#79 - Better Get Back To Tennessee, Jed
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06/14/2018 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
The second race held each year at Bristol has bounced
all over the calendar. The first was held October 22, 1961 but the date was
moved to July where it remained for over a decade, until the Tennessee summer's
blistering heat finally got the date pushed back until November in 1975. After
a single year, the race was moved to its current late August date on the
schedule. There are two things hotter than Tennessee in August on this earth; Tennessee
in July and the racing at Bristol. The track has undergone many changes as
well, starting out as a flat track, until the current high banks were added in
1969. In 1992 the present concrete surface was installed. So very little has
remained constant at Bristol, with the exception of it being Volunteer state
hometown favorite, Darrell Waltrip's private stomping
ground for many a year. Darrell Waltrip has won 12 times at Bristol, both on
the asphalt and the concrete, scoring victories in three different decades,
including a remarkable seven wins in a row from the spring of 1981 up to and
including the spring of 1984, and has 26 top-five finishes there in his career.
Darrell's last win to date came at Bristol on August 29th, 1992. That was a lot
of years ago but it'll be a lot more years before anyone ever matches his
record at the track.
The 1962 running of the July race at Bristol was an
odd one for many reasons, start to finish. Three Petty Engineering cars were
entered that day including Richard's number 43, Jim Paschal piloting the number
42 entry and Blackie Blackburn in the 41 car. There was a bit of a row prior to
the start of the race when Joe Weatherly, who was leading the points at that
time, would not stage his car. Little Joe was a highly superstitious man, who
refused to allow any green paint on a car he drove, and who the other racers
used to drive crazy by tossing peanuts in his car prior to the race. He
qualified 13th for that event and flat out refused to start in that position
out of superstition. Finally, a compromise was reached and official NASCAR
records from the track show Weatherly started in position 12a. Junior Johnson
led much of the first half of the race but his hard charging style was
ill-suited for an endurance race and a flat tire put Junior hard into the wall.
That left the race in charge of NASCAR's two up and coming superstars, Richard
Petty and Fred Lorenzen, who engaged in a spirited duel, trading paint
frequently. All that bumping and grinding finally flattened one of Petty's
tires and sent him limping to the pits. Lorenzen seemed to have a solid
advantage, but Petty's teammate Jim Paschal was driving a conservative race,
saving his cars and tires for when it mattered, hoping to avenge the boss. He
finally ran down Lorenzen with 25 laps to go, went hard in the corner to get
around Fred, and rode his big Plymouth sideways the length of the corner like
it was a dirt track to take the lead. Lorenzen tried hard but he couldn't track
down Paschal. On the last lap Lorenzen broke a wheel, but he calmly drove the
car on three wheels to a second place finish, leaving a trail of sparks in his
wake. As a partial compensation, besides Paschal winning, all three Petty cars
finished in the top eight.
Richard Petty got another bitter taste in his mouth
during the summer 1964 event at Bristol. Petty was involved in a classic
struggle with Junior Johnson throughout much of the event, until the hard
charging Junior once again drove his car to an early grave rather than victory
lane, popping a mill on lap 352. At that point, Petty had a comfortable
three-lap lead on Fred Lorenzen and seemed headed for an easy win. In fact
Petty's lead seemed so insurmountable Lorenzen, starting his first race since a
savage wreck in July at Daytona, had Ned Jarrett drive in relief for him for
167 laps before hopping back aboard on lap 444. With four laps to go Petty's
engine went sick on him and began billowing smoke. With a three-lap cushion he
tried to nurse the ailing mill to the finish but it finally let loose with one
lap to go. As Petty sat there helplessly, Lorenzen continued at top speed, made
up the lost ground and took the checkered flag, though he was officially only
scored as leading one lap. Of course, that was the lap that paid.
While most of the July races at Bristol were held in
hot weather, the 1969 event was particularly brutal with on-track temperatures
topping the 140 degree mark. The race was called the Volunteer 500 in those
days, but it's hard to imagine anyone volunteering to drive in such brutal
conditions. Fortunately for some of the front runners, race drivers are a breed
apart. LeeRoy Yarbrough was piloting Junior Johnson's Ford when he became
disoriented from the heat and had to get out of the car. Donnie Allison, who
had blown an engine on lap 67, hopped into the car. Not long after, Richard
Petty began to suffer the same symptoms and he turned his car over to Pete
Hamilton, before being treated briefly for heat exhaustion. Even the leader of
the event, Bobby Allison, Alabama bred and pretty much used to the heat as a
result, couldn't soldier on anymore and he turned the car over to his friend
Dave Marcis. Marcis was
returning a favor. Bobby had been kind enough to lend him the same Dodge for
the previous event at Trenton. And Dave repaid in spades, piloting the car to
victory lane. The dynamic duo of Yarbrough and Bobby's brother Donnie were
credited with fourth, and the Petty/Hamilton team came home fifth. Sometimes to
get a good finish all you need is a little help from your friends. It was Marcis' first trip to victory lane, though because Allison
had started the race he officially received the win and the points that went
with it. Hopefully, he bought Dave a cool drink with some of the loot.
If 1969 was brutal, 1973 made it look like a cold
snap. That day only five of the 30 drivers who started the race went without a
relief driver. Of those five, only legendary independent Ed Negre
posted a top ten finish. Benny Parsons took top honors that day, with an
impressive seven lap cushion over second place, with relief help from John Utsman. The win was another giant step towards Parson's
1973 Championship and was in fact, the only race Benny won that title season.
1974 was one of those legendary bump and grind
finishes that have made Bristol famous. Buddy Baker seemed to have a
comfortable lead late in the going when Neil Bonnett, relief driving for Bob Burcham, lost control and tore down the guard rail. A total
of 41 laps had to be run under caution while repairs were made, setting off a two-lap
slugfest between Baker and second place Cale Yarborough. The two beat and
banged on each other like it was a demolition derby, while Cale's
car owner, Junior Johnson, urged his driver on over the radio. In the final
pair of turns there were at least four separate instances of contact and both
drivers lost control. Yarborough was able to get going straight again first,
and took the win from a thoroughly annoyed Buddy Baker. Yarborough went on to
dominate the late race at Bristol, winning four out of five starting that race
and ending after 1978, and tossing in a pair of wins in the Spring race there
for good measure. Ironically, it was Cale's arch
nemesis Darrell Waltrip, with whom he frequently verbally sparred and
occasionally almost came to blows with that broke the streak on the way to
setting records of his own.
1985 proved to be another thrilling finish to a
Saturday night event run under the lights. Dale Earnhardt had dominated the
race, which was slowed 11 times for cautions, but lost the lead to Tim Richmond
after a pit road miscue. Dale and Tim were friends….off the track anyway, but
Dale must not have been feeling particularly friendly that night. When he
couldn't pass Richmond, Earnhardt simply used his front bumper to push Richmond
out of the way. Richmond recovered to finish second and said there were no hard
feelings after the race, that was just the way Dale drove and he's been
expecting it. Ironically the next year Dale was pretty straight forward about
how he drove at Bristol himself. Dale was charging towards the lead that night
when the lapped car of Bobby Hillin didn't move over fast enough to suit him.
Unfortunately the move backfired and Earnhardt slammed the pit wall, putting
himself out of contention." That damn 8 car was two laps down and wouldn't
get out of the way." a clearly annoyed Earnhardt told the press. “I tried
to bump him to move him out the way but instead of wrecking him, I wrecked
myself." Any more questions as to why they call him the Intimidator? Dale
drove what was left of his car to fourth place. Darrell Waltrip's
win kept alive his slim hopes of beating Dale for that year's championship.
Unfortunately for Darrell, NASCAR wouldn't agree to run all the rest of the
races that season at Bristol. Dale came back to win the Bristol race in August
of 1987, a year that saw him win all but two events staged on the short tracks.
In the other two short track races he finished second. Earnhardt was champion
in 86 and 87. The short tracks might not get the glory the superspeedways do,
but they sure pay a mess of points, just like the big tracks.
Dale Earnhardt also chalked up a win at the 1988
August Bristol race, barely edging out Bill Elliott who, while not noted as a
threat on the short tracks, managed to finish second that day. It was the
Elliott team's improved short track performance that allowed him to edge out
Rusty Wallace and beat Earnhardt handily in that year's championship hunt. That
particular race will also be remembered for a fearsome crash in practice that
very easily could have taken Rusty Wallace's life. Wallace popped a tire, a
frequent occurrence for many drivers during that year's Goodyear/Hoosier tire
war, slammed the outside wall and tumbled down the track. Quickly on the scene
was ESPN pit reporter Dr. Jerry Punch, who in addition to working in
broadcasting is a fully licensed medical doctor and renowned trauma surgeon. He
saw that Wallace's air passage was blocked and quickly but carefully
repositioned Rusty's head to allow him to breathe
without risking complicating any possible spinal injuries. If you ever wonder
why Dr. Punch seems so popular with the drivers, there's part of the answer.
Next time someone is injured on the track or in the pits, you may notice Dr.
Punch's reports disappear until he renders what aid he can to the injured.
Amazingly, Rusty fought his way out of a hospital bed to qualify a backup car
the next day, and started the car in the race before handing the wheel over to
Larry Pearson. Rusty was credited with a ninth place finish.
While I normally don't deal with contemporary races in
these history columns (Anything after 1992 is more old news than history at
this point) few people who watched the August 26th, 1995 running of the night
race at Bristol are ever going to forget it as long as they live. The race
bought back a lot of old memories for longtime fans as well. For one thing,
racing under the lights at a short track on a Saturday night is where most of
the stars of our sport got their start. And that particular night, much like the
World 600 in 1993, Dale Earnhardt didn't let a little inconvenience like a few
NASCAR penalties keep him out of the hunt for the win. The first of those
penalties resulted from Dale getting into the back of another driver and
pushing him out of the way, much as he did to Bobby Hillin in 1986, but because
it was Rusty Wallace that was sent spinning, it also bought back terrifying
memories of Dale getting into the back of Rusty at Talladega on the last lap in
1993. (If Dale forgot about that day, Rusty was quick to remind him of it
during the infamous bottle throwing incident after the race.) Earnhardt came
storming back three times and in the final lap was pressing hard to get by
Terry Labonte and ran into the back of him, sending Terry into a lapped car,
across the finish line and then into the wall. It was a lot like the 1992
Winston and suitably enough 1984, when Labonte survived not one but two wrecks
during the August race at Bristol before going on to win the race. (That was
also Labonte's only other win at Bristol to date.) Of
course the sight of Terry's badly wounded car being pushed into victory lane
bought back memories of David Pearson's battered race car at Daytona in 1976.
That's why NASCAR history remains so interesting. Even as we cherish our
memories of old, new ones are being forged out there with every Winston Cup
race run.
*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.