I had the pleasure this past weekend of attending the AACA Grand National Meet in Williamsport, PA, and once again sharing the show field with my friend Tommy Nolen (whom I met at the AACA Fall Hershey Meet in 2010). Tommy does some of the nicest ‘60’s full-size muscle car restorations you will see and was there with a beautiful ’61 bubble-top Catalina.
He was telling me about his experiences driving Pontiac’s in 1960’s NASCAR events, and kind enough to share some pictures.
Tommy states “…some photos from my racing days. I worked for a man named Worth McMillion, Worth had Pontiac race cars that raced in the NASCAR Grand National Division. He had two cars and I drove the second car in some races in 1965, '66 and '67. These pictures were taken at either RIR in Richmond, Va. or Martinsville, Va.
That's me standing by the #83 car, picture was taken before Spring race at Richmond on May 15th, 1966. Also, the picture in the pits was taken by someone as I was waiting to go out to qualify.
The number #83 car is a Catalina, it was ordered through Bauer Pontiac in Powhatan, Va. It was the 376 H.O. motor with a 3-speed manual transmission. The car had no radio or heater, it had steel wheels with the little hub caps. Worth took the motor out and put it in his ‘62 Pontiac station wagon.
The number #80 car was also a Catalina, it was purchased from a local junk yard. It had had an interior fire. Before those two cars he had a ‘62 Catalina . He had two SD motors, one was a 421 and one was a 389.
When he ran bought cars I got to drive whatever he felt like was the second car so I sometimes drove the #80 car.
In the photo that was taken from the announcer’s stand while we were waiting to qualify, the number #22 Impala is Curtis Turner driving Smokey Yunick's car.”
For more about Worth McMillion, go to
this page
