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NASCAR History: Car Number 39 and Friday Hassler

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by JamesJ, Special To NASCAR commentary and driver pictures, 2011 NASCAR schedule, video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

Sundays of my youth consisted of NASCAR racing and cold bottles of Mountain Dew. Thirty years later not much has changed for me. However, nearly everything has changed in NASCAR.

January 6, 2010 6:35 pm EST 4 Comments

Friday Hassler car number 39Over the next several weeks we’ll be featuring car numbers in NASCAR history. We started with #50 and are working our way down the line. With each car number we’ll take a brief look at a couple stats related to the featured car number, but we’ll primarily spotlight either a driver, sponsor, car owner, manufacturer or other significant subject closely tied to the car number of the day.

Today’s spotlight on the #39 brings again to my mind the question, “Who should get the credit for a win, the driver who starts the race or the driver who crosses the finish line first?”
NASCAR driver Raymond Friday Hassler

Stats for all cars running the #39:

  • Number of Races: 279
  • Number of Wins: 0
  • Number of Top 5s: 21
  • Number of Top 10s: 73
  • Number of Poles: 5

Check out current NASCAR race statistics here at On Pit Row!

Spotlight Subject: Driver Friday Hassler

 
A career 135 races logged between 1960 to 1972 netted Raymond “Friday” Hassler a career best points finish of 16th. He scored 48 top tens, 12 top fives, and 0 wins*. He led only 139 career laps with an average finish 17.9. Despite not being a factory supported driver, and fielding Chevrolets (which were basically not present in racing) he was still competitive and well liked by his competitors.

Today, Chevrolet tops the all-time manufacturer win list list with the most NASCAR Sprint Cup wins (651 vs. 2nd place Ford’s 595). But Friday was running Chevy at a time in NASCAR history where the field was primarily made up of Plymouths, Dodges, and Fords. That was about to change though when Friday took the checkered flag in 1971– the first win for Chevrolet since 1967.

“I thought you said he had 0 wins?” you ask? I did say that, and it’s true he is not scored as having any wins. However, this is due to the fact that Friday didn’t start the car that day in 1971 and NASCAR credits the driver who starts the race as the driver of record for the finish. The race occurred at Bristol Motor Speedway and to this day holds a record that will likely never be repeated. The race went caution free for the entire 500 lap event! This despite the fact that it was a blistering hot day for 500 laps, 30 cars, multiple driver changes, and an average race speed of 101.074 miles per hour.

So, that explains the asterisked “0 wins” above. Friday acted as a relief driver for the recorded race winner Charlie Glotzbach. Charlie started the race on the outside pole. Approximately half way through the 500 lap event Friday took over driving his car in order to offer Charlie some relief from the summer heat. Charlie and NASCAR legend Bobby Allison would battle for the lead until eventually Friday took full command of the race and took the checkers with a margin of victory of 3 laps over Allison. Tom Higgins’ Scuffs has a nice article on this event posted as Miracle in Thunder Valley. The article quotes historian Greg Fielden as describing the musical driver seats for the race:
“Glotzbach was relieved by Hassler; Allison was relieved by James Hylton; Petty was relieved by Buddy Baker; Hylton was relieved by G.C. Spencer; Frank Warren was relieved by Charlie Roberts; and Bill Dennis was relieved by Marv Action.”

What a day, and what an extraordinary day for Friday Hassler! As difficult as the racing was that day, it’s really a shame that Hassler wasn’t credited with the victory. The final race results were positive for Hassler. His win column may read “0″, but it should certainly have an asterisk with it in my opinion.

NASCAR driver Raymond Friday Hassler car number 39Historic accomplishments in NASCAR history, such as Hassler’s, serve as a reminder to us. While not all drivers are the big stars, have the most wins, or race for the dominant teams or manufacturers, they can certainly make their mark in history and have the respect of their competitors. Friday’s career was just starting to take off in 1971, thanks in part to his “win” at Bristol. Unfortunately the sport didn’t get to see how high his star would fly. The very next year his life would come to an end in a multi-car wreck during the qualifying race for the Daytona 500.

Filed under: Bristol Motor Speedway, James Jones, NASCAR, NASCAR History 

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Comments

4 Responses to “NASCAR History: Car Number 39 and Friday Hassler”

  1. dave wright on January 7th, 2010 9:20 am

    Friday was a living legend in the area around Chattanooga tn. He won races all over the south and was always a front runner. He was also a great dirt racer ,winning at Lakewood speedway in Bob Wright’s #7 car in the early 60’s.

    It’s a shame he died at such an early age as his career truly was about to take off. The day he was killed in Daytona ,he was literally flying. He is greatly missed.

    Dave wright

  2. User Avatar Charlie Turner on January 10th, 2010 11:47 am

    I read these pieces, and remember drivers that I didn’t even know that I had forgotten. I was a subscriber to a couple of really good, weekly racing rags back in the late 60s and 70s. It was the only place you could get racing info from everywhere back then and I read them cover to cover every week.

    Good stuff from you too Dave. Thanks for contributing your memories.

    Keep ‘em coming James.

  3. Ashley on June 13th, 2010 9:38 pm

    Raymond “Friday” Hassler was my grandfather, and after reading all that I have on him, I am truly proud to call him my grandfather! I just wish I could have gotten to meet him.

  4. User Avatar Charlie Turner on June 15th, 2010 8:25 am

    Wow, thanks for sharing that Ashley.

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