A little background info first. In 1980 Lake Speed made the
decision to make the gigantic leap from karts to Cup. He decided to do it on his own.
I had already known him about 15 years through karting, so I offered any help I might
provide. He had a couple of guys working on the car in the shop, but no pit crew, so
three guys from Nashville and I became Lake’s crew.
He hired former driver (with 7 Cup wins) Darel Dieringer to be team manager.
In 1964 Dieringer was driving for Bud Moore, who had won the championship the previous year with Joe Weatherly. Dieringer was to be Weatherly’s teammate for the ’64 season, but Weatherly was tragically killed at Riverside in January of 1964.
Now that you’re up to speed on the background here’s how it all ties together. Dieringer told this story one night at dinner during the 1980 season.
On August 2, 1964, the Grand National cars rolled into town for the Nashville 400. Imagine a typical steamy, hot August day in Nashville. The cars were practicing for the 400, but Dieringer wasn’t happy with the way his Mercury was handling. He would complain to Moore, the crew would make adjustments, Dieringer would practice some more, but he still wasn’t happy.
After a couple of adjustments, Moore suggested the problem might not be with the car, but instead with the driver. Moore told Dieringer the car would handle the banked turns just fine if Darel would, “Drive to the gate before he let off the throttle".
Another explanation is due here. The half-mile track didn’t have a tunnel. To get into the infield, you either had to cross at turn one as you still do now, or if you went to the sign-in booth behind the backstraight you followed a road parallel to the backstraight and entered the track at a crossover gate near the end of the backstraight just before turn three.
So the guy who had won the NASCAR Grand National points championship the previous year as car owner and chief mechanic was strongly suggesting to his driver that in order to turn a quick lap at Nashville he shouldn’t let off the gas until he got to the crossover gate near the end of the backstraight.
Being a fairly smart driver and knowing who signed his paycheck, Dieringer said he would oblige. He crawled back into his #16 Mercury, gave an extra tug on the belts (thinking they were about to be used), and headed out for more practice.
After warming up a couple of laps, Dieringer came off turn two and headed down the backstraight. Sure enough, following his boss’s orders, he stayed in the throttle until he reached the gate.
As you might guess, he never made it to turn four.
The wrecker towed the Mercury with the badly damaged front end back to the pits. Darel said he was happy to report to Moore that he had followed orders and indeed, “Drove it to the gate, just like you said.”
Remember, it was a hot August day. The crew went to work repairing the car. Dieringer went to his rental car, got in turned on the air conditioner, and relaxed in the comfort of a nice cool car.
He said he’d regularly check on the progress of the repairs. About every ten minutes he’d honk the horn, roll down the window, and ask Bud, “Hey. You got that car ready for me to drive to the gate again?”
If you’re wondering, Dieringer did finish 6th in the race the next day.
To give a perspective of where the gate was located, here's how the gate looked from the stands. It's the opening between the Pure sign and the Chevyland billboard.
He hired former driver (with 7 Cup wins) Darel Dieringer to be team manager.
In 1964 Dieringer was driving for Bud Moore, who had won the championship the previous year with Joe Weatherly. Dieringer was to be Weatherly’s teammate for the ’64 season, but Weatherly was tragically killed at Riverside in January of 1964.
Now that you’re up to speed on the background here’s how it all ties together. Dieringer told this story one night at dinner during the 1980 season.
On August 2, 1964, the Grand National cars rolled into town for the Nashville 400. Imagine a typical steamy, hot August day in Nashville. The cars were practicing for the 400, but Dieringer wasn’t happy with the way his Mercury was handling. He would complain to Moore, the crew would make adjustments, Dieringer would practice some more, but he still wasn’t happy.
After a couple of adjustments, Moore suggested the problem might not be with the car, but instead with the driver. Moore told Dieringer the car would handle the banked turns just fine if Darel would, “Drive to the gate before he let off the throttle".
Another explanation is due here. The half-mile track didn’t have a tunnel. To get into the infield, you either had to cross at turn one as you still do now, or if you went to the sign-in booth behind the backstraight you followed a road parallel to the backstraight and entered the track at a crossover gate near the end of the backstraight just before turn three.
So the guy who had won the NASCAR Grand National points championship the previous year as car owner and chief mechanic was strongly suggesting to his driver that in order to turn a quick lap at Nashville he shouldn’t let off the gas until he got to the crossover gate near the end of the backstraight.
Being a fairly smart driver and knowing who signed his paycheck, Dieringer said he would oblige. He crawled back into his #16 Mercury, gave an extra tug on the belts (thinking they were about to be used), and headed out for more practice.
After warming up a couple of laps, Dieringer came off turn two and headed down the backstraight. Sure enough, following his boss’s orders, he stayed in the throttle until he reached the gate.
As you might guess, he never made it to turn four.
The wrecker towed the Mercury with the badly damaged front end back to the pits. Darel said he was happy to report to Moore that he had followed orders and indeed, “Drove it to the gate, just like you said.”
Remember, it was a hot August day. The crew went to work repairing the car. Dieringer went to his rental car, got in turned on the air conditioner, and relaxed in the comfort of a nice cool car.
He said he’d regularly check on the progress of the repairs. About every ten minutes he’d honk the horn, roll down the window, and ask Bud, “Hey. You got that car ready for me to drive to the gate again?”
If you’re wondering, Dieringer did finish 6th in the race the next day.
To give a perspective of where the gate was located, here's how the gate looked from the stands. It's the opening between the Pure sign and the Chevyland billboard.
This Fred Marchman photo shows the entrance road from Craighead across
the bridge past the pit sign in booth, along the backstraight to where it entered the track.
Here are a couple of photos taken by fans of Darel in the big Mercury. In the
first one he's pulling up on the front straight for a practice session and in the other he's coming
off turn four. The right side doesn't look too beat up, so this might be before his accident.
