Herb Thomas is being inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Friday night. The driver most famous for driving No. 92, the “Fabulous Hudson Hornet,” passed away on Aug. 9, 2000, at the age of 77.
I talked to him once. It was at Martinsville Speedway in 1998. NASCAR was publicizing its list of 50 greatest drivers in the ruling body’s first 50 years. Herb and Bobby Allison came up to the press box and mainly mingled but also answered questions.
No one knew what to do with him.
The old champion had his career cut short by a terrible crash at the Shelby (Cleveland County, N.C.) fairgrounds track in 1956. It was one of the worst episodes in NASCAR history because most who saw it felt Speedy Thompson wrecked Thomas at the order of Carl Kiekhaefer, who wanted Thomas out of the way so that his driver, Buck Baker (another inductee), could win the Grand National title. There was bad blood between Thomas and Kiekhaefer. Thomas had quit on Kiekhaefer in the middle of the season and gone back out on his own. Many of Kiekhaefer’s drivers, including Baker and Tim Flock, bristled at the millionaire owner’s arbitrary ways and quit driving his immaculately prepared Chryslers at one time or another during Kiekhaefer’s two seasons of domination. Kiekhaefer had already gotten Big Bill France to add the Shelby race (and another) to the schedule, which gave Baker a chance to wrest the point lead from Thomas, who had already won championships in 1951 and ’53.
It might come as a surprise to many modern fans, but that 100 miler was run at night on a Tuesday, Oct. 23, 1956.
Thomas and Flock are in a virtual tie for the highest winning percentage in the history of NASCAR’s premier series. Thomas won 48 races in 228 tries (.210.), while Flock had 39 wins in 187 races (.209). One of the reasons for the distinction is that neither driver experienced a twilight. Thomas ran only a few more races after suffering a skull fracture and many more injuries in 1956, and France banned Flock for life when he and Curtis Turner tried to organize a drivers’ union in 1961. For very different reasons, both careers essentially ended in their primes.
It’s pretty easy to determine the dominant NASCAR drivers of the 1950s. In order, beginning with 1951, the championships were won by Thomas, Flock, Thomas, Lee Petty, Flock, Baker, Baker, Petty and Petty.
I’ve seldom felt sorrier for a fellow than Thomas that day in the Martinsville press box. He obviously felt uncomfortable. He was a plain-spoken, simple old man, wearing khaki work pants, a plaid flannel shirt and a windbreaker that didn’t have any sponsor decals on it. Most of the writers who deigned to interview him didn’t have a clue who he was and what he’d done. They were vaguely aware that once upon a time, he had been great. Most of the attention was on Allison, who seemed embarrassed for the ordeal that Thomas was going through.
One writer, trying and failing to come up a coherent question, asked Thomas what it was like to race against Bobby Allison, which caused him to stutter and stammer for good reason since they were not of the same generation. Thomas ran one final race in 1962, after five years away, and finished 14th at North Wilkesboro. Allison’s first Grand National start was in 1961, but he wasn’t in the field that day. Richard Petty won, and Thomas finished 23 laps behind. He called it quits for good.
So the media conference didn’t get off to a good start. The whole affair was mainly embarrassing. When asked about Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett and other luminaries of the day, Thomas had no idea what to say. Later, Allison strolled over to chat and console Thomas a bit.
I had paid my respects and was in earshot when Herb turned to Allison and asked, “Bobby, who in hell is Jeff Gordon? What did he ever do?”
At the time, Gordon was in the midst of winning 47 races in a period of five years.
Someone should be getting these greats from the past that are still wtih us together and recording their stories. This would be the sort of thing the Nascar Hall of Fame should be doing. We are losing so many of the pioneers of the sport, and many people don’t know or appreciate what it was like to race back then. It’s a rich legacy that we shouldn’t lose.
I think, if you search the Internet, there’s a good bit of reminiscing out there. I agree with you, of course. Back in the 1990s, writing a magazine story on Fred Lorenzen was one of my favorite assignmnts. I really enjoyed the long phone interview.
Many of the drivers who won a lot of races during the first 15 years of NASCAR were much more comfortable on the little dirt tracks running 150 or 200 mile races than they were on the speedways where keeping the car together and not using up the tires and sheetmetal over the course of five hours and 500 miles were a premium. Until ’59 Darlington was the only traditional 500 mile speedway event on the schedule and Herb Thomas won the Southern 500 three times in six attempts. Herb Thomas could get it done anywhere.
I wish I’d gotten the chance to know him, and I wish I had more than one story to write about him.
One thing I will miss, if you indeed forsake NASCAR, or at least do it on occasion, is your unique perspective. As a somewhat young an, thrusted into that journalistic world at Rockingham by Mike Hollander who thought an insurance agent could write for a webpage, I looked for people to emulate. It was you and Poole, who told it like it was and had a flair for the language. Pieces like this should be shared everywhere because so many are satisfied with just reporting PR and never giving an opinion. I’ve often said I am not worthy to inhabit the press areas of Bristol, Martinsville, Darlington, and Charlotte, but you obviously are. I am humbled.
I appreciate that, Ron. I’m still interested; it’s just not the way I make a living anymore. I’m sure my NASCAR writing will increase when there’s more material out there, as in “3…2…1 …” soon. I’m just going to get up each morning and write about what occurs to me.