We've all watched with a little trepidation, a little anger, a little humor and even some, "Yeah! Smack him!!!" You know... we all do it. So what's he talking about? Them "on track" feuds we all love and hate at the same time. Those Jimmy Spencer/Kurt Busch feuds. The ones that seem to build to a crescendo of paint swapping, bumper rubbing, spark flying paybacks before NASCAR steps in and slaps somebody (or bodies) with a trip to the "Big Red" truck and a hefty fine. So is this new? Something dreamed up by the NASCAR promoters (my little jab at the "fixed" rumor spreaders)? Is it bad for our favorite sport?
I thought I'd spend a little time on this almost winter morning while I'm sitting around the house feeling sorry for myself with this head banging skull ache I'm a suffering from. So I have a few minutes to waste and if you got the same I'll try to entertain you for a brief respite with a story of one of the better fender rubbing episodes of the past. If I get a few emails saying you enjoyed this I might make NASCAR History 101 a regular (or as "regular" as a 47 year old man can be) routine.
Back on August 27th, 1966 they were running a race at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston Salem, NC. Bowman Gray was a 1/4 mile paved track and famous for it's tight turns and temper-raising tight racing. On the track that hot August day were two racers known for hot tempers, Curtis Turner and Bobby Allison. Now Turner was as famous as they come and had just returned to NASCAR racing the year before after being kicked out of NASCAR racing for trying to unionize the drivers in 1961. Known as "Pops", Turner was famous for his "pops" he put on the back bumpers of cars to get them loose and allow him to drive under the sliding car ahead. For the first season in his career, Allison, the brash young driver from Alabama, was running more than a couple picked races in a '65 Chevy owned by J. D. Bracken. Allison was a small track driver who was known to not give an inch and give back whatever he was given.
Turner, in Junior Johnson's 66 Ford, had started the race in 4th place with Allison on the inside in 3rd. Like all small tracks, the inside groove was the place to be and by lap 8 Turner had "popped" Allison in the rear, hooked him and spun Allison's #2 for a lost lap. David Pearson, who had started on the outside pole next to pole winner Richard Petty, had grabbed the lead on the first lap and was still leading at lap 97 when Turner was able to slide up past him for the lead. Allison, meanwhile, was battling Turner to get his lap back. Old "Pops" was doing a masterful job of blocking the track with Allison low and "Tiger" Tom Pistone fighting to grab the lead on the outside.
At lap 100 Pistone made his move high. Turner slammed his car high, blocking Pistone and causing him to bounce off the retaining wall. Allison saw the bottom open up and stomped his gas to get a fender on Turner. Three abreast at this small track was just not going to work and Allison and Turner got together. Turner spun, Allison and Pistone slowed and Richard Petty slipped on up to take the lead. Turner was steamed and slowly began rolling around the track. Everyone knew he was waiting for Allison to come around again and get some "paybacks!" Trouble was, Allison knew it too and when he saw "Pops" rolling along slowly ahead of him he knew what Turner had in mind.
Allison was equally the hothead that Turner was and he wasn't going to let the old veteran scare this rookie. So as he approached Turner's slow moving car he turned left and rear ended Turner. The battle was on. Turner and Allison beat, banged, rammed and smashed each other for the next 10 caution laps. NASCAR was evidently hoping things would work themselves out and sat idly by while these two made scrap heaps of their owners cars. Finally, after Turner spun Allison and then Allison spun Turner again, "Pops" slowed and waited for Allison to catch up one more time. Allison, once more, didn't fall into the ambush, took the initiative one more time and buried the front of his car into the back of Turner's. Nascar then ejected the two from the race, a moot point since both cars were no longer able to run.
As the two battered vehicles rolled to a stop on the front stretch fans began to jump over the fence and rush the two vehicles. Police had to be called in to restore peace before the race could be finished with Pearson being the eventual winner. As for the combatants? Well, both drivers were fined $100.00 for "rough driving". Said Junior Johnson, the owner of Turner's crushed car, to "Pops", "If that happens again I'll pay the fine and you pay for fixing the race car." Allison was quoted as saying that they deserved to be fined and that the incident started at and ended at Bowman Gray Stadium. This turned out to be true as the following week at the Southern 500 an early blown engine put Allison out of the race at lap 71 with Turner crashing his Johnson Ford on lap 348, 6 laps from the end. Johnson, mad about the two wrecks in a row fired Turner and "came out of retirement" to run his own car the following week.
And NASCAR? That hefty $100.00 fine was exactly what the race purse paid for Turner and Allison's 17th and 18th place finishes in the 24 car field. Imagine what NASCAR would hand out nowadays for a repeat of that incident?
Now we know!