Tiny Lund

A day draped in black: Tiny Lund loses his life
By Tom Higgins



First of a two-part series on DeWayne 'Tiny' Lund, killed 35 years ago in a Talladega 500 crash. Lund, named one of NASCAR’s 50 greatest drivers, is among five of this year’s nominees to the National Motorsports Press Association Hall Of Fame in Darlington, S.C.


It’s a date that forever will be draped in black in NASCAR history.

Aug. 17, 1975.

That’s the day that one of stock car racing’s most colorful and popular characters, Tiny Lund, lost his life in a crash at Talladega Superspeedway.

The accident happened just eight laps into the Talladega 500 at the 2.66-mile track then known as Alabama International Motor Speedway.

There was contact between cars in heavy traffic coming off the 33-degree banking of the second turn.

Suddenly, eight of the cars were spinning and colliding in a cloud of dust and smoke.

"Tiny came by me backwards," said J.D. McDuffie, tragically destined to lose his own life in a wreck on Aug. 11, 1991 at Watkins Glen, N.Y. "Someone then hit Tiny. I don’t know who."

Lund’s Dodge skidded through the grass alongside the track, then looped back onto the asphalt. The driver’s side of the car faced oncoming traffic.

Rookie Terry Link, unable to take evasive action, slammed into Lund’s door, caving in the car’s protective cage. Lund was unconscious, but alive, when an emergency crew removed him from the car. But 10 minutes after arriving at the infield infirmary, he passed away at age 46 from massive chest injuries.

Link, just-turned-23 and a rookie making only his third start on the leading NASCAR tour, was hospitalized with facial cuts. He never ran another race at that level.

Lund’s fellow competitors and thousands of fans were stunned by his death. The general reaction was, "Oh, God, no! Not big ol’ lovable Tiny!"

Lund’s nickname was a misnomer. The native of Iowa stood 6-6 and weighed about 275 pounds.

He was a 20-year NASCAR veteran. He listed only three victories on the sanctioning body’s major circuit, but one of these was the Daytona 500 of 1963. That win remains perhaps the greatest storybook racing triumph of all time.

Prior to the running of the 500 in ’63 NASCAR star Marvin Panch flipped a Maserati sports car while testing on the infield portion of the road course at Daytona International Speedway. The car landed on its roof and burst into flame. Panch was trapped inside.

Lund was standing nearby, along with several other spectators. The men rushed to the scene. Tiny, exerting the great strength of a giant, almost single-handedly lifted the car to an upright position. Panch was pulled out. He had sustained serious burns.

The injuries forced Panch from the Daytona 500. He asked his team owners, the Wood Brothers, Glen and Leonard, to put Tiny in their Ford. They complied, and Lund won the race. It was his first victory at the leading level, and was to remain his biggest triumph.

In addition to the Daytona 500 trophy, Tiny wound up with another great award: A prestigious Carnegie Medal for heroism.

In bitter irony, Lund wasn’t supposed to be in the field at Talladega. He hadn’t qualified.

However, the 500 was rained out on its original date, Aug. 10. On. Aug. 9, Gene Lovell, crew chief for driver Grant Adcox, had suffered a fatal heart attack while working on the team’s car at Talladega. A grieving Adcox withdrew.

Lund got in as an alternate, making his first start since 1973 in what was then called the Grand National Division.

He had been racing in a NASCAR sportsman series and stood second in that circuit’s point standings when he was killed. Tiny had finished fifth in a sportsman race at Hickory Speedway on the eve of the Talladega 500.

Tiny enjoyed splendid success in NASCAR’s Grand American Division for smaller cars, winning 41 times and capturing national championships in 1968, ’70 and ’71. He triumphed 10 straight times in 1970, including a victory in the Dogwood 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Lund claimed another championship in 1973, this one in the NASCAR Grand National East Division.

The victor in the ill-fated Talladega 500 of ’75 was Buddy Baker, a close friend and frequent fishing companion of Lund, owner and operator of a sportsman’s facility on the vast Santee Cooper Lakes near Cross, S.C. Lund once held the world record for landlocked striped bass with a 55-pounder he caught on the lower of those impoundments, Lake Moultrie.

Baker, who edged Richard Petty by about three feet at the finish line, came to the press box for the winner’s interview unaware of the tragedy at the start of the race.

Told of Lund’s death, Baker paled, dropped to his knees and appeared to lose his breath.

Buddy had to excuse himself for several minutes to regain his composure before continuing the interview.

"This is as bad as it gets," said the shaken Baker. "It takes all the joy out of winning this race."

Baker was among the dozens of drivers, crew chiefs and team owners at Tiny’s funeral on Aug. 19 at the small, ivy-covered St. Michael Lutheran Church in Moncks Corner, S.C., not far from the lakes Lund loved and where he made his home.

The church couldn’t come close to seating all those attending. So loudspeakers were positioned outside, where dozens of mourners stood in 90-degree heat, listening from the shade of long-leaf pines and oak trees draped with Spanish moss.

Tough men wept openly. Not only racers, but grizzled Santee Cooper fishing guides like Capt. John Sellers.

As the service ended drivers and other competitors lined the steps and sidewalk at the church, paying tribute as Tiny’s casket passed by, followed by his widow, Wanda, and young son, Christian.

To say the scene was somber is understatement.

The mourners included Panch, the Wood Brothers, Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Neil Castles, Jim Vandiver, Elmo Langley, Joe Frasson, Darel Dieringer, Morgan Shepherd, Butch Lindley, L.D. Ottinger, "Little Bud" Moore, "Big" Bud Moore, Ralph Moody, Buck Baker, Stan Starr, Tom Pistone and Jack Smith.

Also there were Big Bill France and Bill Jr. of NASCAR, along with officials Jim Foster, Lin Kuchler and Bill Gazaway.

Promoters Humpy Wheeler and Joe Littlejohn were present.

Such was the esteem in which the fun-loving Lund was held.

"People from coast-to-coast are touched and are here paying homage," Rev. John E. Wertz proclaimed during the service. "Tiny had a heart bigger than his imposing stature."

Touched most of all was Panch.

"If it wasn’t for Tiny, I wouldn’t be here," said Panch.

Said Yarborough: "I bet Tiny made a million dollars in his life, considering all the short track races he won. And he gave it away to somebody he thought needed it worse than he did."

Added Wheeler: "If Tiny had five cents, he’d spend four of it on someone else. Down-and-out drivers often stayed months for free with him at the fishing camp he ran on Santee Cooper."

As Lund was laid to rest a thunderstorm threatened to break the drought that had parched the S.C. Lowcountry for almost a month. He was buried next to a lone, massive oak tree.

The racing folks present then departed with resigned urgency.

Another race loomed at Michigan International Speedway, and even with the death of a friend, the show went on.

"Tiny would be the first to go along with that," concluded Wheeler.



A day draped in black: Tiny Lund loses his life | www.thatsracin.com[/QUOTE]
 
No one ever likened 'Tiny' Lund to a robo
TOM HIGGINS' SCUFFS
By Tom Higgins


Second of a two-part series on DeWayne “Tiny” Lund, killed 35 years ago on Aug. 17, 1975, in a wreck at what was then known as Alabama International Motor Speedway at Talladega, Ala. Lund, named one of NASCAR’s 50 greatest drivers, is among this year’s five nominees to the National Motorsports Press Association Hall Of Fame at Darlington, S.C.



It was an evening that glittered with many of NASCAR’s top stars.

Drivers Richard Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, LeeRoy Yarbrough, Buddy Baker and the Allison brothers, Bobby and Donnie, were there.

So were crew chiefs including Dale Inman, Leonard Wood and Herb Nab, along with team owners such as Lee Petty, Glen Wood, Junior Johnson, Banjo Matthews and Bud Moore.

The gala occasion in May of 1969 was an inaugural dinner celebrating formation of the Charlotte 600 Record Club. Sponsored by UNOCAL, the club’s purpose was to honor competitors who had performed well in Charlotte Motor Speedway’s biggest race, then known as the World 600.

As after-dinner speaker, the oil company brought to Charlotte the Green Bay Packers’ great linebacker, Ray Nitschke, destined for induction into the Pro Football Hall Of Fame.

When Nitschke began talking he didn’t regale the audience with anecdotes about football, which had been anticipated. Instead, he essentially conducted a Sunday school lesson. And he talked at some length.

Finally, Nitschke sat down to light applause.

It was at this point that Tiny Lund, all 6 foot-7 and 275 pounds of him, stood up at his table well back in the sizable hall.

“Damn, Ray!” bellowed Lund, breaking into a grin. “Don’t pro football players like girls?!”

The room rocked with laughter.

The bald-headed Nitschke turned a deep red and forced a slight smile.

Lund was the toast of the rest of the evening. And he remained so at the track for the next couple of days.

Fact is, big ol’ Tiny usually was the toast of every party he attended.

He was a fun-loving, practical joke-playing pixie in the body of a giant.

The immensely likable Lund lost his life 35 years ago in an eight-car crash just eight laps into the Talladega 500 at the sprawling track then known as Alabama International Motor Speedway.

Those of us who knew and admired the native Iowan – winner of the 1963 Daytona 500, four NASCAR Grand American Division championships and a Grand National East title – never will forget him.

No way. Not a man with a personality like his.

The day after Tiny’s death at age 46 I wrote a column about him. The article related some of Tiny’s humorous and often outrageous antics and also his love of the outdoors, especially fishing.

Difficult as it might be for some of the current Cup Series competitors to fathom, drivers once actually stayed in motels when on the road for races. There were no fancy, big-buck motorhomes in NASCAR from the late 1940s to well into the '80s.

And what’s more, drivers often shared rooms as a means of economizing.

On one occasion this was the case for Tiny and Yarborough.

As Tiny showered after a hard, hot day at the track, Yarborough filled their room’s ice bucket with cold water. He threw the water over the shower curtain, dousing Lund.

Tiny charged from the bathroom, intent on revenge. Yarborough jumped onto his bed and grabbed each side of the mattress in an effort to keep Lund from picking him up.

Tiny hoisted Cale, who was still clinging to the mattress and marched outside. He heaved both into the motel’s swimming pool.

Witnesses said Tiny hadn't stopped to grab a towel.

Following a race in the 1960s at Columbia Speedway in South Carolina, Tiny and some cronies remained in a favorite bar until closing time. Among the pals was Joe Whitlock, the late NASCAR public relations representative and newspaper columnist.

As the group stood on the sidewalk outside the bar Tiny offered a challenge.

“Whitlock, I’ll run you to the corner for a case of beer.”

Whitlock accepted and easily outran Lund.

“Go get the beer!” ordered Tiny.

“But I won,” protested Joe.

“Dummy, I didn’t say I’d beat you,” responded Tiny.

“I said I’d ‘run’ you.”

Whitlock bought.

During the late 1960s, Ford Motor Company staged an annual dinner in Detroit to recognize a “man of the year” among its drivers. Celebrities interested in motorsports abounded at these functions.

In the winter of 1969-70 among those attending was James Garner, the movie and TV star.

Tiny, a friend of the actor, visited Garner in his room at the hotel where the banquet was to be held.

When Tiny returned to the lobby he came across a flock of female fans frantically searching for the star, who had been hiding out from the horde for hours.

“Looking for Jim Garner?” Tiny asked with exaggerated accommodation. “Why, he’s in room 708.”

The women went screaming for the elevators.

Lund’s eyes twinkled.

"Let’s see ol’ Maverick talk his way out of this!”

Foremost among my favorite “Tiny Tales” involves a prank he pulled on close friend Buddy Baker.

It happened during an August fishing trip on the Santee Cooper Lakes in the S.C. Lowcountry. Tiny owned and operated a sportsman’s lodge on the lower end of the reservoirs, Lake Moultrie, and he often was host to members of the racing fraternity.

As Tiny slowly guided his boat along a canal leading to the main lake, Buddy suddenly shuddered.

“There’s an alligator on the bank!” shouted Buddy, pointing to a reptile about 3 feet long.

Tiny knew of Buddy’s dislike for creatures with “no shoulders.”

He decided to set up his guest for some fun.

“Oh, that’s a baby,” Tiny said dismissively. “We have some real man-eaters in the lake. Fourteen-footers.”

Buddy voiced apprehension, but the outing continued.

The fish weren’t biting and as the day’s heat became intolerable, Buddy began complaining.

Tiny suggested that Baker take a swim to cool off.

Baker, having forgotten the ‘gator, stripped to his skivvies and hit the water. He was enjoying the dip and then…

With a look of horror on his face, Buddy began screaming for help. Something had grabbed him.

Buddy went under. Once. Twice. Three times.

“I was sure a 'gator had me and that it was going to pull me to the bottom,” Buddy conceded later. “I was going to drown.”

Then, in an instant, Buddy was free.

Buddy looked like Tarzan as he speedily swam to the boat, all the while looking for Tiny and hoping for help.

Tiny wasn’t to be seen.

At this point Tiny’s head bobbed to the surface and he was choking with laughter.

“That rascal had slipped out the other side of the boat after I got in the water,” Baker went on. “He swam under the boat and grabbed me.”

NASCAR sure could use a colorful character like Tiny Lund nowadays.


No one ever likened 'Tiny' Lund to a robot
 
First of all to thanks to "Schwartz Fan" from another forum I got my links from him.


The following quote defines so well the heart of the racing warriors that we loved and cherished as boys and girls, they inspired us.
Tiny was a hard nosed racers racer, but he also had a heart of gold.
Rest in peace Tiny, the racing world should never forget you, or your kind.


"Tiny had a heart bigger than his imposing stature."
Touched most of all was Panch.
"If it wasn’t for Tiny, I wouldn’t be here," said Panch.
Said Yarborough: "I bet Tiny made a million dollars in his life, considering all the short track races he won. And he gave it away to somebody he thought needed it worse than he did."
Added Wheeler: "If Tiny had five cents, he’d spend four of it on someone else. Down-and-out drivers often stayed months for free with him at the fishing camp he ran on Santee Cooper."



I wrote the following after originally reading the previous links


As a boy I remember a certain Tiny Lund ( London ). In the early 70s a small battery radio got me by on Sundays. I listened to the races religiously and an excited voice announced during a sentence " ....Tiny Lund and...." so he was officially was Tiny London in my racing world.

That was before TV covered Nascar, you could only get snips or clips of TV coverage in those days, and MRN radio was the king.
But the big boys came to my local Greenville Pickens speedway in those days. I saw Bobby Isaac in the K & K Dodge and Petty win before STP when it was all Petty blue.
I saw Neil Soupy Castles get a rare win at GPS as well, in a shootout with Elmo Langley. I also saw Pete Hamilton win in some outlaw modified beast.

Ok sorry to stray (memories) from Tiny. Tiny came and ran against the locals in his Grand American Camaro around 73 or 74.

He was strong and he had Johnny Allen beat that night in the 100 lapper. Johnny was a really smooth clean driver, but me and dad were and still are die hard Chevy fans and happy to see Tiny beating Allen's 429 Fairlane. Tiny must have blew a head gasket, that's what the smoke looked like with just few laps to go.
I remember my late dad being pissed about that.

But the #55 Camaro was who I saw while watched Tiny race on my radio. I saw a lot of great ones , like Petty and Allison knocking each other around at Wilksboro, it filled my imagination of what a man should be, and do with his life.

It was really sad when I heard the fatal announcement from Talladaga on that Sunday.

RIP, but people will never forgot a hero like Lund.



And thanks to Barney Hall for giving it all a voice.
 
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