[lovell fan]

looking for any and all info on Clarence Lovell - watched him race in Austin, texas at Longhorn Speedway - winning every night -went to talladega in 73 and he was there - i was proud for him but heard he died shortly after -anyone know when winston 500 was at talladega in 73 - -

thanks

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by lovell fan

looking for any and all info on Clarence Lovell - watched him race in Austin, texas at Longhorn Speedway - winning every night -went to talladega in 73 and he was there - i was proud for him but heard he died shortly after -anyone know when winston 500 was at talladega in 73 - -

thanks

REF: Forty years of Stock Car Racing, 1972-1989, Fielden

The 1973 Winston 500 was held on 06May73.

Clarence Lovell finished fourth in the #61 Don Bierschwale Chevie. Five days later Lovell was killed in a highway accident near his home in San Antonio.

For his NASCAR history go to the link below.

Clarence Lovell Career Statistics - Racing-Reference.info

[cornutt]

Originally Posted by lovell fan

looking for any and all info on Clarence Lovell - watched him race in Austin, texas at Longhorn Speedway - winning every night -went to talladega in 73 and he was there - i was proud for him but heard he died shortly after -anyone know when winston 500 was at talladega in 73 - -

I was there too. I don't know much more than you, unfortunately. I recall that he finished either fourth or fifth in that race (I remember that because his number was on the scoreboard at the end of the race, and the scoreboard they had then only showed the top five). I recall the Birmingham News having some words of praise for him the next day.

Unfortunately, if memory serves, the next day was also the day he died. It was in a highway accident somewhere. Apparently Lovell was driving the trailer with the race car home himself, which wouldn't have been too unusual for an independent driver in those days. Somewhere on Interstate 10 in Louisiana, I think it was, he went off the road and hit an overpass piling and was killed instantly. I recall the Birmingham paper having a few words from the sheriff in that area who investigated. He said that evidently Lovell must have fallen asleep at the wheel; there were no skid marks, and the speedometer (which was jammed in position by the impact) only read 40 MPH. He also said there was no sign of alcohol.

That is, unfortunately, as much as I remember about Lovell. The Winston 500 in 1973 would have been in mid-May.

[Racer Duck]

I am Clarence's older brother, Charlie. Here's the info you're looking for.

Clarence's first Wnston Cup race was May 7, 1972 at Talladega. Before then he'd never driven on a track larger than a half mile. He qualified 21, lost a clutch during the race, repaired it and returned to finish 32nd, 67 laps down.

His last race was one year later, May 6, 1973 at Talladega. He "teamed" with Benny Parsons (used Benny's pit crew). He qualified 12 and finished 4th, 3 laps down (Benny was 3rd.)

On Thursday following that race, he was returning home after an afternoon and evening of visiting friends when he was involved in a single vehicle accident on IH-410 in San Antonio that ultimately took his life. There were no witnesses but lots of speculation as to the cause. Several people with "contacts" on both sides of the law made inquiries and were unable to find anything other than rumor, the most popular speculation was a transient crossed the road in front of him. The accident happened just before 11PM.

Clarence drove for team owner Don Bierschwale who owned 3 funeral homes in San Antonio, but he wasn't superstitious about his sponsors (2 of the funeral homes). Don handled all the funeral arrangements and buried Clarence at his own cost. The Lovell & Bierschwale families have been close ever since.

One very sad note regarding his untimely death: he was very excited by his 4th at Talladega and was going to buy an engagement ring for his longtime girlfriend with his winnings on Saturday... She has remained a close friend of the family; you might say we adopted her.

He raced in 16 Winston Cup races: 12 in 1972 and 4 in 1973. During that time he accumulated 1 Top 5, 2 Top 10's and 5 Top 20's including 4th at Talladega, 9th at Atlanta, 12th at Rockingham, 14th at Michigan and 19th at Texas World Speedway. His best qualifying efforts were two 12th's (Talladega - 5/7//73 & Texas World Speedway - 6/25/72), 13th (Michigan - 8/20/72), 15th (Dover - 9/17/72), 18th (Charlotte - 5/28/72) and two 20ths (Dover - 6/4/72 & Darlington - 9/4/72) Quite an accomplishment for a rookie, and especially so for one that had never been on a big track before that first Talladega race in '72.

I have lots more trivia regarding Clarence, but will save it for another time. If you have any questions, don't hesitate....

[Racer Duck]

Clarence also appeared in one ARCA and one USAC race during his time in NASCAR.

October, 1972 at Texas World Speedway in the ARCA Royal Triton 300 he finished 6th.

The next spring (April 7th) he started 30th in the Stock Car race portion of the USAC Texas Twin 200's. He made it to 2nd on lap 44, hung around the top 5 for the rest of the race. He finished 5th behind Gordon Johncock, Roger McCluskey, Ramo Stott and Johnny Rutherford.

On lap 67 he followed AJ Foyt into the pits for a pit stop. A crewman from McCluskey's crew ran in front of him, he swerved to miss him but clipped him with the front fender. The crewman, Johnny Galt, received a ruptured spleen, a broken arm, and head and chest injuries and was taken to a local hospital in Bryan where he underwent surgery to remove the spleen

AJ's motor gave up the ghost on lap 82 relinquishing his lead to Johncock. Lap 87 Clarence moved up to 3rd behind McCluskey, but was passed by Stott who had spun on lap 76. With about 5 laps left, Clarence faded to 5th and fell a lap down.

[Racer Duck]

I was talking to my other brother this weekend about the USAC race. He told me he was on Clarence's pit crew for that race. He remembered that Clarence was very up until he hit the guy in the pits. After that pit stop he seemed to loose his desire to race and dropped to about 10th in the race. Finally McCluskey's crew chief got on the radio to Clarence and told him to not worry about the guy, that he was fine and that he had a history of running in front of cars during pit stops and this wasn't the first time he'd been hit. Clarence perked up after that radio exchange and started racing again. According to my brother, Clarence just ran out of laps 'cause he was charging at the end.

[Quality88]

That's pretty damn interesting. Welcome to GTG racerduck.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by Quality88

That's pretty damn interesting. Welcome to GTG racerduck.

Thanks Quality88, I am really enjoying this interest in my brother after all these years.

And call me "Duck".

and I'll call you "88" for short .. if that's OK?

[Quality88]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

Thanks Quality88, I am really enjoying this interest in my brother after all these years.

And call me "Duck".

and I'll call you "88" for short .. if that's OK?

Gotcha Duck... Call me 88 if you like... most everyone on here calls me Q. Your choice... I'm not picky