FANTASY NASCAR Racin

an American NASCAR driver. His father, James Albert Brickhouse, was in the lumber business, cutting timber for Casey Lumber Co. in Rocky Point. His mother was a schoolteacher. She taught young Richard in third and fourth grade at Rocky Point Elementary. After graduating from Burgaw High, he joined the Army Reserves, then became a farmer. His land was on N.C. 133. He later operated a dirt track there. “I stayed in trouble with the highway patrol,” he said. He lost his license for speeding just three weeks after he got it, racing with friends on the new U.S. 421. Sometime in the mid-1950s, his father took him to the dirt track at Legion Stadium. He was hooked. He raced part time over a 30 year span. His first NASCAR Cup race was at Rockingham in 1968. He would start 16th driving the #03 owned by Dub Clewis. He would make a great run and finish fourth. In 1969 he would run by far the most races in one season. He ran 24 races this year; and the most he ran any other season was seven (1968). In the first 18 races he ran in 1969 he made it know he was a talented driver. He posted seven finishes

inside the top 10. His 19th race of the season at Talladega would be an unusual race. This was the inaugural Talladega 500 and tired were a concern. It is primarily remembered because all of the NASCAR stars from the PDA (Professional Driver Association), led by Richard Petty, boycotted the race due to a major lack of tire grip. The field was replaced by other drivers, which introduced future championship winning owner Richard Childress. It also introduced the Dodge Charger Daytona cars for the first in the series. The tire company Firestone dropped out of the sport before race day due to the tire problems. Top drivers of that are that chose to boycott and sit out the race included Richard Petty; David Pearson; Bobby Allison; Donnie Allison; Cale Yarborough; Buddy Baker; Tiny Lund; Paul Goldsmith and eight others. Brickhouse has also joined the PDA, but after being offered the potent Nichels Engineering ride; and the day of the race withdrew from the PDA. Bill France gave all 62,000 fans attending this race free admission to make up for the fact that so many of the star drivers they likely came to see pulled out. Fans were thanked for attending and, as an added bonus, promised they could back and redeem their tickets for free admission for a future race at either Daytona or Talladega so they would still see the big names they wanted. The tires turned out to be a non-issue and the race was a real barn burner. It had 35 lead changes and except for on one occasion; the race would be almost half way over before any driver led more than six consecutive laps. It was much the same way the second half of the race but Brickhouse

would take the lead away from Jim Vandiver with 11 laps to go and win by seven seconds. This would start a long tradition for the "Talladega 500" that produced different winners every year. It took 13 running of this event before a previous winner won the race a second time. Brickhouse ran five races in 1970 and finished fifth in the Daytona 500 qualifying race; and sixth in the Daytona 500 itself. He would step away from NASCAR racing when he would return in 1979 and run one event (NAPA National 500 at Charlotte) and finish 39th falling out with a blown motor after only 15 laps. In 1982 he ran in two events. Once again he'd run at Charlotte in the National 500 and finish 27th after a crash. He also raced at Rockingham where he would start 34th but fall out after 337 laps with an oil leak. He finished 21st. After a long lay off of 13 years; he attempted to come back and ran in 1995. He missed the field at Rockingham. For his career Brickhouse ran in 39 Cup races posting the lone win at Talladega. He would have four top 5 and 13 top 10 finishes. Some info from Wikipedia.

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

RICHARD BRICKHOUSE - 10/27/1939