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| AUSTIN MCDANIEL (12) BATTLES BLAKE JONES DURING SATURDAY'S LATE MODEL RACE AT HICKORY MOTOR SPEEDWAY. (PHOTO BY NICK AND SHERRI STEARNS) |
Posted: Wednesday, September 11, 2013 11:06 pm
By Tom Gillispie Special to the Record
HICKORY, N.C. -- Who was Buddy Shuman? And why do I ask?
I’ve often pointed out that Tiny Lund won the last NASCAR Cup run at Hickory Motor Speedway. That was the Buddy Shuman 276, run on Aug. 28, 1971.
When I was looking up birthdays, I noticed that Shuman would have been 98 on Sept. 8. So I looked Buddy up online.
Louis Grier “Buddy” Shuman, born in Charlotte in 1915, ran in 29 Grand National (now Sprint Cup) Series from 1951 to ’55. His only win came in 1952 at Stamford Park in Niagara Falls, Ont. That was the first NASCAR race run in Canada.
He wound up with four top-five and 16 top-10 finishes, and won a total of $8,087.
In 1955, he finished ninth at Hickory Speedway on May 7. He also finished sixth in a race at Charlotte on Aug. 5, 1955. He died on Nov. 13, 1955 in a hotel fire in Hickory.
In 1957, NASCAR established the Buddy Shuman Award for outstanding contributions to NASCAR racing, and the award winners have included, among others, Richard Petty, the late Banjo Matthews, Rick Hendrick, former Cup racer Dave Marcis and former TV announcer Ken Squier (2012).
Out-of-state drivers
Most of the drivers in last Saturday’s Late Model field at Hickory were from North Carolina, but four were listed as out of state: Blake Jones (Sevierville, Tenn.), David Garbo Jr. (Stonington, Conn.), Doug Barnes (Whiteford, Md.) and Jack Madrid (San Clemente, Calif.).
The Aug. 31 Bobby Isaac Memorial race featured eight out-of-state drivers in a 31-car field, including Garbo (the winner) and Jones. The others were Josh Berry (Hendersonville, Tenn.), Jake Keaton (Huntington, W.Va.), Will Gallaher (Santa Rosa, Calif.), Will Burns (Simpsonville, S.C.), Ben Rhodes (Louisville, Ky.) and Reid Lanpher (Manchester, Me.).
Most of the drivers in the other divisions are from North Carolina, but at least two are from out of state: Justin Bolton of Greensburg, Pa., and Marcus Lambert of Woodbridge, Va., both in Limited Late Models.
HMS results from Saturday
Matthew Elledge won the nine-car 4-Cylinder race, with Chase Pollard, Nathaniel Kanupp, Eddie Gilbert and Adam Beaver filling out the top five.
Austin McDaniel won the pole and topped a 13-car field in the first 50-lap Late Model race, followed by Blake Jones, former track champion Keith Bumgarner, Matt Piercy and Shane Lee.
Garbo won the second 50-lap Late Model race, followed by Jones, McDaniel, Jack Madrid and Dan Moore.
Landon Huffman took the 15-car Limited Late Model race, followed by Justin Bolton, pole-winner Lee, Casey Pierce and Kyle Mansch.
Charlie Neill won the 12-car Renegades race from the pole, followed by Shawn Hayes, Carroll McKinney, Daniel Moore and Blake Walker.
Mark Whitten finished first in the 13-car Street Stocks feature, with Marshall Sutton, Kevin Eby, Baron Kuritzky and Troy DeMarmels filling out the top five.
Trivia question
What was Donnie Allison’s real name? Hint: No, it wasn’t Donald.
This week
A ZLOOP Challenge is set for Saturday. Practice is at 2:10 p.m., with the drivers’ meeting at 4:30 p.m., qualifying at 5, autographs at 6 and racing at 7 (4-Cylinders 25 laps; Street Stocks 30 laps; Limited Late Models 35 laps; Super Trucks 35 laps; Late Models 100 laps, and Renegades 20 laps).
Upcoming HMS schedule
• The PASS Super Late Models are set to race at HMS on Sept. 21.
• The Fall Classic is scheduled on Sept. 28, featuring a 100-lap Limited Late Model race. The trucks, Renegades and Ford Focus cars will also run.
• There will be a 200-lap Late Model race on Oct. 12, with the Limited Late Models, Renegades and Sportsman Racing Classic cars also running.
National leaders
• Through Sept. 4, three HMS part-timers were among the top 30 drivers in NASCAR’s national Division I Asphalt short-track standings. Josh Berry was 20th, Anthony Anders 28th and Brandon Dean 30th. All three race at multiple tracks, including the Motor Mile, Southern National, Greenville-Pickens, Kingsport and Caraway.
David Garbo was 50th nationally, and HMS Late Model points leader Austin McDaniel (64th) is the only Hickory regular in the top 70. Part-timer Mike Darne was 75th.
• McDaniel was 12th in the Division I North Carolina rankings, with Dean 13th, Mike Darne 15th and Berry 19th.
• Shane Lee, the Limited Late Model points leader at HMS, was eighth in NASCAR’s national Division II Asphalt standings through Sept. 5. Also in the Division II top 75 were Landon Huffman (23rd), Jeremy Pelfrey (41st), Casey Pierce (51st) and Monty Cox (71st).
• Kevin Eby (Street Stocks) was 79th nationally in Division III, with Marshall Sutton 99th.
Happy birthday
Sept. 9 was a great day for racing birthdays. Cup car owner Felix Sabates was 71; former Cup driver Jerry Nadeau was 43; Jeff Hammond, a former Cup crew chief and current TV analyst, was 57, and former Cup driver Phil Barkdall was 76.
Worth quoting
HMS Late Model driver Dan Moore, on how he got started: “It (racing) was always a life-long dream. A guy said, ‘Why not buy a car and go racing?’ Our company was having an outing at the racetrack, and we bought a Mustang dirt car, a 4-cylinder.”
Trivia answer
Dunkiny “Donnie” Allison, 74 on Sept. 7, is probably best remembered for the turn-three fight in the 1979 Daytona 500. Donnie wrecked with Cale Yarborough on the last lap, and his brother Bobby joined the famous fray.
Tom Gillispie, the author of “Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.,” writes about racing at Hickory Motor Speedway for HDR Sports. He can be reached at nc3022@yahoo.com.
Contact: I can be reached at tgilli52@gmail.com or nc3022@yahoo.com. Also, my Twitter handle is EDITORatWORK.
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