The Magic Window ~ Chapter 6
New Season, New Colors, New Number, New Sponsor, Wow!
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After
the phone call, Tim walked back out to the garage to tell the guys the content
of the telephone discussion. The caller,
a man named Carroll, was owner of Columbia Cooling and Heating, a local
company, and was a huge race fan, especially a fan of the Plymouth. He wanted to meet with Tim to discuss a
possible sponsorship deal for the 1971 season.
This was early February but anticipation for the beginning of the season
in April was at a fever pitch in the Competition Incorporated
"complex". Tim called Carroll
Monday and a meeting was arranged at Carroll's office for Tuesday evening at
6:00.
All
of the additions to the garage had been made and Competition Incorporated now
housed Roger's Chevy, George's Ford and Tim's Plymouth in the complex of Two by
Fours and tin with a few windows positioned very high on the side to permit
light to enter but to prevent break-ins, although in those days crime was not
such an issue. We still had dirt floors,
but a special room had been built which was essentially "dust free"
and where work could be done on the engines.
The three cars were maintained in the tin complex and the one car
maintained, Richard's Ford, in a building only a few yards for the main
complex. It seemed as though this
rag-tag bunch of race kids were going places.
Tim
met with Carroll on Tuesday evening as scheduled. The meeting lasted almost two hours but the
bottom line came out that Columbia Heating and Air was the local Payne dealer
for that national company. Payne was
interested in motorsports and especially in being able to present their product
to local fans. Tim had been selected to
receive the sponsorship, per Carroll, for a number of reasons. The Plymouth was unique in that division of
NASCAR in the area. Tim was articulate and related very well with the fans.
That combination, per Carroll, made it an easy choice for Payne.
When
Tim left the meeting to head home and knowing most of the boys would be at the
garage, he couldn't wait to tell them the news.
Sure enough, as Tim pulled in his driveway, he could see the lights on
in the garage and hear the sounds of "bench racing" as the boys were
getting the Plymouth prepared for its new colors. As he entered the garage all
conversation ceased at the boys looked at him, waiting to hear the results of
the meeting. Tim told them of the
sponsorship deal, which frankly for a Hobby Division car was unheard of, and
the garage erupted with cheers. This
sponsorship would enable them to have first-class equipment and should also
allow them to venture out from only Columbia Speedway to maybe Savannah,
Georgia and Myrtle Beach. The excitement
of that night almost equaled the excitement of that first race in 1969.
Although
Tim was not usually a skeptic, when three weeks had passed with no check in the
mail, he began to think he had been "scammed". It was a Friday, although the actual date
escapes memory now, that Tim opened the mail box and there was the check, in
the amount stated, payable to Competition Incorporated. That night, when the
boys showed up, Tim showed them the check and assured them it would be
deposited Monday. Looking back, the
amazing thing is that the entire agreement was verbal and sealed with a
handshake. Unbelievable in today's
world.
It
was one month until the first race. The
Plymouth had been painted blue and gold with white trim and carried big white
number "2s" on the doors and roof.
The engine had been rebuilt, the suspension super tuned and the crowning
attention grabbed was the factory Plymouth Superbird decals Sammy's dad had
obtained for us from the Chrysler Dealership where he worked. With those placed on the high tail fins, the
car was a beautiful attention attractor.
The team could not imagine having to wait a month until that first
race. Everything was ready to go! But
wait they did.
Although
everything was ready, the crews were at the garage almost every night to bench
race and simply spend the time together.
During the day, minutes seemed to pass like hours but the evenings
passed quickly as we made work at the shop.
The Plymouth had so many coats of wax on it by race week, Tim was
worried about it just sliding off the trailer.
Monday of race week was unusually chilly for April and to make matters
worse, the forecast for the week was rain, rain and more rain. On the rare occasions that the weather
prognosticator got things right, this was one of them. The season had actually started at Columbia
Speedway a week earlier when the Grand Nationals came to town. So, the Competition Incorporated Team was
delayed for another week.
During
the off season, it was not only the Plymouth that changed but Columbia Speedway
had gone from a half-mile dirt to a half-mile asphalt. That was a part of the reason for the
suspension re-work but James Hylton had given us some pointers at the GN
race. He also said he had some tires he
would sell us for $10.00 each if we came to get them. We rode up to his shop the following Monday
and picked up six tires he had from his race at Talladega the previous
season. Three tires were sticker tires
and the other three were scuffs but barely showed the wear.
Thursday,
April 15 1971, dawned bright and sunny.
Tim went to work but made it only to lunch before having to leave to be
at the shop. Nothing was going on as the
rest of the crew were still working their respective jobs. Tim sat in the shop and looked at the car and
sort of daydreamed about what the future was going to hold, as he was headed
for stardom for sure now. Sponsorship
with real money, a great car, help from a GN driver with tires and
recommendations, and a crew of dedicated young men who wanted those dreams to
come true for all of them.
Tim
was in that state of mind where even the reality of the radio playing country
music in the background was not heard consciously, but it was there. About 4 pm the crew started arriving and the
electricity in the air in that tin garage could have powered a small town for a
month. The excitement was off the
scale. At almost precisely 4:30, the
engine was fired and the rumble was earth shaking. The sparkling number 2 rolled out of the
garage and into the afternoon sunshine.
An incredibly beautiful sight it was.
As the crew was tightening the chain binders someone, maybe David, said
"we are going to win this one tonight".
Arriving
at the Speedway, the Plymouth attracted a great deal of attention. Some folks were more interested in whether or
not it was the same Plymouth that had borne the number 83 for so long. The Superbird decals were a huge topic of
discussion, with comparisons made between the high wings of the real Superbirds
and the high tailfins of the 1959 Plymouth.
Pulling into our usual spot in the pits, we didn't see our previous
nemesis, Dennis. The season would be missing something if he didn't show. The field was filled, however, with new
drivers, and with returning drivers in new cars. The season was starting fresh
for the Hobby Division and there were at least 25 cars on hand for that first
race. Tim wondered how many would be
left by season's end.
The
first race of the 1971 season was exciting, with Tim finishing second (again)
in the first heat race. When the feature
rolled off, Tim took the lead coming off turn two with those James Hylton tires
doing their job. A guy named Al went low
and took the lead going into three but Tim got him back coming out of
four. Ray, who had dominated the dirt
track surface in his Ford was having handling issues on the asphalt but his
driving talent was making up for it.
Within the first five laps, Ray had come through the field and joined
Al, Jay, and Tim running for the lead.
The four cars were actually rubbing and bouncing off one another turn
after turn.
The
white flag was waving with Al leading, Ray second, Tim third and Jay
fourth. As they raced into turn one
bumper to bumper and side by side, Jay made a move to the inside and actually
drew even with Al before sliding up and catching Al in the door, both cars
slowed dramatically but did not crash as
Ray shot low and Tim went high to race down the back straight. The Plymouth and the Ford were side by side
entering three and actually went through three and four in almost a dead
heat. As they came to the line, Ray had
Tim by less than a car length so, once more, Tim was second. This same type finish would happen in Savannah
a few weeks later and this time it was with a guy named Johnny. Johnny actually beat Tim by less than a
foot. By that point in the season, Tim
had racked up so many second place finishes that he considered changing his
number of 1 to see if that would improve his luck. But, constant second place finishes were
adding to the bank account to keep racing.
It
was mid-July, hot a very sticky, when Competition Incorporated headed out to
Columbia Speedway. There were only two
cars now as Roger and George had both sold their cars and returned to the roll
of pit crews. Tim remembers the
excitement of that night with just a feeling of something very special about to
happen. As always Carroll, the sponsor
was at the track and talked excitedly about a continuing sponsorship for the
1972 season and was hinting that sponsorship may be with a Late Model Sportsman
car, although he didn't actually say it.
Tim
drew 10th starting spot in the second heat that night. The heat race was uneventful as Tim worked
his way up to fifth in those 15 laps. Seemed the Plymouth was skating in the
turns. Watching the Late Model heats,
Tim noticed that the track seemed to have less "grip" than the usual
weekly events. It was just something in
the way the late models were handling and the way his car had handled in the
heat.
Starting
10th in the feature, Tim was satisfied that the cars in front of him, with the
exception of Ray and Al, and possibly Earl, would be passed easily. Tim was convinced that tonight was special
and was ready to go. Dan Scott waved the
green flag and the race was on. At the
end of lap one, Tim was running third with Ray leading and Al second. Ray began to pull away as he had now
apparently mastered the asphalt track.
Tim and Al were racing tight and close with Tim nipping at the position
by running the high side, but he just couldn't seem to get past that Chevy.
Four
laps to go as the Tim and Al battle continued.
Tim drew even coming off turn two but fell behind as Al took the
inside. Al was leading by two car
lengths as the cars began the exit to turn four when the engine exploded in the
Chevy and parts of the engine bounced onto the track. Tim hit some piece of the engine and the
right front tire blew just at the exit of the turn. The Plymouth careened into
the railroad guardrail, planting the front end between the rails and lifting
the car off the ground, knocking the breath out of Tim. The car came off the rail with the front
wheels pushed under the frame and spun a couple of times as it slid into the
inside embankment and came to a rest directly across from the flagman.
Tim
was just about to unhook when he noticed Jay was coming off turn four heading
directly towards the driver's door of the Plymouth. Tim could see the look on Jay's face and it
appeared to Tim that Jay was a little frozen and kept his foot on the gas as he
sped straight into the driver's side of Tim's car. Tim recalls the impact being incredible as
his car was lifted off the ground and spun a least once in the air, slamming
the right rear into the rail separating the pits from the track. Dan had gotten all the cars off the track
and the ambulance folks were at the driver's window when Tim finally came to
his senses. Jay's Chevy was resting
against the outside rail just down the track.
Tim was ok, just shaken a bit.
However, when he climbed out of the car with the assistance of his crew
and medics, one look at the crumbled Plymouth almost brought tears to his
eyes. What was once a beautiful race car,
was now a crumbled heap. Seeing how
badly the frame was bent and knowing what that meant, for the first time in his
racing career Tim was very dejected and felt his career as a driver was over.
To
get the car loaded on the trailer, two wreckers were needed to lift the car
completely off the ground as the crew manipulated the trailer, by hand,
underneath. The crew secured the car to
the trailer as Tim was talking to several fans who came to check on him and as
he talked to the local sports writer.
It was late when the truck and trailer left the speedway with its
destroyed Plymouth on board. Tim drove
home in silence, alone, not really thinking about anything except the end of a
dream.
Tim
was the first one to reach the garage and when Marty and the truck towing the
trailer came in, Tim told him to just unhook behind the garage and leave
everything there. The rest of the crew,
plus some "hangers on" soon showed up. Tim was really not in the mood to talk much
more that night so he said his "goodnights" and headed off to
bed. He could hear the talk outside and
the sounds of what seemed to be work going on but he was so tired and dejected
he put a pillow over his head and drifted off into a dreamless sleep. After all, even with money sponsorship from
Payne, to build or buy a new car at that point in time was far more expensive
than that purchase in 1969.
Tim
overslept the next morning because he had forgotten to set his clock after the
dejection of the previous evening. He
rushed through his shower and got ready for work. As he prepared to get in his car and head for
the office, he had to take one more look at the car. Walking behind the garage he could not
believe his eyes as he rounded the corner.
There was the Plymouth battered almost beyond recognition, with the body
completely removed and the engine covered with a tarp. Tim went back in the house and called Willie
to see what was going on. Willie told
Tim that he knew where a 1957 Plymouth two door was located that could be
gotten for almost nothing as the lady had blown the engine and just parked
it. That night, Willie showed up with a
faded green and white 1957 Plymouth two door hardtop with a little rust showing
here and there. "This" Willie
said “will be our car. It will take a
couple of weeks to build it but we'll be back before the end of the
season. That did not come to be. The season was going to end a little early at
Columbia that year and the Payne Air Conditioning experiment was at an end
although Carroll continued to harbor a hope for a late model.
Willie
and the crew worked on converting the 1957 Plymouth into a race car but the
work was slow and although most of the crew was supportive and enthusiastic, it
was just not the same any more. Tim
still had the dream, the drive, and the hope, but it just felt as though the
balloon had burst. The season was over,
the new Plymouth just about completed but the plans for the 1972 season were in
limbo. It was sort of that one day at a
time thing. What would the 1972 season
bring for the Competition Incorporated Racing Team? What came about was a totally unexpected
surprise from and unsuspected source.
Come back for Chapter 7 if you're interested.