Martin
Truex, Jr. drove to Victory Lane in the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway two weeks ago, winning both preliminary stages and leading the final round by more than 15 seconds before surviving a final
green-white-checkered flag restart to claim his third victory of the 2017
campaign.
Truex’s win – coupled with another three-stage
sweep at Las Vegas Motor Speedway earlier this season and an even more-dominant
performance in last year’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte – drew howls of derision
from some corners of the NASCAR universe, as fans complained about a lack of
competition at the front of the pack.
Oh, if they only knew…
In
1967, a decade or three before many current fans were even born, Richard Petty
authored the most dominant season in NASCAR history. In 47 premier-series
starts on 14 paved ovals, 34 dirt ovals and the Riverside (CA) road
course, Petty won a whopping 27 times (57.4%). In all but nine of those
wins, Petty lapped the entire field.
 |
| Petty cruised to 27 wins... |
The
maximum number of cars finishing on the lead lap in any event that
season was three. In the Beltsville 200
at Maryland’s Beltsville Speedway on Friday night, May 19, only 16 cars took
the green flag, with winner Jim Paschal, Petty and third-place finisher Bobby
Allison finishing on the lead lap. Donnie Allison was two laps behind in fourth
place, with Paul Lewis five laps back in fifth.
Imagine
how today’s fans would react to a 16-car starting field, with just three
lead-lap finishers. The din would be deafening.
Twice
during that 1967 campaign, Petty went to Victory Lane after leading every lap from
green flag to checkers, maintaining the top spot even during green-flag pit
stops. His Petty Enterprises Plymouth was so dominant that for the season, the
North Carolina native enjoyed an average victory margin of 1.5 laps.
 |
| ...including a record 10 in a row. |
From
August 12 to October 1, Petty went undefeated, winning a record 10 consecutive
races at Winston-Salem (NC), Columbia (SC), Savannah (GA), Darlington (SC),
Hickory (NC), Beltsville (MD), Martinsville (VA) and North Wilkesboro (NC) Speedways.
Imagine
the reaction if Truex, Kyle Larson or Jimmie Johnson copped even three
checkered flags in a row this season.
In
addition to being the biggest winner of 1967, Petty was also the only driver to
run every event. He finished 6,028 points ahead of championship runner-up James
Hylton, who competed in 45 of 47 races. Third-place finisher Dick Hutcherson made only
32 starts, finishing nearly 9,000 points behind Petty.
“King
Richard” also led a total of 4,496 laps that season; an average of 166 circuits
per race.
Keep
that in mind the next time you’re tempted to grouse about a modern-day driver “dominating
the field” with a 10-second lead.
My first NASCAR race was at a long bulldozed dirt track in Old Bridge NJ Fireball Roberts won. 20 cars 12 were Fords. not many people showed up as I recall but the Ford's dominated this little 100 mile race. I remember it got to the point that people were leaving because it was so boring. The next week my Dad traded in my still loved '56 Ford 2 door wagon I learned to change the plugs on for a '63 Galaxie. I never liked Fords since then.
ReplyDeleteFord and Chrysler DOMINATED NASCAR for years. We were all so much better off starting in the 70's when the competition spread out among the brands.
Now we have THREE manufacturers, fewer races, cars without distinction, and an organization that no longer allows 'creativity' among the teams. Lasers and confiscations and penalties for ONE lug nut not being tight is just no way to entertain the fans. Personally I don't think the fans would scream if anyone went on a winning streak of three four or more races. I think NASCAR would step in and squash the team so that they wouldn't have to listen to the other owners and sponsors. The fans, 'eh they don't care what the fans think anymore. If Toyota or Ford pull out in the next couple of years there won't be a sport. And then we'll all reminisce about 'the good old days' when men smelled like oil and tires and got their faces dirty racing unwieldy dangerous machines on the weekends.
God help us.
Pistonhead from Texas