[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

[PASTORHENRY]

HIGH EVERYONE MY NAME IS HENRY AND I WOULD LIKE TO TELL YOU JUST HOW GOOD MR.LOVELLE WAS AS A RACECAR DRIVER. WHEN HE GOT STARTED AS I REMEMBERED HE DROVE FOR GLEN CASTLEBERRY AT THE OLD PAN AMERICAN SPEEDWAY. FIRST LET ME EXPLAIN ABOUT GLEN,HE WAS A VERY KIND GENTLEMAN WHO WAS A USED CAR DEALER ON MILITARY DR. IN SAN ANTONIO. HE AND ANOTHER MAN NAMED TOMMY McBRYDE WERE RACE CAR BUILDERS WHO WORKED MIRICLES WITH LITTLE OR NO MONEY. THEY USED TO COME TO MY DADS JUNKYARD ON SOMERST RD AND GET PARTS FOR THEIR ENGINES (NO NOT BLOCKS,HEAEDS,OR CRANKS) BUT ROD BEARINGS,MAINS AND PUSHRODS,ANWAY THATS HOW OR SHOULD I SAY WHERE MR. LOVELLE GOT HIS START,WITH GLEN BUILDING A CAR OUT OF MY DADS JUNYARD THAT COULD NOT COST MORE THAN 5 OR 6 HUNDRED DOLLARS.BUT YET THEY WON EVERY BIG RACE IN SAN ANTONIO, AND AUSTIN,FOR ABOUT TWO YEARS. BACK THEN RICKY WARE RUN ALL THE TRACKS IN SOUTH TEXAS. WELL THATS THE MOST OF WHAT I CAN REMEMBER ABOUT MR LOVELLE.HE DROVE JUNK SOOOO GOOD AND TOOK HOME MORE MONEY THAN ANY OTHER DRIVER HERE IN SOUTH TEXAS THAT WHEN HE WENT TO NASCAR WITH DON BACKING HIM WITH THE BUCKS HE DID VERY.VERY GOOD.AND THERES THE STORY AS I KNOW IT . THERS ALOT MORE OF RACING THAT I WILL WRITE ABOUT LATER . AS MY DAD AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER OWNED, BUILT,OR SPONSERED,RACE CARS FROM 1952 TO 1972 AT WHITCH TIME WE MOVED TO OKLAHOMA WRE WE BUILT TEXOMA SPEEDWAY A 3/8's CLAY TRACK THAT OPERATED FOR 2 YEARS UNTIL WE SOLD AND MOVED BACK TO SAN ANTONIO. MY DAD HAS SINCED PASSED ON IN 2007 AT3 DAYS AWAY FROM HIS 90th BIRTHDAY. LEAVING ME WITH ONLY MEMORIES OF THE GOOD OL DAYS OF RACING.BY THE WAY EVERYONE KNEW HIM AS THE OLD MAN OR VIEJO.AND OTHER GREAT NAMES IN SOUTH TEXAS RACING ARE JAMES LOTHRINGER,TED JONES,DON MEYERS,DARREL GODFERSON, BUD OR JOE SIMPSON,FLATHEAD SIX WILLY BANG BANG,DOC WALLY GARCIA WILLY CHARRO, AND MANY OTHERS WHO ARE MORE WELL KNOWN . SO LONG FOR NOW. HENRY

[LSC9901]

Originally Posted by PASTORHENRY

HIGH EVERYONE MY NAME IS HENRY AND I WOULD LIKE TO TELL YOU JUST HOW GOOD MR.LOVELLE WAS AS A RACECAR DRIVER. WHEN HE GOT STARTED AS I REMEMBERED HE DROVE FOR GLEN CASTLEBERRY AT THE OLD PAN AMERICAN SPEEDWAY. FIRST LET ME EXPLAIN ABOUT GLEN,HE WAS A VERY KIND GENTLEMAN WHO WAS A USED CAR DEALER ON MILITARY DR. IN SAN ANTONIO. HE AND ANOTHER MAN NAMED TOMMY McBRYDE WERE RACE CAR BUILDERS WHO WORKED MIRICLES WITH LITTLE OR NO MONEY. THEY USED TO COME TO MY DADS JUNKYARD ON SOMERST RD AND GET PARTS FOR THEIR ENGINES (NO NOT BLOCKS,HEAEDS,OR CRANKS) BUT ROD BEARINGS,MAINS AND PUSHRODS,ANWAY THATS HOW OR SHOULD I SAY WHERE MR. LOVELLE GOT HIS START,WITH GLEN BUILDING A CAR OUT OF MY DADS JUNYARD THAT COULD NOT COST MORE THAN 5 OR 6 HUNDRED DOLLARS.BUT YET THEY WON EVERY BIG RACE IN SAN ANTONIO, AND AUSTIN,FOR ABOUT TWO YEARS. BACK THEN RICKY WARE RUN ALL THE TRACKS IN SOUTH TEXAS. WELL THATS THE MOST OF WHAT I CAN REMEMBER ABOUT MR LOVELLE.HE DROVE JUNK SOOOO GOOD AND TOOK HOME MORE MONEY THAN ANY OTHER DRIVER HERE IN SOUTH TEXAS THAT WHEN HE WENT TO NASCAR WITH DON BACKING HIM WITH THE BUCKS HE DID VERY.VERY GOOD.AND THERES THE STORY AS I KNOW IT . THERS ALOT MORE OF RACING THAT I WILL WRITE ABOUT LATER . AS MY DAD AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER OWNED, BUILT,OR SPONSERED,RACE CARS FROM 1952 TO 1972 AT WHITCH TIME WE MOVED TO OKLAHOMA WRE WE BUILT TEXOMA SPEEDWAY A 3/8's CLAY TRACK THAT OPERATED FOR 2 YEARS UNTIL WE SOLD AND MOVED BACK TO SAN ANTONIO. MY DAD HAS SINCED PASSED ON IN 2007 AT3 DAYS AWAY FROM HIS 90th BIRTHDAY. LEAVING ME WITH ONLY MEMORIES OF THE GOOD OL DAYS OF RACING.BY THE WAY EVERYONE KNEW HIM AS THE OLD MAN OR VIEJO.AND OTHER GREAT NAMES IN SOUTH TEXAS RACING ARE JAMES LOTHRINGER,TED JONES,DON MEYERS,DARREL GODFERSON, BUD OR JOE SIMPSON,FLATHEAD SIX WILLY BANG BANG,DOC WALLY GARCIA WILLY CHARRO, AND MANY OTHERS WHO ARE MORE WELL KNOWN . SO LONG FOR NOW. HENRY

Hi Henry and welcome to GTG. Glad to hear that you are a race fan. Believe it or not we have Clarence's brother on this site with us. He is a moderator in the NASCAR forum. He goes by Racer Duck. He truly enjoys talking racing and the racing of days gone by. I sure hope you will get together with Ducky and discuss what you guys have in common. He is also right there in TX with you.

Also very glad to have you aboard and hope to see more posts from you. Enjoy !!!

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by PASTORHENRY

HIGH EVERYONE MY NAME IS HENRY AND I WOULD LIKE TO TELL YOU JUST HOW GOOD MR.LOVELLE WAS AS A RACECAR DRIVER. WHEN HE GOT STARTED AS I REMEMBERED HE DROVE FOR GLEN CASTLEBERRY AT THE OLD PAN AMERICAN SPEEDWAY. FIRST LET ME EXPLAIN ABOUT GLEN,HE WAS A VERY KIND GENTLEMAN WHO WAS A USED CAR DEALER ON MILITARY DR. IN SAN ANTONIO. HE AND ANOTHER MAN NAMED TOMMY McBRYDE WERE RACE CAR BUILDERS WHO WORKED MIRICLES WITH LITTLE OR NO MONEY. THEY USED TO COME TO MY DADS JUNKYARD ON SOMERST RD AND GET PARTS FOR THEIR ENGINES (NO NOT BLOCKS,HEAEDS,OR CRANKS) BUT ROD BEARINGS,MAINS AND PUSHRODS,ANWAY THATS HOW OR SHOULD I SAY WHERE MR. LOVELLE GOT HIS START,WITH GLEN BUILDING A CAR OUT OF MY DADS JUNYARD THAT COULD NOT COST MORE THAN 5 OR 6 HUNDRED DOLLARS.BUT YET THEY WON EVERY BIG RACE IN SAN ANTONIO, AND AUSTIN,FOR ABOUT TWO YEARS. BACK THEN RICKY WARE RUN ALL THE TRACKS IN SOUTH TEXAS. WELL THATS THE MOST OF WHAT I CAN REMEMBER ABOUT MR LOVELLE.HE DROVE JUNK SOOOO GOOD AND TOOK HOME MORE MONEY THAN ANY OTHER DRIVER HERE IN SOUTH TEXAS THAT WHEN HE WENT TO NASCAR WITH DON BACKING HIM WITH THE BUCKS HE DID VERY.VERY GOOD.AND THERES THE STORY AS I KNOW IT . THERS ALOT MORE OF RACING THAT I WILL WRITE ABOUT LATER . AS MY DAD AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER OWNED, BUILT,OR SPONSERED,RACE CARS FROM 1952 TO 1972 AT WHITCH TIME WE MOVED TO OKLAHOMA WRE WE BUILT TEXOMA SPEEDWAY A 3/8's CLAY TRACK THAT OPERATED FOR 2 YEARS UNTIL WE SOLD AND MOVED BACK TO SAN ANTONIO. MY DAD HAS SINCED PASSED ON IN 2007 AT3 DAYS AWAY FROM HIS 90th BIRTHDAY. LEAVING ME WITH ONLY MEMORIES OF THE GOOD OL DAYS OF RACING.BY THE WAY EVERYONE KNEW HIM AS THE OLD MAN OR VIEJO.AND OTHER GREAT NAMES IN SOUTH TEXAS RACING ARE JAMES LOTHRINGER,TED JONES,DON MEYERS,DARREL GODFERSON, BUD OR JOE SIMPSON,FLATHEAD SIX WILLY BANG BANG,DOC WALLY GARCIA WILLY CHARRO, AND MANY OTHERS WHO ARE MORE WELL KNOWN . SO LONG FOR NOW. HENRY

Henry, welcome to GoTeamsGo and the NASCAR/Motorsports Forums. (by the way, all caps is considered shouting on the internet .. it's best not to do it since it irritates people.)

I'm Clarence's oldest brother. People call me Charlie in real life.

I guess your memory is a bit more hazy than mine about Clarence's exploits. Clarence didn't get his start with Glen. In fact, Glen's car was his last ride before he went to NASCAR.

Clarence and a school buddy, Ronny Groff, actually started racing circle track together in '66. They built an old banger at my parent's house in Leon Valley and took turns driving. But it wasn't too long before they decided to part ways so each could have their own car.

After I got out of the Navy in '67, I became Clarence's #1 fan and photographed him and his cars. He was sponsored by Bill Banis Texaco on Loop 410 at Bandera Road and that's where the car was kept and worked on.

Then followed several years where he moved from job to job and garage to garage building and racing his cars. The most memorable was Lloyd's Corner on I-10 East at Trainer Hale Road (next to the Stuckey's) where he ran the gas station and garage for Lloyd. Sometime in the late summer of '70 Clarence moved back to San Antonio and helped the Rieger Borthers open their BF Goodrich Tire store on I-10 just west of W.W. White. That was the last shop Clarence had where he raced his own cars.

For the '71 season we (Clarence and I) built a '69 Firebird for the Super Stock class in the Reiger Brother's BF Goodrich shop where Clarence was working as a mechanic. It was a truck arm car .. the first in Texas. Clarence had seen the design at Speedweeks and when he got home we built one. The car was fast .. but then so was Clarence. The combination was almost unbeatable. We won the "Firecracker 250" at Pan American on July 3rd by half a lap over Don Fowler, and then set the track record at Austin Speed-o-Rama. The record stood for more than 10 years.

At the end of the season we sold the Firebird to Ed Siegmund in Austin and started building a speedway Chevelle to run in the NASCAR Sportsman division. As the '72 season started, Glen approached Clarence about driving his car since his longtime driver had "retired". Clarence agreed, telling Glen it wouldn't be a permanent thing 'cause as soon as we finished our car he was leaving to go NASCAR racing. Glen agreed and was happy to have Clarence in his car. I think Clarence won a few races for him .. after we got him to change the oil and put in fresh spark plugs! As you said, Glen could assemble a bunch of junk parts on a dirt floor and make it run good. I never understood how he did it.

At that time Jimmy Finger was driving Don Bierschwale's Grand National car. But Jimmy had to quit because of marital problems. Don asked Clarence to drive. Clarence's first race in NASCAR was the Spring Talladega race on May 7, 1972. He qualified 21st and finished 32nd. Quite an accomplishment for never racing on anything bigger than a half mile track in his life (except the road course in Monterey, Mexico)!

One year later, on May 6, 1973, Clarence drove his last race on this Earth .. the Spring Talladega race. He qualified 12th and finished 4th. He died the following Thursday.

Oh yeah, Clarence sold the Chevelle to Tom Williams after he got the Grand National ride. We heard later Tom wrapped it around a light pole at Corpus Christi Speedway.

It also turned out that at almost the exact same time Clarence got the Grand National ride, the company I worked for (IBM) transfered me to New York. After Clarence's death, my mom who'd been widowed a few months before, asked me as the eldest child to come back to Texas, which I did in July.

Those other names brought back lots of memories. Some of them I probably haven't heard in 40 years.

Hope I filled in some gaps in your memory. My brother was a special person and I don't know of anyone who loved racing more. I just wish he could have done it longer.

[thunderfoot]

Hey RD I bet the good Lord has one heck of a race team cause he sure enough took some good racers home. Maybe he needed more entertainment than he had.

[PAPA]

PASTORHENRY was the "Pace Car" driver at SAS for several years. And he also saw to it that the man upstairs was watching over us all on race nights.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by PAPA

PASTORHENRY was the "Pace Car" driver at SAS for several years. And he also saw to it that the man upstairs was watching over us all on race nights.

Hi PAPA, welcome to GoTeamsGo.

I have a funny feeling I know you from another time. As you probably know after getting to the end of this thread, I'm Clarence's older brother.

Hope to see more of you here.

Charlie