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 DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1968






 &

 Boyd In Right
 ■ ■
 Place To Find
 i
 i  Safe Cars


 by BERNARD KAHN
 _S PORTS EDITO R______
                                            By BERNARD KAHN            when Bunkie pitted and the South
 Uncle Tom McCahill is the renown­             News Sports Editor      Carolina giant held the lead until the
 ed automotive editor of Mechanix     As befits the Birthplace of Speed,   58th lap when he ran out of luck
 Illustrated and author of books on   the Daytona Beach driver-mechanic   and gas — stalling in the east turn.
 cars who makes his home in Ormond   team of James (Bunkie) Blackburn   Lund limped to the pits, and despite
 Beach. Today he makes his annual    and Ray Fox teamed up to win the   losing many minutes came blazing back
 appearance as our guest columnist.   third annual NASCAR 300 mile     to move into third place in the same
 In fact, once a year for more than   sportsman car race Saturday.     lap with leader Blackburn and second
 a decade, Uncle Tom has written      Blackburn drove Fox’s jazzy 1965   place Farmer. Lund’s luck ran out
 this column on Daytona Race Day    Dodge to a comfortable victory, forty   again as his engine blew in the 111th
 and I look forward to reading it   seven seconds in front of his closest   lap.
 as much as his many, many other    pursuer, before 42,000 fans who braved
                                                                        Farmer, a Hueytown driver in a Dodge,
 fans. (BK)                         40 degree winds at Daytona Interna­  was pressing pacesetter Blackburn into
 By TOM McCAHILL                    tional Speedway.
 THE CAT SCHEDULED to drive the       The 31 year old home pro averaged
 pace car in the Daytona 500 today is   140.423 MPH for the 120 lap race,   Top Execs At 500
 Alan S. Boyd, a cracker boy from Jack­  despite seven caution flags that waved
 sonville and Lyndon’s Secretary of   for a total of 37 laps.             The Daytona 500 has attracted
 Transportation. This cabinet office  It was shy of Jim Paschal’s 148.188   a number of top automotive ex­
 •It
 covers more ground than a jack rabbit   record set last year in a Plymouth.  ecutives. They include Earl
 with the hives, which includes all the   Long shot Hoss Ellington of Wilm­  Hathaway, president of Firestone
 mandatory safety gadgets on our new   ington, N.C., a refugee from the outlaw   Tire & Rubber Co.;  and Don
 cars.                              circuits, was the surprise runnerup   Frey, a Ford Motor  Co. vice
 Now this writer doesn’t have any   in a Ford. NASCAR driving star Bobby   president and Ford’s  chief for
                                    Allison of Hueytown, Ala., piloted his   product development
                                                                        • ••••••• • ••••• • • • • «  • •••••••••••a
                                                                                             ■ ••••••••■■•a
                                    Ford to third place.                • ••••••a
 * )'
                                      Only the first three cars completed   the 97th lap. Then Farmer’s engine
                                    the full 300 miles, with fourth place   pooped out and he dropped the drive
                                    Bill Wimble of Rome, N.Y., trailing   shaft.
                                    by two laps in his Pontiac.         Another top contender, Lee Roy
                                      For the happy Blackburn, it was   Yarbrough, was sidelined at 175 miles
                                    his first win in 12 years of r a c i n g   when the differential in his Ford went
 TO THE WINNERS                     and he relished it. The parttime life   kaput.
 . . James (Bunkie) Blackburn, center, holds trophy as winning driver while Pete Benoit,   insurance salesman had won the pole   From the drop of the green flag,
 left, sponsor of 300 mile race, presents another to Roy Fox, who set up winning car  with the fastest qualifying run at 175.903   the fans sensed there were two cars
                                    MPH and he finished the 300 the same   that had a sizeable speed jump over
                                    way he started it — first.         the other entries — Blackburn’s and
 *         ★ ★ ★
 *                                    Blackburn said the top speed he   Lund’s.
                                    hit on the banked 2.5 mile track Saturday   The victory was worth $8,700 to
                                    was 187 MPH on the straights. Bunkie
 Bunkie Played It By                pit stop in the 29th lap. Shortly   Blackburn and Fox, out of the total
                                     almost became a cropper after a fuel
                                                                       prize pot of $39,000.
                                                                        The triumph by Blackburn, who hasn’t
                                    thereafter, the white Dodge ran over   driven on the Grand National circuit
                                    debris on the course and he had to
 By BRAD WILLSON   in the Daytona 500 two years ago.  in modified-Sportsman racing and was  make an unscheduled pit stop for tires   for two years, also marked the first
 News-Journal Sportswriter                                             time since 1960 that one of the regular
 “The high speeds wouldn’t bother me.  leading the Modified-Sportsman race  in the 40th lap.
 Bunkie Blackburn played the NASCAR   If they can do it,” he said, matter  here to two years ago, but crashed   NASCAR G.N. stars has failed to win
 300 mile race by ear and won going   of factly.  For engineer-mechanic Ray Fox, the   the sportsman race here.
 away.  Crashed In 1966  with 10 laps to go when a slower  NASCAR sportsman success just about   By his well deserved win, Blackburn
  car nicked his left rear and sent him  completed a grand slam for him on
 Bunkie, the lean North Carolinian   A native of Fayetteville, N.C., where  into the wall.  follows in the foot steps of three other
 who now lives in Daytona Beach, drove   he played football on the high school   his home course. In 1960 Fox prepared   home pro Daytona drivers who scored
 McCAHILL  his white and red No. 3 Dodge to the first   team, Bunkie began racing in 1953.  Asked why he hadn’t been doing   the Chevrolet driven to victory in the   at the Speedway here in past years
 big victory of his racing career Satur­  Daytona 500 by Junior Johnson. In   — Nelson Stacy and Marvin Panch.
 particular beef with the kid in the   day.  He’s won several track championships  (See WILLSON on next page)  1961 Fox set up the Dodge piloted   now retired from racing, and the late
 safety suit but I would like to point   In Victory Lane, and later in the   by Dave Pearson into the July 4 Fire­  Fireball Glenn Roberts.
 out that as long as he’s here, he’s   press room, Bunkie talked easily and   cracker race winner’s circle here.  This puts Blackburn in elite company.
 th the right place to learn how to   with poise about the $8,700 victory.  A field of 50 sportsman type stock   ★ ★ ★
 make cars really safe. Anyone with   “Ray (Fox) and the rest of the   ‘500’ Winners  cars' went to the post Saturday and
                                     at the finish there were 20 survivors.
 the brains of a retarded termite knows   boys did a wonderful job of setting   It was a particularly chilling windup   Yellow Flag For
 that the Grand National race cars   up the car. That’s the difference between   for Rod Eulenfeld of Jacksonville.
 arc just about as safe as it is nossible  winning and losing,” the 6 foot. 160  Records for the ning. prwiq'Ls  a   -tit   til  37LaDsOfl2Q
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