Will Jones... Born ... AAA driver , ran the 1911 Indy 500 and finished 28th.
1935
Jerry Grant... Born ... USAC Indy car driver from the 1960's & 70's. Raced in 10 Indy 500's with a beat finish of 7th in 1970. Grant was the first USAC driver to break 200 miles per hour. He accomplished the feat in qualifying at the Ontario Motor Speedway on September 3, 1972, completing a 2.5 mile lap in 44.7 seconds. Later in his career, Grant was the racing representative for Champion Spark Plugs followed by Prolong oil conditioner.
1946
Don Whittington... Born ... Road racing driver who ran also raced in five Indianapolis 500's, with a best finish of sixth. He also made 10 NASCAR Winston Cup starts. In 1987, Don Whittington plead guilty to money laundering charges in association with his brother Bill's 1986 guilty plea to income tax evasion and conspiracy to smuggle marijuana into the United States from Colombia. Don Whittington received an 18 month prison sentence. In addition to Bill and Don Whittington, Randy Lanier and John Paul Sr. and Jr. were part of the IMSA drug smuggling scandal of the 1980s, where a number of drivers financed their racing activities with the proceeds from drug smuggling.
1954
James McElreath... Born ... USAC Sprint Car driver, son of Jim McElreath.
1965
Dick De Young wins the TQ Midget feature at the indoor Atlantic City Convention Hall. Reds Hallowell wins in Lanco Flatheads and Jim Herr wins the Lanco Open.
1966
Dan Gurney continued his mastery of Riverside International Raceway, driving a Wood Brothers Ford to his 4th straight win in the NASCAR Grand National "Motor Trend 500". David Pearson finished 2nd in the Cotton Owens Dodge, over a minute behind. Total pit time for the Wood Brothers crew was 1 minute, 51 seconds better than the Owens crew. Paul Goldsmith finished 3rd. Curtis Turner thrilled the 73,331 spectators, leading on three occasions and taking off-course excursions over the rough terrain. Contact while battling Pearson for 2nd sent Turner sailing into a fence, but after pitting to pry a fender from a tire, he was back. Later, Turner backed into a concrete wall. Black flagged twice for leaking fuel, Turner returned after pitwork to finish 4th, only two laps down. Gurney averaged a record 97.95 mph in a race that took 5 hours and 5 minutes.
1971
Jack Duffy wins the TQ Midget feature at the indoor Atlantic City Convention Hall.
1972
Richard Petty won a fog shortened NASCAR GN "Western 500" at Riverside International Raceway. The race began in foggy conditions which worsened, forcing the race to be flagged after 149 of a scheduled 191 laps. Just days earlier, STP had signed a multi-year sponsorship of Petty. The trio of A.J. Foyt, Bobby Allison and Petty dominated the race. Foyt was in 2nd when his transmission broke on lap 107 and Allison was slowed late by a faulty valve spring. Allison's Chevy was over a minute behind Petty's Dodge when the red and checkered flags fell. Bobby Isaac, Ray Elder and Hershel McGriff rounded out the top five. Mark Donohue debuted Roger Penske's AMC Matador. The Bown family had a promising day go sour. GNW star Dick qualified 5th only to have the hood fly up on the pace lap!. He returned to finish 13th while young son Chuck, making his GN debut, crashed.
1996
Cliff Griffith... Died ... AAA and USAC driver from the 1950's & 60's. He drove in four Indy races, '51, '52, '56 and '61 with his best result, a 9th place finish in 1952.
ONE DAY
To report wrong information, click here to send E-Mail to webmaster@wheelsofspeed.com 
Back to the Wheels of Speed home page