Monday
Hershel McGriff, 81, eyes qualifying for three West Series races
Caught in the Catchfence™Hershel McGriff turned 81 in December but he scoffs at the idea of retirement. And he plans to prove it by entering three races in the Camping World West Series this summer.
McGriff, a four-time winner in the Cup Series who made his NASCAR debut as a 22-year-old in the inaugural Southern 500 in 1950, plans to attempt to qualify at three road courses: June 20 at Infineon Raceway, July 19 at Portland International Raceway and Aug. 1 at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah.
“This is the first time they’ve run Portland since 1986, and I won that race, so I wanted to defend my title,” said McGriff, who resided in nearby Bridal Veil for many years before moving to Arizona.
McGriff met Bill France during the running of the 1950 La Carrera Panamericana, or Pan American Road Race. After McGriff won the event in a stock 1950 Oldsmobile Rocket 88, France invited him to make the cross-country trip to Darlington, where he finished ninth. He drove the car from Oregon to South Carolina in time for qualifying, competed in the race, then drove the car back west.
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Good on Hershel McGriff, he’s one of many from the west coast that were at the forefront of NASCAR’s move west.
As a sidenote to the 1950, La Carrera Panamericana road race, Bill France Sr. was an owner/sponsor of a 1950 Nash Ambassador driven by the legendary Curtis Turner in the event.
Turner teamed with Roy Pat Connor and Robert Owen to drive the event however Conner fell ill prior to the start of the last leg and Turner was brought in to replace him. This contravened the rules, and the car was disqualified.