Fire and Rain (with apologies to James Taylor)

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 6^th 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 39^th race of a 55 race schedule. Rex White, the 1960 champion who always ran well at Nashville, started on the pole. Richard Petty started 2^nd. 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 12^th place finish, still running when the checkered flag was displayed.

As the Grand National circuit loaded up in the dark to leave Nashville, the 6^th Nashville 400 had been anything but a typical race.