There's plenty of big racing events this weekend, such as the Night of Champions weekend at Five Flags Speedway and the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway. Coincidentally, there are plenty of Martinsville highlights in this week's Throwback Thursday.
- Looking back to North Willkesboro in 1957, we see Paul Goldsmith won the 160-lap NASCAR Convertible race. Goldsmith, driving car number three, led 97 of the 160 laps to take the win. Lee Petty was second in the rundown that featured 22 cars. Goldsmith and Petty only ran select races in the series as Bob Welborn won the 1957 crown with seven wins and 32 top 10 finishes. Welborn had tire problems in these races and finished 11th after failing to complete the last 10 laps.
THE THIRD TURN: 1957 NASCAR Convertible Series at North Wilkesboro Speedway
- Away from Bowman Gray Stadium, Perk Brown picked up the win in the 50-lap race at Martinsville Speedway (VA) for Modifieds on this date in 1962. Buren Skeen was second and Joe Bill Adams posted third in this 50-lap race. Brown won 21 times that year, with eight coming at Bowman Gray. Seven other wins came at Starkey Speedway (VA), which closed in 1966.
- Richard Petty is the King of the NASCAR Cup Series, and that meant there were some tracks where he was almost unbeatable. Martinsville Speedway was one of them, where he won 15 times. On this date in 1968, he won the Old Dominion 500 after leading 324 laps. Petty won by three laps over Cale Yarbroough on that day. In all, Petty had 31 top fives at Martinsville with nearly 3000 laps led.
THE THIRD TURN: 1968 Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville Speedway
- At Caraway Speedway (NC) in 1979, Sam Ard picked up the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman win in a 200-lap contest. Ard beat out Butch Lindley and Tommy Houston for the win that day. Ard won 20 times that season with 12 of those wins coming at Caraway Speedway. Despite the win total And didn’t run enough races to factor in the points battle that season. Gene Glover was the runaway champion with a string of solid finishes.
THE THIRD TURN: 1979 NASCAR Late Model Sportsman at Caraway Speedway
- On this day in 1985, Richie Evans won his last NASCAR Modified Tour event. Evans was killed at Martinsville in October, but his last win came at Oxford Plains Speedway (ME) on September 22nd. Evans bested a 33 car field in All-In-One Twin 100s with the NASCAR North Series at Oxford that day. Evans beat out Brian Ross for the win. Mike McLaughlin was third, Reggie Ruggiero was fourth and Ken Bouchard rounded out the top five.
THE THIRD TURN: 1985 All-In-One Twin 100s at Oxford Plains Speedway (Modified Tour)
- Jeff Stevens won the other leg of the weekend at Oxford with the NASCAR North Tour. Stevens started on the outside of the front row and led all 114 laps to post the wins. Dave Dion was second after starting 19th. Robbie Crouch was third in the final rundown.
THE THIRD TURN: 1985 All-In-One Twin 100s at Oxford Plains Speedway (Coors Tour)
- Back in 1996, Jeff Gordon won at Martinsville Speedway (VA) after leading 133 laps. Gordon would beat his teammate Terry Labonte to the line for the win. A week later, Gordon won again at North Wilkesboro to finish the short track season with four wins and podium finishes in all eight races. However, a big DNF at Charlotte and a 12th at Rockingham gave the points lead back to Labonte, who won the 1996 Cup Series title.
THE THIRD TURN: 1996 Hanes 500 at Martinsville Speedway