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Super StarWe have Saturday night short track racing up at Richmond this weekend, with a little Crown Royal to be consumed in Victory Lane ... a perfect set up for the Bobby Isaac Tribute.
"A soft-spoken man who rarely gave interviews, Isaac was not known well outside of the NASCAR world. Few people knew him well, a fact that did not bother him in the least. Billed as a loner by many, those who knew him well understood: outside of his hometown of Catawba, North Carolina, the only place he felt at home was behind the wheel of a race car. And when Isaac felt at home, he could not be beat."
(Direct Quote from Bobby Isaac: What Speed Looks Like, by Steve Lehto)
I read most of Mr. Lehto's book a long time ago and decided to bring it back out for this tribute. A lot of what you will be reading about are thoughts and/or paraphrasing from the book and I wanted to make sure the proper credit is given.
The Beginning
There are different birth years given for his date of birth, some sources say August 1, 1932 and others say 1934. His hometown was in Catawba County, NC in a little community called Piney Woods. His earliest occupation, beyond working on the family farm from the age of 6 when his father died, is debated between working at a sawmill or a cotton mill beginning at age 12. When his father died, Isaac's mother went to work, in town away from the farm, and so Isaac and his eight siblings were left to take care of themselves. There was no one there to tell him he had to go to school. Therefore, he never learned to read or write having dropped out of school entirely at age 13. Obviously, he didn't focus on schoolwork the times he was in attendance.
Nestled in the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains, Isaac lived a very meager life, got in fights at school, and was thought to be "mean" or a "hot head." Isaac even tried to hitchhike out of the mountains while still a teenager, a plan soon spoiled by one of his sisters who stopped to pick him up and take him home to live with her and her husband.
The Racing Bug Bites
The setting is 1952. (Other accounts say this happened in 1953). Isaac was biding his time working in the mill during the day, living in pool halls at night. There was no grand plan for his life or career. So, Isaac decided to visit the new dirt track called Hickory Motor Speedway, which opened in Catawba County, NC in 1951. One of the drivers he saw there was "Gentleman" Ned Jarrett. By chance, or by fate, this was Jarrett's very first race. Although they had met through one of Isaac's jobs, they were not friends. Apparently, Isaac was not a loquacious man and did not make friends easily. However, Ned Jarrett eventually became a very important and identifiable part of Isaac's life, successes, and death. It is a wonder the two became so close as it seems they were polar opposites in their demeanor.
After seeing the excitement at Hickory, Isaac had the desire to try it himself. Isaac's first race experience was in a modified '37 Ford dirt track car, which ended for him on the second lap when he went into a corner too fast flipping and rolling the car. The owner wasn't happy, but Isaac was hooked. I would have loved to see the gleam in his eyes after that initial encounter with racing! From then on, he would drive for anyone who would put him in their car.
Tearing up the dirt track circuit in the 1950's with purses so small, yet they almost matched his weekly wage, Isaac quit his day job(s) and focused on racing. Isaac raced as many as four nights a week. One of Isaac's friends called him a "furious competitor" who was just trying to make a name for himself. Usually, it was Isaac against "the rest of the field." Many times promoters paid him not to show up for a race because they wanted to give the other drivers a chance. He even hid in the infield one time because he was afraid people were going to want his autograph and he didn't know how to sign his name.
Isaac had a fierce temper and it was not uncommon for him to get in a fight after a race, taking dirty driving tactics of other drivers into his own hands. Although no one kept exact records of the total monetary fines, it is said he was the most fined driver in history.
Isaac watched and raced with the heroes such as Jarrett, Richard Petty, Ralph Earnhardt, and David Pearson. Before Isaac even entered the stock car world, David Pearson took a liking to Isaac, personally and professionally. Through Pearson's persistence, they became close friends.
Moving Onward and Upward To Stock Cars
Bobby Isaac's career in NASCAR started in 1961 at the ripe age of 28. He raced in only one race that year and that was at Charlotte, in the qualifier race. Driving for Junior Johnson in the number 27 Pontiac he completed two laps of the 67 before having a coil issue, officially. Actually, Junior Johnson wanted to save his car for the big event (World 600) and asked Isaac to take two laps and bring it to the pits to park the car. Without compensation. Isaac later told a reporter that he was "still happy to do it."
The Stats
Isaac didn't race again at that level until 1963 when he hooked up with Bondy Long in a car purchased from Lee Petty. Eventually, Long purchased a car from the Holman-Moody team. Before the end of the '63 season, he left that team and ran the last race for Smokey Yunick. He ran almost half the schedule with no wins which left him wondering about his future. Driving for Ray Nichels, 1964 brought him one controversial win, the Daytona 500, out of the 19 races he ran. Isaac didn't win a race again until 1968. Leans years followed, for in all of 1965, 1966 and 1967 he raced in total of 25 races. In 1965, he raced 8 races for Junior Johnson before being let go (or leaving on his own, another contradiction). After being put through an "interview" process with other drivers, 1966 was when he joined the Krauskopf/Hyde K&K Team driving the number 71 for which he is famously associated with. Hyde explained they had a five-year plan to win the championship, which is why they chose the number 71 (for the year 1971). However, other sources say that this is just the number NASCAR issued to them.
And this is where the legendary numbers begin. 1968 was the only year Isaac ran the entire Cup (Grand National) series. This year there were 49 races total (6 races on dirt tracks, 42 races on paved tracks, 1 race on a road course). He had three poles and an equal number of wins.
Bobby also has the record for poles in one season with 19 in 1969. He ran 50 of the 54 races gaining 17 wins. This was the year the drivers union boycotted running at Talladega. Isaac didn't, even though his owner told him he could sit out the race if he wanted. Mr. Bill France was impressed with Isaac and later presented him a gold watch which was inscribed with "winners never quit, quitters never win."
In 1970, Isaac ran 47 of the 48 races while sitting on the pole at both Talladega races, along with eleven other times. That year, Isaac won eleven races and became the Cup Series champion, one year prior to his team owners' goal. Success!
The following year 1971 saw Isaac add four more wins to his total while he ran just a little more than half the schedule.
In 1972 he won only once, the last one of his career. He sat on the pole nine times, something he would never again do for the remainder of his career through 1976. The records show that he had a total of 37 wins and one championship.
The Salt Flats
In September of 1971, the defending champion was feeling like he was at the pinnacle of his career. He decided to try his luck at the world-famous Bonneville Salt Flats in the Utah desert. During the sessions, Isaac set a number of land speed records in the No. 71 Dodge Charger Daytona owned by Nord Krauskopf and prepared by legendary mechanic Harry Hyde. This car (here is another contradiction) was said to have been driven at Talladega to a closed-course lap record of 201.104 mph on Nov. 24, 1970, although other accounts say it was a brand new Dodge Charger with a brand new Hemi engine.
These records brought Isaac national attention and what many remember him for today.
The End Of Isaac's Career, Per Se
In 1973, Isaac flew with David Pearson to Talladega for the second race of the season there. On lap 14 driver Larry Smith hit the wall and died. Although not informed of Smith's condition at the time, Isaac radioed Bud Moore on lap 90 and told him he had heard a voice telling him to get out of the car, and that is exactly what he was going to do. Later on however on a trip to New York, Isaac told a reporter that it wasn't a voice but that he had asked himself what he was doing there and he didn't have a good answer for that question, so he just quit. He did race for a few rag-tap operations in NASCAR until 1976, but nothing of any significance came of it.
The Final Lap
In 1977, Isaac returned to his roots racing at the local dirt tracks. He had told many of his old contacts he needed to slow down and that he hadn't been feeling well. The hot and muggy Saturday night race of August 13, 1977 would be his last. He started slowing down during the race from heat exhaustion and a failing heart. Other sources say it was from carbon monoxide poisoning. Either way, Dr. Jerry Punch was in attendance that night and accompanied him to the hospital. He didn't survive the night.
Mr. Isaac's passing was on August 14, 1977 (two days before Elvis Presley's death) at the age of 44. Word quickly spread through the NASCAR community. His current wife to whom he'd only been married for a few weeks didn't have enough money to bury him. So, the ever gentleman Ned Jarrett offered her a plot from his recently purchased cemetery plots near Hickory Motor Speedway so that she could bury Isaac. She asked Jarrett if she could have another plot to eventually be buried there with him, which she later turned back over when she remarried. Isaac is buried there overlooking the speedway awaiting his dear and true friend to join him in the Jarrett family plot.
My closing thought ... the stark contrast to many drivers in the Cup circuit today, Isaac entered that world with only a dream --and left it as if it had only been a dream. Thanks for reading.
Now in honor of the 1970 Cup Champion Bobby Isaac, let's go RACING!!
