Curtis Turner
'The Blond Blizzard of Virginia'    by Charles R. Perry of Callaway, Virginia^

 From the time he learned to drive the roads of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Curtis Turner showed his "stuff" every time he got behind the controls of a motorized vehicle -- and it didn't make any difference if the vehicle was a race car, family car, logging truck or an airplane. Stories of his prowess and antics are numerous. For millions of fans however, it was only in the race car where they wanted Curtis to be. He is one of racing's greatest legends. To this day, when great drivers are mentioned, Curtis' name is at the head of the list. Other NASCAR legends spoke highly of Turner's racing abilities. Big Bill France, the founder of NASCAR, said in 1972 that "Curtis Turner was the greatest race car driver I have ever seen." Tim Flock, a two time Grand National Champion, echoed France when he said in 1997 that "Curtis was the greatest driver who ever ran in NASCAR."

To Turner's credit are over 350 wins. They include 18 Grand National (now Nextel Cup) wins; 38 NASCAR Convertible Division wins (22 in '56 alone); many wins in other NASCAR, ARCA or non-sanctioned events and the '62 Pike's Peak Climb in Colorado.
 

 

 

Curtis Turner holds several distinctions:

• He is the only NASCAR driver to win two Grand National races in a row from the pole by leading every lap (Rochester NY and Charlotte NC in July 1950)

• He is the only driver to win 25 major NASCAR races in one season driving the same car in each of them (in 1956 -- 22 were won as the #26 car in the convertible division, the other three, including the 1956 Southern 500, were with a top welded on.)

• He is the only driver to win a major NASCAR race that was red-flagged because his car was the only one still running (at the Asheville-Weaverville NC track on September 30, 1956.)

• He was the first driver to climb Pike's Peak in less than 15 minutes (in a 1962 Ralph Moody Ford -- the actual time was 14 minutes 37 seconds for the 14 mile course.)

• He was the first winner of the American 500 at Rockingham NC (in a 1965 Woods Brother Ford.)

• And he was the first driver to qualify for a NASCAR Grand National race at a speed greater than 180 miles per hour (1967 Daytona 500, driving #13, a 1967 Smokey Yunick Chevrolet.)

*Web Page originally from BlueRidgeThunder.org.. In 1997 we tried to start an outdoor drama about Curtis Turner here in Franklin County, Virginia, just a few miles from the home place of Curtis.  In our efforts to start the outdoor drama (which was incorporated here in Virginia as Blue Ridge Thunder Outdoor Drama Company)  Note:  The Drama Company failed to get going and the web page only existed five years from 1997.  The writer Robert Edelstein  (author of "Full Throttle:  The Life and Fast Times of Curtis Turner" and "NASCAR Generations:  The Legacy of Family in NASCAR Racing") used our web page to contact me to learn more about Curtis.  Robert even visited me in my home and I introduced him to Curtis' widow, Bunny Hall (who lives in Christiansburg, VA) and Glenn Woods (who lives in nearby Stuart, VA).  I even tried to introduced Robert to Curtis' sister, Ruby Sink, but she would not meet with him.  The film producer, John Warner, IV, had his people contact me when he was making a documentary about Curtis several years ago.  
by Charles R. Perry      Butterfly Valley     945 Turners Creek Road     Callaway VA  24067

Teamsters Movement Fails To Take Over Auto Racing                 By: Keith Waltz   Posted On: 06/29/2010 When the Aug. 16, 1961, issue of National Speed Sport News arrived in mailboxes, race fans were shocked by the front-page headline: “RACE LEADERS BATTLE TEAMSTER INROADS.” The issue included four stories, along with statements from NASCAR’s Bill France and USAC’s Tom Binford, detailing efforts by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to unionize professional race-car drivers through the Federation of Professional Athletes. Reports indicated the movement started when NASCAR driver Curtis Turner approached the Teamsters about a loan. Turner was attempting to obtain the money necessary to regain control of Charlotte Motor Speedway, the financially strapped race track he built and was president of until being forced out following the 1961 World 600. The lead story on page three included: “Quietly and without fanfare, well-known race drivers, headed by Curtis Turner and ‘Fireball’ Roberts, met in Chicago last week with representatives of the Jimmy Hoffa-controlled Teamsters Union. The purpose was to form a union of all professional drivers cutting across NASCAR, USAC, IMCA and other boundaries. Also reported at the Chicago meeting were several Indianapolis race drivers including Paul Goldsmith and Don Branson.” Later Turner reported a majority of the NASCAR Grand National drivers had signed applications and paid a $10 initiation fee for membership in the federation. That news didn’t sit well with France. “No known Teamster members can compete in a NASCAR race, and if this isn’t tough enough, I’ll use a pistol to enforce it,” he said. “I have a pistol, and I know how to use it. I’ve used it before. I am barring union members from races to protect the drivers who do not sign up.” France suspended Turner, Roberts and Tim Flock for their roles in organizing the union, but Roberts was quickly reinstated when he backtracked and denounced the organization. Turner said France’s ban against union members was a violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. He then outlined what the union wanted: “A pension plan, death benefits, health and welfare benefits and a scholarship fund for children of deceased members. Also strong and meaningful complaint procedures and assurances of adequate safety conditions.” As it turned out, the attempt to unionize drivers was short-lived and the effort quickly faded away. But later in 1961, NASCAR did form an advisory council that included drivers Rex White and Ned Jarrett. NASCAR rescinded the lifetime suspensions of Turner and Flock in 1965. Turner returned to driving while Flock continued to work at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but never drove in another NASCAR race.

Wood, Whiskey, Women, and Winning : Curtis Turner Driven to the Past · Vito Pugliese · Friday, September 21, 2007 Curtis Turner started out driving well before he was old enough to get a driver’s license. He hailed from the area of Bent Mountain, Virginia, and as with many who lived in remote regions of the South during this era, Turner worked to export the local product: Moonshine. He became as big of a legend running illegal liquor as he did on the track. His ability to outrun Federal agents as well as local law enforcement earned Turner respect for his skill behind the wheel and unlike his counterpart Junior Johnson, Turner was never apprehended by the police. He ran his first race in 1946 in Mt. Airy, North Carolina. He finished last in a field of 18. In his next start, he won, beginning a legend as the best driver ever to race on dirt. Turner wasn’t only a racecar driver, he was a businessman as well. A self-made millionaire (in 1950’s dollars), he made a fortune buying and selling timberlands. He would make a fortune and then lose it more than once in his career. He once tried to broker a deal that would have allowed the Ford Motor Company to advertise on US currency. In 1959, with barely enough money to buy the property, Turner would start construction on the Charlotte Motor Speedway, today known as Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Shortly after the track opened, Turner would be pushed out by his fellow investors, leaving him nearly broke and without a track following his banishment from NASCAR in 1961. While he was allowed to drive, one of Turner’s most memorable races was one he never won. On the last lap of the 1961 Rebel 300 at Darlington, he and Fred Lorenzen started the last lap running door to door. It degenerated from there into a slugfest. Lorenzen got the last hit on Turner, and won the race. On the cool down lap, Turner rammed his car into Lorenzen’s, crushing the front end, in a scene that would serve as the inspiration for one of the more memorable scenes in Days of Thunder. Turner got out of his car and walked back to the garage. The Blond Blizzard of Virginia was a legend in many respects; he combined hard living, hard driving, and hard partying. Curtis never won a Cup Championship, but he never lost a party. His bashes were legendary, often leaving right from a party to a race, and returning back to the party afterwards. An Oldsmobile pilot from 1950-1954, he would then switch to Fords. In 1956 he would win 22 races in NASCAR’s convertible series. He never ran a full season to contend for a championship, but not many drivers did in those days. He was the first NASCAR driver to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated; heralded as “The Babe Ruth of Stock Car Racing.” He later would earn the nickname, “Pops”, for his propensity to pop drivers in the back and move them out of his way. Turner broke many barriers in racing: The first driver to win a race by two laps, while leading every lap at Rochester, NY and Charlotte, NC in 1950 . He was flagged the winner at Weaverville in 1956 after the race was red flagged, because all of the other cars had wrecked or broke. That same year he won the Southern 500 by two laps over pole-sitter Speedy Thompson. In 1967 he qualified Smokey Yunick’s #13 Chevrolet for the Daytona 500 at 180.831mph, becoming the first driver to break the 180mph barrier in a stock car. In 1959, on a whim, Turner decided to build a racetrack and conceived the Charlotte Motor Speedway. With $2 million to work with, he began moving dirt, only to hit a very large rock; he would spend over $70,000 in dynamite trying to blow up a gigantic piece of granite. As the budget for the track continued to go up, the contractors refused to finish the backstretch shortly before the inaugural race in 1960. It wasn’t until Curtis provided some persuasion in the form of a Smith & Wesson revolver did the equipment start moving again. This would, however, prove to be his undoing. Desperate for cash and to pay off the debt he had incurred, Turner attempted to organize a driver’s union in 1961. This was heresy as far as Big Bill France was concerned. Turner was issued a lifetime ban from NASCAR racing, although in 1965 he was allowed to return to the track. His final win would come that year at the American 500, the first race ever held at the North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham. At Atlanta in 1967, Turner crashed heavily in Yunick’s Chevrolet, a violent wreck that led Yunick to pull his entry from the race stating, “I’m not going to build the car that Curtis Turner gets killed in.” Turner would retire from racing following the 1968 season, and would die in a plane crash near Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on October 14, 1970. The crash also claimed the life of golfer Clarence King. Benny Parson is quoted as saying, “ask any race fan under 50 who’s the best racecar driver of all time, and they’ll say Dale Earnhardt. Ask any race fan over 50, and they’ll say Curtis Turner.” Turner one time lined up eight glass jars of moonshine on an empty road, and proceeded to slide a Cadillac in between them, executing a 180 “Bootlegger Turn” ….sliding the car backwards through them. He did so cleanly, not spilling as much as a drop. He emerged from the car and in his slow Virginian drawl said, “It was easy…..I couldn’t waste all the good liquor.”

1957 Martinsville Convertible Race