Editor’s Note: In a nod to our 90 years of history, each week SPEED SPORT will look back at the top stories from 15, 30 and 60 years ago as told in the pages of National Speed Sport News.
15 Years Ago — 2009
News: Whether they like him or not, the F-1 teams will have to deal with Jean Todt as FIA President for many years to come.
Todt’s surprising landslide win over Ari Vatanen in the Oct. 23 election (by a margin of 135 to 49 votes) means that Max Mosley’s anointed successor is the new boss and will continue to push Mosley’s agenda.
Winners: Denny Hamlin survived three late-race restarts and a relent-less Jimmie Johnson to win the Turns Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. It was his third victory of the season and second straight in his home state of Virginia.
“I knew he was going to be strung on the restarts,” Hamlin said of Johnson. “Our car was just so good. Jimmie obviously gave us a lot of respect there at the end. He knew that we had a faster car and decided to protect his point lead.”
30 Years Ago — 1994
News: For thousands of stock car fans, the racing season is over. Never mind events at Phoenix and Atlanta, the tinsel lies on the ballroom floor. The Fat Lady sang “Goodnight Irene” Sunday afternoon at North Carolina Motor Speedway.
Dale Earnhardt played taps on the 1994 season. Rusty Wallace, buried 35th in the AC Delco 500 rundown, is no longer a contender for the season championship. Technically, Earnhardt clinched the title with seven laps left in the race, an event he won by beating Rick Mast in a duel to the finish.
Winners: It was a big day for the Kalitta family, as Scott Kalitta clinched the NHRA Winston Top Fuel championship at the Texas Motorplex and his cousin, Doug, secured the USAC national sprint car championship at Indiana’s Winchester Speedway on the same day.
60 Years Ago— 1964
News: Direct factory participation in NASCAR Grand National events may be a thing of the past for the Chrysler Corp. Chrysler racing head Ronnie Householder said last week that “there is a very definite possibility that factory sponsored Dodges and Plymouths will be withdrawn from NASCAR competition in 1965.”
Householder’s comment pertained to the sweeping changes in NASCAR’s Grand National division for 1965, which Chrysler officials feel hurts their chances of winning on the four super speedways on the NASCAR circuit.
Winners: A. J. Foyt of Houston, Texas, the undisputed king of American speedway racing, collected the 27th national championship victory of his brilliant 11-year racing career Sunday, by winning the 14th annual Golden State Hundred, a 100-mile USAC National Championship big car race on the California State Fairground one-mile track.