1962
SOUTHERN 500
At Darlington
One
of the rarest films of NASCAR racing is the actual TV broadcast
of the 1962 Southern 500 originally shown on ABC’s “Wide
World Of Sports”! The nearly 1 hour television broadcast
is the OLDEST known TV broadcast that exists of any American
auto race! What’s more, it’s an original B &
W kinescope of the controversial 1962 Southern 500 at Darlington,
in which Junior Johnson was originally declared the winner,
only to have a scoring re-check show that Larry Frank had actually
won! What a treat for race fans and racing historians to once
again see how NASCAR racing was covered on TV over 40 years
ago! Jim McKay of ABC handles the play-by-play broadcast from
the control tower, with only one other commentator (Chris Economaki)
working the pits! The original kinescope has been restored by
Rare Sportsfilms, Inc. and is now available on DVD!
Also included in chapter two of this new DVD is the original
COLOR highlight film of the 1962 Southern 500 (see details below)!
This makes a total of over an hour and 20 minutes of solid footage
on the first DVD ever released of vintage NASCAR racing!
The broadcast of the beginning
of the race starts immediately after nice closeups are shown
of several of the drivers: Fireball Roberts, Johnny Allen, Bobby
Johns, Lil’ Joe Weatherly, David Pearson and Larry Frank.
Junior Johnson and Fireball are on the front row as 44 cars
(13 Fords, 13 Pontiacs, eight Chevys, three Plymouths, three
Mercurys and two Dodges) take the green flag! After only a couple
of laps H.G. Rosier in the #5 spins out his Pontiac! Roscoe
Thompson’s #81 Mercury spins out twice early in the race
and eventually crashes after 39 laps. Fireball leads the first
58 laps until Bobby Johns passes him on the backstretch. Herman
Beam, in his #19 Ford is shown soldiering around the track and
McKay informs the audience that Beam never races to win, but
only to keep his car in one piece and finish! Suddenly Fireball
Roberts smashes the guardrail in turn three and comes limping
into the pits! As his pit crew tries to inspect the right front
end damage, Fireball climbs out of the car and immediately Economaki
is right on the spot with the TV microphone! Roberts explains
to both his crew chief and the TV viewers together what caused
his mishap! Throughout the race, pit stops are shown of other
cars, such as Jim Pardue, Bobby Johns and Richard Petty! This
is also one of the few films showing Ralph Earnhardt racing
in NASCAR Grand National! Driving Jack Smith’s #47 Pontiac,
he and Red Foote crash between turns one and two. He climbs
out, surveys the smoking car, and in typical Earnhardt fashion,
climbs back in the car and drives it around to the pits! A flat
tire sends Bobby Johns to the pits and Fred Lorenzen takes over
the lead. Past the half-way point, veteran Joe Weatherly and
young David Pearson tangle between turns one and two. Each car
suffers damage, with Weatherly’s #8 getting the worst
of it. It’s amazing to watch Chris Economaki dragging
his microphone wires all around Weatherly’s car in the
pits as he describes crew chief Bud Moore swinging a sledgehammer
to straighten out the bent sheet metal! Economaki leans right
into the car (no window nets in those days – ironically!)
and Joe explains to the TV audience that Pearson was driving
over his head and put him in the wall! “He oughtta be
in the hospital right now, ‘cause his brain’s hurtin’”
says Lil’ Joe!
During the race you’ll of
course see other cars on the track, such as those of T.C. Hunt,
Bob Welborn and Emanuel Zervakis. With less than 100 laps to
go, the most frightening crash of the day occurs. Johnny Allen’s
car smashes off the backstretch guardrail and flips upside down,
skidding to a stop and on fire! Johnny manages to scramble out
just before the car is totally engulfed in flames! Larry Frank
bunches up right behind Petty for the restart and passes him
on the backstretch when the race again goes green. The last
pit stops of the leaders Frank, Junior Johnson and Petty are
shown, as the scoreboard erroneously shows Petty leading, with
Johnson second and Frank third. Economaki interviews both car
owner Lee Petty, Richard’s crew chief, and Ratus Walters,
owner of Larry Frank’s #66 Café Burgundy Ford.
Of course, both of them say that their cars are leading the
race. Then, Richard blows a tire only four laps from the checkered
flag and decides to try to finish as high as possible without
stopping! Now Junior Johnson is leading, say the officials,
and Junior is given the checkered flag, while the actual winner
breaks a wheel on what is really his cool-down lap. Frank simply
coasts into the infield and parks his car. After a commercial
break, Junior Johnson is interviewed by ABC as he climbs out
of his car! Before the broadcast ends however, word comes down
that Larry Frank has officially won the race, and ABC has the
correct finishing order on the screen to close out the telecast:
Frank, Johnson, Panch, Pearson and Richard Petty!
The second chapter on this DVD
is the original highlight film of the race – in COLOR!!
In addition to the race, much of the film shows work in the
garage area, practice and qualifications! Four of the top five
qualifiers are driving ’62 wide track Pontiacs! Petty,
Johns, Buck Baker and Fireball are shown qualifying, with pole-sitter
Roberts choosing the outside pole to start the race! Included
are nice color closeup shots of the those great drivers of a
bygone era: Roberts, Petty, Johns, Joe Weatherly, Pearson, Marvin
Panch, Tiny Lund, Junior Johnson, Nelson Stacy and young Buddy
Baker! Also shown are mechanics and car builders such as Bud
Moore, Lee Petty, Ray Fox, Cotton Owens, Shorty Johns and Banjo
Matthews. Many cars are shown, such as those of drivers Fred
Lorenzen, Petty, Johnson, Weatherly, Gary Sain, Johnny Allen,
and winner Larry Frank. Most of the above on-track race incidents
and wrecks are shown in this color film from different angles,
plus Bunkie Blackburn and Darel Dieringer getting together in
turn three, with Jim Paschal and Bobby Johns also involved.
After the race, while Johnson is getting all the accolades in
Victory Lane, Richard Petty eases the disappointment of his
5th place finish (on three wheels) by taking a slug from a glass
bottle of milk!
Now you can get both
of these vintage films on one DVD for only $29.95 plus $4.00
First Class shipping! (Illinois residents must add $2.00 state
sales tax).
