THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 28, 1996 TAG: 9609280520
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 76 lines
A half-century of NASCAR racing at North Wilkesboro Speedway has produced many a great race and many champions.
Richard Petty won 15 times, once by more than four laps. Junior Johnson won twice on his home track as a driver and 18 times as a car owner. Darrell Waltrip dominated for years.
But with all due respect to those dominanting champions, the best races are the wild and wooly ones. Here are the wildest:
THE FIRST RACE: Oct. 16, 1949. Although the track had opened two years earlier, this was the date of the first strictly-stock NASCAR race, later to become the Winston Cup series. Bob Flock, a moonshine runner, won by 100 yards over Lee Petty after 200 laps on what was then a half-mile dirt track. A huge crowd of 10,000 watched. Back in the field, a fellow named H.F. Stickleather finished 14th, just behind Slick Smith.
WINNING ON THREE TIRES: April 4, 1954. Indy 500 veteran Dick Rathmann won a 100-mile race by 20 seconds over Herb Thomas despite popping a tire with two laps to go. He finished the race on three tires and a rim.
CLOSEST NASCAR FINISH: April 3, 1955: Buck Baker led all 160 laps of this 100-miler, but by the last lap, Rathmann was glued to his bumper and still charging. Rathmann made a final charge off turn 4, but Baker won by 3 feet in the closest finish in series history up to that time.
JUNIOR WINS: May 18, 1958. Junior Johnson's first victory at his home track was also his first win in three years, 11 months of which had been spent in federal prison for moonshining. Johnson won in classic style. He had a half-lap lead over Jack Smith in the closing laps but went into turn 3 too hard, ran up and over the embankment, drove through some weeds and emerged back on the track just ahead of Smith. He pulled away to win by six seconds.
BOMBARDED BY DEBRIS: March 27, 1960. Lee Petty was the target of bottles, rocks and other debris after he won the 100-mile race by spinning Johnson out of the lead and into the guard rail with 14 laps to go. When Petty took the track microphone to explain his side, he again was bombarded by a jeering crowd of 9,200.
THE GREAT FUEL SHORTAGE: April 15, 1962: Richard Petty won his sixth career victory, and the first of a record 15 at North Wilkesboro, by four car lengths over Fred Lorenzen. But just after halfway, the fuel truck ran out of gas. A yellow flag was thrown so the fuel truck could go get more. In the meantime, crewmen hurried through the infield, siphoning gas from passenger cars. The race was completed. The fuel truck never made it back.
PETTY-ALLISON I: Oct. 1, 1972. Bitter rivals Richard Petty and Bobby Allison staged the most spectacular slugfest of their careers in the Wilkes 400. In the final five laps, they bashed each other a number of times as they traded the lead. Twice, both cars hit the wall but continued on. Thick smoke poured from Allison's car as the race ended, and he could barely see. Tempers flared after the race. A drunk fan attacked Petty in Victory Lane, but Maurice Petty beat him back with his brother's helmet.
PETTY-ALLISON II: Sept. 23, 1973. In another exciting battle between Allison and Petty, Allison made up a full lap with just 47 circuits remaining in the Wilkes 400 and passed Petty coming out of turn 2 on the final lap to win. Petty tried to get back past Allison but nearly lost it in turn 3 as Allison scooted ahead to win by 1.5 seconds.
TWO PASSES ON LAST LAP: Oct. 16, 1988: A last-lap, fender-banging duel between Geoff Bodine and Rusty Wallace ended in Wallace's favor by three car lengths. Wallace led the final nine laps, but on the last lap, Bodine knocked him out of the way in turns 1 and 2. Wallace did the same thing to Bodine in turn 3 and retook the lead. Both were in good spirits afterward, but Ricky Rudd and Dale Earnhardt were feuding after several fender-banging duels.
EARNHARDT VS. RUDD: Oct. 15, 1989. Earnhardt was running away with the Holly Farms 400 until a late-race caution prompted a restart with just two laps to go. In the first turn, Rudd dove under Earnhardt, their cars touched and they both spun. Geoff Bodine passed them both and won, leading only the last lap. It ended up costing Earnhardt the series title. MEMO: Information gleaned from ``Forty Years of Stock Car Racing,''
Volumes 1-5, by Greg Fielden. ILLUSTRATION: LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE FILE PHOTO
Fans watch a race in the early 1960s from the infield - and from a
tree just outside North Wilkesboro Speedway. by CNB