Turner nine.

Glen Wood (beginning the Wood Brothers’ long association with Ford) won two of the first 17 convertible races with Fireball Roberts taking the biggest race in the convertible series, the first Rebel 300 at Darlington.

Curtis Turner, driving his peach-colored #26 Ford, pairs up with #21 Glen Wood on the front row for the start of the April 22, 1957 NASCAR Convertible race at Winston-Salem's Bowman Gray Stadium.

Turner won the race, giving his Peter DePaolo Ford team its eighth win in the first 11 races at the start of the 1957 ragtop season. Glen Wood in his independent Ford won two races during that stretch. A crowd of 7,800 packed the grandstands around the flat 1/4-mile track to watch the event.

The bombshell that would blow up the Ford effort was lit in February of 1957.

At a meeting of the AMA (Automobile Manufacturers Association) the president of Chevrolet suggested that the car makers get out of racing. This idea was also supported by the National Safety Council.

The head of Ford’s engineering had made a similar comment in 1956, and after the February 1957 AMA meeting, the idea quickly gained favor in the highest levels of management at Ford.

A lot of money was being spent and the sales gains did not seem to justify the expense.

The support of the head of Ford’s engineering department to get out of racing, at first glance, seems unlikely. From today’s perspective it would seem that engineers would welcome the challenges racing would present.

While the young engineers at the lower levels welcomed the challenge and the excitement, the men at the top did not.

The engineering department was open to embarrassment (like the Daytona steering debacle) from parts failures, and they also did not like the idea that they might be put in a position of responsibility for any slip of car sales.

The engineering departments of all the auto manufacturers had been able to design cars’ internal parts in relative ease for about twenty years and were happy that customers were only concerned about styling and price when they walked into the showroom.

The engineering chiefs liked the fact that the sales department took all the heat for any loss in sales, plus it was much easier to design a car used exclusively for street use compared to the additional stresses of racing.

Henry Ford II supported the idea of dropping out of racing and “The Deuce” always got his way.

With the top management supporting it, the ‘AMA Ban’ would be observed by Ford Motor Company.

This ban was put in place at Ford, despite the internal memos that said it was essential that Ford support racing so that wins would be possible.

The ban was enforced despite the fact that some Ford officials felt that the Chevrolet leaders knew that getting Ford out of racing was in Chevy’s best interest.

And even though the Ford officials already had reports that Chevrolet would take their efforts under-the-table, the ban would be followed strictly.

Because top management wanted Ford out of racing by June 1^st, the racing group had about a month to dispose of the cars and equipment.

The decision to get out so quickly would put Ford in compliance before the June 6^th AMA meeting where the racing ban resolution would be voted upon. The resolution was passed putting the “ban” into effect.

To dispose of the equipment, Ford gave each of the drivers two cars (at the cost of one dollar each), a tow truck and a supply of parts. But there was plenty of material to dispose of quickly to meet the self-imposed June 1^st deadline.

After the drivers got their share, John Holman called Ralph Moody and asked him if he was interested in the two of them buying the remaining Ford gear.

The ‘yes’ from Moody caused the purchase to take place, and the Holman and Moody organization was born. The formation of Holman-Moody was so informal that the two men didn’t even formally organize the business on paper until 1962 when Ford returned to racing.

The new team immediately went racing in the USAC stock car circuit to gain publicity by beating drivers who had competed in the Indianapolis 500 and to put money in the bank account of the new team.

Ralph Moody’s winnings from the USAC races included a prize of $14,000 from a single USAC race in July!

This was at a time when the Ford Fairlane "500" Club Sedan (Model # 64B) Two Door had a Base Price with the eight cylinder engine of $2,381 plus options.

The success of the Holman-Moody Fords let the drivers “up north” know where they could get supercharger parts, as NASCAR had banned superchargers in April while the supercharger remained legal in USAC.

The effect of the ‘ban’ was very evident by the win totals at the end of the 1957 NASCAR season. Of the 21 Grand National (Cup) races before the AMA ban Ford won 15 while Chevrolet won five. Of the 32 races after the resolution, Fords won 12 and Chevrolets won 14.

Buck Baker was 1957 Grand National Champion racing in 40 races, with ten wins, 30 top fives, 38 top tens and six poles in a Chevrolet. Baker led 857 laps second only to Fireball Roberts’ 1107 laps led, all in a Ford.

Weatherly, whose main effort was the convertibles ran fourteen Grand National races with no wins, five top fives, seven top tens, no poles, and one lap led.

In the Convertible Division before the ban, Fords won 16 and Chevrolet won three of the 20 races. After the ban, Fords won 10 and Chevrolet nine of the 20 races.

In the Convertible Division for 1957, “The Gold Dust Twins” were still the big story with Weatherly getting five wins, and finishing second in points. Turner took eleven races, leading the most laps (1289) while finishing in sixth place in the season final point standings.

In addition, Glen Wood (who had been recommended to Ford by fellow Virginian Turner) got four wins in the convertibles, and finished third in the final point standings.

Joe Weatherly’s totals for the 36-race1957 Convertible Division season: 36 races run, five wins, 25 top tens, 32 top tens, five poles and 457 laps led.

Weatherly finished second in the final points standing with 9112 points, compared to champion Bob Welborn (Chevrolet) with 9364 points.

Interestingly Weatherly actually completed nine more miles during the season than Welborn, who had six wins during the season. Weatherly, Welborn and Wood were the only drivers to compete in all 36 convertible races in 1957.

Also, in the Short Track Division, the ‘before’ win totals were Ford eight and Chevrolet four of the 13 races. After the ‘ban’ Ford won six and Chevrolet nine of the last 15 races. Chevrolet driver Jim Reed was champion.

Turner, who made and lost fortunes in the timber business, had an airplane to survey potential timber purchases as well as attending races. Weatherly also bought an airplane and the two were some of the earliest drivers to use private planes to go from race to race.

The two drivers were notorious however for their use of aircraft as if they were automobiles. They would jump into the planes without the usual ‘walk-around’ that pilots to this day use to inspect their aircraft.

Flight plans were not filed, and following the roads on the ground was a commonly used way for Weatherly to get from place to place.

Weatherly and Turner also pulled various tricks on passengers/victims while in the air.

The pilot sleeping with the auto-pilot on, and ‘engine failures’ that were actually caused by the pilot switching the engine off, were just two of the high jinks causing much amusement, for Joe and Curtis anyway.

In that era, the race cars were really based on production cars and Weatherly was known for stealing the ignition keys out of the other competitors’ cars. The only car to start on command was Weatherly’s accompanied by Joe’s laughter.

After the teams got wise to the stolen keys trick Weatherly switched to stealing gas caps off the cars, as NASCAR would not allow cars to race without gas caps.

Beginning with the 1958 season NASCAR and USAC banned supercharging, multi-carburetion and fuel injection after the factory engine war of 1957.

For 1958 Weatherly and Holman-Moody would race when there was sponsorship was available. Despite the appearance of the former factory team, Ford Motor Company was out of racing.

Even the fact that Ford had out-sold Chevrolet in the new car showrooms in1957 did not change the company’s decision to stay with the ban.

The costs of racing may have been part of the reason to continue the racing ban.

Plus, the costs of the 1957 production run, (which involved the largest number of model variations on a single assembly line that any car maker has ever produced, before or since) may have also influenced the decision to not race.

With sponsorship obtained, Weatherly and Turner were in Daytona for the races in February 1958 with “zipper-top” cars.

Zipper-top cars were a trend among many competitors who cut the roof off the hardtops for the convertible events and then bolted the roof on for the Grand National event the next day.

Zipper-top cars weren’t really allowed by the rules, but Big Bill France never let his rules stand in the way of having top drivers and cars in a race.

In the convertible race on February 22 1958, Weatherly started 14^th and finished third, while Turner, after starting in 12^th won by 14 seconds after leading 29 of the 39 laps. Both the Holman-Moody cars were 1958 Fords.

The pole winner Lee Petty led eight laps and finished second in his 1957 Oldsmobile convertible.

The next day the tops were bolted on and Weatherly finished fourth after starting 23^rd.

Turner started eighth and finished second behind Paul Goldsmith, with Goldsmith leading all 39 laps in his Smokey Yunick-built Pontiac.

This race would be the last to be run on the 4.1-mile beach-road course.

Turner had been almost a minute behind the leader at halfway but erased the deficit only to finish one car length behind Goldsmith.

The cars ran when sponsorship was available, at least until Weatherly promoted a race on the half-mile dirt track at Wilson NC. Weatherly and Turner talked Holman into letting them run the race, with Weatherly finishing third, while Turner won.

The problem was the Wilson race was on May 4, and the biggest convertible race of the year was the Rebel 300 at Darlington on May 10. There was no longer a fleet of race-ready cars from the factory waiting back in Charlotte.

The dirty, battered cars were cleaned up and repaired but did not get to Darlington until the day before the race. Weatherly qualified tenth with Turner starting twelfth.

Weatherly took the lead on lap ten and led 122 laps of the 219 lap race and finished second. Turner led 79 laps and took the win.

The Gold Dust Twins’ performance was a tribute to the overnight work of the Holman-Moody mechanics the night before of the race, as well as the skill of the drivers.

Joe Weatherly and his '58 convertible started 10th and finished 2nd at Darlington Rebel 300 convertible race on May 10, 1958.

In the 1958 season Joe Weatherly competed in twelve of the 19 races in the convertible series, finishing third in the final standings with one win (with a 1956 Ford!) five top fives, and eight top tens.

Weatherly was third in money won at $7,536. Convertible champion Bob Welborn was second in money won with $11,455 competing in all 19 races.

The top money winner was Turner who raced five times and won four taking $11.577 in winnings!

Weatherly ran in 15 of the 51 Grand National races in 1958. He got one win, five top fives, seven top tens, with one pole and $6330 in winnings

End of Part 3

Next: The Darlington Donkey, Pontiac’s glory years, and championships.

Eight year-old racer gets national exposure.

Crabber 1967 . — Sun, 10 May 2009 02:24:00 -0400

The driver of the No. 33 Bandolero race car is not the only eight year-old to compete in the tiny 550 pound race vehicles, after all this driver races in the Beginner Bandits Division for boys and girls ages 8-12.

Macy Causey is not even the only girl to compete in the Bandolero cars. Macy is, however, likely to be the only eight year-old racer to have an article about her first season of racing in the New York Times.

The New York Times article appeared in the Monday May 4, issue and by noon of that day Macy’s family had received multiple calls from numerous media outlets and TV shows asking for an appearance.

Writer Bill Konigsberg met Macy while she was practicing at Langley Speedway in Hampton VA.

Konigsberg was so interested in this little girl race driver that he was successful in getting the Times print an article about the small driver.

Young Girl Racer

As you might suspect Macy Causey is the daughter of a racer, her dad Rette Causey, drives a Legends car built by the came company that makes her Bandolero.

The Legends cars are small cars that are designed to be small enough to be transported in the bed of a pick up truck, and are powered by a motorcycle engine.

Legends cars are designed to develop drivers and hold down costs, so the engines are, by rule, sealed to allow the competitors to learn how to set up suspensions and become better racers, if they have a desire to move to bigger cars.

Bandolero cars, look vaguely like a miniature version of an enclosed sports car such as might be seen at Le Mans or on the Daytona road course, while the Legends sport bodies that look like the stock cars of the 1930’s and 40’s.

On Tuesday May 5, Macy and her parents were on the “Today” show on NBC and she was later interviewed for a segment of "Dateline NBC" that will air on Sunday May 10 2009 at 7 PM.

Macy was interviewed by Matt Lauer, Ann Curry and Al Roker on the “Today” segment, and Curry was stunned when she found out that this girl was driving a car that could go 60 mph. When Curry asked Macy’s mom if she was scared, mom said “Not at all,” leaving Curry speechless.

On Saturday May 9, Macy was the headline story on the front page of the local paper, the Daily Press of Newport News VA.

The Best Girl Racer

Macy may be a racer but she is still a typical eight year-old girl, as she is shown in photos accompanying both newspaper articles wearing her favorite pink sunglasses, which she got as a prize in a McDonald’s Happy Meal.

Macy started helping her dad, working on his car when she was five.

But Macy is more than just a typical ‘kid of a racer’ as her maternal grandmother is Diane Teel.

Macy’s grand mother is described at the Causey Racing website thusly: “Diane Teel was the 1st woman to win a NASCAR Sanctioned race in 1978 in the Limited Sportsman Division at Langley Speedway in Hampton Virginia.

“Diane went on to win a Championship later that year and ultimately competed in the Late Model Sportsman and Busch Grand National Divisions of NASCAR.”

What the website doesn’t mention is that Teel is believed to be the first woman to ever win a track championship in NASCAR, and when she was offered a full-time ride in the Busch Series, she turned it down, electing to stay at home and raise her family while continuing to drive a school bus for the York County (VA) school system.

Will Macy follow in her father’s footsteps, winning races and being a championship car owner? Race karts like her mom? (Mom and dad met when they were both racing karts.)

Perhaps Macy will win track championships like her grandmother.

It’s too early to know how this youngsters’ racing future will turn out, but she has expressed a desire to move into NASCAR when she gets older.

Macy has run few races at this point, but she took second place in a big event in Orlando FL this past February.

Macy does not know about female racers before her, like Sara Christian, Lyn St. James or even Danica Patrick.

She does however know about speed, as her favorite driver is local motorcycle racer Larry McBride who holds the world record for the quarter mile at 5.793 seconds.

However we all can hope that she will continue race for the same reason she races now: "Because it's fun."

[Photo above from the Causey Racing website]

Joe Weatherly: NASCAR's First Triple Champion...Almost—Pt. 2

Crabber 1967 . — Wed, 06 May 2009 08:31:35 -0400

As the 1956 NASCAR season approached, Joe Weatherly for the first time in his budding career had a full-time ride in a national touring NASCAR series.

In 1955 when Ford Motor Co. decided to enter stock car racing, they set up an outside corporation to run the effort. Pete DePaolo, winner of the 1925 Indianapolis 500, agreed to head the organization.

(Photo above: Pete DePaolo stands beside a 1956 Ford Sedan with Joe Weatherly in the driver's seat. Despite the plain-Jane appearance, notice the "Thunderbird engine" logo on the front fender above the front bumper tip. No plain vanilla two door, this car had a 312 under the hood.)

DePaolo Engineering Inc. was the organization set up to run the racing efforts. However, there were several flaws in the effort.

While Chevrolet had leaders and engineers who liked racing and put changes of the cars into production line vehicles in the interest of improving their racing, Ford was not doing this.

Ford leaders and engineers did not know about the strange world of stock car racing, and changes to the production line products would not be put into effect until years into the future.

In the planning of the racing efforts and the work of liaison between Ford and the racers, the new DePaolo organization was less than the best as well.

The area that the Ford teams were ahead of everyone else was in the team of drivers. In those days, a good driver could make a lesser car run up front and even take wins.

Shortly after the DePaolo team was formed, Ford factory-built cars dropped out of races with minor problems that could have been corrected by the experienced racers if DePaolo had let them, instead of listening to the Ford engineers.

Part of the problem was that DePaolo’s headquarters was in California, near the Bill Stroppe team that had prepared the Lincolns in the Mexican road race and built stock car racers for Mercury.

DePaolo needed someone to run the Eastern operations and Red Vogt was brought in to help. After two sedans and two convertibles were built for 1956, the team was short a driver.

Joe Weatherly shown in his 1956 Ford Sunliner convertible on the beach at Daytona. The debut race of the new Convertible Division was Feb. 25, 1956. Weatherly started on the pole in his No. 12 and led the first five laps before dropping out on lap 20 with water pump failure.

Joe Weatherly, Curtis Turner and Fireball Roberts were left as drivers after Speedy Thompson quit. Vogt knew that a former midget racer, Ralph Moody, was available.

When Vogt offered Moody $500 a month to drive, plus 40 percent of the winnings plus expenses, and an additional $500 if he also worked on the cars, the driver shortage was quickly solved.

Soon after the season began, John Holman was hired by DePaolo. Holman, a former employee of Bill Stroppe was a man who would soon prove he had his own ideas on how the new organization should be operating.

Red Vogt quit shortly after, but Holman eventually got the team on the right track.

Carl Kiekhaefer hired Red Vogt the day after Vogt had quit the Ford team. Vogt wanted to know how Kiekhaefer knew that he had quit.

“I have my ways and means,” replied Kiekhaefer.

For Ford, the debut race for the new Convertible Series in February 1956 on the Daytona beach-road course was better than expected. Weatherly started on the pole in his No. 12 and led the first five laps before dropping out on lap 20 with water pump failure.

Turner started in 14th place in his No. 26 and led the final 34 laps of the 39 lap race to take the win in the Saturday event. Roberts started 15th in his No. 22 and finished in second place one lap down to Turner, with Herb Thomas, also one lap down, finishing third in a Chevrolet in the 28-car field.

The drivers’ skill made up for any deficiencies of the Ford cars. Turner’s broad-sliding style was spectacular and a big crowd pleaser.

The inaugural 1956 season for the Convertible Division had 47 races with races in such locations as Daytona; Soldier Field in Chicago; Old Bridge, N.J.; Canadian Exposition Stadium (Toronto), Flat Rock, Mich.; and Taft Stadium (Oklahoma City)

Weatherly and Turner were the big stars of the Convertible Division. Weatherly ran in 38 races with 11 poles, four wins, 24 top fives, and 27 top tens, finishing fourth in the championship.

As Weatherly’s Ford teammate, Turner won the first three races of the season, taking a total of 22 wins in 42 races run, with 16 poles, 28 top fives, and 29 top tens, finishing second in the championship.

However, Bob Welborn won the championship in his Chevrolet with 45 starts, taking two poles, three wins, 32 top fives, and 39 top tens.

The Grand National race at Daytona was the sixth race of that series’ 1956 season. Ford and Chevrolet each had one win and Chrysler three as the teams readied for the Sunday event.

Ralph Moody rolls his No. 12 Ford to miss Lee Petty in his No. 42 Dodge on the beach at Daytona, during the February 1956 NASCAR Grand National race. Petty’s windshield was coated with sand and Moody went on to finish third in the race.

On Sunday, Moody started 22nd in the 76-car field and finished third after challenging the eventual winner Tim Flock’s Chrysler. Moody was running on Flock’s bumper at one point, and had even rolled his car while trying to avoid Lee Petty who was returning from a splash in the ocean to clean his windshield.

Flock, in the Kiekhaefer Chrysler, led 34 of the 37 laps on the 4.1-mile Daytona beach-road course. Jim Paschal who started eighth in a 1956 Mercury was the only other leader, leading three laps and finally finishing 33rd.

Joe Weatherly finished 16thin the 1956 Grand National season, only running 17 races for the Ford team in the GN season, with no wins, 6 top fives, 12 top tens, and one pole.

Curtis Turner was the Most Popular driver for the 1956 Grand National season, despite running in only 13 races. Turner won the Southern 500, also taking four Top Fives, and 10 Top Tens and no poles for the season.

Weatherly and Turner had dedicated themselves to win the 1956 Southern 500 in memory of Buddy Shuman, the man who made the Fords competitive in their debut at that race in 1955.

Buddy Shuman was the racer who had worried over the cars for a week of near-sleeplessness before the 1955 Southern 500.

Weatherly, in fact, had apologized to Shuman for his race-ending accident, even though it was due to parts failure and not his fault.

In November, just weeks after the 1955 Southern 500, Buddy Shuman died from asphyxiation due to smoking in bed. Shuman was no doubt unable to sleep, worrying about the next move to get the new Fords competitive.

The fact that these two gruff, hard-partying drivers would show such sentimentality in the mid-1950’s was remarkable. The effort to win the 1956 race showed the respect that Joe and Curtis had for Shuman.

Curtis Turner wins 1956 Southern 500 in the Wild Hog No. 99 Schwam Motors Ford; No. 26 is Jim Paschal in a Bill Stroppe built Mercury who finished 6th, six laps down.

Turner started 11th and won the race, leading 225 laps of the 364 lap race. Teammate Joe Weatherly started 16th and finished eighth, 12 laps behind in his No. 9 Purple Hog.

Joe Weatherly was known as the ‘Clown Prince of Racing’ due to his many off-track practical jokes and superstitions that were a part of his popularity.

One of Weatherly’s favorite jokes was a rubber snake. He would throw the ‘snake’ at known snake-fearing drivers and mechanics.

Perhaps the most laughter from Weatherly was generated when a driver-victim had to escape from a race car when the ‘snake’ landed in his lap.

Weatherly’s victims would try to get back at Joe with tricks involving the color green or peanut shells. Green has long been considered unlucky by racers.

Peanuts were a bad luck item in racing after a fatal accident. The fatal car was found to have peanut shells inside after the car was returned to the pits following the wreck.

The peanut shells were attributed to a hanger-on who left a trail of peanut shells behind as he munched and walked through the pits.

The legend of the fatal peanut shells has been told for so many years that no one knows if the story is true or not. For a superstitious person, that legend does not have to be documented as true to be believed.

One year at Darlington after a rain shower, Joe’s rain-soaked socks bled color until they were a shade of green. Weatherly hurriedly shed the socks and was sock-less for the rest of the day.

Darlington Raceway "Rebel 300" winners received a special Rebel 300 shirt, which Joe [the 1960 winner of the "Rebel 300"] wore while he drove on many occasions.

Weatherly was known for his love of wearing wild clothes and partying late into the night. Weatherly was the guy wearing the scuffed-up, black-and-white saddle oxford shoes, the same ones he wore when he was driving. He once drove his practice laps wearing a Peter Pan suit.

Turner was known as “Pops” because he called everyone, including Weatherly, “Pops.” But Turner was also known as Pops from the ‘pops’ he administered to drivers’ bumpers when they were too slow to get out of the way.

Daytona was the site of one of the most infamous incidents involving ‘Little Joe’ and ‘Pops.’ This incident is so outrageous that even Hollywood movie makers have chosen not to depict the entire episode.

One year while at Daytona, Joe and Curtis decided that the trip back to their motel in their rental cars would be more interesting if the first man back would receive their favorite beverage, a bottle of Canadian Club, as the prize.

Off they went, down the narrow two-lane ribbon of asphalt that was Route A1A in those days. “POP” went the cars as the boys laughed as they raced side-by-side slamming into each other, racing for the coveted bottle of “CC.”

The scene above (minus the bottle of “CC”) will be familiar to anyone who has seen the movie “Days of Thunder.”

As they approached the motel, Weatherly was determined not to lose this race to Turner. Joe left his braking as late as he dared.

Weatherly mis-judged the stopping distance, and his rental car slid into the motel’s pool. Joe stood in wet triumph next to the pool taking a victory drink from his newly-won bottle of “CC.”

The scene above (minus the bottle of “CC”) will be familiar to anyone who has seen the movie “Cannonball Run.”

The rental car company, whose cars had been trashed while the boys had fun, later sent photos of the two drivers to all their locations, instructing them to never rent a car to Weatherly or Turner.

While driving the Schwam “Purple Hog” in the Grand National Series, Joe once brought a live purple pig into the race track.

Joe reportedly gave the pig a ride around the track but it has never been reported who, after the pig’s ride, cleaned up the mess made by the pig in the race car.

Ford officials attending the Rebel 300 at Darlington were horrified to see teammates Weatherly and Turner race side-by-side “popping” each other, with bits of car trim showering to the track and the two buddies laughing all the time.

This incident no doubt contributed to NASCAR eventually making a rule that made teams remove the chrome trim off the side of the race cars.

Weatherly and Turner enjoyed talking the officials of the Darlington pre-race beauty pageant into allowing them to be judges. The pair no doubt enjoyed the bathing beauty display andthe contest also supplied them with many “Baby Dolls” that lost the contest, to console.

Godwin Kelly, in his book Fireball, called Joe and Curtis “NASCAR’s designated crazy men.” Kelly went on to write: “Turner and Weatherly won plenty of stock car races and never lost a party.”

Turner was well known for often saying ‘If you don’t like this party, another will be starting in fifteen minutes!’ Weatherly and Turner competed off the track as well; sometimes using a chalk board to keep score of the number of “Baby Dolls” each had been with.

Weatherly and Turner weren’t the only drivers who were partying with the ladies we today might call “groupies.” One thing the rock and roll bands and their “groupies” did not have to contend with was the fact that when the stars performed they didn’t have to worry about dying during the performance!

The partying and joking around were one way for the drivers to vent some of the tension involved in a sport that was much more dangerous than it is today.

The various jokes and parties for Weatherly and Turner happened over the many years that the two raced against each other.

Bob Pronger, driving the No. 99 Ford, runs just ahead of rim-riding Fireball Roberts in the inaugural NASCAR Convertible race on Feb. 25 1956. Pronger, from Blue Island, Ill., drove sparingly in NASCAR's Grand Nationals and Convertibles in the 1950s.

The 1956 convertible season made stars out of Weatherly and Turner. The two were dubbed “The Gold Dust Twins” by the press because of the rooster-tails of dirt to two would throw up as they raced each other around the dirt tracks.

When the two would get out front, unchallenged by the other racers the real show began. Weatherly and Turner would slide through the turns almost side-by-side at times, swapping the lead every few laps.

The lead changes and the broad-sliding thrilled the crowd and amused the two while they controlled the lead. The convertibles allowing the crowds to see the drivers twist the steering wheels of their cars to control the slides.

As the last few laps began, the showmanship gave way to real racing with the fans screaming to the checkered flag.

Turner’s Most Popular award for the Grand National series in 1956 was undoubtedly from the popularity generated by Turner’s spectacular driving in the convertibles. Turner won just once in 13 Grand National starts, while he won 22 times in 42 starts in the convertibles.

As the 1956 Grand National season moved ahead the Ford team forgot about their Chevrolet rivals as a much tougher team, the Kiekhaefer bunch became the big challenge.

On top of the strength of the Kiekhaefer cars, Carl Kiekhaefer constantly protested the Fords over such things as gas tanks and engine parts. The Ford team would at times file protests against the Kiekhaefer Chryslers and Dodges.

In late September 1956 with races just a day or two apart, and no time to perform the tear-downs, there were eight cars between the two teams to inspect! The two teams, at that point, agreed to drop the protests.

Kiekhaefer was not satisfied however, and protested the next two races even though one of races was won by his car. Kiekhaefer’s cars won the final five races of the 1956 GrandNational season with the team being disbanded in December.

NASCAR must have been relieved when Kiekhaefer quit, as his cars were ‘stinking up the show.’

Kiekhaefer was tired of having his team booed by the fans. Booing fans were not the kind of advertising the Kiekhaefer wanted for his Mercury Outboard motors. Kiekhaefer was also tired of having to deal the officials who he felt weren’t preventing the other teams cheating.

For Weatherly and his Ford team-mates the upcoming season would be better, with much-improved cars on the way for 1957.

*End of Part 2*

Next: Superchargers and the Chevrolet secret weapon: Henry Ford II.

Joe Weatherly: NASCAR's First Triple Champion...Almost—Pt. 1

Crabber 1967 . — Fri, 01 May 2009 01:33:35 -0400

Joe Weatherly won the Cup Championship in 1962 and, after a near heroic effort, again in 1963 and was leading the points as the fifth race of the 1964 season began at Riverside California.

Mechanical problems forced Weatherly into the pits early, and he lost laps while repairs were being made. He was back on the track trying to gather as many points as possible when, on his 85th lap of the 185-lap race, he crashed in the "esses" on the twisting road course.

More than just a hell-raising buddy of Curtis Turner, or the Clown Prince of Racing, Weatherly won his two Cup Championships after winning three championships on motorcycles, and out of 230 Cup races he ran from 1952-64, he took 25 wins, 28 seconds, and 19 thirds, with 19 poles.

Joe Herbert "Little Joe" Weatherly Jr. was born on May 29, 1922 in Norfolk Virginia. The nickname “Little Joe” likely came from the fact that he was Joe Jr., but also from the fact that, as an adult, he was no more than five feet four inches tall.

Weatherly was well known for his playful disposition. During his racing days he was usually seen smiling with his distinctive scar running down the left side of his face.

As a kid, I couldn’t believe my eyes when Joe Weatherly appeared on the TV show What’s My Line? The show consisted of a panel of four celebrities who would ask a series of questions to find out the guest's “line of work.”

One of the panelists asked Joe if he got his scar from his line of work, but Joe told them that he received the scar in an accident.

There is a lot of misinformation around about the source of Joe’s scar. There have been comments that Joe got his scar from a racing accident.

Most Internet information about Weatherly report something like: “Weatherly was wounded while serving for the United States armed forces in North Africa during World War II. A German sniper's bullet struck him in the face.”

Joe himself has been reported to have told the sniper story on occasion.

The actual story of Joe’s scar was reported in The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA) by Earl Swift on Oct. 2, 2007. I will give a brief account of that incident.

As the night of Wednesday, Oct. 2, 1946 approached midnight, two officers were reporting to duty on the traffic bureau of the Norfolk (VA) Police Department, when they got the report of an accident on 26th Street at Leo Street with multiple injuries.

Fortunately for Joe Weatherly, a pair of off-duty officers hitched a ride on the stretcher-equipped van that answered the call. The off-duty officers were hoping to simply catch a ride home.

The single car accident involved a 1942 Buick with six passengers. Of the two couples in the back, the two girls were just shaken up. One of the men was slightly injured, but the other man was found with his head wedged between the front seat and the door post. The officers said, “he was in bad shape.”

In the front seat, things were very dramatic. The face of the driver, Joe Weatherly, was badly cut by the windshield with blood spurting from his neck. Joe’s girlfriend, who Joe would marry in October 1948, suffered two broken legs.

One of the off-duty officers put both hands over Weatherly’s neck to stop the loss of blood from his jugular vein, and then he went with Weatherly in the ambulance to DePaul Hospital, the officer’s action saving Weatherly’s life.

The back seat passenger was extricated from between the seat and door post and was transported to Norfolk General Hospital with “a forehead laceration and internal injuries.”

Weatherly was charged with reckless driving and driving with a revoked permit. When the passenger died on Oct. 6, Weatherly was charged with homicide. Two months after the accident, the homicide charge was dropped.

Weatherly’s girlfriend later testified that Joe had stopped just a block before the accident scene to talk to some friends. Speeding was not the cause, she said, but a steering link broken after striking a curb was, with the car then hitting a tree.

Weatherly was convicted of the lesser charges after appeal in January 1947 and fined $400 and two suspended 30-day sentences. Later Weatherly lost a case brought by the dead man’s family, and the victim’s family was awarded $15,000.

Weatherly was even sued by his fiancée and her mother, and in June 1947, a jury awarded $10,000 to his fiancée and $4,000 to his fiancée’s mother.

The accident occurred just a few months before Weatherly began to professionally race motorcycles.

Weatherly had become interested in motorcycling during high school and had even taken a job as a pharmacy motorcycle deliveryman.

Weatherly had served in the Army in World War II and was readying to resume his motorcycle racing career, but on a professional level, when his face-scarring accident occurred.

Within two years of the accident, Weatherly would be a national motorcycle champion.

The young Joe Weatherly is shown with his Harley-Davidson motorcycle during his motorcycle championship days. (Motorcycle Hall of Fame)

The first sign of racing excellence to come was first seen in Weatherly’s motorcycle career, which only lasted about five years, when he took a sixth place in the prestigious Laconia (New Hampshire) Classic 100-Mile road race in 1947.

Weatherly went on to win the Laconia race in 1948 by a margin of almost a minute. Weatherly proved he wasn’t just a one-race wonder by winning Laconia again in 1949.

Weatherly’s third National win was in Richmond (Virginia) in 1950. After these three American Motorcycle Association Class C championships on his Harley-Davidson, he began to switch his racing efforts to stock cars in 1951.

Although Weatherly raced a few more times through 1954 in the Daytona 200 motorcycle event, he had begun racing full-time in stock cars by 1952. (Joe Weatherly was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.)

Weatherly started racing stock cars in 1950 and reportedly won the first race he entered. In 1952, Weatherly competed in NASCAR and won 49 of the 83 races that year and won the NASCAR Modified Championship.

In 1953, Weatherly won 52 races, again winning NASCAR’s Modified National Championship.

Joe Weatherly was also interested in the business side of the sport, being involved in a race track on the corner of Witchduck Road and Virginia Beach Boulevard in Virginia Beach (VA). This three-eighth mile sand/dirt track was built in 1948 and was used until 1960.

The track was sometimes known as Virginia Beach Speedway or Joe Weatherly Speedway, but was perhaps best known as Chinese Corner Speedway.

I remember the time my father took me to Chinese Corner for a race. I was pretty young, and I remember he said that Joe Weatherly was running there.

But the only thing I remember of the trip was that it was my first time taking the ferry across the Hampton Roads (the name the Jamestown settlers gave the harbor) from Hampton to Norfolk. The ferry was replaced by the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel in 1957.

In 1955, partnering with Paul Sawyer (his partner at Chinese Corner), Weatherly became owner of the Richmond (VA) race track. That track was known at the time as the “Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds.” About a year later, Sawyer bought out Weatherly and continued for many years as owner of the Richmond track.

Joe Weatherly in the “M-4" modified owned by John Robert (Bob) Fish Jr. The car numbers were inspired by the model of Fish Carburetor used. However, I have only found evidence of model numbers M-1, M-2, and M-3.

Joe Weatherly’s first Grand National (Cup) race was the 1952 Southern 500 driving a ’52 Hudson for fellow Virginian Junie Donlavey. This event was only the second race as a Cup car owner in Donlavey’s 45-year career as an owner at the Cup level. Weatherly started 38th and finished in 16th that day.

Weatherly’s next GN start was in 1954, finishing seventh in the 11th race of the season at Wilson NC in a 1953 Oldsmobile.

Weatherly got his big break in 1955 when he got a ride with the Ford factory team, and it was all because of the advertising of Chevrolet’s advertising agency.

Chevrolet introduced their new V8 in 1955, its first V8 since the post-World War I era. For decades before 1955, Chevrolet had been using six-cylinder engines, and their advertising agency was looking for a way to promote the new engine.

Qualifying for the February races at Daytona was unique even prior to the Daytona Speedway opening in 1959.

Racers were timed in the flying mile down the beach to determine starting positions in the race. These straight line efforts no doubt prevented the turns on the beach-road course from being torn up before the races began.

During "Speedweeks" at Daytona, flying mile times were also open to average people grouped into various classes.

A Florida Highway Patrolman drove his 1955 Chevy V8 to a speed of 112.113 MPH, an unheard-of speed for a low-priced car.

The advertising agency for Chevrolet wasted no time running ads about “The Hot One,” as they dubbed the new engine. The fact that the Chevy was only second quickest in class was not mentioned.

On March 15 a Chevy won at Fayetteville NC, in a non-Grand National (Cup) race, and a Chevy won the Grand National race at Columbia SC on March 26. Newspaper and radio ads followed each win, and Ford dealers complained loudly to the company headquarters in Dearborn.

The Ford dealers had been unhappy for years, but when their direct competitor was advertising wins (and getting sales on Monday after the wins on Sunday), it was too much to tolerate.

Chevrolet’s advertising made it seem (at least to the Ford dealers) that they were constantly winning. The fact that Chevy had only won one Grand National race prior to the Southern 500 during the 1955 season didn’t matter.

In fact, Chryslers won 27 races (18 wins by Tim Flock in the Kiekhaefer Chrysler) and Oldsmobile won 10 in what would be a 45-race season in 1955.

To give you an idea of the variety of nameplates competing, both Buick and Chevrolet got their first two wins in the series in 1955. Dodge and Hudson each got one win.

Interestingly, Herb Thomas was responsible for the last-ever win for Hudson and the first-ever two wins for Buick before switching to Chevrolet.

Meanwhile, Ford dealers felt they had the V8 market (at least in the low-price field) to themselves, what with Ford introducing its V8 in 1932.

The fact that with the introduction of Strictly Stock (Grand National) series, the racers had at first gone to Cadillac or Oldsmobile was bad enough, but at least those two brands were not considered direct competitors to Ford.

The Kiekhaefer Chrysler team that dominated the 1955 season was not supported by the manufacturer, and the crusty Carl Kiekhaefer would likely not have put up with anyone from Chrysler telling him what to do anyway.

Despite Ford introducing their new overhead valve “Y-block” engine in 1954, an engine that was slightly more powerful that the new Chevy engine, they had had no success.

More expensive brands were winning races in NASCAR. Up to early in 1955, Ford cars had just one NASCAR Grand National victory since the series began in 1949.

Ford knew they had to enter NASCAR racing, but they were not sure if they should wait until the races in Daytona in February 1956 or go right away.

The leaders of Ford actually asked a field service manager from Ford’s Charlotte (NC) District, who had been helping Ford racers, "unofficially," since 1951, about how they should respond to the Chevrolet threat.

Bill Benton was that man, and he had gone to Dearborn to tell Ford’s leaders about what needed to be done to go stock car racing.

When the top people asked Benton if they should wait for the start of the 1956 season, or go to Darlington in 1955, Benton said, “We’ll go.” Benton felt that any sort of effort in 1955 would be better than waiting.

And so a man, who had no power to make a corporate decision, committed Ford Motor Company to enter NASCAR racing in mid-1955, and the circumstances of how Ford would later get two of the best drivers on the circuit was just as remarkable.

Two cars were built in Ford’s experimental garage in Dearborn and received their final preparation in the service area of Schwam Motors, a Ford dealer in Charlotte, NC that would be the sponsor for the cars.

Charlie Schwam was a showman and had the cars painted a vivid purple, with caricatures of snorting wild boars on the front fenders. The cars were nicknamed “Schwam’s Wild Hogs.”

A salesman for Schwam who was a racing fan and friend of Joe Weatherly asked Joe if he would be interested in driving one of the cars, and Joe talked to his friend Curtis Turner, and so Ford had two of the best drivers around driving the two new cars. Things were much simpler in those days!

The two cars arrived a few weeks before the race, with Ford engineers along to supervise the preparation. Despite long hours of work and early morning three-hour trips to the track for secret sunrise testing, the preparation was not going well.

Buddy Shuman, a Charlotte car builder and driver, was called in to get the cars ready. After a week of sleepless nights for Shuman and the Schwam mechanics, the race cars were at the track for the event.

Weatherly qualified his Ford at 109.006 MPH, while Shuman tested the second car at 109.054 MPH, embarrassing Turner, who, for some reason, couldn’t get the car over 106.

Fireball Roberts’ Fish Carburetor-sponsored Buick was on the pole at 110.682 MPH, while second-day qualifier Tim Flock’s Chrysler set a new record of 112.041.

Soon after the 75-car field took the green flag, Turner charged to the lead, after starting in 15th. The two Fords were putting on a show, with Turner leading laps 110 through 123 of the 366-lap event, until a tie-rod in the front suspension failed, ending his day on lap 133.

Weatherly soon took the lead of the 364-lap race. Joe led from lap 180 to lap 278 until he pitted for gas and tires, putting Herb Thomas’ Chevrolet in the lead.

Thomas, who had won Darlington in 1951 and 1954, could do nothing to prevent Weatherly from regaining the lead with his Purple Hog on lap 307.

But this story would not have a happy ending for Ford, as Weatherly’s front suspension failed on lap 317. After starting seventh in the 69-car field and leading for 140 laps, he finished 33rd.

A privately entered Ford finished fifth, while Thomas went on win the race in his Chevrolet, with more bowties following in positions 2-4-7-8-9-10. Chevrolet’s ad agency went to work proclaiming the performance.

After the initial disappointment, Ford officials knew they had done the right thing, as they felt the Fords had given fans excitement they had not had before.

Ford continued to race the cars on a limited basis in 1955 with Weatherly in six races and Turner with five starts for the team. But despite the fact the factory had two of the best drivers, Ford only got two wins in 1955.

Speedy Thompson and Buck Baker each got a win in October 1955, which, when added to a win in 1950, gave the Ford nameplate just three NASCAR wins from 1949 to 1955.

While this compared well with Chevrolet’s two wins during the same period in NASCAR, Ford was now out for more.

Things would change in Ford’s favor in the Chevy vs. Ford conflict in 1956, and Joe Weatherly was along for the ride.

*END OF PART ONE*

Coming next: The Clown Prince and Pops; Baby Dolls and the Gold Dust Twins.

NASCAR HOF to Receive Part of Raymond Parks' Trophies

Crabber 1967 . — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:37:06 -0400

Raymond Parks will receive some recognition in the soon-to-open NASCAR Hall of Fame; recognition long coming to a man whom Dale Earnhardt the elder, called “The Godfather of NASCAR.”

Opening photo: Shown in Raymond Parks’ Atlanta office, author Neal Thompson [shown on the left] writer of the book “Driving With The Devil” a history of the early era of the sport of stock car racing before and during the founding of NASCAR is shown with Raymond Parks. Seen behind Thompson and Parks is a small portion of Mr. Parks’ trophies.

A replica of the No. 22 Red Vogt built, Raymond Parks sponsored Modified, driven by Red Byron [original shown above] was shown in front of the Daytona Speedway at the Daytona 500 on February 15 2009.

Raymond Parks was the car owner of the car that won the first ever NASCAR championship in 1948 in the Modified Division. Parks then went on to win the 1949 championship of the new Strictly Stock Series. The Strictly Stock series is now known as the “Cup” Series. The announcement occurred on Saturday, March 7 2009.

This period photo in front of the Parks Novelty Machine Co. office, Red Byron poses with the Red Vogt prepared Ford modified and many trophies.

The trophies going to the hall will include the trophies for the 1948 championship of the Modified Division, the first championship awarded by NASCAR and the trophy for the championship of the inaugural 1949 Strictly Stock (now Cup) Series season.

See my home page for my article about Mr. Parks.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/70156-raymond-parks-nascars-double-inaugural-championship-car-owner

Also: See the story:

Parks collection a boost for hall

By David Poole at thatsracing.com

Link: http://www.thatsracin.com/140/story/4942.html

Breaking news NASCAR

Why Did NASCAR's Super Bowl End in the Third Quarter?

Crabber 1967 . — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 01:29:30 -0500

The Monday after the 2009 Daytona 500, I was listening to the “Mike and Mike in the Morning Show” on ESPN Radio when they asked the question: ‘Why did the Daytona 500 end early?’

I had to laugh at the question, not because they, admittedly, did not know much about racing, but because the hype-masters at Daytona were victims of their own hype.

NASCAR has always wanted to be mentioned at the same level as baseball, football, basketball, hockey, and any other ‘mainstream’ sports.

Well they have now got their wish, and I’m reminded of the idea of “Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it!”

Of course there is no such thing as a Super Bowl in auto racing, as championships are the result of a year's worth of performances, not just the result of one race.

The race was ended early because of a rule that has been around for decades. That rule is that if after a race passes the half-way point, the race can be considered a complete race if weather causes a stoppage.

Perhaps a look back at the history of motorsports can illuminate why or at least where, the half-way rule may have came from.

Motorsports in Europe followed the rules of horse racing as a model for their own procedures.

We see this even today as the area where the cars gather before the race is called the “paddock,” while the official who runs the race is called the “Clerk of the Course,” both of these are horse racing terms.

Horse racing in Europe was of a type we now call steeplechase. The races ran through the fields and forests of the large estates of the day, which the horses jumping over fences, hedges, and streams.

When auto racing began in Europe, they followed the steeplechase model racing from point-to-point. The steeplechase form of auto racing is still seen today as rallying.

Road Course racing began, first as the city-to-city races using the existing roads. This was possible due to the many paved roads on the continent. These improved roads dated back the National Routes of Napoleon and to the roads of the Romans.

Auto racing in America followed the horse racing model as well. However horse racing courses in America followed a totally different form from that of Europe.

There were no large estates in the early days of America, and there were no roads built centuries before by the Romans or Napoleon.

The race courses in the New World were built in the form of ovals. This was the easiest form of course to build in the heavily wooded east coast of North America. The tradition of building ovals for horse racing spread across America as the settlers moved west.

Just as in Europe, American auto racing followed the horse racing model; but unlike Europe auto racing was actually held on the dirt horse racing ovals.

The opening of the giant 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a huge influence on American oval track racing. Indianapolis is not a true oval, but is in fact a rounded rectangle.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway was laid out with the two long straights of 5/8 of a mile. The ends of the straights were connected at each end by two turns of a ¼ each in length which were in turn connected by “short chutes” of 1/8 mile each. The track's rectangular shape was determined by the rectangular shape of the property upon which the track was built.

In describing a car circling the Indianapolis Speedway, the car would go down the front straight though the First Turn, the short chute and then through Turn Two, with the process repeated at the other end of the track through turns Three and Four.

Thus the terms “Turn One,” “Turn Two,” and so on are used to describe a car circling all ovals in America despite the fact that the other tracks are more like true ovals, whether they are the true paperclip shaped oval at Martinsville or the distorted ovals like Daytona.

When Big Bill France was trying to build his new track at Daytona he insisted that the track be 2.5 miles in size. This made his new speedway for stock cars a true rival to Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The distorted shape of the Daytona track was not to allow the fans to have favorable sight lines to watch the races (which was the hype put out at the time) but was necessary to fit a 2.5-mile track on the property.

In fact, the dog racing track which still exists outside of Turn One (there’s that term again!) gave up most of their pie-slice shaped property (most of the pointed end, at least) so that the stock car track could be built.

When Indianapolis decided to hold only one long race per year starting in 1911, they had to calculate how long a race could be run. When the officials used an estimated average speed and an estimated time that they felt the spectators would stay before they left from sheer exhaustion, the length of 500 miles was determined.

Since that time, 500 has been a magic number in the American automotive world. Ford Motor Company used “500” as a designation for a top model for its top line of cars. And of course “500” is a magic length for an oval race; even races that are shortened in length try to keep the “500” in the races’ name by measuring the race as a 500 kilometer (312 mile) race.

As can be seen, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been the major influence on oval track racing in the United Stares since 1911. The rule regarding when to call a race an office race, if shortened by weather, is most likely a result of a ruling that came out of the operation of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Unlike road racing, oval track racing has not been contested in the rain, and I believe that any attempt at rain tires on a rain soaked oval would be a debacle.

NASCAR has for virtually all of its existence wanted to be regarded a major sport and to be a part of the world of regular sports reporting.

The massive growth of NASCAR in the past decade has caused that goal to be achieved. But by achieving that goal NASCAR has opened itself up to the kind of adversarial reporting (if not outright ridicule) we now see in baseball, football, etc.

Add to that the absurd hype that the Daytona 500 is the Super Bowl of stock car racing, and NASCAR has put itself in a position to be ridiculed.

While Mike and Mike admitted they were not knowledgeable about NASCAR (and don’t forget that their employers, ESPN have a contract with NASCAR), I believe it is time for the powers-that-be at NASCAR to dial down the hype.

The half-way-to-official race rule is not a bad thing, and anyone who has some knowledge of racing is familiar with this rule.

When Darrell Waltrip was on “Windtunnel” on SPEED Channel Monday night, he looked at his watch and looked out the window of his race broadcast booth, when a caller complained about the ending of the race due to rain.

"Why didn’t they wait and just restart the race?" Waltrip noted that it was 9:30 and it was still raining. Case Closed.

The race was called to an end by rule. The fact that a judgment call had to be made is not something that is exclusive to NASCAR.

If you listen to sport talk radio for much of the time, as I do, you will hear the "judgment call" debate occur many times about some sort of play in NFL football.

A judgment call is not a bad thing. Overheated hype such as “Super Bowl of NASCAR!” is a very bad thing. Let’s stop trying to compare auto racing to the other sports, and build a more knowledgeable base of fans and sportscasters.

Twenty Formula One Champions and a White Helmet

Crabber 1967 . — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:42:17 -0500

When motorsports writer Al Pearce started on his fifth autographed helmet for charity in 2007, his project was considered to be impossible by most who heard of the idea.

Pearce’s idea was to get all 20 living F1 champions to sign a white Simpson helmet (similar to the image above, from the Simpson website).

Phil Hill, the only US-born Formula One champion, was the first to sign the helmet, when Pearce met Hill at Hill’s home in Santa Monica, Calif., on Nov. 12, 2007. Hill later passed away on Aug. 28, 2008.

“When I walked out of his [Hill’s] house, I was committed,” Pearce said “I just didn’t think I’d get to all the F1 champions so quickly.”

On Dec. 18, 2008, Pearce got his final signature when he met Nelson Piquet in the parking lot of Piquet’s business in Brasilia, Brazil.

European Formula One journalists called Pearce’s idea, the climbing of Mt. Everest for autograph seekers.

Pearce covered auto racing for the (Newport News, Va.) Times-Herald and Daily Press newspapers from 1969 to 2004.

He has also covered NASCAR for AutoWeek Magazine for almost 40 years and has authored or co-authored a total of 13 books about NASCAR.

Pearce tells the story of how he began his motorsports career when in 1969 his sports editor wanted someone to cover the first-ever Cup race at Dover International Speedway held on July 6, 1969.

The rookie Pearce volunteered to take the place of a writer who was unable to cover the race.

Richard Petty finished first in the 32-car field that day. When Pearce had a chance, he finally asked his first motorsports question.

When he asked Petty why he didn’t open the door to get out of his race-winning Ford, Petty asked Pearce if he had ever seen a race before. Pearce answered “No.” Petty replied, “You’ve got a lot to learn.”

Pearce continued to report on, and learn about, NASCAR and in 2004 Pearce received the Henry T. McLemore Award and was the 23rd person to be inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame for his work as a motorsports writer.

In November 2007, Pearce began an odyssey that covered 13 months and 68,000 miles. He got 19 of the signatures in person, while the FedEx sponsored Cup team, whose car is driven by Virginia-native Denny Hamlin, paid to send the helmet on a 19,000 mile round trip to Queensland, Australia, and back for the three-time F1 champ Jack Brabham’s signature.

The signed helmets are not Pearce’s first efforts for charity. He rode every mile of the first eight Kyle Petty’s annual Charity Ride Across America.

A few years ago, I had the chance to ask Pearce about the first ride in 1995. Pearce told me he had borrowed a Honda Gold Wing and had it shipped to California, and left with the group the Monday after the race at Sears Point.

Pearce told me that all the other riders (Harley-Davidson mounted) made fun of his using a “rice burner,” but at the end of each day's ride, he was in much better condition than the battered and shaken H-D crowd!

This is the fifth helmet Pearce will auction to raise money for the Victory Junction Gang Camp. Pearce will begin to market the helmet in January in AutoWeek Magazine, as well as other magazines, trade publications and other publications in the US and Europe.

Pearce worked through the drivers’ public relations people to obtain his signatures. Pearce’s information packet that was sent to all the drivers not only had information about the Victory Junction Gang Camp, but had letters of reference from Richard Petty and Roger Penske.

Pearce spent $5,000 of his own money to complete this F1 helmet project. Pearce’s four previous helmets were: signatures of NASCAR Cup champions, Sprint Cup Chase qualifiers, Daytona 500 winners, and Indianapolis 500 winners.

Former Indy Racing League champion and two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart gave Pearce $10,000 for the Indianapolis 500 helmet.

The full story of Pearce’s helmet was featured on the front page of the Daily Press newspaper on Dec. 31, 2008 as:

His signature achievement

Former Daily Press auto racing writer Al Pearce travels the world to get autographs for a helmet he'll auction for charity.

Raymond Parks: NASCAR's Double Inaugural Championship Car Owner

Crabber 1967 . — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:30:37 -0400

"I don't remember anybody back then racing cars like he did. He did everything first class. The cars had showroom finishes every race. There was never a fender bent that wasn't replaced." (Cotton Owens)

Raymond Parks holds a unique place in NASCAR history as the only car owner to win the inaugural championship in two different series.

Parks won the first-ever championship in NASCAR history by taking the Modified Series championship with cars prepared by Red Vogt and driven by Red Byron in 1948.

In 1949, Parks once again was the championship car owner of NASCAR’s top series: the newly formed Strictly Stock (now Cup) Series, once again with Vogt and Byron.

Raymond Parks was born in Dawsonville, Ga., in 1914. Parks’ first brush with the law was when he was 14 years old and was caught by the local sheriff transporting corn liquor in the family 1926 Ford Model T. This incident resulted in Parks spending three months in jail.

After his time in jail, Parks returned to the Dawson County liquor business, saving money for the future. Two years later, Parks’ future began when he went to Atlanta to help work at an uncle’s service station.

After a few more years of work at the station which also included a part-time liquor business, and saving his money, Raymond bought the Hemphill Service Station from his uncle. Parks’ business skills were beginning to appear.

Parks’ business skill in areas on both sides of the law continued as Parks expanded his interests. Parks' businesses eventually included real estate investments, a number of liquor stores, and an amusement machine company.

Parks continued involvement in the liquor business, numbers, and other extra-legal activities that the amusement machine business provided such as slot machines.

Parks was never caught in any acts of moonshining or racketeering, but the Atlanta police arrested several of his carriers and runners. Parks, along with one of his workers, pleaded guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence.

Parks spent a year in federal penitentiary in Chillicothe, Ohio (the same penitentiary where Junior Johnson would serve his time). Parks and his worker were released in 1937.

In 1938, Raymond Parks’ two cousins Lloyd Seay (pronounced “See”) and Roy Hall had talked Parks into using his Hemphill Service Station to sponsor their race cars.

Seay and Hall, like most drivers of the era, were moonshine drivers. Parks got his first win as an owner on Nov. 11, 1938, at the first race held at the Lakewood (Atlanta) racetrack, with a 1934 Ford driven by Lloyd Seay, which was prepared by Red Vogt.

Parks wanted the best possible cars for his cousins to race, and had Red Vogt, (who had his own “24 hour” service station, the “Red” Vogt Garage on the corner of Spring Street and Linden Avenue) as crew chief and car builder.

Roy Hall, who inspired the Jim Croce song "Rapid Roy, That Stock Car Boy," is shown in front of a Raymond Parks-owned 1938 Ford Modified at Daytona.

Although Parks was involved in what many would consider a "dirty" business, he continues to this day to be neatly dressed and orderly. Vogt’s reputation for a spotless station, rivaling anything seen today, must have appealed to Parks.

Parks’ team of Hall and Seay were the dominant force in racing in the Southeast. The success of Parks’ cars in the months before the United States’ entry into World War II is a good example.

In the pre-WWII days, there were several races per year at Daytona. In March 1940, Hall won the race at Daytona in a Parks car with a record speed of 76.53 mph. Part of the winning effort was Hall’s 40-second pit stop after the leader had a two-minute pit stop. This allowed Hall to take the lead, which he held to the end.

At Daytona in March 1941, Hall won with Seay finishing seventh in the first race. In the second race that month, Hall finished second. On July 27,Seay was fourth and Hall eighth.

Lloyd Seay bicycles through the North Turn on the Daytona beach-road course on July 27, 1941, after already flipping the car twice. Seay finished the race in fourth. This photo was used in his obituary.

In the Aug. 24, 1941, Daytona Beach race, Seay started 15thbut led every lap and won. Seay then won the Aug. 31 race in High Point, N.C. and then left for the Sept. 1 (Labor Day) race at the Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta GA.

Seay arrived too late at Lakewood to qualify, and started the race in last place. By lap 35, Seay was in the lead and battled with Bob Flock, who also drove for Parks from time to time, before winning the race. Seay won these three races in nine days, but he would never win again.

After winning the Lakewood race, Seay went to his brother Jim’s house to spend the night. The morning of Sept. 2, 1941, Lloyd’s cousin Woodrow Anderson came to the house with a question about Lloyd’s handling of a sugar purchase that was charged to Anderson. An argument ensued, with Jim Seay shot in the neck and Lloyd Seay shot through the heart.

Woodrow Anderson, who already had a police record for making moonshine, was tried in late October and sentenced to life in prison, but was released after 10 years. Moonshine making and hauling was a family business, but it could bring tragedy to a family as well as money.

Close-up of Lloyd Seay’s headstone showing a photo of Lloyd ‘sitting’ behind the wheel of his 1938 Ford Modified carved into the stone. The headstone was paid for by Raymond Parks.

After Dec. 7, 1941, the United States entered World War II, and racing ended for the duration. From 1942 to 1945, Raymond Parks served with the 99th Division of First Army.

After the war, Raymond Parks returned to his businesses and racing but Lloyd Seay was dead and Roy Hall was older; so Parks turned to another war veteran, a driver by the name of Red Byron, and one of his former drivers, Bob Flock, among others.

In 1947, Parks and his driver, Fonty Flock, won the Modified Championship under a sanctioning body known as the National Championship Stock Car Circuit (NCSCC), which was run by Bill France.

In December 1947, Bill France called a meeting of prominent owners, car builders and promoters at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach.

France proposed a national group that would sanction all stock car racing. Parks and Vogt were among those shown in the group photo taken after the meeting.

The Contest Board of AAA considered any racers who competed outside their sanction "outlaws," and southern stock car racing was not worth the effort to sanction; after all, AAA had the Indianapolis 500. France decided that these ‘outlaws’ should make their own rules.

Stock car racing at that time was suffering from unscrupulous promoters who, at best, did not award the money announced, and at worst, skipped out with the money before the races were over.

Although Vogt had a charter in Georgia for a new sanctioning body he called the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, he suggested that France adopt that name for his proposed new sanctioning body with Vogt giving up his Georgia charter.

Parks entered his car in this new sanctioning body, NASCAR. The car was sponsored by his Parks Novelty Machine Company, driven by the war veteran, Red Byron.

The success of Parks’ company, which included slot machines, jukeboxes, pool tables, and cigarette vending machines, allowed a level of funding that could not be matched by his fellow competitors.

Robert 'Red' Byron was severely injured in World War II and spent 27 months in military hospitals, with the doctors fearing that he would never walk again.

The famous photo of Red Byron after winning the first race held at the then-dirt Martinsville (VA) track on Sept. 7, 1947. Note the war surplus canteen in Byron's hand, still sitting in the Raymond Parks-owned, Red Vogt-built Modified Ford.

Byron had returned to racing in 1946 driving a car owned by Parks. Byron won his first race back; the field included drivers such as Roy Hall and Bill France. Byron then won the second stock car race he entered, at Daytona Beach, and again Roy Hall was one of those he beat.

Because of his badly injured left leg, Byron wore a special brace that sat in a steel stirrup that was attached to the clutch pedal. The bad leg did not slow down Byron in his Parks-owned car, as he won 11 of the 52 races run in 1948, becoming NASCAR’s Modified Champion, the first Championship in NASCAR history.

In 1949, NASCAR added a new series, called Strictly Stock (now known as the Cup series). Byron drove a Parks Novelty Machine Company sponsored 1949 Oldsmobile 88 in six of the eight races run. Byron won two races and one pole that season on his way to his second NASCAR championship.

Parks entered his car in the two races Byron did not drive, but he took no wins. Bob Flock and Roy Hall split those two races as drivers.

In 1950, Byron raced in four of the newly re-named Grand National series races in Parks’ cars with one pole position, but no wins.

In those early days of NASCAR, Bill France often called Parks for advice and even to borrow money.

We may never know how important Raymond Parks really was in the earliest day of NASCAR. Big Bill cultivated the myth that he was the main force behind NASCAR, with men like Parks handing over all influence to him.

In recent years, Raymond Parks has given a few interviews about his participation in the early days of NASCAR. Parks has said that after the 1951 season, he sold his cars and quit racing. Curiously, the records show Parks’ cars racing in the Strictly Stock/Grand National Series in 1949-50 and 1954-55.

The records show Fonty Flock drove in two GN races in a Parks car in 1954, and four races driven by Curtis Turner in 1955. Perhaps these races in 1954 and 1955 were just one old-time whiskey man helping out two former whiskey haulers.

In an interview in 2006, Parks said, “It was money; that’s what it was. I loved racing, but I had to make a living. My business was doing well, but I was splitting the purses with the drivers and paying all the expenses, including parts, and my money was coming up shorter each week.”

Raymond Parks, a teetotaler, was a convicted felon for his whiskey activity. But it must be remembered that a man being sent to jail for being in the whiskey business did not have the stigma in those days that might be attached to someone today. Going to jail was just one of the costs of doing business.

Raymond Parks was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame at Darlington in 1995.

In 2002, Parks was one of eight individuals inducted in the first class of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame, along with Red Byron, and his cousin Lloyd Seay.

Raymond Parks certainly deserves to be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame as NASCAR’s first double Championship car owner, and hopefully that will be announced before Mr. Parks passes on.

Photo at top: The racing cousins, [L to R] Lloyd Seay, Raymond Parks, Roy Hall.

NASCAR, Untaxed Liquor, and the Whiskey Rebellion

Crabber 1967 . — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:23:28 -0400

What do NASCAR and The Whiskey Rebellion have in common? Why, revenue agents and untaxed liquor, of course. Here's some early history that Brian France doesn’t want you to know.

As a schoolboy, one of the events of post-revolutionary U.S. history that stuck in my mind, and has to this day, was The Whiskey Rebellion. Now was this because of the unusual name, or was it the fact that it was about Revenue Agents and untaxed liquor, some things that sounded familiar to this southern boy?

The Whiskey Rebellion was about the Wild West of its day. The early racers of NASCAR were cowboys of their day; cowboys of the open road and certainly a wild bunch. The more I learned about like the early days of NASCAR, the more it sounded like The Whiskey Rebellion.

The Wild West that Hollywood has burned into our memory is of the mid-continent: wide plains, cattle drives and cowboys. The Wild West of the Post-Revolutionary United States was the Allegheny Mountains and the western lands beyond.

This mountain area was settled by people of mostly English, Scots, Irish, or Scots-Irish origin. These mountain men, like their descendants in the 1940s, were without much cash.

They found that making whiskey, a heritage they brought over from the old country, from the grain they grew made a product that was easier to transport and was worth a lot more on the open market than the raw materials it was made from.

The westerners of 1794 did not want to pay Federal taxes on something that was not only a valuable form of cash in a largely barter society, but something they thought was their God-given right to make.

After all, wasn’t the recently won revolution about “no taxation without representation” and hadn’t their ancestors been in the English Civil War of the 1600s because of farm product taxes?

Their distrust of the government back east was very much like their ancestors’ distrust of the aristocracy in the old country, and was one of the reasons that they had left the old world and settled on the fringes of this new society.

Although the Wild West of America had moved to the center of the continent, and then onto the movie screens, the 1940's ancestors of the Allegheny Mountains settlers of the 1700’s were no longer on the edges of society geographically.

Still, they maintained their belief that making whiskey was a man’s right, and those meddlesome outsiders had no right to tax a good man’s hard work.

At the end of World War II, a lot of young men, many of them trained by the military to work on things mechanical: Jeeps, trucks, tanks and aircraft, came home looking for jobs.

For those from the southern Allegheny Mountain area there was again a reason to make moonshine: a quick way to put money in the pockets of mountain men who were following the traditions and skills of liquor making passed down by their fathers before them.

While the war veterans out West put their mechanical skills to return to racing on the salt flats (the dry lake beds they used before the war were now air bases) and inventing drag racing, the young veterans of the South used their skills to improve the speed of the cars used to transport the untaxed liquor to the customers in the towns.

The taxation efforts on liquor by the Federal Government had not stopped after The Whiskey Rebellion, and by 1863, the Congress had authorized the Federal Governments' tax collecting arm, then known as the Office of Internal Revenue to hire “three detectives to aid in the prevention, detection, and punishment of tax evaders."

These first agents were the predecessors of the Revenue Service “Revenuers” who found that they had to catch these Southern “tax evaders” first! The moonshine haulers proved to be a fast bunch, running down the back roads of the South.

Stock car racing began in the South when some moonshine haulers decided to see who had the better car. In some farmer's field they decided to amuse themselves and decide who the best was. Then some folks heard about the fun, decided to see what was going on, and gathered to watch.

When the drivers found that someone had passed a hat among the spectators, and there was money to be won, this racing thing got a little more serious. By 1948, Big Bill France decided that the only way this new Wild West of motorsport would survive was if there was some sort of organization.

While I don’t know if anyone has ever called Big Bill France the George Washington of NASCAR, but it wouldn’t be far wrong. In 1794, George Washington went with the troops to put down the Whiskey Rebellion. Just imagine if you will, Dwight D. Eisenhower driving a Revenue Agents’ car trying to catch Curtis Turner on the back roads of Virginia or Junior Johnson in Carolina!

Big Bill France didn’t have an army, but he was a large and imposing man, and was known to carry a gun to enforce his rules. There was one occasion it was said, that Big Bill fired his gun in the air to make sure everyone at that drivers' meeting knew that Bill France was running this show, and running it his way.

The winner of the first Strictly Stock (now Cup) series race was disqualified because of modified rear springs. Now, some stories in recent years would have you believe that the modification of that car was an effort to cheat the rules, while in reality, the car was a moonshine hauler car, and such a car would certainly need strengthened rear springs to hold up all the extra weight of that untaxed liquor.

So that car was modified to cheat the law, not any rules NASCAR may have come up with. When Glen Dunaway was disqualified at that first Strictly Stock race in June 1949, his car owner sued the new sanctioning body, NASCAR.

The Whiskey Rebellion and the disqualification of Glen Dunaway set important legal foundations for the United States and NASCAR, respectively. When the troops George Washington led arrived in western Pennsylvania, the Whiskey Rebellion was quickly over.

This incident established the power of Federal law within the states. When NASCAR won the court case over the disqualification of Glen Dunaway, its power to make and enforce rules was established by law.

While important legal precedents were established in both incidents, things really did not change. Untaxed whiskey continued to be made after the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, even up to today.

And although the Dunaway car may not have been modified to cheat the rules of NASCAR, “creative interpretation” or “getting competitive” or what some would even crudely call “cheating” in regards to NASCAR rules, continues to this day as well.

While Big Bill’s grandson, Brian France, doesn’t want you to know or even care about anything that happen in NASCAR prior to 1972, (and he certainly doesn’t want to admit that the early stars that built the foundation of NASCAR were “training” for the races by hauling untaxed liquor on the back roads of the South), he is certainly glad that the owner of Glen Dunaway’s moonshine car sued NASCAR.

That's because the winning of that court case established the power of Big Bill France and NASCAR. Brian France certainly enjoys his power over the sport, but much like kings of the past, he certainly doesn’t want anyone to look too closely at how the power was obtained and how it is now used.

About the “ATF” seal above: The “Revenuers” who chased the moonshiners in the 1940’s worked for what was then known as The Alcohol Tax Unit of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The ATU later became the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Division of the IRS and for the first time it began to be referred to by the initials "ATF." The ATF (by then actually called The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) was, effective Jan. 24, 2003, transferred under the Homeland Security bill to the Department of Justice from the Treasury Department. The official seal [shown above] of what is still called the ATF carries the date of 1972, the creation year of The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

http://www.atf.gov/about/history.htm

NASCAR Hall of Fame Nominees: Richard Petty, David Pearson, and...?

Crabber 1967 . — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 17:47:42 -0400

Well! Let’s see what I can do with my ideas on this HoF thing, and thanks to Nate Powers for the inspiration. Please refer to Nate’s article “NASCAR's Hall Of Fame To Open in 2010” for his comments on the nominees named below who I have not commented on.

I know very little about that HoF in Cooperstown, but, having said that, I like some of their ideas, and I’ll apply them to my version of the NASCAR HoF.

One of the few things I do know is that they have two ‘wings’ of the Hall; which I’ll call “Drivers” and “Others.” (Suggestions for wing names are welcome.)

Others:

1. Bill France.

2. Carl Kiekhaefer. This car owner was Rick Hendrick and Jack Roush before anyone thought about entering multiple cars or having big-bucks sponsorship. Kiekhaefer used his Mercury outboard motor company, and the money he made from that company, to attack the NASCAR circuit like no one ever has. Kiekhaefer used car haulers (like those you see delivering cars to your local dealership) and team uniforms before they were common. Kiekhaefer had 190 entries (including 52 wins) in 1955-56. (NASCAR ran 45 races in 1955 and 56 races in 1956.) Tim Flock in 1955 and Buck Baker in 1956 took the championships for Kiekhaefer. As you might expect, Kiekhaefer was not really popular among the other owners, and he decided to leave NASCAR at the end of 1956.

3. Raymond Parks. Raymond Parks was the car owner of the first Strictly Stock [now “Cup”] series champion. Parks entered six of the eight races in that first year of 1949 with Red Byron and won two races. (Parks also had two other entries in 1949, one each for Bob Flock and Roy Hall, who was one of the top short trackers of the Atlanta area.) This gave Parks and Byron their second straight championship in NASCAR after becoming the first champions in NASCAR history, after taking the sanctioning body’s Modified Championship in 1948. More importantly, Parks introduced professionalism with the appearance of his cars and drivers. Parks’ cars won many races on the short tracks and he kept all the trophies his cars won, for an impressive collection. This collection of trophies would be a great addition to any Hall of Fame, but from the interviews of Mr. Parks I’ve read, I suspect he has no inclination to donate them to anything NASCAR does. (And I don’t blame him.) Parks’ involvement in the bootleg trade (and who wasn’t in those days of racing?) may keep him from any consideration as one of the first important owners in the sport. That, and the fact that Parks’ cars ran only 10 races after the 1949 season (four each in 1950 and 1955 and two in 1954) in the “Cup” series may also keep Raymond Parks out of consideration. [I believe that Mr. Parks is still alive and what a great thing for the sport, to have one of those who was “there at the beginning” to give their perspective!]

4. Wood Brothers. This team’s first effort dates back to 1953, and their last two wins were in 1993 and 2001 (one each year). They still compete today; but their best days were from 1972 to 1978, the first seven years of the so-called “Modern Era.” During those seven years, David Pearson entered 148 races with 40 wins, out of the 209 races run during those years. Also, Pearson had 50 poles from 1972 to 1978 for the Wood Brothers. Add the two wins in six starts for AJ Foyt (plus three poles) in 1972, and many top 5/10 finishes, and you can see why they were the team to beat.

The Wood Brothers were the first team to realize the importance of quick pit stops. In fact, Ford took the team to Indianapolis in 1964 to pit for Jimmy Clark’s Lotus-Ford. They were very successful in knocking seconds off the pit stop times and the Indy crowd noticed, and Colin Chapman took the idea to Formula One.

5. Rick Hendrick

6. Any other “others”?

Drivers (not necessarily in order):

1. Richard Petty.

2. David Pearson. My all-time favorite.

3. Curtis Turner. Turner drove in 183 Cup races in 17 years [1949 to 1968] with 17 wins, 54 Top Fives, and 73 top tens. Add to that four years of the Convertible series [1956-59] with 79 races run, 38 races won, with 50 Top Fives and 53 Top 10’s. These stats don’t tell it all, as Turner was one of the most talented drivers ever, and what he did off the track, although that would have nothing to do with an HoF entry, certainly made the early years of NASCAR more interesting for all involved!

4. Joe Weatherly. More than just a hell-raising buddy of Curtis Turner; or the Clown Prince of Racing; Weatherly won two Cup Championships [after winning championships on motorcycles], with 25 wins out of 225 races run from 1952-63, and 18 poles. Weatherly competed in first five races in 1964, but died in his accident at Riverside. Weatherly also had 12 wins in 96 races and 18 poles in the four years of the Convertible Series. Weatherly’s death showed NASCAR and all the competitors that the shoulder harness should be used with lap belts.

5. Bobby Allison. For some reason, NASCAR refuses to credit Allison with a win, while winners under the same circumstances are given credit for a Cup win. Allison has 85 wins if the same criteria used for other drivers are used for all of Allison’s Cup wins.

6. Cale Yarborough.

7. Junior Johnson. Here is one instance where an individual can be elected as both a driver and an "other."

8. Dale Earnhardt.

9. Fireball Roberts. THE superstar before Richard Petty went on a tear. I was at the 1964 World 600 where Roberts received his fatal burns. After the race, I bought a comic book that had an advertisement on the back cover that was for Hot Wheels type cars. Fireball was the endorser. I believe this was a first for a NASCAR driver. Unfortunately, like most all of my memorabilia from that time, I no longer have the magazine. (My mom cleaned out my “junk” when I went into the Army.)

10. Fred Lorenzen. This is the money driver. Lorenzen was the first driver to break $100,000 in a season. In 1963 Lorenzen won $113,750 (one source has $122,587); the same year that a pro golfer first broke $100,000: Arnold Palmer won $101,555. Lorenzen drove Cup in 1956, 1960-67 and 1970-72. Lorenzen entered a total of 158 races in his entire career, with all his 26 wins coming between 1961–67 going at least one win a year during that span (and he only ran five races in 1967, the only year he had only one win). Lorenzen also took 32 poles during his career, two of which were during his comeback years of 1970-71.

11. Lee Petty. Lee Petty set the win record that his son broke on the way to 200 wins.

12. Ned Jarrett. Besides being a two-time Cup champion, Ned decided after his first championship to get the speaking skills needed to be a good representative for the sport. He is best known today for his many years as an expert commentator during TV broadcasts.

13. Darrell Waltrip. In my opinion, “DW” loses points for the “boogity” thing.

And to follow the baseball model, an “Old-timers Committee” would be formed, to give the pioneers of the sport their due. This committee would be formed from the HoF members who were in the sport prior to 1972 (the beginning of the NASCAR self-proclaimed “Modern Era.”) and recognized historians such as Greg Fielden.

I wonder how many of the Top 50 drivers from the NASCAR 50th anniversary will be among the first entries?

Of course, that assumes that NASCAR cares to pay any attention whatsoever to the Pre-Modern Era!