Throwback Thursday – August 18
– In 1954 Glen Wood won a 35-lap NASCAR Late Model race at Lynchburg Speedway (VA). The event saw Perk Brown finish second with Emanuel Zervakis, Gordon Snead, and Billy Myers rounding out the top five. Wendell Scott was 11th and Curtis Turner was 12th. Wood came back to win the final NASCAR Late Model event at the track in 1955. The track was paved before the 1954 season and would close in 1956.
THE THIRD TURN: 1954 NASCAR Late Model Sportsman National Championship at Lynchburg Speedway
– In 1961, we saw a young Junior Johnson in his prime dominate a NASCAR Cup Series race at Southside Speedway (VA). Johnson started on the pole in his Pontiac and led all 150-laps to claim the win. Johnson won seven races and 10 poles during the 1961 season and was sixth in the final points. The track would run three more Cup races at longer distances and Jimmy Pardue, Jim Paschal and Ned Jarrett would win races. Ironically, this was the best Johnson ever did in the points as a driver. He won 13 races in 1965, but missed 20 events. Johnson might have won 100 races had he run full time in the 60s.
THE THIRD TURN: 1961 NASCAR Grand National Series at Southside Speedway
– In 1976, Richie Evans picked up a win in the North East Auto Racing Association. The victory came at the Capital City Speedway (ON) over Jim Shampine. What makes it extra special is that Jerry Cook was in third in the event. Cook and Evans were rivals and would chase NASCAR points all over the states, but on this day they both went north of the boarder to race in Canada outside of the NASCAR banner. Evans won 28 times in the series that year, as he basically was away from NASCAR in 1976.
– Mike Cope won a 200-lap NASCAR Winston All-American Challenge Series race at Nashville on this date in 1990. Cope outlasted Randy Porter, Mike Garvey and Gary Bradberry for the victory. Lee Faulk was fifth in the 31 car field. Some of these same drivers returned to run the All American 400 just a few weeks later, but it was Gary St. Amant who would win the 400 that year.
THE THIRD TURN: 1990 Gold Medal Chevrolet Dealers 200 at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway
– You never forget your first win and Dale Jarrett made it extra special, as he won a thrilling side-by-side battle with Davey Allison to claim his first NASCAR Cup Series win on this date in 1991. Jarrett was driving for the Wood Brothers, scoring his only win in the 21 car before he joined a brand new Cup team started by Joe Gibbs. A little known fact about the win is that Jarrett would win in his next start at Bristol, competing in the Busch Grand National Series.
THE THIRD TURN: 1991 Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan International Speedway
-Photo credit: RacingOne/Getty Images
