This Week in NASCAR History: July 13-19
by Tom Jensen July 13, 2020
Fireball Roberts, Richard Petty and Marvin Panch posted stellar results in the first half of the 1960s.
In 1997, Jack Roush’s powerhouse Ford team won seven premier series races. Photo courtesy of David Taylor/Allsport.
July 13, 1997
Hall of Fame team owner Jack Roush (2019) was the big winner in the Jiffy Lube 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway (now New Hampshire Motor Speedway) as Jeff Burton notched the victory in his Roush Fenway Racing Ford. In capturing the $117,875 first-place purse, Burton bested Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt (2010) and Rusty Wallace (2013). Coming home fifth was another Roush driver, Hall of Famer Mark Martin (2017).
In 1962, Richard Petty won a then-career-high eight premier series races. Photo courtesy of NASCAR Archives & Research Center.
July 14, 1962
Less than two weeks after his 25thbirthday, Hall of Famer Richard Petty (2010) finished three laps ahead of the entire field to capture the Pickens 200 at South Carolina’s Greenville-Pickens Speedway. Petty’s victory, one of eight he posted in 1962, paid $1,000. Fellow Hall of Famer Wendell Scott (2015) earned $400 for finishing in third place, six laps behind Petty and three laps behind runner-up Jack Smith.
After going winless in his first 13 starts of 1951, Herb Thomas broke through with a victory in Pittsburgh. Photo courtesy of NASCAR Archives & Research Center.
July 15, 1951
At Pittsburgh’s Heidelberg Raceway, a 0.500-mile dirt track, Hall of Famer Herb Thomas (2013) led 179 of 200 laps and lapped the entire field to capture his first of seven victories in what would become his first championship season. While Thomas was best known for piloting his Fabulous Hudson Hornet, he won this race – and the $1,000 purse – in an Oldsmobile owned by moonshiner Hubert Westmoreland.
Bobby Allison won the final premier series race at Trenton Speedway. Photo courtesy of Dozier Mobley/Getty Images.
July 16, 1972
It was a parade of Hall of Famers taking top honors at the peanut-shaped, 1.5-mile Trenton Speedway, where Bobby Allison (2011) won $7,900 for capturing the Northern 300 ahead of fellow Hall of Famers Bobby Isaac (2016), Richard Petty (2010) and Fred Lorenzen (2015). The Northern 300 was NASCAR’s eighth and final race at the historic New Jersey track, which, beginning in 1969, was reconfigured to feature a unique dogleg right turn on the backstretch. During the ’72 season, Allison matched his career-high with 10 race victories.
A victory at New Hampshire was one of five posted by Tony Stewart in 2005, during his second of three NASCAR premier series championship seasons. Photo courtesy of Ezra Shaw/Getty Images.
July 17, 2005
The New England 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway was a huge day for three teammates – one team owner and two drivers – each of whom went on to become members of the Hall of Fame Class of 2020. Tony Stewart earned $238,986 in a dominating victory that saw him lead 232 of 300 laps in his Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet. Stewart’s teammate, Bobby Labonte, finished third in another Chevy owned by Gibbs.
Marvin Panch enjoyed a successful 1965 season racing with the Wood Brothers. Photo courtesy of NASCAR Archives & Research Center /CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images.
July 18, 1965
Driving for Wood Brothers Racing, the Stuart, Virginia-based team founded and run by Hall of Fame brothers Glen (2012) and Leonard (2013) Wood, Marvin Panch won The Glen 151.8 road race at Watkins Glen International. Panch’s victory was worth $1,425, as he bested fellow Hall of Famers Ned Jarrett (2011), Buddy Baker (2020) and Cale Yarborough (2012). NASCAR would not race at Watkins Glen again until 1986. Despite competing in only 20 of 55 premier series races in 1965, Panch won four times and finished fifth in points.
Driver Fireball Roberts (l) and team co-owner John Holman enjoyed a successful 1963 season, with Roberts winning four races. Photo courtesy of NASCAR Archives & Research Center.
July 19, 1963
Driving a Holman-Moody Racing Ford with an engine built by Hall of Famer Waddell Wilson (2020), fellow Hall of Famer Fireball Roberts (2014) won a 200-lap race on the 0.500-mile Old Bridge Stadium paved oval track in Old Bridge, N.J. Fellow Hall of Famer Joe Weatherly (2015) led the first 179 laps but faded to sixth place. Roberts passed Weatherly with 21 laps to go, marking the only lead change of the race. The victory paid $1,000 to Roberts and the Holman-Moody team.
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