Full Throttle

(NOTE: This is another in a series of posts on the “Good Old Days” of NASCAR, this week’s entry centers on the State of Michigan site of this weeks Sprint Cup event at Michigan International Speedway.)

Cale Yarborough won the first NASCAR race at MIS on June 15, 1969, in a thrilling duel with LeeRoy Yarbrough as the two drivers battled door-to-door for most of the final 150 laps. But that historic event at what was Lawrence H. LoPatin’s dream turned sour was only a continuation of a long history of NASCAR in the Great Lake State.

The Grand Rapids Speedrome located in Comstock Park, MI , a suburb of Grand Rapids, operated from 1903 until sold to the State with it’s final closure in 1966. While early Modifieds, Midgets and Sprint cars dominated action at the one mile dirt oval, with famous names such as Louis Chevrolet, Ralph DePalma and Barney Oldfield gracing its winners circle, NASCAR in its earliest form made its presence felt also.

Marshall Teague driving one of the Famous Hudson Hornets won a 200 lap NASCAR event on the then reconfigured one half mile of the “drome” as it was called by the locals in July 1951. Dick Rathmann, Fonty and Tim Flock and Lloyd Moore completed the top five.

Three years later, July 1954, Lee Petty beat Buck Baker, Dick Rathmann, Ray Duhigg and Jim Reed across the line. in the final NASCAR event held as the “Drome.

As a sidenote to the 1954 season, flame-proof coveralls are made available to NASCAR drivers for $9.25 each by Treesdale Laboratories. It is the third NASCAR-specific product offered that season. The $35 GenTex 70 helmet and special racing tires priced at $37.90 each from Pure Oil Co. had already been offered.

Moving to the Eastern side of the State, Michigan State Fairgrounds in Detroit, Michigan (Operating Dates: 1899-1966) held two events in 1951-52.

Tommy Thompson won the first Motor City 250 in a self owned 1951 Chrysler. Joe Eubanks, Johnny Mantz, Red Byron and Red Byron finished out the top five. Others competing that day were Curtis Turner (9th), Lee Petty (13th), Midwest Ass’n for Race Cars (MARC) (Now ARCA) Series veterans Les Snow ( 21st) and the legendary Iggy Katona (22nd)

Tim Flock won the second event at the Fairgrounds with Buddy Shuman, Herb Thomas, Bill Blair and Pat Kirkwood in trail.

Monroe Speedway (Monroe, MI Operating Dates: 1949-1954) was located very close to present day Flat Rock Speedway. Tim Flock completed the 200 laps of the half mile dirt oval in the lead followed by Herb Thomas, Lee Petty, Fonty Flock and Ray Duhigg. ARCA star Iggy Katona competed in this event as well finishing in eighth place in a ‘51 Oldmobile.

Technorati Tags: NASCAR, Michigan International Speedway, Lee Petty, Fonty Flock, Cale Yarborough, Sprint Cup Series, Tim Flock, Iggy Katona, Full Throttle

(NOTE: This is another in a series of posts on the “Good Old Days” of NASCAR, this week’s entry centers on the State of Pennsylvania site of this weeks Sprint Cup event at Pocono International Raceway.)

While Pennsylvania has been featured in NASCAR’s recent and modern history with events held at Pocono International Raceway since 1974 the state’s NASCAR roots go back to the sanctioning body’s earliest days.

Heidelberg Raceway in Pittsburgh has the honor of holding the first NASCAR event a Strictly Stock race on Oct, 1949. Lee Petty recorded his first NASCAR Strictly Stock victory in the 100-mile 200-lap race. Sara Christian finished fifth, the best finish ever for a female driver in NASCAR’s premier stock car racing division.

Christian, an Atlanta housewife, was also among the 33 starters in the inaugural NASCAR Strictly Stock race at Charlotte held earlier that year.

Heidelberg held additional events in 1951, 1959 and 1960. Herb Thomas, Jim Reed and Lee Petty respectively, won those events. The dirt half mile also held a single Convertible Series event in 1956 that was won by Joe Weatherly.

Langhorne Speedway (Langhorne, PA) is perhaps the most famous with arguably the most colorful history of the old NASCAR tracks in the state having run sanctioned events continuously starting with the Strictly Stock division then Grand National from 1949 until 1957 with two Convertible events in ‘56-’57. The track’s unique circular layout earned Langhorne the name “The Big Left Turn” and features a virtual who’s who of NASCAR’s greatest drivers having won on the one mile dirt.

Dick Rathmann led all the way to win the International 200 at Langhorne Speedway in June 1953. It was the first NASCAR event open to both domestic and foreign cars. Lloyd Shaw won the pole in a Jaguar but faded to a 23rd place finish. The top foreign made entry was a ‘53 Jaguar driven by Dick Allwine in sixth place with a a pair of Porsches finishing 8th and 9th. The most unusual entry was wheeled home by Dick Hagey to 19th after starting his Volkswagen in 32nd.

Another oddity at Langhorne was a win by Tom Cherry in June 1952. Cherry won a 100-mile NASCAR Speedway Division race at Langhorne, the final event staged for the then new open-wheel class. A paralyzing nationwide steel strike and a blisteringly hot summer are factors in the early demise of the once-promising NASCAR series.

The first event of the Speedway Division the preceding month at Darlington was won by Buck Baker in a Cadillac-powered open-wheel car in the 200-mile event. Dick Rathmann prevails in the accompanying 100-mile NASCAR Grand National race, which was added to the program to boost attendance. Baker eventually ended the ‘52 season as the Speedway Division champion.

Lincoln Speedway (New Oxford, PA) still operates today with a program that features two classes of Modifieds and a 358 Late Model class.

Lincoln’s NASCAR history dates to June 1955 in a 100 mile event won by Junior Johnson. The win was his second career win after capturing his first NASCAR Grand National victory at Hickory Speedway in North Carolina the preceding month.

Other Grand National winners at Lincoln were Buck Baker (twice ‘56, ‘57), Marvin Panch, Lee Petty, David Pearson and Dick Hutcherson who won the last GN event held at the track in 1965. Hutcherson won 9 events that year as a rookie, a record that may never be broken. A single Convertible Series event was held at Lincoln in 1956 and won by Curtis Turner.

Reading Fairgrounds (Reading, PA) held two NASCAR events in 1958 and ‘59 both won by Junior Johnson and both in 1957 Fords. The ‘58 win was the third of three consecutive following wins at Bradford (PA) and Columbia (SC). The ‘59 event was his second of the year and followed a win at Wilson Speedway in North Carolina. Less than an hour before the Wilson race, the wooden grandstand caught on fire and burned to the ground. No one is injured, but the 8,000 spectators had to watch the race while standing along the catch fence.

Williams Grove Speedway (Mechanicsburg, PA), also still in operation today, held a single NASCAR event in June 1954 won by Herb Thomas at the wheel of a 1954 Hudson Hornet closely followed by Dick Rathmann in a second Hudson.

Several other Pennsylvania tracks held single events during the fifties including Sharon Speedway (Sharon, PA). Lee Petty in a Petty Enterprises ‘54 Chrysler took a 1954 win touring the 200 laps on a .500 mile dirt track ahead of Buck Baker and Dick Rathmann. Petty claimed seven races and finishing in the top 10 in 32 of his 34 1954 starts.

In another interesting side note to the season, then NASCAR president Bill France was escorted out of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway garage area in May. AAA chief steward Harry McQuinn saying at the time, “We have a long-standing disagreement with NASCAR on what constitutes good racing.”

Bloomsburg Fairgrounds, Herb Thomas won the only event held at the Bloomsburg, PA dirt half mile. The October 3, 1953 event saw Thomas take the checkers ahead of Dick Rathmann and Buck Baker. Lee Petty (6th), Fonty Flock (15th) and Jim Paschal (16th) also were in the starting field that day.

New Bradford Speedway (Bradford, PA) held a single Grand National event in June, 1958 that was won by Junior Johnson over Lee Petty, Bob Duel and Jack Smith.

Pine Grove Speedway (Shippenville, PA) was also a one hit wonder, for lack of a better term, with a one time only Grand National event held in October 1951. 2 Time NASCAR Grand National Champion (1952, 1955) Tim Flock won the event in his famous Black Phantom ‘51 Oldsmobile owned by Ted Chester.

As seen NASCAR’s historical record goes far beyond what some claim to be a “Southeastern” sport. Far from it, the sanctioning body’s first days featured events held in the northeast, Canada - Canadian National Exhibition Grounds in Toronto was the site of King Richard’s first start finishing 17th - the far western United States and Mexico.

Technorati Tags: NASCAR, Pocono Raceway, Sprint Cup Series, Auto racing, Langhorne Speedway, Lee Petty, David Pearson, Full Throttle

(NOTE: This is another in a series of posts on the “Good Old Days” of NASCAR, this week Talladega and the State of Alabama take center stage.)

Far from common belief NASCAR had a presence in Alabama far in advance of when today’s super speedway first opened at Talladega in 1969.

Pictured left is Lakeville Speedway (Mobile, Ala) - 1951 April Red Harrelson’s Ford and Tim Flock’s Oldsmobile are on the front row for the start of the April 8 Grand National event at Lakeview. Fonty Flock pulled double-duty in this 150-lap event on the 5/8-mile dirt track, acting as the event promoter, and finishing second to ­winner Tim Flock. The rain-plagued race was postponed from March 18 and was hampered by additional rains in April. The track surface broke up badly during the race.

In November the same year Frank Mundy throttles his Studebaker to a win in the 150-lap finale at Lakeview Speedway. Bob Flock crashes his Oldsmobile in the early laps and suffers a broken neck. Herb Thomas wraps up the tightly contested NASCAR Grand National champion­ship chase by nosing out Fonty Flock by 146.2 points.

Now known as Birmingham International Speedway the Birmingham Fairgrounds Speedway first opened in 1906 as a 1 mile dirt oval and has had several incarnations since. (Note: BIR is holding the 100-lap Davey Allison Memorial this Saturday night.)

The first NASCAR event was won by Fireball Roberts at the wheel of a ‘57 Chevy in 1958. Three years later only 13 cars started with Ned Jarrett leading the small field of tight finishers in the event. The ‘63 NASCAR season opened at Birmingham in Nov ‘62 with Jim Paschal the winner and a second event that year had Richard Perry win with another short field of 16 starters.

The final event at Birmingham took place on June 8, 1968. Richard Petty dominates the 100-mile event. David Pearson finishes third but is disqualified for using improper tires.

Chisholm Speedway, Montgomery, AL, held a single Cup event in 1956 and won by Buck Baker in a 1956 Chrysler owned by the legendary Carl Kiekhaefer.

Buck Baker was number one driver for the Kiekhaefer team. Baker entered 44 events, with 14 wins, 12 poles, and 35 Top-10 finishes on his way to the team’s second consecutive NASCAR championship.

(Special note to the multi-team haters of today, Kiekhaefer had nine drivers race for him in the 56 event 1956 season, taking first, second, third, and ninth in the final series points. The drivers combined for 30 wins, 25 poles, and 92 Top-10 finishes in their 126 races. Four drivers combined for 16 straight team wins between March 25 and June 3.)

Dixie Speedway, Birmingham, AL also held a single event in 1960 with Ned Jarrett scoring the win in his self-owned Courtesy Ford ahead of Richard and Lee Petty. Maurice Petty finished eighth in the third Petty Enterprises entry.

Huntsville Speedway, Huntsville, AL. Still in operation today the track hosted a single NASCAR event, the Rocket City 200, on the paved 1/4 mile in August 1962 with Richard Petty winning by a lap over Bob Welborn, Jim Paschal, Buck Baker and Ned Jarrett. The field also featured a very young modified driver by the name of Bobby Allison.

Bobby and Donnie Allison cut their teeth in racing at Huntsville, along with several other drivers that went on to fame, including Red Farmer, Darrell Waltrip, Neil Bonnett, Jimmy “Smut” Means and Davey Allison.

Which brings us to the site of this weekends event Talladega. Originally the place was called Alabama International Motor Speedway.

“I’ve been going there since before they even opened the place,” says Bobby Allison, four-time Dega race winner and leader of the fabled Alabama Gang. “You hear people talking about a curse, and you think, well, that’s just silly. But then when you start listing everything that has gone on down there, you start thinking maybe there’s something to that deal.”

The Curse, if there is one, may have been born along with the speedway itself. The first running of a NASCAR event was wracked with controversy over speeds obtained at the new track, tires that were highly suspect in their ability to withstand those speeds and finally all the big name drivers walking out of the place in protest. That left the unheralded Richard Brickhouse and his winged Dodge Daytona to score his first and only Cup victory. (Tom Higgins provides an excellent re-cap of that weekends events)

Talledega has been the site of many records over the years the first of which occurred on March 24, 1970. Buddy Baker guided the Chrysler Engineering #88 Dodge Daytona (pictured left) to a closed course speed record of 200.447 MPH, becoming the first stock car driver to officially exceed the magic 200 MPH mark.

(NOTE: For those with an interest, this is an excellence source on the #88 and it’s sister car Charlie Glotzbach qualified on the pole for the ‘69 Talladega event [199.466 MPH] that was negated by the walk-out. Included are images of the #88’s restoration from a rusting hulk found in the woods to original condition.)

The 1973 event brought carnage in both bent sheet metal and broken bodies.

“To me, what took place in ‘73 was bigger than big,” said BuddyBaker. “Most of the drivers racing that day had never been in anything like it.

“The wreck happened with such suddeness that it was like opening a closet door and having a tiger jump out on you. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the caution light flash on, but there was no time to react to it. Then it was just chaos.”

The chaos started early, the 10th lap, and resulted in a massive 21-car pole-up. No fatalities occurred but it left Wendell Scott, Earl Brooks, Joe Frasson and Slick Gardner with injuries ranging from minor to serious. The most serious being that of Wendell Scott who suffered a cracked pelvis, three broken ribs and a lacerated arm. The loss of his race car also left him almost ruined financially and his career - in effect - was over.

The late Benny Parsons offered his description: “For some reason I thought it had been only a one car incident, or maybe two. But coming off turn two I saw the biggest mess of my career on a race track. It looked like a 747 jetliner had crashed.”

David Pearson steered clear of a mess and went on to an easy win with only 17 cars in the 60-car starting field finishing.

Of all the records set on the Alabama high banks there’s one that likely will stand forever.

In 1987, Bill Elliott established a world stock-car record when he posted a speed of 212.809 mph. in qualifying for the Aaron’s 499. The speeds attained that year and Bobby Allison’s horrific accident where he nearly went into the crowd and also taking out the flagman’s stand led to the implementation of restrictor plate racing at Talladega and Daytona. (see video)

Two serious crashes marred the running of the 1993 DieHard 500. On the 70th lap of the race, Jimmy Horton gets tapped going into Turn 1, flipping over on the banking and going completely over the wall (see video), the only time that has ever happened at Talladega (The only catchfences in place at the time were in front of the grandstands.)

As a result of this incident, fences were put around the remainder of the track). Stanley Smith is critically injured in the same crash. Later in the race, Neil Bonnett, in his first stock car race since 1990, goes for a wild ride, flipping end over end in the tri-oval. Neil was uninjured,and joined the CBS commentary team to call the end of the race,which was a close duel between Dale Earnhardt and Ernie Irvan,with Earnhardt prevailing by .005 second.

Other notable events:

August 20, 1971: Paula Murphy, “Miss STP“ made a then record closed course run for a female at 171.499 mph.

August 9, 1975: Mark Donohue set a closed-course world record at 221.160 mph. It would stand as a world record for four years, and as a United States record until 1986.

November 26, 1985: Lyn St. James sets a record closed course run for a female, at over 200 mph.

In the 1986 Winston 500, the entire field of cars qualified at over 200 mph. Future greats such as Mark Martin and Alan Kulwicki failed to make the field. Before the race even got a chance to start, a drunk fan climbed into the pace car and took it for a few hot laps around the track, before being stopped by police and track workers. Bill Elliott had the car to beat early on, but on the last lap, Bobby Allison beat out Dale Earnhardt in a closely contested finish.

December 14, 1989: Patty Moise sets a record closed course run for a female at 216.607 mph, driving a Buick.

June 10, 2004: Rusty Wallace tests a stock car without a restrictor plate for then series sponsor Nextel to test communication capabilities, and hits a speed over 228 mph (367 km/h) on the straights (some reports say the speeds were close to 235 mph, and 221 mph average speed for the lap.

Technorati Tags: Bobby Allison, Talladega, Ned Jarrett, Fonty Flock, Alabama International Motor Speedway

(NOTE: This is another in a series of posts on the “Good Old Days” of NASCAR. This week, contrary to popular belief, we look at NASCAR’s long history with our Latin American friends to the south.)

NASCAR first became involved with Latin America during a celebration for the opening of the Pan American highway that crossed from border to border through Mexico and southwards to the tip of Argentina.

The year was 1950, La Carrera Panamericana road race was first held that year and continued through 1954 when it was shut down as a result of too many accidents and deaths during the event.

The NASCAR connection comes with the entry of NASCAR Founder Bill France Sr. as owner/sponsor of a 1950 Nash Ambassador driven by the legendary Curtis Turner. The event consisted of 9 legs for a total of 1907.537 miles (some claim 2,178 miles) and run from El Paso, Texas, across Mexico to Guatemala.

Turner teamed with Roy Pat Connor and Robert Owen to drive the event however Conner fell ill prior to the start of the last leg and Turner was brought in to replace him. This contravened the rules, and the car was disqualified.

Portland lumberjack and west coast NASCAR star Hershel McGriff and co-driver Ray Elliott won the event at the wheel of a 1950 Oldsmobile 88 (Monte Dutton has posted an image of the restored Olds 88) in a time of 27 hours, 34 minutes and 25 seconds. The team won an astounding sum for the time of $17,341. ($149,337 in todays dollars!)

The car was such a success Oldsmobile would hire McGriff to crisscross the country in the Rocket 88, making promotional appearances and racing the car. “The combination of the Olds chassis and the Rocket V8 was unbeatable in the hands of the right driver,” France said years later.

Lou Figaro (pictured above with co-driver Dempsey Wilson) one of the drivers who fielded “The Fabulous” Hudson Hornets in the early ’50s DNF’d the event crashing 18 miles into the seventh leg of nine.

Another NASCAR legend Johnny “Piloto“ Mantz competed with Bill Stroppe (a legend in his own right and 3-time La Carrera Panamerica winner) and Clay Smith driving a ‘49 Lincoln Cosmopolitan.

The team of Mantz, Stroppe and Clay Smith ran at or near the lead right up till the final leg when the big Lincoln couldn’t take the punishment any longer. With the finish line in sight and no more spares tires to run on, Mantz was forced to run on rims and limped across the finish line, Stroppe and Mantz had held the lead in a number of legs and could have won, but they ended up 9th overall, winning enough to pay for the trip.

With his success at the Mexican road race and his connection with Bill Stroppe and Clay Smith Mantz played a major role with Fords racing program leading the Lincoln-Mercury division to many stock car victories. Mantz continued to race and was killed in a highway accident on October 25, 1972.

Others participating in the event during its tenure from the world of NASCAR included Bob and Fonty Flock, Raymond Parks ( The Godfather of Stock Car Racing) and Red Byron. Marshall Teague would finish sixth (1951) and seventh (1952) in his La Carrera Panamericana starts.

For those interested in the events definitive history R.M. Clark’s “The Carrera Panamericana MEXICO covers the 5 years ( 1950-1954 ) is full of photos, stories by the pilotos and co-pilotos and daily and final results. Also the La Carrera Panamericana continues to this day with the 2008 edition set to roll off on October 29 with a very eclectic group of both cars and drivers, including an Olds 88 and what looks to be a reproduction of “Piloto” Mantz’s Lincoln Cosmopolitan.

Moving into more modern times, and a closer connection to this weekends Nationwide Series event, the venue Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is named after the late Mexican racing legend Pedro Rodríguez and his brother Ricardo.

Many consider Rodríguez as NASCAR’s Latino pioneer. A regular in sports car events at Daytona International Speedway, the first hairpin at DIS (the right-hand hairpin) is named the Pedro Rodriguez curve.

Pedro drove in six Cup races between 1959 and 1971 with 1 top five and 2 top tens to his credit, his best was fifth in 1965’s World 600 at Charlotte at the wheel of a #51 Holman-Moody Ford.

The Rodríguez era and on through the ninties it was NASCAR Southern Style - Confederate Flags, The Alabama Gang, Darlington, Barbecued Beef and Corn Muffins and possibly, tailgateing while singing The Cornhole Song.

As a result of marketing by the sanctioning body, and in small part the diversity program, the “new” NASCAR Southern Style also involves Telenovelas, Empanadas, Football, Turismo Carretera, and the winners of the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

No better example of that is NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow being outsourced to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Argentina-based HAZ Racing a well-known racecar builder and crew chief in South America. Eventually the team plans to run in NASCAR but for now they will continue to develop the car with testing at the nearly 3 mile oval track in Santa Fe, Argentina, Autódromo Ing Juan R.Báscolo.

Moving up the South American continent to Brazil the NASCAR influence can be seen in the countries “biggest automobile racing category,” the Copa NEXTEL Stock Car Series.

The cars, OMG cover your ears NASCAR Nation, the cars come complete with wings, splitters and, wait for it… Brazilian style tailgating. As an added bonus drivers are given the ability to inject nitrous oxide three times per race to aid passing. (are you listening BF? - ed)

Moving back into North America, specifically Joe Gibbs Racing. Gibbs, along with the late Reggie White, has been at the forefront of the diversity program since it’s inception. At the Cup level is young Cuban-American Aric Almirola who has the unenviable task of taking over the #8 Chevy for DEI in 2008.

His road into that ride started with Gibbs and the diversity program in 2004 while driving at Ace Speedway that and the following year. Almirola drove the #75 Spears Manufacturing Chevy for Spears Motorsports in the Craftsman Truck Series, as part of the JGR development program and was part of the controversial 2007 incident with Denny Hamlin in AT&T 250 at the Milwaukee Mile last year.

All of which brings me to this point, the weekend of the Nationwide Series event in Mexico City.

There are many detractors to NASCAR’s diversity efforts, particularly when the subject is racing south of the border. Some objections are based on pure idiotic, and childish jingoism. Some are based on ignorance of NASCAR’s nearly six decade history and a false belief that “NASCAR is an American sport and should stay that way.” As detailed above it’s never been “that way.”

And some, sadly, who apparently think playing to the crowd by reporting a “fizzling” of support for this weekend’s event is more important than reporting on the positive effects of both the diversity program and holding events in Mexico.

There is a need to look for/groom Hispanic people to participate at every level: Garage and pits, drivers, owners. There are talented Latinos out there that will rise to the occasion and earn their places in NASCAR. Without events such as the Corona Mexico 200 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez it’s infinitely harder to connect with the culture, NASCAR needs to give Hispanics that option of communicating and participating and the Corona Mexico 200 in no small way does that.

NOW… ¡hola, deja para ir a competir con a muchachos, boggity, boggity, boggity!

UPDATE: Courtesy of the good folks at Team California Best Racing is a video of the 2004 edition La Carrera Panamerica and a must read account by Gary Faules who competed in the 2007 edition. (Make sure you read Gary’s coment in the thread.)

Technorati Tags: Corona Mexico 200, Joe Gibbs Racing, La Carrera Panamericana, Nationwide Series, <a href=”http://technorati.com/tag/Pedro Rodr

(NOTE, this is part of the Good Old Days series of posts. When applicable they will highlight various points of interest from that weeks Sprint Cup venue or geographic area.)

When one thinks of Arizona the state isn’t at the top of a list of places where NASCAR’s pioneers plied their trade and helped make the sport what it is today. But history teaches Arizona, and Phoenix site of this weeks Sprint Cup event, was on the schedule in the very earliest days of the sport.

The Arizona State Fairgrounds (ASF) are in operation today and feature all the things one comes to expect of that type of operation, carnival rides, a “Midway,” agricultural displays and competitions by the Future Farmers of America.

In January, 1951 Bill France announced the NASCAR Grand National division would venture into the far west for the first time. Johnny Mantz, winner of the 500-mile race at Darlington was named as the Regional Director of NASCAR events in California.

The same year the Arizona State Fairgrounds joined NASCAR’s move to the west by staging races on a one mile dirt track, between 1951 and 1960 four sanctioned NASCAR events were held.

Marshall Teague won the first 150 miler at the wheel of a ‘51 (Fabulous) Hudson and took home $1275 for the days efforts. 30 cars started that day but in a war of attrition only 6 crossed the finish line. Other winners at ASF were Tim Flock (’55), Buck Baker (”56) and John Rostek (”60).

In 1955 NASCAR made a single appearance at the Tucson Rodeo Grounds in an event won by little known Danny Letner. It was the second of only two NASCAR wins in a career that spanned seven years and 26 starts.

That brings us to present day and Phoenix International Raceway. PIR opened in February 16, 1964 with a sports car race won by Davey MacDonald on the infield road course.

Ir wasn’t until January 1968 when the first stock car event was held. USAC legend Don White won that event also on the road course. (White is the all-time USAC stock car champion winning in 1954, 1955 and 1958.)

1978: Richard Petty takes the first of his three NASCAR Winston West Series wins at PIR.

NASCAR’s first Cup event at PIR was in 1988. The late great Alan Kulwicki won his first career Cup win in his fifth year driving in the top tier series. The win was witnessed by a then record crowd of 60,000 and Kulwicki performed the first “Polish Victory Lap,” in honor of his heritage and first Cup win.

Ironically as the “new kid” Kulwicki arrived on the scene, with a then unheard of college degree in mechanical engineering, he ushered in a new era of NASCAR and at the end of the season Cup champions Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, Benny Parsons, and Bobby Allison retired - Allison due to debilitating injuries suffered at Pocono in that year’s Miller High Life 500.

1990: Dale Earnhardt leads all but the first 50 laps as he dominates the Checker 500. Dale Sr. gained the points lead as leading contender Mark Martin ­struggled to finish 10th. This was the year Martin was penalized (46-points) for using an illegal (but non-performance enhancing) carburetor spacer at Richmond, the deduction caused him to lose to Dale Earnhardt by 26 points in the final standings.

1991: Davey Allison led the final 60 laps and wins the Pyroil 500. Rusty, Mike, and Kenny Wallace all compete in the race, the first triple brother act in NASCAR Cup racing since 1961.

(I believe, but have not confirmed, the brothers were the Fabulous Flock Brothers, Bob, Tim and Fonty. Tim was infamous for racing nine events with a rhesus monkey, Jocko Flocko, as his co-driver. - ed)

Allison also won in 1992, taking over the points lead from Alan Kulwicki by 30 points. The race was a precursor to the following epic struggle at Atlanta, with Elliott scoring a narrow victory. Points leader Davey Allison is knocked out of the title hunt by an early crash. Elliott wins the race, but fails to pick up points on Kulwicki, who clings to a narrow 10-point margin in the final standings.

1995: Ricky Rudd scores his first win of the season in the Dura Lube 500 at PIR. Rudd starts 29th. It is the first time in NASCAR Winston Cup history that a driver has come from 29th to win a race.

1996: Bobby Hamilton drives the Petty Enterprises Pontiac to victory in the Dura Lube 500. It is the first NASCAR Cup victory for Petty Enterprises since Richard’s Charlotte win in 1983.

2005: Defending champion Kurt Busch wins the Subway Fresh 500, the first night race at PIR. It is also the first spring date for Phoenix, in addition to its usual late-season race. Busch also won that event to complete the season sweep at the track.

2006: The year saw the second consecutive season sweep, this time by RCR’s Kevin Harvick.

2007: PIR featured a sweep of a different sort. Hendrick Motor Sports swept both events behind the talents of Jeff Gordon in April and Jimmie Johnson following with a win in the November event.

PIR has a history of favoring the Blue Oval, Ford leads in all-time wins in the desert with 12, followed by Chevy with 9 total. The only other marquee to score a win is Pontiac, Bobby Hamilton for Petty Enterprises in 1996 and Tony Stewart in 1999.

So what are you waiting for? Gas up the RV and stock up on plenty of cold brews and “Jeff Gordon Sucks” signs and head over to PIR for the weekend. Even if the race sucks, and every race does to some people, The night start provides plenty of time for tailgating and the Arizona State coeds provide all the eye candy you need.

(NOTE: The image is Alan Kulwicki’s 1992 championship winning Thunderbird. The car, referred to as the Underbird, is pictured with current owner Larry Bean and taken at the gates to the Alan Kulwicki State Park in his home of Milwaukee.)

Technorati Tags: Phoenix International Raceway, NASCAR, Sprint Cup, Alan Kulwicki, Full Throttle, Motorsports

(NOTE: This is another installment in a series examining what some call “Good Old Days” of NASCAR. The series outlines that weeks track or former NASCAR tracks in the geographic area.)

This weeks edition starts with Terry Labonte pictured left at Meyer Speedway circa 1975.

His career started at Corpus Christi Speedway. Despite winning the tracks Hobby Stock championship, and a legendary feud with Rick Rapp that included the two drivers carrying mace and a knife during races, Terry didn’t stay long at Corpus Christi and moved to the now defunct Meyer Speedway near Houston and also tracks in San Antonio and Shreveport, La.

It’s at Meyer Speedway the sanctioning body enters the picture.

Reportedly speedway owner Ed Hamilton paid a handsome sum to Big Bill France to hold a sanctioned event at his half mile paved bull ring, whether that’s a matter of fact or urban legend is debatable, what isn’t is on June 23, 1971 the Space City 300 was held at Meyer Speedway.

Only 14 cars took the starter’s flag with Bobby Allison beating the field in his #12 1970 Dodge. Second place James Hilton came in second 2 laps down, Walter Ballard, Elmo Langley and Frank Warren completed the top five. Richard Petty, although having led 38 laps, finished in seventh 21 laps behind Allison.

The only other Texas track, aside from present day TMS, to hold a Cup event was the ill-fated Texas World Speedway (TWS). Although still in operation (but reportedly for sale) the track fell into disrepair and a combination of small crowds - just 18,000 were in attendance for the final race - both NASCAR and the IndyCar Series chose to drop it from the schedule. The track would also be called Texas International Speedway.

The first Cup event at TWS was Bobby Issac’s first career superspeedway victory in the Texas 500. Cale Yarborough is seriously injured when his Mercury clobbered the wall.

TWS was always been known as one of the safest race tracks in the country. In 1979, the Cup event went 396 out of 400 miles before a yellow caution flag came out for two laps. The following year the race went all 400 miles without a yellow “caution” flag.

Over the course of the tracks 12 years hosting NASCAR 8 events were held. Ironicly the most noteworthy may be the the final one in June 1981.

Terry Labonte and Bobby Allison shared the front row and they and 7 other drivers swapped the lead numerous times in the first half of the race. Labonte crashed before halfway leaving Dale Sr. and Benny Parsons in a fight to the finish. In the last ten laps they swapped the lead three times with Parsons finally grabbing it last and holding off Allison by a half a second.

Finally, we come to NASCAR’s present Texas venue. Texas Motor Speedway is lorded over by Eddie Gossage, perhaps the only legitimate contender to Humpy Wheeler as NASCAR’s version of P.T Barnum.

The tracked opened in 1997 with the inaugural Interstate Batteries 500. Jeff Burton came on strong in the final 100 miles and racked up his first career NASCAR Cup victory. The race is punctuated by several crashes, which contribute to 10 caution flags for a total of 73 laps run under the yellow flag.

The following year a 13-car crash on the opening lap ends the day for John Andretti, Rick Mast and Ernie Irvan. Mark Martin won the event.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr joined Burton as first time Cup winners at Texas in 2000.

2005 was the first year TMS hosted two events. Greg Biffle led 219 of 334 laps in the Spring event in a back-up car, Biffle crashed his primary car in practice and had to start from the back of the field. Roush Racing completed a sweep in Texas after Carl Edwards won the fall event.

The fall event in 2006 saw Tony Stewart extend his incredible late season streak winning the the Dickies 500 at Texas, it was Stewart’s third win in the last six races.

The 2007 spring event started with a fourth turn, first lap multi -car crash (video) The race featured a ten lap shootout between Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton (video) with Burton finally taking the win and becoming the first repeat winner at Texas.

Also noteworthy, Kyle Busch wreaked his HMS car and left the track thinking he was done for the day. After thrashing for a number of laps the crew had the car ready but had no driver. In a move that presaged what was to come later in the year Dale Earnhardt Jr. jumped into the then rival HMS #5 and finished the race.

(NOTE, this is part of the Good Old Days series of posts. When applicable they will highlight various points of interest from that weeks Sprint Cup or Nationwide venue or geographic area.)

The Tennessee geographic area has a long and storied history that predates the current Track in Nashville by several dacades.

Nashville Speedway in it’s original incarnation hosted Cup events from 1959, an event won by Joe Weatherly through 1984 Pepsi 420, an event that had Geoff Bodine take the checkers ahead of Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt Sr. Ron Bouchard and Bobby Allison. Here is an outstanding photo gallery of Nashville from 1960. The image above is Ned Jarrett in his ‘63 Courtesy Ford on the Nashville high banks.

Bobby Isaac dominated 1970 the Nashville 420, finishing two laps ahead of the field. Only nine cars ­finished the grueling race, which is ­televised in part by ABC Sports.

Newport Speedway in Newport, TN held two events both won by Glenn “Fireball” Roberts in 1956-57.

Kingsport Speedway located in Kingsport, TN held three Cup events ‘69-’71, Richard Petty won the first two and Bobby Issac won the last event in 1970. Here is a set of excellent 1970’s era photos including NASCAR legends Sam Ard, Jack Ingram, Harry Gant and ‘73 track champion L.D. Ottenger. At the bottom of the page is the Dave Marcis #2 Chevy II inside the Dale Earnhardt Sr. #8 Chevy II in 1978

Smoky Mountain Raceway in Maryville, TN (now known as The Mountain Raceway Park) held 12 Cup events between 1965 and 1971. Dick Hutcherson won the inaugural event with Richard Petty taking the last two in ‘71 and ‘72.

On July 20, 1969 the Volunteer 500 was flagged off at Bristol Motor Speedway. David Pearson prevailed after 500 wreck filled laps in the first event on the 1/2-mile oval since the turns were redesigned and banked to a staggering and now familiar 36 degrees.

(NOTE, this is part of the Good Old Days series of posts. When applicable they will highlight various points of interest from that weeks Sprint Cup venue or geographic area.)

One would think LVMS wouldn’t be part of NASCAR’s history beyond the last ten events held under the auspices of Bruton Smith. One would be wrong.

There is a single dusty memory of the Good Old Days of NASCAR, the Desert Classic was held was on Oct. 16, 1955. The place was Las Vegas Park Speedway, a one-mile dirt track, now the site of a Hilton hotel.

Norm Nelson, driving a ‘55 Chrysler for legendary car owner Carl Kiekhaefer, won the dirt-track race. Nelson collected the grand sum of 4,745 dollar and averaged a tick over 44 mph. Primarily a USAC stock car star (three-time series champ) the Vegas event was his only Cup win in five career starts the last at Riverside in 1968

The event, was the 43rd of the 45-race season. Scheduled for 200 laps, it was shortened to 111 due to darkness caused in part by a 12-car accident early in the race.

Interestingly, this event didn’t have any of that years championship contenders in the starting field. That honor went to Martinsville, VA where Speedy Thomson won on the same day, Oct. 16, 1955.

In a special kick in the behind to the “NASCAR is dominated by one team” crowd that is so prevalent today, Tim Flock won the Cup in ‘55 and set a record that will never be broken. At the wheel of the powerful Carl Kiekhaefer Chrysler 300 D’s Flock won 16 events, 11 times leading from flag-to-flag!

On the other hand I don’t think the Frontier Casino featured Bikini Bull Riding then. So you have to take the bad with the good I guess.

(NOTE, this is part of the Good Old Days series of posts. When applicable they will highlight various points of interest from that weeks Sprint Cup venue or geographic area.)

The now defunct Ontario Motor Speedway was located east of Los Angeles; the oval was a 2.5 mile duplicate of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Despite hosting Indy Cars and NASCAR it was never a financial success, and in response to rising property values it was sold to developers.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the speedway was held on September 24, 1968. Actor Kirk Douglas was one of many who spoke at the event (see Hollyweird participation isn’t a new phenomena).

NASCAR’s history at OMS started as the Miller High Life 500 with A.J. Foyt taking the first two wins in 1971-72. Foyt wheeled a Wood Brothers Mercury in ‘71 and recorded the win as the 1,000^th NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National race run to that point in time.

In years 1974 through 1980 the race was known as the Los Angeles Times 500 and was won in order by; Bobby Allison, Buddy Baker, David Pearson, Neil Bonnett, Bobby Allison and Benny Parsons in ‘79 & ‘80.

The 1974 event featured a controversy not unlike those of today. Bobby Allison drove an AMC Matador to a surprise victory. During post race inspection, NASCAR officials discover the Roger Penske-owned Matador wass equipped with illegal roller tappets. The team kept the win but was fined a than record $9,100.

Put another way, the more things in NASCAR change, the more they stay the same.

Riverside International raceway had a long and storied history. From 1970-81, the NASCAR Sprint Cup season opened not with the Daytona 500 but rather in the Golden State, at the Riverside road course.

Dan Gurney won at Riverside five times (1963-85,

(NOTE: This is the third in a series on the dreaded “NASCAR is Crap Plague” that has infected some segments of NASCAR Nation. In some cases it’s a near fatal affliction!)

In this edition we visit with NASCAR’s PC Police, the dastardly souls whose arrival on the scene some think have ruined the sport.

The charge sheet reads thusly:

1. NASCAR has placed a muzzle on it’s drivers, it’s not like the old days. The old days meaning like NASCAR’s famous ‘79 Battle Royal at the Daytona 500.

2. Pocono 2004, When Jimmie Johnson climbed from his car after winning, he placed a sign in front of the PowerAde bottle that NASCAR officials put atop his car. PowerAde, an official sponsor of NASCAR, is made by Coca-Cola. Johnson has a sponsorship deal with Pepsi.

Like several other Pepsi or Gatorade-sponsored drivers, Johnson has been knocking the bottle off his car when he gets to Victory Lane. NASCAR president Mike Helton told drivers they could no longer do that. “We’re going to address these situations in an orderly fashion, just as we always have,” he said. “We expect our drivers to follow this protocol.”

3. Johnson teammate Jeff Gordon once had this to say in March, 2006: “What you see today is a more truer Jeff Gordon and who I really am,’ said Gordon, “I’m not a robot. I have a personality, and I have emotions.”

It was uttered after a pit road set-to and shoving match with Matt Kenseth. Officials fined Gordon $10,000 and placed him on probation until Aug. 30 that year.

4. Several drivers have been fined, Stewart and Dale Jr. to name just two, for speaking “The seven words you can never say on television.” (but can if it’s cable. Maybe.)

And so it goes as NASCAR’s PC Police have run amok. At least those suffering from an acute case of BFDS think so. Viewed at face value one would tend to agree.

But have they done anything out of the ordinary? Something unheard of outside the confines of NASCAR Nation? Back in the real world - the one that encircles NASCAR Nation - many have evolved into a touchy-feely politically correct bunch of loony-toons and things are much the same.

A certain Tony Stewart lived up to his nickname “Smoke” by blowing just that in 2001. His, ahem, “blunt comments” led to a deluge of emails and his being rebuked by his sponsor Home Depot. Read that carefully, his sponsor and then NASCAR reacted. The cost to Smoke was $50,000 and Home Depot placed him on probation for the rest of the season. NASCAR extracted their pound of flesh to the tune of $10,000.

There’s a reason why some refer to the NFL as the The Fun League.

• Reggie Bush was denied his request to wear his college number, No. 5, in the pros because the NFL mandates that running backs wear numbers between 20-49 and the competition committee said no.
• Jerry Seeman, NFL’s Senior Director of Officiating from 1991 to 2001, fined several players for socks that were too short, or having the wrong brand of shoe.
• The NFL league policy states that players and coaches must arrive at the stadium on game day in a collared shirt and shoes (not sneakers).

Move along, no fun to be had here.

The list of rampant politically correctness is near limitless and it has invaded every portion of American society. Bob Margolis, a much better writer than I, puts it this way:

Look, let’s face it, the world is a rapidly changing place and NASCAR has changed along with it. Maybe just a bit too fast for some of its older fans, and it is those fans NASCAR is trying to win over with all this talk of going back to basics. After all, demographics show that the vast majority of NASCAR’s fan base is over 35 and there are a lot of them over 50. As you get older, you long for things from your past.

As a certified member of the not-yet-ready-for-the-old-folks-home, but getting closer, demographic I understand the feelings of some, but that doesn’t mean I subscribe to, or share their ability to ignore reality.

Reality bites in some cases, but NASCAR’s reality is Home Depot, Lowes or many of the other large corporate sponsors bring a lot more to the table than did the strictly regional sponsors of 30 years ago. Their participation has allowed more and varied television coverage, more facilities/entertainment opportunities at many tracks that were unheard of 30 years ago.

But those with BFDS won’t ever acknowledge that reality. To them NASCAR is viewed from a very small and limited bubble, one that only allows a vision clouded by the passage of time and what they consider the Good Old Days. Good Old Days that consisted of Holly Farms as a “major” sponsor and tape delayed broadcasts aired long after the event.

To them I say, those days were good, but today is better, much better.