Lennie Pond

Lennie Pond is a former NASCAR race driver. He was born on the 11th of August 1940 in the small town of Ettrick in Chesterfield County, Virginia. He started his seventeen year NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in 1969 when he made his debut in the American 500 at Rockingham Speedway on the 26th of October 1969. He started in thirty eighth position in a field of forty cars and finished thirty fourth after trouble with the engine whilst driving the #44 Chevrolet for the Giachetti Brothers team. Lennie had his second ride in 1970 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, driving for the Joe Phipps team in the #65 Chevrolet; he started at thirty seventh and finished thirty fourth after encountering gear problems. His next foray into the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was not until 1973 when he drove the #54 Chevrolet, owned by Ronnie Elder and sponsored by Master Chevy Sales. He raced in twenty three of a possible twenty eight races and in his first race, at Richmond International Raceway; he finished in seventh position, giving him his first career Top 10 result. Throughout the season he finished with his first career Top 5 and a further eight Top 10 finishes, an excellent result with all but one finish in the Top 10. Out of the twenty three possible races Lennie had thirteen DNF (did not finish) results as he encountered some kind of mechanical problem with the car in nine races and did not finish in four races in four events through involvement in crashes. Nevertheless Lennie did enough to gain the coveted 1973 “Rookie of the year” honours after a closely fought competition for the title against newcomer, Darrell Waltrip. After winning the award Lennie said, ,” I knew if they (NASCAR) went on performance alone, I would win it. Since they did, I’m very thankful.”

The following year, 1974, Lennie again drove the #54 for Ronnie Elder when he took part in twenty two events out of a possible thirty. He gained a further five Top 5’s together with eleven Top 10 finishes. In 1975 he finished second in both of the races at Richmond International Raceway, narrowly missing winning the race in the Autumn Richmond International Raceway event through a long pit stop. He led in all of the laps from lap 195 to lap 375 before he had to stop to have a tyre changed. The crew had a problem changing his rear right tyre and when he was coming out of the pit he was black-flagged for having a missing lug. The delay cost him the race, he tried to make up the time but was pipped to the post by Darrell Waltrip by mere seconds. He was hired by Harry Ranier in 1978. He missed the first race at Riverside International Raceway, he finished tenth in the Daytona 500 and the following week he led four times for 142 laps and looked to be the winner at Richmond International Raceway in the Richmond 400 but, as luck would have it, he suffered a flat tyre whilst in the lead and with only seventy seven laps to go he returned to the race, trailing behind Benny Parsons by just twenty four seconds. Lennie’s car was faster but he ran out of time and laps, finishing 2.6 seconds after Benny. That first place victory was still eluding him, this was his seventeenth career runner-up position.

Lennie had heard through the grapevine that Harry Ranier was going to release him at the end of the season and hire Darrell Waltrip in his place. Perhaps spurred on with this in mind he went to the event at the Talladega Superspeedway and, after a record sixty seven lead changes in the race, Lennie took the final lead with just five laps to go and driving at a then world record speed of 174.7 mph he held off Donnie Allison to take his first victory of his career. Lennie said after the race, celebrating his victory, “when this race started, I felt like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders, I’ve gone through a lot of miserable days lately. I’ve heard the talk that I can’t drive the superspeedways. I hope all that ends now.” This year, 1978, Lennie won his first five career poles, eleven Top 5’s and nineteen Top 10 positions and finished in seventh position in the final point standings despite missing two races. Lennie was released at the end of the season and unfortunately that was the last time he drove for a top team. Over the next seven years Lennie drove limited schedules for various car owners.

Before retiring Lennie raced his last race on the 10th of September 1989 at Richmond International Raceway in the Miller High Life 400 where he finished in 11th place. During his NASCAR career Lennie had one win, thirty nine Top 5’s and 88 Top 10’s. He also had 5 poles. Today he is working for Heritage Chevrolet, selling cars, a job that he loves – second to racing.

References:

http://www.legendsofnascar.com/Lennie_Pond.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lennie_Pond

Mike Skinner

“The Gunslinger”, Mike Skinner was born on the 28th June, 1957 in Susanville, California. His love of racing didn’t start in the same way as many NASCAR race car drivers who started driving go-karts at very young age. His beginnings were very different. Being a young teenager he was well known as being a pool hustler and a rebel. In 1975 fate decided to take a hand in shaping his future. Mike was driving his 1971 Plymouth Road Runner when he had a crash and ended up wrecking his car. Instead of scrapping the car it was suggested by a friend that Mike bought it back from the insurance company, fixed it and used it to race at the local dirt tracks. To be a race car driver had not crossed his mind before this chance remark.

His first foray into the sport was at the local dirt track at the Lassen County Fairgrounds where he was doing rather well for himself, leading for most of the race then, with a half of a lap lead towards the white flag the front right hand ball joint broke as he was coming out of turn two. His car flipped over three times before coming to a stand still on its roof. Undeterred Mike got out of the car and kicked it and, wearing only cowboy boots at the time, received a broken toe for his efforts. He loved the sport so, to make ends meet, Mike worked at his day job as a well driller and repaired and raced cars at night. With his natural ability for driving he notched up three championships in the late 1970’s. Mike was also entering various events throughout the state and eventually, in 1983, his then wife said to him, “Either be a professional race car driver or well driller”! Not having to be told twice Mike moved with his family to North Carolina to chase his dreams of becoming a NASCAR race driver, the most important one was to one day race in the Daytona 500. It was not easy to get a ride but he was prepared to work his way up through the ranks, starting with Petty Enterprises and, new to the business, Rusty Wallace as a crew member.

It wasn’t until 1986 that he made his debut in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the #19 Pontiac for Zanworth Racing. He had his best finish at 22nd in just three starts. He made his debut at Darlington Raceway in the Nationwide Series in 1986. He drove the #0 Hunt Tire Oldsmobile and came in at 27th. He didn’t compete in NASCAR races again until 1990, at North Carolina Speedway, when he drove the #13 Glidden Paints Buick for Mansion Motorsports but his car had back end problems and he finished in 35th position. He had four races for over the next couple of years and one race in 1993. He won almost 50% of his late model races and Mike was asked to race late models for Gene Petty in 1994, gained a local track championship at Carraway Speedway and he started racing in the Nationwide Series, driving the #88 for Gene Petty. He won one pole position in the Kentucky Fried Chicken Chevrolet but failed to actually finish a race.

His strength obviously lay in racing the Late Models and after winning several events he caught the attention of Richard Childress Racing and was chosen to race in the inaugural season of the new NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 1995. Mike nearly turned down the offer because he didn’t want to drive trucks he wanted to race cars then he realised who had asked him Richard Childress Racing, the opportunity of a lifetime! He won the first race of the series and collected seven more wins as he made his way to winning the first championship in the series. The following year he had another eight victories and was 3rd in the overall point standings. He also ran in five races in the Sprint Cup Series for Richard Childress Racing where he qualified in the top 10 three times. Mike also sat in for Dale Earnhardt while Dale recovered from injuries from a crash. Mike was promoted to full-time driver in the Sprint Cup Series in 1997, driving the #31 with Lowe’s sponsorship, claiming poles at both of the Daytona events and three Top 10 finishes. Despite being forced to sit out three of his races through injury and failing to quality in one race he won the coveted “Rookie of the Year “Honours. The following year he gained nine Top 10’s and two exhibition victories in Japan when NASCAR raced in Asia for the first time since its inception. In 2004 Toyota said that it wanted to join NASCAR and Mike began racing the #42 Toyota Tundra for Bang, returning to his favourite series, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Mike is the only driver to run in every event of the Series since its entry into NASCAR. Mike has had many victories, pole positions and awards in this series. Mike has had thirty-nine Top 10 finishes and six pole positions in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series but winning a race seems to elude him and started to be known as “the Best Winston Cup Driver Who Had Not Won A Race Yet”!

Mike holds a yearly charity event called “The Toyota Skinner Roundup”. This is a charity that raises money for charities in the Daytona Beach area. Fans, celebrities and sponsors all come out for music, golf, poker in an effort to raise funds for many good causes. After the great success of “The Round Up”, he and wife, Angela created their own foundation called “The Skinner Roundup for Charity” to continue growth of giving for their communities. Mike also assists various drivers and teams as a Driver Coach to mentor young talent to fulfil the dream he discovered in the sport of NASCAR racing.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Skinner_%28racing_driver%29

http://www.mikeskinner.com/history.html