Mel Kenyon... Born ... A hall of fame midget car driver. He is known as the "King of the Midgets". The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America says "Many consider him to be midget car racing's greatest driver ever." Kenyon began his racing career in 1954 racing a 1937 Chevy Coupe. He totaled the car when a tire blew out. He raced modified stocks in 1955. In 1958, Mel began his career in the midgets. Kenyon's first championship was in NASCAR's Florida midget series in 1962, but he changed to USAC in the middle of the season and finished fifth in the USAC National Midget championship points. Kenyon has seven USAC National Midget championships, eight runner ups in the season points standings, and Top 5 point finishes in 21 of 27 seasons between 1966 and 1988. At his Motorsports Hall of Fame induction in 2003 he had 111 feature winsand a total of 419 Top 5 finishes. Kenyon competed in 65 USAC Championship (IndyCar) and eight Indianapolis 500 races with a best finish of third in 1968.
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1962
Richard Petty won the NASCAR Grand National 'Gwyn Staley Memorial' on the 5/8 mile paved North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Petty's Plymouth finished 4 car lengths ahead of Fred Lorenzen's Holman-Moody Ford. Two-time GN champ Herb Thomas ended a 5 year retirement, finishing 14th. The supply of racing gas ran out just past half-way. Some crew members siphoned gas out of passenger cars. A yellow was throw on lap 250, to allow a fuel truck to leave the track and get more gasoline. The truck never returned.
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1973
David Pearson drove the Wood Brothers Mercury to a 13 lap victory in the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National 'Rebel 500' at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. (Click here for the race report.)
A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti drove to victory in twin 150 mile USAC Championship races at Trenton Speedway in Trenton, NJ, ending long winless streaks for both drivers. It was Andretti's first Champ car win in 3 years while Foyt's was his first in more than a season. Gordon Johncock won the pole for the races with a 168.434 mph lap, which was noteworthy because it broke Bobby Unser's streak of 4 straight poles on the 1.5 mile kidney shaped track.
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1984
Tom Sneva won the 150 mile CART Indy Car race on the 1 mile paved Phoenix International Raceway in a March-Cosworth.
Darrell Waltrip won the TranSouth 500 over Terry Labonte at the Darlington Raceway, Darlington, SC.