Story on Meyer Speedway

[txtom]

This article is on the Nascar website:

 

Space City

[RETrott]

Tom,

If those grandstands held 9000, they were there. If you stood up, your seating place disappeared. That being said, with 14 cars/15 drivers competing and $2000 to win, somewhere someone made a nice profit. One of the NASCAR regulars, whose name escapes me now, started the event driving the Almeda Auto Parts Pontiac, but "tired" during the pace lap(s) and was relieved of driving duties by H B Bailey. But, he did keep his driver points for a top ten finish. The picture is not from that event, and that does not appear to be Ronnie Chumley driving the Vita-Fresh #00 Car in that picture. My guess would be Tony Bettenhausen II. However, after loosing about 30 laps on a green flag pit stop, possibly to change the distributor, Richard Petty put on a driving show and did unlap himself several times during the green flag event. In other words, no "Lucky Dog" laps or "Wave Around" laps.

[txtom]

One of the NASCAR regulars, whose name escapes me now, started the event driving the Almeda Auto Parts Pontiac, but "tired" during the pace lap(s) and was relieved of driving duties by H B Bailey.

 

Probably Frank Warren, who was driving Bailey's entry. Warren blew an engine at Riverside the Sunday before Houston.

 

As for the #00, Tony Bettenhausen never ran that number in a Vita-Fresh entry in Nascar; he ran #84 once in 1973 driving a Buster Davis entry, #38 4 times in 1973 for Van Liew, and #9 in 1974 for most, but all, the season for Van Liew. Bettenhausen ran a total of 33 Cup races, all in '73-'74 with the exception of one race in 1982 driving Cecil Gordon's car #24.

 

The Vita Fresh Sponsorship was only on a #00 for two races; both in 1971, at Houston, and later in the year at TWS. Both of those races had R.B Chumley listed as the car owner. Ronnie Chumley is listed as driver; I assume them to be the same person.

 

Now, back to the picture, there was never anywhere at Meyer that the background signage would have been present, and the letters shown appear to be part of "Speedway". The car on the outside is the #18 of Joe Frasson, who was not entered in the Space City race. He was, however, entered and raced in the Texas 500 held on 12 December, 1971 at Texas World Speedway. That was also the only other race the #00 of Chumley appeared, so that where the picture in the original article was taken.

[RETrott]

Tom,

I kinda figured you'd have "the rest of the story". And, now that you mentioned Frank Warren, that does seem to be as I now remember as being the "starting driver" in Burl's Pontiac.

[tommyo]

txtom is correct - I have no photos of Joe Frasson (Minneapolis, MI) from the Space City 300, but I do have photos of both him and the #00 from the Texas 500 of the same year.