Classic NASCAR Photo of the Day: Sticking with the "1 a day" model for right now... here is Cale Yarborough in a '65 Ford tangling with a then young promising driver named Sam McQuagg while battling for the lead... Yarborough got the worst of it, as you can see....

 

Wow! Great Photo Duane!

What a Pile up! Did you happen to notice all the vehicles in the background? Look how close they are to the action on the track! I also noticed a few nice Impalas,Pontiac, oldsmobile in he back ground also that Comet just below the guard rail... Yikes!

Now im wondering...Did Cale end up off the track on his lid? or did they all remain on the track upright?

Good stuff Duane!

 

To answer your question, I'll throw in a bonus "Photo of the Day."






And I don't think he hit any of those cars in the parking lot, strangly enough.

 

Good answer! Duane...well good thing they didnt hit any of those parked so close to the track! Looks like Cale couldnt fix that one and return to the race!

To think from the looks of his car...We all know he survived it...But from the wrinkles and the impact points...That must have been one hell of a ride! Lemme guess.. all he had for safety was a seat belt and a roll cage! Hence Cale Yarbourough dubbed the "IRON MAN".

Also checkout that "Sling" style wrecker. with a dual boom system...Pretty cool lookn!

I think the wreckers a Chevrolet! (TOWing a ford) lol

 

I was thinking the same thing. I was also think how close they looked like the cars on the track. Cale coulda hopped the wall, wrecked his car, hopped out of his car and into another parked there and pulled it onto the track - no one would have even noticed the swap!

 

Good Point Brent!

 

Cale wasn't nick named iron man... that was Terry Labonte, who beat out Richard Petty for most consecutive starts in teh 1996 race at North Wilkesboro in the spring... and ran a special "iron man" paint job.... and out ran his teammate, Jeff Gordon to get his 1st win of the year en route to a championship....








Rick Hendrick took that car straight to the Hendrick Museum. Later in the year, Terry Labonte wanted the car back because it was such a fast car and he thought he would need it to win teh championship. I believe Labonte crashed it in practice at Phoenix.

 

In the spirit of today being race day, I wll post THREE NASCAR Photos of the day. Along with the promised story of the Monte Carlo's entry to NASCAR.


It all started in 1971. Ford had withdrawn much of its money in 1970 and completely pulled out of racing beginning in 1971. Dodge withdrew all of its support with the exception of the Petty team, which fielded a Plymouth for Richard Petty and a Dodge for Buddy Baker. Chevrolet had already pulled out in '64 at Daytona when their 427 "mystery motor" was outlawed.



For most of the year, there were about three competitive teams. The Wood Bros and Donnie Allison were competitive but didn't have much luck, Richard Petty was good, and Bobby Allison took his Coca~Cola sponsorship to Holman-Moody and had a good year.


Many top notch drivers "lost their way" when the manufacturers pulled out. Lee Roy Yarbrough found a random team to run part of '71 with after Junior couldn't get Ford support anymore. Charlie Glotzbach lost his ride. Cale Yarborough left the Wood Bros to go drive USAC and Indy car for a few years. Donnie Allison soon followed Cale to Indy.

The lack of competition was hurting NASCAR ticket sales and many wondered if the sport would survive ,with the manufacturs being in trouble and the looming oil crisis coming up. So Richard Howard, then the President of Charlotte, approached Junior Johnson about putting up the money himself to put a competitive Chevrolet on the race track for the first time since 1963. Johnson took the offer, and the new team was called "Howard-Johnson." I don't know if they were inspired by the hotel, or the hotel was inspired by them, or it was all just a freaky coincidence.

There were plenty of top notch drivers on hand after the manufacturers pulled out. Johnson approached Charlie Glotzbach and offered to have him drive a #3 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for the World 600. Glotzbach accepted. Glotzbach put the car on the poll. Mysteriousl, NASCAR found somethign illegal on teh car and disqualifed the lap and bascially put the car out of the race. The return of the Chevrolet began to look grim.


However, does anyone find it suspicious the track owner owned this car? Mysteriously, in an unprecedented decision, and one that has never been made again, the mystery Monte Carlo was allowed to re-qualify on Saturday afternoon and started 26th. The car took 42 laps to make ti to the front and led much of the early part of the race.

However, Charlie Glotzbach was known as "Chargin' Charlie" for a reason. He often overdrove cars in a time when getting the most out of the engine every lap would often blow engines or the cars handling just couldn't be kept up for that long. Charlie charged too hard and crashed out while running 2nd on lap 232. Richard Howard immediatly went to the press box and announced another car would be built for the National 500 race in October.


The car was built before then. Howard-Johnson entered the car in a few races over the summer and put and even got Chevrolet its first major win since 1963. Chargin' Charlie Glotzbach won a caution free race at Bristol in July 1971, which today stands as a race record for overall race speed at Bristol. The record: 500 laps in 2 hrs 38 min 12 s (101.074 mph).


At Charlotte at least, the '71 Monte Carlo was painted to resemble the car Junior Johnson won at Charlotte with in 1963.









All of these pictures were scanned from either Greg Fielden's NASCAR Chronicle or Fielden's book on Charlotte Motor Speedway.



More on this story to come later....

 

Great Story Duane!
I had no idea !!!! TKS!

 

Did Richard Childress give them permission to use the #3? Because I'm pretty sure he owns and invented the number. How else could he have all rights to the number 3 to do with as he desires?

Theresa Earnhardt invented the #8