Youngest of racing family made name as relief driver

NASCAR has always been about families: the Frances, the Pettys, the Earnhardts, the Allisons, the Jarretts, the Pearsons, the Utsmans.

What, you've never heard of the Utsman family from Bluff City, Tenn.? Well, three of them participated in the inaugural NASCAR event at what used to be called Bristol International Speedway, and John Utsman was instrumental in Benny Parsons' only victory at Bristol, as he wound up driving nearly half of the race as a relief driver.

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"Back then, the cars didn't all have power steering," Utsman said. "And then they weighed 3,700 pounds instead of the 3,400 they weigh today. They were really hard to drive for 500 miles."

Back when 500 laps at Bristol was a true test of both man and machine, especially on a sweltering July afternoon, relief drivers were commonplace. And John Utsman was one of the best on the half-mile bullring just a few miles from where he grew up.

"I think I drove in about 11 races at Bristol, and out of those 11, I had eight top-10 finishes," Utsman said. "I had pretty good finishes up there. I relieved for G.C. Spencer and finished ninth. I drove G.C.'s car once and finished 10th. I drove Benny Parsons' car five times and finished first, second, third and fourth. I drove Bobby Allison's car once and finished fifth. And I drove Janet Guthrie's car and finished sixth in it, which was the best finish she ever had in NASCAR."

For example, consider the 1973 Volunteer 500. Utsman had driven Spencer's car to a 10th-place finish in the spring race, but didn't have a ride when the series returned in July. But Parsons was smart enough to realize he could count on Utsman to help handle the driving chores.

"I was standing up there on a Friday and B.P. asked me, 'What are you going to be doing tomorrow?' Utsman said. "He said, 'I'm going to be having a little bit of a problem, so why don't you come up here and try my car out, because I'm probably going to need your help Sunday.' I said OK."

After taking the car out for practice, Utsman immediately realized the car was good enough to win the race.

"I went up there and the only lap I ran in the car was fast enough to sit on the pole. Then on Sunday, I got in it about 240 laps in, I think, and I drove it until there were about 40 laps to go, I believe. At that time, I think Benny hadn't won but about one race, and that was [South Boston]. Anyway, I came back in and let Benny get back in it, because we had about a nine-lap lead."

According to the accounts of the day, when Parsons pulled into the pits, he was in third behind Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough. But with Utsman behind the wheel, the No. 72 Chevrolet quickly closed the gap. (Continued)