Parade of Champions II

[ricklou]

Tim Flock and his brothers brought a carnival atmosphere to Nascar. The Flying Flock Brothers they were called. At one point Tim put his pet monkey Jocko into the race car. This did not end well when Jocko went bonkers after a mishap during a short track race. All kidding aside Tim Flock was the real deal behind the wheel winning the championship in 1952 and 1955.





They say that seein is believin but anyone who was fortunate enough to hear Tim Flocks stories smoothly roll off of his tongue found the richness and lore of early Nascar.



Lee Petty was the first driver to make Nascar racing his business with one primary goal and that was to feed his family including a skinny kid with big ears.



Petty saved his smiling for victory lane to the tune of 54 wins becoming Nascar's first three time champion. Lee capped off a wonderful career with winning the first Daytona 500.





If Curtis Turner was tough as nails then Buck Baker was hard as a rock becoming the first to win two consecutive Grand National championships. If there was any driver that Turner truly respected it was Buck.



There was no doubt that Baker could drive a car. At the age of 57 he finished 6th in the 1976 Rebel 500 at Darlington.



Talk about a Lead Sled ....Take a good look at this Pontiac

[songsmith1950]

Great article!!! Such a great look at the earliest of our champs! All of these should go right into the Hall before it even opens.
Thank you Rick for this look back into Nascar history. Maybe sometime Nascar will look back at what made it great and take it back where it belongs.

[donmoos]

Ok, looking at these pics get my mind spinning. I remember the streamline styling that when into those early cars. Just imagine what those bodies would be capable of if they had the hybrid metals, suspension and motor tech of today.

Lighten them up......increase HP (what kind of HP did they do back then, much over stock?) Lower the bodies.......(check out the body height......runs right through the center of the wheels) talk about a a high center.

I would just love to see that level of individual styling and todays tech coming together. NO MORE COOKIE CUTTERS