World Speed Record at the Fairgrounds

For almost 100 years, September in Nashville means it’s time for the Tennessee State Fair. And for many of those 100 years there has been some type of racing happening on the variety of tracks that have been on the Fairgrounds site. This story is to belatedly celebrate the 65^th anniversary of the day the Fairgrounds played a major part of racing history.

My job working races with the tv crew has allowed me to do some things and meet some people I never would have dreamed I would have had the opportunity to do or meet.

One of the coolest people I’ve met on my journey never actually raced at the Fairgrounds, but in 1946 he set a world’s record speed for a one mile dirt oval on the track at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds.

If you’re over 50 and have been a race fan since you were a kid you know the name Andy Granatelli. In 1963 he returned the famed Novi cars to the starting field at Indianapolis. In 1964 he came up with a promotion for a product sold by one of his companies and it made that product a household name.

The product was an oil treatment called STP. Andy designed a uniform for the pit crews to wear that looked like white pajamas with the red oval STP stickers plastered all over them.

Andy’s first trip to Indianapolis was for the big race in 1946. After a brief stint behind the wheel (which is a story in itself!) he owned cars throughout the fifties and sixties before Mario Andretti won the 1969 Indianapolis 500 driving a car owned by Granatelli.

If you are in your forties and are a long-time stock car fan, you might remember a little sponsorship deal Andy did just before the start of the 1972 NASCAR season. Again, it involved STP, and he thought it would be a good idea to sponsor a car in the series Winston had just signed on to be the title sponsor. Andy signed Richard Petty and Buddy Baker as his drivers, got Richard to change the color of his cars from Petty Blue to STP red (with a little blue to keep the King happy), and as of now the longest sponsorship partnership in the history of racing was born.

But before all of this, Andy was a driver. Maybe that was by default. More than a driver, Andy was a promoter. And that’s a whole other story. Are you starting to figure out there is no such thing as a simple story when it comes to Andy Granatelli?

After World War II Al Sweeney was promoting a circuit for sprint cars called the IMCA (for International Motor Contest Association). They were a rung below the cars that ran at Indianapolis on the racing ladder. To make a long story short, Sweeney decided they needed a rocket car to help promote the races. The car wouldn’t compete in the races, but it would run an exhibition before the race to help draw in a crowd. And he hired the Granatelli brothers to build the car.

You can’t just make any old car into a rocket car. So Andy and his brothers Joe and Vince, took a 1934 model Indianapolis race car and added steel casings for eight rocket tubes. Sweeney bought a load of rockets from a war surplus store. His plan was for Andy to drive the car on a couple of warn up laps, then as he came down the front straight he would fire the rockets one by one and with all the fire and smoke created by the rockets, no one in the crowd would know how fast he was actually going. And by all accounts, when he fired those rockets, it was spectacular.

It just so happened that one of the races on the IMCA circuit was held on the dirt track at the Fairgrounds in September of 1946. And it wasn’t just Andy Granatelli who was coming here in his rocket car to attempt a world’s record, it was the famous Italian driver Antonio the Great. Sweeney was a magnificent promoter. It was proclaimed in the newspaper the week leading up to the race that Antonio would be here in his “Grancor Rocket” (Grancor being the after-market speed accessory business run by Andy and his two brothers. Grancor was short for “Granatelli Corporation”.) 

A promotional photo from the Nashville Banner, 9/20/1946

Before we get to race day and the rocket car exhibition a little background history lesson is in store. This was September 1946. This was the first racing event to be held at the Fairgrounds since 1941. The first State Fair since 1941. People were starved for entertainment. This was 4 years before Nashville even had a television station.

So what happened during the fair? According to newspaper reports, record crowds showed up. The Fair set attendance records every day of its six day run. But the final day of the fair was more than anyone could have imagined. Again remember, this was 15 years before the interstate bridge crossed the Cumberland River. The only access from the north or east parts of Nashville to the Fairgrounds was across the Shelby, Woodland, or Jefferson Street bridges. There is a photo in the newspaper of cars lined up two abreast across the Shelby Street bridge, backed up on Fourth Avenue all the way from the Fairgrounds, and no telling how far back up Shelby Street on the other side of the river. Having seen the photo it’s still hard for me to imagine that many cars going to the Fairgrounds. The Sunday edition of The Nashville Tennessean dated September 22, 1946, reported there were 56,000 people in attendance at the auto race. That’s FOUR TIMES the capacity of the current grandstand.

Realize too that the track was a mile long (actually a mile and an eighth – it has something to do with horse racing) and the midway of the Fair was in the infield of the track and the infield was packed as well as the grandstands. So I certainly can’t prove the 56,000 number is wrong.

With the stands packed to the rafters and people lining the fences all around the track, Antonio the Great makes his run in the Grancor Rocket Firebug. And in the process set a new world’s record of over 108 miles per hour. Right here in Nashville, Tennessee, at our beloved Fairgrounds.

Sometime around 2006 or 2007 I made one of my many trips to the library with the intent of researching some of the State Fair races. For some reason I picked 1946 to research. I read through microfilm of the week of the Fair and the weekend reports of the races. And sure enough, right there on the front page of the Sunday Nashville Tennessean was the story about the race, the record run, and a photo of Antonio Granatelli in his rocket car with the packed grandstand in the background.

Now we come back to early in the story where I talked about being fortunate enough to meet some very cool people. It was the day before the 2008 Indianapolis 500 and the ESPN on ABC crew was rehearsing for the race the next day. I was in the broadcast booth in the Pagoda. A rather large tour group came through, and I recognized the leader of the group. It was Andy Granatelli. He was sitting off to the side, letting someone else do the speech to the group about the Pagoda, and I knew I had a copy of that 1946 newspaper on my laptop. I introduced myself to Andy and asked if he had a minute. When he said he did I grabbed my laptop and showed him the story in the paper.

He remembered it vividly. He confirmed the part about the people lining the fences. He remembers thinking they were braver than he was. They were leaning on the old wooden single-rail fence that was mainly there for the horse races. He said he wasn’t sure himself where that car was going at over 100 miles per hour, but they stood only inches away with complete trust he could keep the car under control.

He also talked about how narrow the track looked at over 100 miles per hour. And how dusty it was. Home movies I’ve seen confirm the dust problem, and local drivers who raced on the dirt track have told me there was only about a 6 inch layer of dirt spread on a layer of cork. That was to help prevent injuries to the horses, but the dirt wasn’t deep enough to absorb enough water to prevent the track from becoming a literal dust bowl when the cars raced on it.

I’m proud to say that from that meeting in 2008 that Andy and I have become friends. He hosts a small private dinner every year in Indianapolis a couple of nights before the 500 and I’ve been lucky enough to be a guest the last three years. The first two years I was seated right next to Andy’s younger brother Vince and have heard some amazing racing stories first hand from someone who has attended every Indianapolis 500 since 1946.

All because of a chance meeting. But most important, because of another chapter the Fairgrounds played in the history of auto racing.

Andy was gracious enough to allow me to have my picture taken with him in 2009

Eddie's Big Crash

I have to tell this story on new Nashville Fairgrounds Hall of Fame inductee Eddie Mitchell.

Eddie started his career in quarter midgets in the early fifties, running at tracks around the Nashville area, even racing up in Bowling Green.

He then moved into cars, as a regular at both the Legion Bowl and Old Hickory Speedway. Out of 17 races at Old Hickory in 1959, Eddie finished either first or second 9 times, along with 4 other documented top 5 finishes, and that’s just from the available results. The paper didn’t even list the top 5 finishers every week, so it’s impossible to know just how good a season he had. But I think most drivers would be happy if “all” the results showed were 13 top fives in 17 races!

This story involves a wicked looking crash Eddie had in his familiar “Poor Four” Modified Special during one of the races held on the half-mile in 1963.

As luck would have it, both J.T. Phillips (the Tennessean photographer) and Bobby Johnson (photographer for the Banner) were both between turns 3 and 4 and both captured the accident on film.

Malcolm Brady blew an engine heading into turn 3, dumping oil on the track. Of course his rear wheels got in the oil and he lost control, spinning and slamming into the outside wall, the impact so hard that both rear wheels left the ground. As Brady was spinning, Mitchell was the next car storming into turn 3 and also hit the oil, and with the track slick from the oil, had minimal control. He was trying to tiptoe around the bottom of the banking, hoping to get under Brady’s spinning car. But Brady came off the wall right in front of Mitchell. Mitchell’s right front ran up over Brady’s left front, and that sent the black #4 flipping.

The car did a couple of violent flips and spins in the air, knocking both front wheel and hub assemblies off in the process. After all of that, the car landed upright and was pointed in the right direction on the track, only missing most of the front end of the car.

The crowd held it’s breath as Eddie unbuckled his seat belts. Most of the Modified Specials ran with either no windshield or a partial windshield. After getting the belts off, Eddie just stood up through where the windshield would be. An audible sigh of relief could be heard from the crowd. Then from the stands it looked like Eddie slumped back down into his seat.

Eddie’s wife Hilda had been through a roller coaster of emotions in just under a minute. From watching her husband crash, worrying if he was alright, the relief of seeing him stand up, then the panic when he apparently collapsed back into the seat.

Eddie stands up briefly right after the car stopped tumbling

It wasn’t until after the races were finished and she was able to get to the pits was she assured that he was all in one piece. But what about the post-crash collapse? Did he get the wind knocked out of him?

Eddie replied that no, he was fine. When he stood up, he was checking to see if all his body parts were still in the right place and noticed his wallet was missing. It had slipped out of his pants pocket in the crash and he looked down and saw it in the seat. He had to sit back down in the driver’s seat to retrieve it! 

Wallet retrieved, Eddie scampers from the car

A TV Star in the Making

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.

Kissing the Trophy Girl

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 8^th 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 100^th 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 100^th 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 10^th 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 3^rd 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.

A couple of new photos

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!

Run What Ya Brung

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:

The Modified Specials - And Special They Were

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