I went to the basement looking for a needle in a haystack and found it.
In 1968 the education channel was Channel 2. The ABC affiliate was on Channel 8. Now known as NPT, the call letters in the sixties were WDCN (Davidson County Nashville). They had a weekly show called “Science Unlimited” hosted by Evelyn Burns.
Mrs. Burns was interested in racing and wanted to incorporate it in one of the shows. She decided to contrast two different types of internal combustion engines, two-cycle and four-cycle engines.
For the four-cycle engine she wanted to use a race car from the Fairgrounds. And she picked my kart engine for the two-cycle engine. The decision was made to film the show at the Fairgrounds and show both close ups of the engines and then how they performed on the track.
I always figured if I told this story no one would believe it. And surely no one remembers the show.
But back to that needle in the basement. Mrs. Burns was kind enough to write me a letter thanking me for my participation in the show, and I was lucky enough to find it after only about an hour searching.
I not only have the letter, but four photos we shot that day as well.
What a cool day for an eleven year-old kid. I got to spend the day at the Fairgrounds shooting a television show which was an excused absence from school! I got to ride my kart on the track at the Fairgrounds for the first time, and even got to sit in the car that had just won the track championship.
And here is the proof. You can click on each photo and the letter to enlarge them.
It doesn't get much different than this - BIG 4-cycle, small 2-cycle!
Darrell Waltrip better be glad my feet didn't reach the pedals or things might have been different
Even at 11 I could almost see over the wheel
That's one racy looking kart
Here's the letter. I'd pay serious money for a copy of that show today.
For those who know me, you know I usually deal in stats and facts. I try not to let personal bias or opinion enter in to my work and I intended for this blog to abide by the same rules.
For this one, I’ll make an exception.
First off, thanks for the emails and phone calls with concern that something had happened because the blog came to a screeching halt. I apologize for that, and there are a couple of reasons for that.
First off, my 8th grade son got invited to move up from the middle school soccer team and play on the varsity team. So I’ve spent a lot of time watching soccer games this spring that I had not figured into my schedule. That included a trip to Knoxville for a game a couple of weeks ago.
Second, although I’ve been doing the television thing full time for 17 years as of last Sunday, and under normal circumstances I know what to expect from year to year, this spring I’ve just about gone a lap down.
With this being the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500 I’ve been involved in quite a few “extra” projects that have taken a lot of time doing research, compiling lists, and being on conference calls. And although the most exciting project I was involved with got derailed and isn’t going to happen, there is still a lot of really cool things happening in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing with the tv partners I’m involved with.
Staying with the personal theme, I’ll tell one of my favorite Fairgrounds stories. This one involves my favorite driver.
My memories of the Fairgrounds go back to 1963. I think I went to some races in ’62, but I really don’t have any memories of them. I can remember details from ’63.
Herb Lewis was my favorite that year. The reasons for that were we lived close, I went to school with his daughter, and he was friends with my Dad. When I had my first go-kart at the age of 5, I wore white gloves just like Herb did in his Modified Special.
This story was the caption of a photo in the 1964 program and I’ve talked to Herb about it and he confirmed that it’s true.
The morning of the 100-lap quarter-mile championship race at the end of the ’63 season Herb was getting ready to go to the track. He seemed to be spending a little extra time shaving. His wife Joanne asked him why the extra time. Herb said he was going to win the race that day and wanted to be clean shaved so he would scratch the trophy queen’s face when he kissed her in victory lane. Joanne said yeah, right, and if he did win there would be no kissing the queen until Joanne got to victory lane.
P.B. Crowell qualified on the pole in his number 48 and led the first 21 laps. Jimmy Griggs qualified 10th in the blue 709 and stormed through the field to take the lead on lap 22. He stayed at the front until lap 57 when his left front tire went flat and he was forced to pit.
Herb started 3rd in the #42 Bill Dyer car, a team car to Griggs. While Griggs led he had worked his way past Crowell and when Griggs went to the pits Lewis took the lead and was never headed for the remainder of the 100 laps. He was followed across the line by Crowell, Bobby Allison, Bobby Celsor, and Coo Coo Marlin.
Just as he had predicted that morning, Herb got to kiss the trophy girl. And true to her promise, Joanne was right there by his side in victory lane.
A footnote to the race: it was the last time the coupes raced on the quarter mile track.
I've had the color transparency and b&w negative in my files for a long time. They are both so big I had no way to scan them. I had to borrow a light box for another project and thought I'd try taking a digital photo of them on the light box.
Not perfect, but it worked ok.
My guess is the first photo was taken the day after the fire. For those who remember the original grandstands, this is a sad photo. What amazes me is the total devastation. Just no remains of anything. A sad photo, but a part of the history.
The other photo is from the high banked track. Hard to tell exactly, but it has to be between 1970 and 1972. The field is lined up on the front straight ready to go. Most likely for the Southern 300. Except for 1970 even the Cup races were held at night. I like it because you can see Cascade Plunge, the Skyliner, and Fair Park, plus most of what is now called the "Expo Center". Not many photos exist from this angle. Enjoy!
I'd never really given it any thought before, but in writing these stories I realize the track management in the early 60s was always willing to try new things. They added a support division (first Hobby cars, then Cadets), Figure-8 racing, knockout races, the Joie Chitwood Thrill show, and a Powder Puff division (although they had been tried at the Legion Bowl).
In 1964 another experiment was tried. Open Competition races. And the term is pretty much the rule book. And they led to some of the most diverse fields of race cars in the history of the Fairgrounds.
The first race was run October 18, 1964. It was two weeks after the regular season was finished, so there was no threat of having your car demolished and being eliminated from points contention.
And sure enough, cars came out of the woodwork. Quite a few of the Modified Specials were still around, having been the main division at Highland Rim in 1964. Sprint cars showed up from Ohio and Indiana. Super Modifieds or "Skeeters" flocked in from Memphis. Although they knew they were at a disadvantage, the local guys who switched over to the Late Model Modifieds made up a part of the entry. The race paid $1,000 to win. Second place in the Grand National race that summer paid $1,000, so that was pretty big money for the local drivers.
One of the stories that enticed the local fans was a combination of two of the strongest teams in Nashville racing. Bill Dyer owned the car Jimmy Griggs drove to the 1962 track championship and in 1963 Dyer had a fleet of three of the sharpest looking Modifieds to grace any racetrack. Charlie Binkley had moved up from the Hobby division to the Late Model Modifieds for 1964 and won the most races, taking home 6 victories. The two joined together for the 300-lap race, with Dyer putting Binkley behind the wheel of the #707 coupe. But there was one more twist - they decided to run a 75 gallon fuel tank so they could run the entire race without making a pit stop.
Thirty-nine cars took a qualifying lap and thirty cars took the green flag. Bobby Allison started from the pole with a fast lap of 20.11 seconds, breaking the track record of 20.50 set by his brother in qualifying for the 1963 Southern 300.
Another local favorite Jimmy Griggs was the first car out. Wrecks were frequent. A total of 91 of the 300 laps were run under the caution flag.
And the plan of Dyer and Binkley worked to perfection. Binkley won the race by more than a lap over Indianapolis 500 driver Carl Williams in a sprint car. The crowd of 7,500 liked what they saw.
The winning crew. L-R: Ken Gupton, Roy Binkley, Charlie Binkley, Ray Binkley, and Bill Dyer
Three Races were scheduled for the 1965 season. Two 100-lappers during the season and another 300-lap grind to close out the season. Because of the grandstand fire, the final race was canceled. Ellis Palasini came up from Memphis and won both of the 100-lap races with Griggs finishing second in the first one and fellow Memphis driver Armon Holley as the runner-up in the second race.
Coming to the green flag. You can see winged cars, full-bodied cars, and coupes scattered through the field.
The field lines up for the start
Ellis Palasini won both 100-lap races in 1965
Charlie Binkley hits the wall in his Late Model while a coupe spins and a sprint car slides down the banking just in front of Walter Wallace
The same schedule was used for the 1966 season. Two 100-lappers and a 300-lap race two weeks after the Southern 300. Palasini couldn't make the trip, but his car owner brought the car. He put Griggs in the car and not only did he win the two 100-lap races, but won the October race by 11 laps over second place finisher Dick Gaines.
Jimmy Griggs receives the trophy after a 100-lap Open Competition race from Sally Harrison and flagman Forrest Prince
Griggs stands beside his ride before the October 300-lap event
Two serious accidents marred the 1966 300-lap race. A multi-car accident in turns one and two took out three of the winged sprint cars.
Jack Marlin (#1), Dick Gaines (#70), and an unidentified car crash in turn one. Walter Wallace slips by in the #43
Charlie Stofel squeezes by on the inside in his 59 Plynouth
Bud Fox piles in to the scene in his #22 while Bobby Walker goes low and L.J. Hampton goes high in the 56
But one of the most violent crashes in Speedway history occurred on lap 28. Gene Glover spun his Super Modified coming off turn two. Marty Robbins squeezed by on the inside, but Ben Pruitt, driving Bill Dyer's Late Model Chevy, hit Glover a ton. The entire accident was captured on film in an award-winning sequence by J.T. Phillips.
Glover spins and looks for oncoming traffic
Glover continues his spin, still untouched
Marty Robbins gets by on the inside
Ben Pruitt slams into Glover
That's the gas tank over Pruitt's hood to the right of the wing on Glover's car
The cars continue sliding down the track as Bob Hunley goes high
Both cars come to a stop under the scoreboard
Coo Coo Marlin and safety workers attend to Glover
A note on the final photo. That's Coo Coo Marlin in the black on the left side of the car. he was the first person to Glover's aid. In a strange twist of fate, 35 years later Glover's son Tony would be the crew chief on Marlin's son Sterling's Winston Cup stock car. Glover nor Pruitt were seriously injured in the accident. After avoiding the accident, Marty Robbins continued on to a 4th place finish.
The final Open Competition race was held on October 15, 1967. One of the most radical cars ever seen at Nashville was brought in from West Tennessee for Walter Wallace to drive. It was a low-slung rear-engine car with a cage and a huge wing. Wallace adapted quickly to the car and qualified on the pole at the all-time track record for the half-mile track at 19.14 seconds, or an average speed of 94.04 miles per hour. The following photos all come from Walter Wallace's collection and were taken by Fred Marchman.
Staring alongside Wallace was Jimmy Griggs driving the same car in which he swept the 1966 races. Wallace told me he sat so low in the car that on the pace lap he looked to his left and all he could see was the right front hub on Griggs' car.
Wallace and Griggs line up at the front of the field
Wallace led the first 7 laps before Griggs took the lead. Wallace's day came to an end on lap 40 when he was caught up in a wreck on the backstraight with Don Nordhorn.
Wallace leads Griggs early in the race
End of the day for the rear-engined rocket
Griggs held the lead to lap 115 when his sway bar broke and forced him to the pits. Nolan Johncock from Hastings, MI, cousin of future Indy winner Gordon Johncock, took the lead and won by two laps over Herman Wise of Atlanta.
With the cars getting so exotic and more out of towners coming in and knocking the local guys out of the field (only 9 locals were in the '67 race) and the crowd dropped off to 5,500 for the '67 race, the Open Competition races were dropped after the 1967 season.
But in the seven races run over 4 seasons, race fans saw some incredibly fast racing, some scary crashes, and a lot of innovation. Another chapter in racing at the Fairgrounds had come to a close.
Some recently located 16mm film of one of the Open Comp races:
Here’s another answer to a request. I’m trying not to force my opinions within these stories. And when I do, I hope I make it clear when they are opinions. My goal is to make these factual stories on the grand history of racing at the Fairgrounds.
But I’ll admit up front, my arm didn’t have to be twisted to do this story. Of all the divisions through the years, my favorite has to be the coupes, or the Modified Specials as they were known officially.
I covered opening night in one of the early stories. This will be an overview of the six seasons the coupes were the headline division of the weekly Saturday night programs.
I think it’s safe to say that most people who saw them in person has the same opinion I have. There was something special about the coupes beside just their name. Two vastly different body styles were a trademark of the division – coupes, or the cars with a distinct roof and trunk, and the other body style which was called sedans, or cars with a roof that ran to the back of the car and dropped straight down with no trunk to speak of.
Herb Lewis leads Charlie Griffin on opening night. The next week ripple strips would be added inside the turns to keep drivers from dropping the left side wheels in the infield
Jimmy Griggs in 1958. This car won the first Southern 200
Joe Lee Johnson from Chattanooga was a winner in the coupes
Charlie Griffin won the opening race and was one of three drivers to win in 1958
The coupe body style was much more dominant. Few ran the sedans. One who did was Malcolm Brady. Brady related a story that when they first started running the sedans on the half-mile the rear end would get light and try to lift off the track at the end of the straights. Brady had a friend who worked at the Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville. The friend suggested cutting louvers, or slots, in the rear bodywork to allow the air to escape. That one change really brought the sedan to life, and Brady became hard to beat on the half-mile.
Malcolm Brady in victory lane at Bristol. The louvers can be seen through the numbers across the back of the car
The coupe body style most cars used were around 30 years old. Most were 1932 to 1934 models. The engines had straight pipes coming out of the heads which made them unbelievably loud and also made the flames shooting out plainly visible to the fans in the stands. The interiors were gutted, and many drivers used military surplus aircraft seats. The seats were mounted much further back than the stock seating position, with the driver’s head right at where the rear window would be located.
Contrasting body styles. 1959 - Coo Coo Marlin in a coupe leads Crash Bond in a sedan.
This is all they used for headers. It's hard to imagine how loud these were
Bob Reuther picks up the checkered flag after a win
During the coupe era, drivers would make a victory lap after a race win carrying the checkered flag. Because of the seat location, many drivers would hoist the flag out the rear window. Bob Reuther, the first track champion, was a polarizing personality. Much like Dale Earnhardt, fans either loved him or hated him. On many of Reuther’s victory laps the crowd would loudly boo him. Instead of holding the checkered flag out the window, Reuther would raise his arm and hold up a finger to the crowd that would earn him a fine were he to do that over 50 years later during an NFL game.
The first year on the paved track at the Fairgrounds, only three drivers figured out the powerful coupes on an asphalt track. Reuther, Jimmy Griggs, and Charlie Griffin won all the features in that first season.
It didn’t take the other drivers long to figure things out. In the second year, no less than 11 drivers won features with Jimmy Griggs winning 4 to lead all drivers. Coo Coo Marlin won his first of what would be 4 track championships.
Jack and Coo Coo Marlin lead Jimmy Griggs off turn 4 in this 1961 shot
Malcolm Brady and Jack Marlin sit by Charlie Stofel's car in the late 1980s
There were 11 different winners again in 1960 with Brady winning five and Bobby Celsor winning the championship. The 1961 season saw 13 different winners in a 21 race season! Coo Coo Marlin won 3 features to be the driver with the most wins for the season and Brady was the champion. When the fans walked through the gates in 1961 they really didn’t know who would win the feature at the end of the night.
The 1962 season was almost as competitive, with 12 different winners. Jimmy Griggs and P.B. Crowell led all drivers with 4 wins each and Griggs won the championship. The final year of the coupes again saw 12 different winners with Brady and Celsor both winning 3 features and Coo Coo Marlin being the most consistent to become the first driver to win multiple championships.
1963 - Bill Morton gets out of shape on the half-mile
1963 - Crowd favorite Eddie Mitchell in the "Poor 4"
1963 - Jimmy Griggs on the quarter-mile.
May 1963 - A graphic example of how far back the drivers sat as Griggs' head snaps out the window in this half-mile accident
Over the six years the coupes raced, 21 different drivers won races. Here’s the complete list of feature winners in the Modified Specials:
15 – Jimmy Griggs
13 – Bob Reuther
12 – Malcolm Brady
11 – L.J. Hampton
8 – Bobby Celsor
8 – Crash Bond
8 – Coo Coo Marlin
7 – P.B. Crowell
7 – Charlie Parrish
4 – Bill Morton
3 – Friday Hassler
3 – Charles Stofel
3 – Red Farmer
3 – Charlie Griffin
2 – Bobby Allison
2 – Eddie Mitchell
2 – Jack Marlin
2 – Marvin Caylor
1 – Herb Lewis
1 – Joe Lee Johnson
1 – Dean Jennings
At the end of the 1963 season track management made the decision to do away with the coupes. Parts were getting harder to locate and because the body styles were so old, fans couldn’t identify with the cars like they could a late model car. Many of the cars lingered around for a few years, running at Highland Rim, Sulpher Dell, and in the Open Competition races that were held at the Fairgrounds for the next 4 years. Herb Lewis won the final race on the quarter-mile track and Friday Hassler won the Southern 300 to be the last driver to take a checkered flag in a full field of coupes.
That checkered flag signified not only the end of a race, but the end of an era. An era that was “Special” in more ways than one.
October 6, 1963 - The final checkered flag falls on Friday Hassler and ends the Modified Special division
I’ll start by also apologizing for doing two Grand National stories in-a-row, but oddly enough I’ve had a couple of requests for a story on this particular race.
The 6th annual Nashville 400, run on August 4, 1963, looked to be just another typical Grand National race – along with the Southern 300, the highlight of the racing season at the Fairgrounds in the late 50s and early 60s.
Twenty-one cars started the race, and it was a relatively star-studded field for the 39th race of a 55 race schedule. Rex White, the 1960 champion who always ran well at Nashville, started on the pole. Richard Petty started 2nd. At this point in his career, the future King had only won 24 races in his career. Starting third was Richard’s Petty enterprises teammate Jim Paschal. Paschal was looking for his third consecutive win in the big summer race. Other big names in the field were Fred Lorenzen (on his way to the first $100,000 season in stock car racing history), defending series champion Joe Weatherly, Buck Baker, Ned Jarrett, Bobby Isaac, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, and ’63 Daytona 500 winner Tiny Lund. Local favorite Jimmy Griggs secured a ride for his hometown race.
Petty jumped ahead of White at the drop of the green flag and led the first 96 laps. Lund took the lead on a series of pit stops.
It was at this point that the race became anything but typical. Jim Paschal had taken the lead by using savvy pit strategy. Lund was still running well on lap 194 when his engine blew at the end of the back straight. As Lund’s car slid into the guard rail, he was hit by David Pearson. Pearson’s car pushed Lund’s on top of the railing, destroying two of the billboards that surrounded the track. Rex White was following close behind and ran under the rear of Lund’s car as it was on the guard rail, ripping the right front corner of the roof off just as if you’d used a giant can opener. White received lacerations on his arm that required stiches.
Lund’s car, after being hit in the rear where the gas tank was located, burst into flames with the nose of the car through the guard rail and the back pointing down the banking. Debris, smoke, and leaking fuel littered the track.
Lund was slow to crawl from the wreckage. Part of the reason was because, in spite of his nickname, Tiny Lund was a big man. He stood over 6 feet tall and weighed in at over 250 pounds. So his race car is on fire, he’s been through a harrowing crash, and he climbs out on top of a banked turn. The cars on the track have slowed for the wreckage and debris scattered across the track. As Lund stumbled down the banking, he staggered right into the side of the car driven by Cale Yarborough, putting a huge dent in the passenger door. Cale’s car owner, Herman “The Turtle” Beam, wasn’t very happy with Cale when he brought the car back with a dented door that didn’t result from an accident with another car.
Lund's car blazes before rescue workers arrive on the scene
The crash as seen from the stands. White's car on the left with the roof peeled back, Pearson's car rests nearby at the bottom of the banking while the Acme fire crew tries to extinguish the blaze
Lund's car is pulled from the crash site
Just 7 laps after the crash, as it has been know to do in Nashville on a hot summer day, an afternoon thunderstorm moved across the Fairgrounds, stopping the race for an hour and 24 minutes.
Between the red flag for the crash and another for rain, darkness was now an issue. Officials decided to stop the race after 350 laps. Jim Paschal scored his third straight Nashville 400 win, followed by Billy Wade, Joe Weatherly, Richard Petty, and Buck Baker.
Paschal passes the scene of the accident on his way to his 3rd straight Nashville 400 win
Just past the scheduled halfway mark, local driver Johnny Thoni took over as a relief driver for Jimmy Griggs. He spun the car coming off turn 4 and was narrowly missed by oncoming traffic. He got the car going and brought it home to a 12th place finish, still running when the checkered flag was displayed.
As the Grand National circuit loaded up in the dark to leave Nashville, the 6th Nashville 400 had been anything but a typical race.
