Ribbs' wrong turn helped open door for Earnhardt

After the retirement of Wendell Scott in 1973, NASCAR racing had no competitive black drivers at its highest level. Lowe's Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler sought to remedy that in 1978 when he introduced Willy T. Ribbs as his latest entry in the World 600, since renamed the Coca-Cola 600.

Ribbs was to drive the No. 96 Ford built and owned by Will Cronkrite, with the legendary Harry Hyde as his crew chief.

Earnhardt

Ribbs' planned debut quickly unraveled, as the driver skipped two practice sessions and ran afoul of the law. Ribbs was driving a speedway pace car, when police tried to pull him over for turning the wrong way down a one-way street.

Ribbs decided to outrun the cops and, as renowned Charlotte Observer motorsports writer Tom Higgins reported, ditched the car in Charlotte's posh Queens Road neighborhood.

Ribbs ran into the gym at nearby Queens College, and when police arrived, he was shooting baskets, pretending to be a student. There was only one problem: Queens was predominantly white and all-female at the time, and Ribbs was arrested.

Ribbs lost his ride in the 600 to little-known Dale Earnhardt, who would finish 17th in his fifth Cup start -- three spots in front of Richard Childress.

Later that season, Earnhardt signed on with owner Rod Osterlund, for whom he won the rookie-of-the-year title in 1979 and the Cup championship in 1980. Earnhardt began driving for Childress in 1984 and won six Cup titles in the No. 3 Chevrolet.

Of Earnhardt's first five NASCAR races, three were the World 600 at Charlotte. Earnhardt's first and second races were the 1975 and '76 World 600s, as was his fifth race in '78.

In fact, four of his first five NASCAR races came at Charlotte. The only race he ran in 1977 was the NAPA National 500 in October at Charlotte. The one race in his first five that wasn't at Charlotte was the '76 Dixie 500 at Atlanta.

Ribbs' Cup debut didn't come until 1986, when he started 29th and finished 22nd at North Wilkesboro, N.C. Ribbs made all three of his career Cup starts that year, but he returned to NASCAR racing in 2001, when he ran 23 of 24 races in the Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 8 Bobby Hamilton Racing Dodge.

• 1982: In sweltering heat, Bonnett 'Ace's surprising Elliott
• 1988: Earnhardt penalized five laps for spinning Bodine
• 1993: Aumann recalls Earnhardt's win under the lights