[BringBackWilkesboro]

Is it me, or does this part of our forum not get used nearly enough? Here's something I though might be a little fun. This Day in History. Kind of in the form of Bob's ongoing threads. Most of these will deal with races themselves, but I'll get in some micellanious things. My info is gathered from multiple sites (you think I am capable of remembering exact dates of all this?). First one:

March 13
3/13/83 - Richard Petty ends a 43 race winless streak and scores win number 196 in the Warner W. Hodgdon 500 at North Carolina Motor Speedway. He beat Bill Elliott by half a car length.

3/13/88 - Jeff Burton makes his 1st start in a NASCAR event in the Miller Classic at Martinsville driving a car owned by his father. It was a pretty un-ceramonious beginning though. His engine let go after only 2 laps. The race was won By Jimmy Hensley.

[Bob Tanner]

You know that I think it's a great idea! Really great, as a matter of fact.

I've got all kinds of info on dates. If you run into a date which gives you a problem, PM me and I'll see if I can dig something up.

GREAT IDEA!!!!! One way to help ensure a good future is to keep the past alive and never forget from where we came.

[BringBackWilkesboro]

Originally Posted by Bob Tanner

You know that I think it's a great idea! Really great, as a matter of fact.

I've got all kinds of info on dates. If you run into a date which gives you a problem, PM me and I'll see if I can dig something up.

GREAT IDEA!!!!! One way to help ensure a good future is to keep the past alive and never forget from where we came.

I imagine there will be plenty of dates that give me problems, but if you or anyone else has something to add to any date, I encourage it. It's a great way to spark a good discussion.

Here is what I have for today (you'll just love it ):

March 14
3/14/92 - Jeff Gordon wins the BGN Atalnta 300 for his first NASCAR victory, driving the Baby Ruth Bill Davis Ford.

Also, Aric Almirola is 25 and the late Bill Rexford would have been 82 today.

[BringBackWilkesboro]

March 16
3/16/80 - Youngsters by 1980 standars, Dale Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace finish 1 and 2 respectively in the Atlanta 500. Earnhardt was in his second season, and it was Wallace's first ever Cup start.

3/16/86 - Morgan Shepherd drives Jack Beebe's UNSPONSORED Buick to victory in the Motorcraft 500 at Atlanta. He held off Dale Earnhardt in the closing laps for his second career victory. 3 of Morgan's 4 Cup wins came at Atlanta.

3/16/03 - Ricky Craven (Maine's own) beats Kurt Busch by .001 in NASCAR's closest, and probably most exciting finish in the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington. It was Craven's second of two victories, both in the Cal Wells Tide car.

[fast1]

hey where can i find all these info?( i know it will all be here soon) but i feel like searching for it over the internet

[BringBackWilkesboro]

March 18
3/18/73 - David Pearson defines total domination in the Carolina 500 at Rockingham. Pearson started on the pole and went on to win the race, leading all but 1 lap in the 500 mile event. The only lap Pearson failed to lead was just barely led by Bobby Allison, and Richard Petty lost his engine trying to run with Pearson

3/18/79 - Wisconsin's Dave Watson's career comes to a tragic and abrupt end after he struck and killed crew member Dennis Wade on pit road while leading the Atlanta 500. Watson immediately parked the car and ended his brief 5 race career on the spot. Buddy Baker went on to win the race, snapping a 73 race drought.

3/18/84 - The late Benny Parsons wins the Coca-Cola 500 at Atlanta by .9 over Dale Earnhardt, his 21st and final Winston Cup victory.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by BringBackWilkesboro

March 18
3/18/73 - David Pearson defines total domination in the Carolina 500 at Rockingham. Pearson started on the pole and went on to win the race, leading all but 1 lap in the 500 mile event. The only lap Pearson failed to lead was just barely led by Bobby Allison, and Richard Petty lost his engine trying to run with Pearson

3/18/79 - Wisconsin's Dave Watson's career comes to a tragic and abrupt end after he struck and killed crew member Dennis Wade on pit road while leading the Atlanta 500. Watson immediately parked the car and ended his brief 5 race career on the spot. Buddy Baker went on to win the race, snapping a 73 race drought.

3/18/84 - The late Benny Parsons wins the Coca-Cola 500 at Atlanta by .9 over Dale Earnhardt, his 21st and final Winston Cup victory.

My brother crashed on lap 64 of that race, finishing 38th after qualifying 24th.

[Bob Tanner]

If you don't mind me adding one...

3/18/62
HILLSBORO, NC (Mar 18 ) -- Rex White galloped into the lead with five laps to go and scored a narrow victory over Richard petty in the 99-mile Grand National race at the refurbished Orange Speedway. It was his second win in the 1962 season.
Jim Paschal finished third, Jack Smith was fourth and Buddy Baker fifth.
Tommy Irwin and Buck Baker crashed in the opening lap as a cloud of dust shrouded the first turn. Baker blamed the accident on the dust, and officals red flagged the race for an hour to water the track.

Can anyone imagine the reaction if they'd thrown a phony "debris caution" back in 1962?

[BringBackWilkesboro]

March 22
3/22/59 - One month after coming out on the losing end of the famous finish and protest in the inaugural Daytona 500, Johnny Beauchamp makes his next start and wins at the Lakewood Speedway dirt track in Atlanta. He started 2nd, passed Buck Baker at the start and led all 100 laps en route to his first of two Grand National victories.

[BringBackWilkesboro]

March 24
3/24/70 - During a Goodyear tire test at Talledega, Buddy Baker turns a lap of 222.447 becomming the first man to break 200 mph on a closed course and establishing himself as 'the fastest man on four wheels'.

[BringBackWilkesboro]

March 27
3/27/60 - Lee Petty wins a controversial Gwyn Staley 160 at North Wilkesboro over Junior Johnson. Petty bumped passed Johnson in the closing laps to win his then record 49th race. After the race he is pelted with rocks and other debris.

3/27/66 - New York's Jim Hurtubise pulls off a very popular underdog win in the Atlanta 500. After suffering severe burns in an earlier Indy car crash, Hurtubise tamed a 44 car field for 500 miles, leading 139 laps and beating Holman-Moody drivers Fred Lorenzen and Dick Hutcherson by 1 lap.

3/27/88 - Lake Speed wins the Transouth 500 at Darlington, his first and only Cup win. He and fellow owner/driver Alan Kulwicki finished 1-2 in a race marred by engine faliures. A total of 14 cars retired due to engine problems.

I've also got a couple useless stats for today. Cale Yarborough is in the record books (somewhere, I'm sure) as being the only driver to win a race on his birthday, which is today. He won at North Wilkesboro on the 27th in '77 and again at Atlanta in '83. In the same race in '83, Buddy Arrington in the Landmark Dodge led lap 55 of 334, the last lap a Dodge would lead in a Cup event until the first lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

Getting back to Yarborough, he is 70 today.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by BringBackWilkesboro

March 27
3/27/60 - Lee Petty wins a controversial Gwyn Staley 160 at North Wilkesboro over Junior Johnson. Petty bumped passed Johnson in the closing laps to win his then record 49th race. After the race he is pelted with rocks and other debris.

3/27/66 - New York's Jim Hurtubise pulls off a very popular underdog win in the Atlanta 500. After suffering severe burns in an earlier Indy car crash, Hurtubise tamed a 44 car field for 500 miles, leading 139 laps and beating Holman-Moody drivers Fred Lorenzen and Dick Hutcherson by 1 lap.

3/27/88 - Lake Speed wins the Transouth 500 at Darlington, his first and only Cup win. He and fellow owner/driver Alan Kulwicki finished 1-2 in a race marred by engine faliures. A total of 14 cars retired due to engine problems.

I've also got a couple useless stats for today. Cale Yarborough is in the record books (somewhere, I'm sure) as being the only driver to win a race on his birthday, which is today. He won at North Wilkesboro on the 27th in '77 and again at Atlanta in '83. In the same race in '83, Buddy Arrington in the Landmark Dodge led lap 55 of 334, the last lap a Dodge would lead in a Cup event until the first lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

Getting back to Yarborough, he is 70 today.

ah, the old days when fans had a sense of the right and wrong way to win a race - and were able to do something about it!!!

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

ah, the old days when fans had a sense of the right and wrong way to win a race - and were able to do something about it!!!

Do I sense someone else who "Is stuck in 1979"

[BringBackWilkesboro]

I've been working on ways of getting more info lately, so the amount of info I have for each should start increasing. It all comes from a variety of websites I've spent time looking for, stockpiled media I have stowed away a few personal accounts. It's become more work than I intended it to be but I enjoy it. I enjoy what I discover trying to find this stuff.

And again, if anyone has anything to add, feel free.

March 28
3/28/54 - 2 Grand National races are run on the same day at opposite ends of the country. Al Keller wins in Savannah Georgia and Dick Rathman wins across the country at Oakland Stadium in California.

3/28/71 - David Pearson wins the Southeastern 500 at Bristol in another of his great battles with Richard Petty. He and Petty traded the lead 4 times throughout the race and were the only two that finished on the lead lap. It was Pearson's final win driving for Holman-Moody.

3/28/93 - Alan Kulwicki finishes 6th in the Transouth 500 at Darlington. Sadly, it proves to be his final race as the reigning champion is killed in a plane crash days later.

[BringBackWilkesboro]

March 29
3/29/59 - Richard Petty shows up in the top 5 for the first time in a Grand National race. He finished 3rd in a 200 lap race at the Wilson, NC dirt track.

3/29/81 - Darrell Waltrip kicks off an amazing streak of 7 consecutive Bristol victories with a win in the Valleydale 500. Tim Richmond scores his first career top ten in the race.

3/29/87 - Bill Elliott runs out of gas in turn 3 on the last lap of the Transouth 500 at Darlington, giving the win to Dale Earnhardt, who dominated most of the race. Rodney Combs in the DiGard Chevy DNF due to ignition problems and finished 37th in the team's last race.

3/29/92 - Bill Elliott battles Davey Allison and Harry Gant for much of the day and wins the Transouth 500 at (you guessed it!) Darlington. It is Elliott's 4th win in a row and 4th out of the first 5 in the '92 season, yet he still trails Allison buy 48 points at the end of the day.