Bristol's new frontier paled to what happened above

Tom Higgins, longtime motorsports writer for The Charlotte Observer, was in Bristol, Tenn., on July 20, 1969 -- the day Apollo 11 landed on the moon. He wrote about this memories of that day for thatsracin.com. This is an excerpt from that story:

Everyone gathered at Bristol International Speedway wanted the Volunteer 500 to finish quickly.

The drivers, their crews, the NASCAR officials, the fans and members of the media.

David Pearson in Victory Lane -- although he did not drive across the finish line.

Everyone.

This is because the date was July 20, 1969.

Later that afternoon, two American astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, were scheduled to become the first human beings to land and set foot on THE MOON!

In fact, many among the estimated 32,000 spectators at the Tennessee track 40 years ago left early so they could follow the historic lunar landing on TV.

And they departed prematurely only in part because the No. 17 Holman-Moody Ford started by David Pearson had been driven to a three-lap lead in the crash-filled race.

Stunningly, in the cockpit for the final 146 laps of 500, running in relief of Pearson, was his arch-rival, Richard Petty. Petty's Ford had blown an engine on Lap 60.

Pearson was stricken with the flu. A soaring thermometer that reached 104 degrees, with accompanying high humidity, had further weakened him. Although leading, he had to get out of his blue and gold car.

The desire of everyone to depart the speedway in the Blue Ridge Mountains was dampened by a rash of wrecks. Owner/promoter Larry Carrier had redesigned the half-mile layout to feature bankings of 36 degrees in the turns. Carrier wanted to have the fastest track of that length in the world. He got it. Pole winner Cale Yarborough, driving a Wood Brothers Mercury, qualified at 103.432 mph, beating the former Bristol time trial mark by approximately 15 mph.

The drivers had a tough time adjusting to Carrier's changes.

"They've ruined a good race track," said Petty.

Don Hunter/Smyle Media

An early race crash involved Bobby Allison (22), Dick Brooks (32), Jabe Thomas (25), Buddy Baker (6) and Wendell Scott (34).

The combination of wrecks and high heat, which caused engines to fail, left only 10 of 32 starters running at the finish. And the 10th place driver, the late Roy Tyner, was a whopping 97 laps behind at the checkered flag.

It took 3 hours, 8 minutes to run the 250-mile race.

Upon its completion word came from NASA that Armstrong and Aldrin were going in a bit earlier than planned. This heightened the urge to get home -- or SOMEWHERE -- to watch the telecast of what was happening on the moon.

The astronauts were scheduled to emerge from the Lunar Lander about 6 hours after touchdown.

"No way we're going to make it home in time," I told pals in the press and others from the Charlotte area.

"Don't worry, we're going to see it," said genial, generous Richard Howard, who at that time was running Charlotte Motor Speedway. "I'll take care of that."

• Click here for the complete story on thatsracin.com.

Special thanks to Mike Persinger, executive sports editor of The Charlotte Observer, for permission to post this story and to Don Smyle of smylemedia.com for photos from the Don Hunter Collection.