#49 - Martinsville in the Spring
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06/16/2018 Matt McLaughlin |
(Editor’s Note) In 1997
- 1998, Matt McLaughlin penned a special Anthology of historical pieces in
honor of the 50th Anniversary of NASCAR entitled "50 Years of NASCAR
Racing." Matt has entrusted the entire collection, minus one or two that
were misfiled back then and cannot be salvaged, to my tender, loving care.
As NASCAR turns 70, the
Anthology itself will celebrate a 20th anniversary through 2018, and will run
again here on Race Fans Forever. As before, there is no record of which pieces
came first, so it will appear in the sequence presented earlier. Please, sit
back and enjoy as you take a journey back through the pages of history and
perhaps relive a memory or two.
As always, many thanks
to Matt, and God bless you my friend. ~PattyKay
With the demise of North Wilkesboro, the sole
remaining track that has hosted a race every year of NASCAR's senior division's
history is the tiny Martinsville Speedway located in extreme southern Virginia
, only a few miles from the North Carolina border. The track opened right after
World War II in 1947, built by H. Clay Earles. In those days a man built a race
track because he loved auto racing and hoped to be able to make a few bucks,
not because he was planning to become a millionaire overnight. Even a forward
thinker like Mr. Earles probably couldn't have imagined the economies of racing
today, and the track he built stands as a tribute to NASCAR's roots, amidst all
the larger, fancier superspeedways that seem to be cropping up like crab grass
lately.
There are enough stories to tell about racing at the
beautiful little track to fill a book, but here are some of the highlights. In
April of 1960, a young man became a first time winner at the track, and in fact
it was only the second race he had won, and the first on asphalt. That man's
name was Richard Petty, and he would go on to win a record total of 15 races at
Martinsville. A little over 19 years later Richard won again at the same track,
scoring his first win in a Chevrolet that day. More importantly, it snapped the
King's slump on short tracks that dated back to the fall event at Bristol in
1975. The Monte Carlo that carried Petty to that victory showed its fair share
of battle scars, a trademark of the tight racing at Martinsville, and there
were a few more lines around the King's eyes after all those years squinting
into the sun, watching for the checkered flag, but his trademark smile remained
the same as it had been almost two decades before in victory lane.
Another driver to chalk up his first Grand National
victory at Martinsville was Fred Lorenzen, though he did so in a rather unusual
fashion. The race was scheduled for 500 laps or 250 miles. On lap 119 Lorenzen drove
his fleet Holman- Moody Ford around pole sitter Rex White to take the lead for
the first time. On lap 149 a driving rain forced NASCAR to throw the red flag
well before the halfway point that would have signaled an official race. The
forecast was not good for resuming racing that day, so Earles and Bill France
jointly decided it would be easier for everyone involved if the race was
declared official and a new 250 mile race at Martinsville be inserted into the
schedule April 30th. The drivers were awarded their points and prizes, and came
back to try it again a few weeks later. Fast Freddie almost pulled off the
sweep in the added event, leading for the first three quarters of the race
until a faltering engine sent him to the pits for a lengthy repair session.
Junior Johnson inherited the lead and had a four lap advantage on the field.
His car owner, Rex Lovette, grew concerned at the
blistering pace that Johnson was setting, despite the lead he had that late in
the race. Junior had won more than a few races, but he was such a hard charger
he had blown up or wrecked more than a few cars while leading as well. Lovette signaled Junior repeatedly via the pit board to
ease up and save the car. Junior flew on heedlessly, driving the only way he
knew how, flat out. During the final pit stop, Lovette
found a way to get Junior's attention, leaning in the car with a sledge hammer
cocked behind him, asking Johnson somewhat less politely if perhaps slowing
down a bit wouldn't be a good idea. Junior agreed and while Lovette
put the hammer down, Junior eased up a little on the throttle and took the win.
In more modern times, first time winners would score
their victories at Martinsville as well. Unlike the superspeedways, where the
big dollar cars and their horsepower advantage over the smaller teams and
independents made the big teams clear favorites, Martinsville was a driver's
track where strategy and luck often won out over brute horsepower. That same
brute horsepower, coupled with the demands faster cars put on brakes, often
caused mechanical problems, felling the Goliaths of the sport and letting the
underrated Davids win. The half-mile short track was
also a more familiar stomping ground for graduates from the sportsman ranks,
and therefore more comfortable for them and their driving styles. While Ricky
Rudd took the pole in the DiGard entry for the 1981
Spring race at Martinsville, Harry Gant took the outside pole, and perennial
independents Buddy Arrington and Butch Lindley lined up right behind them.
Starting 12th was reigning Sportsman Champion Morgan Shepherd in a Cliff
Stewart owned Pontiac that had arrived at the track being towed on an open
trailer behind a pickup truck, not inside an 18 wheeler. Attrition took its
toll that day on the favorites, with Darrell Waltrip, Benny Parsons, Cale
Yarborough, and Dale Earnhardt all losing engines, and Richard Petty caught up
in a crash. Shepherd emerged as a contender early in the race, powered his
Pontiac into the lead for the final time on lap 387, and cruised to a 15-second
win over Neil Bonnett. Besides being Morgan's first win, it was also the first
time a Pontiac won an event since 1963, despite the fact Buicks were dominating
that year's Winston Cup races.
Dave Marcis also scored his
first career victory at Martinsville in the fall of 1975. Dave employed a
conservative strategy, saving his brakes, while Benny Parsons burned up the
brakes of his Chevy going for the win. Despite teaming up with Harry Hyde in
the famous K and K Insurance Dodge, Marcis had not
gone into the race as one of the favorites. Richard Petty, a perennial threat
at Martinsville, chewed up his differential before the halfway point. Cale
Yarborough took command of the event but wrecked his car on lap 394 trying to
get around a lapped vehicle. Darrell Waltrip inherited the lead and he too
seemed headed for certain victory when his DiGard Chevy lost an engine on lap
421. That left it for Parsons and Marcis to decide it
among themselves, and in the end it was Dave's saving his brakes that allowed
him to score his first win. For a driver who had been competing since 1968
without a victory, the day was a fitting tribute to his dedication,
determination and ability to endure near endless frustration. Marcis had found out about every possible way to lose a
race. That day he finally figured out how to win one.
Another driver who scored his first win at
Martinsville, who must have felt as much relief as elation in victory lane was
Harry Gant, in the spring of 1982. Once again, mechanical problems plagued many
favorites, with Benny Parsons, Tim Richmond, Richard Petty, Geoff Bodine, Dale
Earnhardt, and Bobby Allison all making early exits from the race. In fact the
race was so tough on equipment that only 14 of 32 starters were running at the
checkered flag. Darrell Waltrip had a special day as well. The engine in the
car went bad race morning and had to be replaced. During the race, Darrell
suffered two blow outs and hit the wall twice. Remarkably, he managed to finish
in fifth place, though he was four laps behind. That left the battle for the
win to Harry Gant, and a surprisingly strong Butch Lindley. A late race gas and
go stop dropped Lindley a lap off the pace, and Gant went on to take the win.
Making the victory that much sweeter was how close Handsome Harry had come to
wins before, scoring no less than ten second place finishes.
Another first time winner visited Martinsville's
victory lane in 1984. Defending Winston Cup champion Bobby Allison and runner
up in the '83 points, Darrell Waltrip, put on quite a show that day, dominating
the middle stages of the event. There was no love lost between the two drivers
and they were often only inches apart. Ricky Rudd mixed it up with those two
drivers as well, until mechanical problems in his Bud Moore Ford relegated him
to a disappointing 18th place finish, 13 laps off the pace. Geoff Bodine
emerged out of the pack to take the lead on lap 452, and from that point on he
had the car to beat. Another surprise, Ron Bouchard, got around Allison and
Waltrip and gave it his best shot, but Bodine managed to hold on to beat him by
six seconds. It was also the first victory for Bodine's car owner, Rick
Hendrick, in the eighth race of the team's inaugural season. Of course
Hendrick-owned cars have gone on to victory lane a few times since then, 71
times by the end of the '97 season in fact, and have claimed the last three
Winston Cup titles, but it all started that day at Martinsville. While Bodine
and Hendrick were new faces in victory lane, their crew chief's was not. The late
Harry Hyde, the same crew chief who helped Dave Marcis
score his first victory at the same track, and had visited winner's circle at
Martinsville with Bobby Isaac before that, was calling the shots for Bodine
from the pits that day. Harry Hyde remains one of the legends of Martinsville,
one of a very long list of heroes at the tiny little track H. Clay Earles built
over fifty years ago.
*Matt can no longer
field comments or email at Race Fans Forever. If you have comments or
questions, please leave them below and I’ll do my best to supply answers.
~PattyKay Lilley, Senior Editor.