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.

"When I got in it, Bobby and Cale were ahead, and I was amazed, because the car was faster than anybody on the race track," Utsman said. "Then Bobby and Cale got together and wrecked later on. And [Richard] Petty had problems. Back then, the competition wasn't as strong as it is today. But Benny's car was really fast that day. We ended up with the record at the time, for winning by seven laps."

Even though he didn't get credit for winning the race, Utsman still is proud of his accomplishments that day.

"The car was fast, that's what tickled me," Utsman said. "I could outrun Cale, and I knew Cale led all 500 laps that first race, so if you could beat him, you were doing something."

But the Utsman family racing history goes back well before Bristol was built.

"My dad had an old race car before I was ever born," Utsman said. "In 1946 or 1947, that's the first I remember going to a race. They had an old track in Bluff City that was called Island Park -- there was an island over there where the river comes down -- and they used to pour oil on the track to kill the dust, rather than water. They used to all run '34 Fords and '32 Fords and stuff like that, with flatheads in them. And they used to run regular tires, they didn't have special tires for them. They slipped and slid like they do today because they didn't have tires for it."

"When my uncle [Dub] got out of the service, he drove my dad's car. Then my older brother Sherman started in '51, and then Layman [a second brother] got out of the service in '55 and he started driving. Then I started in '60. The first race my mother ever seen us all run was in 1968 at Sportsman Speedway in Johnson City [Tenn.]. I won the race that night and they ran second and third. We used to do that quite a bit, run 1-2-3."

In fact, three Utsmans made the field for the first race at Bristol in 1961. Layman, driving a 1960 Dodge, wound up 42nd with handling problems. Dub, in a '61 Ford, broke a rocker arm and finished 29th. But Sherman piloted his '61 Ford to a ninth-place finish.

"In the early '60s, it wasn't banked as much, until they added that in 1969," Utsman said. "In the early '70s, it was asphalt, of course. They've got the concrete now a lot like it was then, because you could run up high or down low, either one. It was a good race track, even at that."

Utsman admitted his career got off to a somewhat shaky start.

"I actually started in 1960 at a little dirt track," Utsman said. "I ran a couple of races and had trouble in both of them. I didn't have money to fix the car right. It was a '46 Ford."

However, once he got the hang of things, Utsman was a force around eastern Tennessee, winning more than 300 short-track features during his career.

"We never had big sponsors or a lot of money back then," Utsman said. "Everybody built their own cars and maybe we were just a little bit sharper."

And even though his name isn't in the record books as the driver of record, John Utsman still considers the 1973 Volunteer 500 as his greatest day as a driver.

"My biggest thrill in NASCAR, by far, was getting in Benny's car at Bristol, because I lived about four or five miles from the track," Utsman said. "I ran a Ford all the time, and everybody else ran Chevrolets. I left the modifieds one time and went to Johnson City, and they told me I couldn't take a Ford and outrun the Chevrolets there -- and I did. And when I left Johnson City and started to run NASCAR, I was told I couldn't take a Ford and outrun the Chevelles. I don't know if people doubted me or the cars or what.

"Just proving to people I could do it and doing it right there in my hometown, was the biggest thrill -- by far -- I ever got in my life."