24 replies to this topic

[Bloggsworth]

I turned up my 1959 LP of "Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs" the other day, which reminded me of a great singer who I seem to recall occasionally raced in NASCAR events. How good was he; living on the correct side of the pond as I did and still do (What! No emoticon for tongue in cheek!), I never saw any reports of NASCAR races, and never remembered to by the November edition of Road & Track to see the results of the April races, so never saw any tables or finishing orders.

[RS2000]

Not forgetting "More Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs", picked up in a discount rack in DC in 1979 (which included "Ride Cowboy Ride", with a long list of Arizona towns in the lyrics, everyone of which we seemed to drive through on our 1987 holiday...).
The last entry I recall seeing from him was the Daytona 500 in 78(?) in a Dodge Magnum similar to the one that caused Petty to move to a Chevy. I don't think MR ever ran far from the tail end in such company but just being there is enough?

[Vitesse2]

This is a picture of a remarkably detailed model of one of Marty's cars, built by TrackForum member LUKE'57.



According to the thread I lifted it from, Marty was still racing until a month before he died in 1982.

[Buford]

I once crashed my Sprint Car into the huge dent in the wall Mary Robbins had left there in his stock car the day before and the tail wedged in between the pulled apart Armco and came to a very sudden stop. This was on the mile at Sedalia, Missouri.

[Bloggsworth]

I just listened to El Paso again - what a voice, so relaxed, a Country parallel to Dean Martin.

[RStock]

Quote

Originally posted by Bloggsworth
I just listened to El Paso again - what a voice, so relaxed, a Country parallel to Dean Martin.

He did have a great voice . And Marty was a pretty good racer . He only raced a few times a year , but he had quite a few top 20 finishes in NASCAR . I think a 6th was his best effort . And he did die about a month after his last race , but racing saved his life at one time , in a way . He went to his doctor to get checked up for racing and they found some clogged arteries . He had a successful surgery , which no doubt added several years to his life . NASCAR ran the Marty Robbins 420 at the Nashville fairgrounds for many years , up until the track was dropped from the scheduale , IIRC . Here's some photo's of Marty .

This is his first race car , a micro midget , the "Big Iron special"



This is another one , the "El Paso special". His son said this was the ugliest car ever .





Here's his "Devil Woman" car . I think this photo is chopped from the album cover .




Here's one of his NASCAR stockers .
He always ran #42 , at least from what I remember . Hence the Marty Robbins 420

[HistoricMustang]

Marty would always perform early at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville so he could get out to the local track to do the important stuff.

Henry

[simonlewisbooks]

According to the 1973 NASCAR yearbook which I just happen to have on the desk, Marty was 8th in the 1973 Firecracker 400, which sounds pretty respectable to me!

[ensign14]

Marty's top 5 finish

Although he led a couple of laps at the Winston 500 the next year. He was in good company...

[Bjorn Kjer]

Marty Robbins had 32 big league NASCAR starts between 70 and 82 (none in 76 and 81). He had 1 top 5 and 5 top 10 placings , even leading a couple of races..............

[RS2000]

Well Talladega had some odd winners and results, even when top people weren't boycotting it. The 420 surely refers to the race distance or number of laps of the Nashville races (Nashville 420/Music City 420? in my time in the USA), not the car number 42 (Lee Petty's old number).

[rateus]

Lots of photos of Marty's NASCAR exploits at http://www.cottonowe...ty_robbins.html

I particularly like the tale (near the bottom) of Marty's 'Charge to the Front' at the '72 Winston 500 - it seems to encapsulate everything about his racing. iiirc, his explanation was along the lines of "I just wanted to see what it would be like to run with those guys"

Anyone know why he went for a 'rhubarb and custard' (purple and yellow) colour scheme?

[HDonaldCapps]

Robbins raced at Darlington in, I believe, 1970 and 1971. As a stringer, I tried to get a few moments with him for several quick questions in 1971. Without looking it up, I remember that he had a good finish that year in the race. He was an easy interview and I ended up spending more time with him than I intended. Several of the other drivers mentioned that Robbins stayed out of their way and did not do anything stupid -- which translates in some level of praise for his performance. I may have written an extended piece on him at the time -- I had enough for that, but honestly cannot remember if I did. I rather liked the fact that people like Robbins would drop in for races at the time since they added some interest to the event.

[RStock]

Quote

Originally posted by RS2000
. The 420 surely refers to the race distance or number of laps of the Nashville races (Nashville 420/Music City 420? in my time in the USA), not the car number 42 (Lee Petty's old number).

I got to wondering about what I said about it being 420 laps in honor of Marty Robbins and did some checking , and found this .

Quote

The track was lengthened to .596 miles before the 1970 season, making it an unusual 420 laps to run 250 miles

[RS2000]

Bit O/T but here's the flyer/booking form for the May79 Winston Cup race.

The others are easy but I can't now identify the face at bottom right.

[RStock]

Quote

Originally posted by RS2000

The others are easy but I can't now identify the face at bottom right. [/B]

Donnie Allison ? That's the same year he and Cale had their fight in the infield at Daytona .

[RS2000]

Guess so - he was on form that spring so would be listed in such company - just didn't look like him. (I was there for the fight! - but not for the next race opening lap vendetta continuation at Rockingham!)

[simonlewisbooks]

Quote

Originally posted by HDonaldCapps
I rather liked the fact that people like Robbins would drop in for races at the time since they added some interest to the event.

Agree with you there Don. Most series today are far too predictable and packaged, with the driver line-ups seemingly set in stone for a whole season. The odd wild-card or local-hero has always made things more interesting but at the top end of the sport they seem to have been actively discouraged for many years. In someways that neatly sums up the widespread lack of promotional understanding that exists in motor sport.

[Jim Thurman]

I don't have records, but Marty Robbins was supposed to be pretty good in the Modified Sportsman at Nashville (the "Devil Woman" car pictured).

Not to digress, but Marty Robbins easily performed one of the wider arrays of music for anyone tagged a "country" artist. Rockabilly, Calypso, Pop crooner (a fuzz bass on "Don't Worry"? - brilliant!). He was so much more than just a "country singer", he refused to let that define or limit his music.

rateus asked about his colors, I recall an interview with him where he mentioned he chose the colors because that way people would certainly be able to spot him

[TrackDog]

Quote

Originally posted by Jim Thurman
I don't have records, but Marty Robbins was supposed to be pretty good in the Modified Sportsman at Nashville (the "Devil Woman" car pictured).

Not to digress, but Marty Robbins easily performed one of the wider arrays of music for anyone tagged a "country" artist. Rockabilly, Calypso, Pop crooner (a fuzz bass on "Don't Worry"? - brilliant!). He was so much more than just a "country singer", he refused to let that define or limit his music.

rateus asked about his colors, I recall an interview with him where he mentioned he chose the colors because that way people would certainly be able to spot him

Don't Worry became something of a milestone recording...it wasn't the bass, but the lead guitar that had the fuzzy sound. The story I heard as a kid was that the lead guitarist's amplifier cracked it's speaker cone as the band was warming up for the recording session, and there wasn't time to replace it. So, they went with what they had, liked the sound, and kept it. The record caused a bit of a stir, and is considered to be the first "overdriven" or distortion-boosted guitar solo in rock and roll history. I believe it was done in 1961.


As far as NASCAR goes, Marty ran well in a race at either Daytona or Talladega, finishing in the top 10. After the race, he admitted that he had taken the restrictor plate out of the engine. NASCAR heard about it, but didn't fine him or dock him any points...they were too happy to have him running races for them.


Dan

[simonlewisbooks]

Quote

Originally posted by TrackDog



Don't Worry became something of a milestone recording...it wasn't the bass, but the lead guitar that had the fuzzy sound. The story I heard as a kid was that the lead guitarist's amplifier cracked it's speaker cone as the band was warming up for the recording session, and there wasn't time to replace it. So, they went with what they had, liked the sound, and kept it. The record caused a bit of a stir, and is considered to be the first "overdriven" or distortion-boosted guitar solo in rock and roll history. I believe it was done in 1961.

OT - So that would actually be 3 years or so before Dave Davies of the KINKS famously slashed took a blade to the speaker in his amp while recording YOU REALLY GOT ME for the same effect ?

[RStock]

Quote

Originally posted by TrackDog
.


As far as NASCAR goes, Marty ran well in a race at either Daytona or Talladega, finishing in the top 10. After the race, he admitted that he had taken the restrictor plate out of the engine. NASCAR heard about it, but didn't fine him or dock him any points...they were too happy to have him running races for them.


Dan

That was at Talladega in 72 , and here's the story on it .

Quote

In that race, he started ninth but ran into a few problems along the way which required the hood go up on his Dodge. After that, he came charging back and ended up with an 18th-place finish and would have been named rookie of the race.

He did not accept the award, however, opting instead to disqualify himself for running about the last 100 miles of the race without carburetor restrictor plates.

He was relegated to 50th place after his admission and fined $250



http://www.nascar.co...duskey_robbins/

Here's another version of the story as told by Marty Robbins son . Probably more factual .

Quote

Bending the Rules

Talladega also played a part in one of the most talked-about Marty Robbins racing stories ever. Ronny says the story has never been told in its entirety, and he wants to set the record straight.

“Bobby and Eddie Allison have taken the heat for this years, but it was really Daddy’s idea all the way,” Ronny says. “The only thing Ed did was help him get it through tech. I had just gotten out of the service and went to visit him in Bryan, Texas. I’m knocking on his motel door and hadn’t seen him in a year or so, and it’s ‘Hey! Come on in. Have I got something to show you!’

“I follow him over to the sink, and there’s a carburetor sitting in it. He says, ‘Take this hammer and knock on these rings. The restrictor rings had a knurling—they went in one way and wouldn’t come out. I hit them and said, ‘Well isn’t that what they are supposed to do?’

“He says excitedly, ‘Yeah! Now take this gasoline and pour a little on them.’ He had a small squirt bottle, and about 15 seconds later I hear plink, plink—all four of them dropped out.



“I said, ‘Why do you want them to do that?’ He said, ‘Because I want to have some horsepower!’

“It really was kind of ingenious. He had sanded the knurlings down and glued them in with airplane glue. When they ran through tech, they had a little metal rod with a hook on it that went around the butterfly to measure the bore. So what he did was go out in practice to get the jetting right, and he used a motorcycle spoke to keep the loose restrictors from entering the ports. They just bounced around the bottom of the manifold. He qualified legally at 174 mph; during the race he ran 191. To him it was a harmless prank. The only reason he wanted to do it was to be able to pass guys like Richard Petty and have them scratch their heads. He always intended to tell them about it.”



Marty and Ronny told NASCAR they had carburetor trouble and got permission to switch them. Then they pushed the car to the starting line to get it past inspection on race morning. When they fired it, it blew all kinds of black smoke for a few seconds. When it cleared, the car began to roar. David Pearson and Buddy Baker were just running away with the race.

“Daddy would run hard a few laps and then back down for a few,” Ronny says. “Around the middle of the tri-oval, Baker went by him. By the time Buddy was in Turn 1, he had about a 400- to 500-yard lead on Daddy, then all of sudden Daddy got on it, and by turn 3 he was on Buddy’s bumper.

“Another thing was, Daddy had never driven that fast before and has said in several interviews, ‘I wanted to pass the leaders on the front stretch so everyone could see it, but I was not sure if the car would turn at that speed. I thought, If I don’t make it, I’m going to land on Daytona Beach! Being smart, he backed off.



“They wanted him to come to the press booth and give him a Rookie of the Race award. That’s when he said, ‘I can’t accept that. It wasn’t legal.’ They wouldn’t believe him, ’cause Daddy was always teasing and cutting up. Some feelings got hurt, and that bothered him. He knew he never had enough money to put into his car to be competitive with the front runners, so it was just his way to find out what it felt like and give his fans a thrill, too.”

http://www.stockcarr...bins/index.html

[TrackDog]

Quote

Originally posted by simonlewisbooks


OT - So that would actually be 3 years or so before Dave Davies of the KINKS famously slashed took a blade to the speaker in his amp while recording YOU REALLY GOT ME for the same effect ?

Really...it went to #1 on the country charts and #3 on the pop charts. A guy my dad used to play with played the recording for me when the sound was becoming popular in hte mid '60's...he was proud of the fact that the first "fuzz" guitar solo was featured on a "country" record...



Dan

[Jim Thurman]

Quote

Originally posted by TrackDog


Don't Worry became something of a milestone recording...it wasn't the bass, but the lead guitar that had the fuzzy sound.

That's what I thought, though I've seen it in print as "fuzz bass" at a source I trusted as reliable : Another good example where I should have trusted my instincts and my ears, instead of my eyes

Of course, "fuzz" and "distortion" is often credited to Link Wray and to Dave Davies as well as Grady Martin (Robbins' guitarist)...so who knows. Wray actually came first chronologically, but...nevertheless, the fuzz on "Don't Worry" was a standout.

One of Marty Robbins' later hits, "20th Century Drifter", was about a journeyman race driver.

Quote

Originally posted by Bloggsworth
I just listened to El Paso again - what a voice, so relaxed, a Country parallel to Dean Martin.

A great analogy Bloggsworth

[275 GTB-4]

Quote

Originally posted by simonlewisbooks
OT - So that would actually be 3 years or so before Dave Davies of the KINKS famously slashed took a blade to the speaker in his amp while recording YOU REALLY GOT ME for the same effect ?

Martys huge album was released in 1959...one of my Grandfathers favourites...heard it over and over again as a lad..

Back to the dirt track nostalgia....