Joe Garson... Born ... AAA driver from the early 1950's
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1932
Herbert Lytle ... Died ... AAA driver from the early 1900's
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1935
Malcolm Campbell sets a Land Speed Record of 276.82 MPH in his Bluebird at Daytona, Florida.
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1938
Janet Guthrie ... Born ... USAC / CART driver from the 1970's and 80's. The first woman to qualify and compete in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500.
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1951
Sam Hanks won the AAA Midget race at the Gardena Stadium, Gardena, CA.
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1953
Bill Homier won the AAA Midget race at the West Palm Beach Speedway, West Palm Beach, FL.
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1965
Junior Johnson won the 'Richmond 250' 125 mile NASCAR Grand National race on the 1/2 mile dirt track at the Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds. Buck Baker's wedge motored Dodge finished second, 18 seconds behind Johnson.
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1971
Richard Petty won a controversial 'Richmond 500' NASCAR GN race on the .542 mile paved Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway. Because Petty, Benny Parsons and James Hylton's cars failed tech inspection and Bobby Allison missed time trials, the 25 car grid was formed without the four drivers. After a closed door meeting between the promoters and NASCAR officials, it was announced that the starting field had been expanded to 30. The cars that failed tech would be allowed to start at the rear if made legal. Petty said his car (with too much engine setback, altered wheel base and a fuel tank that was too low), could not be made legal. So the rules were changed again, allowing Petty to start 30th with a smaller restrictor plate. Bobby Isaac's Krauskopf Dodge was also found with the fuel tank too low and was also required to use the smaller plate as was Allison's Dodge. Petty charged through the field to 5th by lap 30 and took the lead on lap 135, leading all but 18 laps from that point. Petty's Dodge finished 2 laps ahead of Isaac. After the race, Isaac's car owner Nord Krauskopf threatened to quit the circuit over the ruling.
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1976
Dave Marcis drove his Krauskopf Dodge past Richard Petty with 11 laps to go and then held off Petty on a last lap restart to win the Richmond 400 NASCAR GN race at the Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway. Lennie Pond, looking for his first GN win, was in the lead and pulling away with 52 laps left when he tangled with the lapped car of Ed Negre and hit the wall. It was the second GN win of Marcis' career.
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1980
Lee Roy Yarbrough ( Former stockcar racer ), is declared incompetent to stand trial for the attempted murder of his mother. He will later be found innocent by reason of insanity. He suffered a bad head injury in an Indy Car crash after he'd left NASCAR. There was a great story in "Inside Sports" magazine in early 1982 on Yarbrough. By that time, Lee Roy had been committed to a care facility. His family said his whole personality changed after the head injury and he also began drinking heavily, aggravating the situation that much more, leading up to violent behavior. In the article, I recall his mother saying she forgave him and still loved her son, but "that wasn't him anymore." There was discussion that he was essentially suffering from a premature Alzheimer's. Many didn't think he was very aware of his previous life or accomplishments, though some recall mention in the article that he might have been aware that he had been a race driver. Some recall Lee Roy's abscence in 1971-72 being explained as the result of him having contracted Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever from a camping trip. Lee Roy died in the facility in the mid-80's.
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1987
Sammy Swindell and Mike Ward won the qualifying Sprint Car races for the Spring Nationals at the Devil's Bowl Speedway , Mesquite, TX. ( Click here for the race report. )
Curtis Markham won the NASCAR Pontiac Excitement 200 Late Model race at the Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway , Richmond, VA. ( Click here for the race report. )
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1993
Duane Carter ... Died ... AAA / USAC driver from the 1940's, 50's & 60's. He raced midget cars, sprint cars, and IndyCars. His son Pancho raced in Indy cars, along with Johnny Parsons (who he helped raise). He was inducted in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1991 and the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1989.
Davey Allison wins the Pontiac 400 over Rusty Wallace at the Richmond International Raceway , Richmond, VA.
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1999
Jeff Burton won the Las Vegas 400 NASCAR race at Las Vegas International Speedway. His Brother Ward was second followed by Jeff Gordon.
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2004
Matt Kenseth wins the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 over Kasey Kahne at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway , Las Vegas, NV.
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2008
Paul McMahan won the opening night race of the 22nd annual Mini Gold Cup Sprint Car Challenge at the Silver Dollar Speedway , Chico, CA. ( Click here for the race report. )
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2021
Kyle Larson drove to his first victory for team owner Rick Hendrick in the NASCAR Cup Series , pulling away during the final green-flag stretch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Brad Keselowski finished second followed by Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Christopher Bell, William Byron, Joey Logano and Erik Jones.
ONE DAY
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