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NASCAR's lost treasures
Over the years, highly valued helmets, a checkered flag, a cowboy hat
and, yes, even a race car have gone MIA. Have you seen them?
BY TIM WENDEL
NASCAR RACING has had some
of the most colorful charac
ters in sports. Unfortunately,
much of the best NASCAR
memorabilia has been lost to time. The
family of Benny Parsons, for example,
made a public appeal for any of his hel
mets, trophies or old driving suits. Par
sons, like many top drivers from the
sport’s early days, often lent his treas
ures to restaurants and businesses, and
many items were never recovered.
As in the sports of baseball, football,
basketball and hockey, USA WEEKEND Magazine
is seeking the great, lost “holy grails” of NASCAR.
After having some discussions with racing officials
and old-timers, we’ve come up with a definitive list
and, thanks to Tim Trout, the co-author of the
Beckett Racing Collectibles Price Guide, price es
timates on what these items would be worth today
if found:
PETTY. CHAMJLS WHY, AP PHOTO. TIGHT: WC FELA AP PHOTO. LUNO: RACINGONE/GETTY IMAGES; EARNHARDT CAR COURTESY OEI
One of Richard Petty's first
cowboy hats ($2,500)
“The King” began his current look during
his racing career as a practical move. Tired
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of switching between baseball caps with logos of his
various sponsors, Petty donned a cowboy hat With
this look, he had one of his biggest victories, bring
ing home the checkered flag for the 200th time at
Petty in now-famous headgear
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USA WEEKEND-March 14-16,2008
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led to a donnybrook like the one that occurred at
the Daytona 500 in 1979. With a huge TV audience
tuned in, thanks to a heavy East Coast snow, an
early on-track mishap seemed to end any hope of
victory for three-time champ Cale Yarborough. But
he fought back into contention, and with a single
lap left, he was just behind leader Donnie Allison.
When Yarborough tried to pass, Allison cut him off
The two cars, going 185 mph, collided, then hit the
outside wall before sliding back onto the infield. The
collision made Richard Petty the winner.
Brother Bobby Allison drove over later to check
on Donnie, who was OK But a fight with Yarbor
ough broke out “The three drivers started wrest
ling around in the infield mud,” Joe Garner writes
in Speed, Guts & Glory: 100 Unforgettable Moments
in NASCAR History. “Bobby at one point had Yar
borough by the throat. And it was all played out for
the national TV audience.”
the Firecracker
400 in 1984. Ron
ald Reagan was
there the first
sitting president at
a NASCAR race.
The King’s cow
boy look has lasted
to this day, but
those original hats
are gone.
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* From left: Donnie and
I Bobby Allison tangle
* with Cale Yarborough.
Helmets from Allison-Yarborough
fight ($30,000)
A rough-and-tumble element has long been
a feature of NASCAR, but seldom has it
Tiny Lund's Roiex watch ($50,000)
It’s said that DeWayne “Tiny” Lund ar
rived at Daytona in 1963 with only 18 cents
in his pocket and no car to drive. Having
made a name for himself in sprint cars, he
T
had just returned to racing after serving in the
Army. Lund was trackside on Feb. 14,1963, when
Marvin Panch test-drove an experimental Maserati.
It became airborne, flipped over and caught fire.
Lund was among the first to reach Panch and pulled
him from the flames.
Panch, unable to race, persuaded the Wood
brothers to let Lund drive their legendary No. 21
Ford, which had qualified to run in the Daytona
500. In the biggest race of his career, Lund upset
the field, running the entire 500 miles on a single
set of tires. For his Cinderella victory, he received
a gold Roiex watch. He lost it in the mid-19605.
“Somebody told me he lost it pheasant hunting,”
says Lund’s widow, Wanda. “But I won’t be sur
prised if he just gave it away. That’s the kind of guy
he was. He gave away trophies from many of the
races he won. He’d give rides to kids long
after the race was over.” Lund died in 1975
while racing at Talladega. His widow would
love to find the watch and pass it on to
their son, Chris.
Checkered flag from
the first NASCAR race
($500,000)
NASCAR got off to roaring start
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with the public more than a half-century
ago. On Feb. 15,1948, nearly 15,000 spec
tators took in the first race at Daytona
Beach, Fla., on a course that was partly on
white sand, partly on highway. World War
II veteran Red Byron, from Anniston, Ala., won the
first NASCAR-sanctioned race. Although his name
survives as the answer to one of the sport’s most
frequently asked trivia questions, the final fate of
the first checkered flag isn’t clear. “That’s a real holy
grail,” says Buz McKim, historian for the NASCAR
Hall of Fame, scheduled to open in 2010 in Charlotte.
“That flag, most certainly, is long gone.”