







The Incredible
Ring Story
The
"Fire" Story
"Fussin"
Isn't New










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November 14, 1929 - August 17, 1975
       

Tiny Lund News:
News 7/1/06: Former
Tiny Lund Car Owner, Bill Gazaway, Passes at Age 76
Click Here to see a Tiny Lund CARD SET for sale!
Click Here to see a Tiny Lund PICTURE for sale!
Check Our the NEW STATISTICS Page!
Click Here
Check Our the NEW MUSEUM Page!
Click Here
Jeannie Barnes Painting*
16th Annual
Tiny Lund Memorial
September 13-14-15, 2007
Registration Form
LUND MEMORIAL AT HARLAN:
The 16th annual Tiny Lund Memorial event begins with a 7 p.m. qualifying
at Shelby County Speedway in Harlan. The event concludes with Saturday's
6 p.m. feature races. IMCA Late Models, Modifieds, Stock Cars, Hobby
Stocks, SportMods and Sport Compacts will be on the track.
Tickets cost $10 for adults tonight and $15 Saturday. Students play $6
tonight and $10 Saturday. Children ages 10 and under will be admitted
free with a paying adult each night.
Tiny's
first NASCAR race was on October 9, 1955 in Lehi, Arkansas. He started in
23rd position in his 1955 Chevrolet, sponsored by Ruppert Safety Belt
Company. He suffered a broken arm and multiple bruises, when his car
flipped repeatedly on lap 65. He was credited with finishing in 25th
place...his seat belt had broken during his series of flips.
Lund would receive the Carnegie Medal of
Honor for heroism when he pulled fellow driver and friend Marvin Panch from
a burning sports car at Daytona in February, 1963. Since he was not able to
compete, Panch convinced the Woods brothers to let Tiny drive his Ford in
the Daytona 500. Lund won the race at an average speed of 151.566 mph
on
a single set of tires! Later that year, he would win another premier
race...the 500 mile Modified Sportsman race in Atlanta.
Lund would go on to win two other NASCAR
Grand National events: on April 28th, 1965, he won the rain-shortened 100
mile event at the old Columbia, S. Carolina Speedway. He has qualified Lyle Stelter's year-old Ford in fourth place, and ran among the leaders all
evening.
On June 15, 1966, he outlasted the Factory
drivers to win at Beltsville, MD. He started 7th,
and took the lead on lap 71 when Richard Petty blew his engine. Lund led
the balance of the race.
During his long and varied racing career,
Tiny would win races in USAC, ARCA and the Pacific Coast Racing Association,
as well as the Grand American Series. He won the Grand American
Championship three times (1968, 1970 and 1971). And, he won the Grand
National East Championship in 1973.
Tiny also won the Most Popular Driver
title in the Grand National American Series a total of four consecutive
years: (1969, 1970, 1971 and 1972).
The Shelby County Speedway was Dewayne
"Tiny" Lund's home track when he first started racing. One of the most
colorful drivers of his era, with a heart as big as his stature, Tiny was a
very generous man who loved fast cars, fishing, good times and children. It
was more than once when Tiny was seen giving his trophy to a child after
winning that day's main event. Tiny is also a member of Iowa's Motorsports
Sports Hall of Fame. Credit: Fletcher Williams
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hey,
My name is Carol Henry, I am a friend of
Wanda Lund Early.
The poem that is on this web page was written by my brother
John W. Cain and I was wondering if you could put his name
on the poem. He wrote this at Wanda's request for the
Tiny Lund Day in Iowa. I just happened to find this web
site, it is great!
Thanks, Carol Cain Henry
Here it is . . . 'Tiny' by John W. Cain

-----------------------------------------------------------
Add
Me To your TinyLund.com Update Email List!
DeWayne
"Tiny" Lund
|
Birthplace:
|
Harlan,
Iowa |
| Born:
|
November
14, 1929 |
| Died:
|
August 17,
1975 |
| Cause of Death:
|
Racing
Accident |
| Awards:
|
1963
Daytona 500 Winner
NASCAR Grand American
Champion - 1968, 1970, 1971
Two-Time Daytona
Permatex 300 Winner |
|
NASCAR Cup
Statistics |
|
303 races run over 20
years. |
| Best Cup Position:
|
10th -
1963 (Grand National) |
| First Race:
|
1955 "LeHi
300" (Memphis-Arkansas
Speedway) |
| Last Race:
|
1975
Talladega 500 |
| First Win:
|
1963
Daytona 500 |
| Last Win:
|
1966
Beltsville 200 (Beltsville
Speedway) |
|
Wins
|
Top
Tens
|
Poles
|
|
3 / 5
|
54 |
6 |
:
Tiny Lund Biography
DeWayne Louis
Lund (November 14,
1929-August 17, 1975), affectionately known as
"Tiny" due to his rather large and imposing size,
was born in Harlan, Iowa, and started racing at a
young age - first motorcycles, then trying his hand
at sprints and midgets. He eventually settled on
Modifieds, gaining a reputation as a good, hard
racer "who never lifted" as he worked on perfecting
his ability on a wide variety of Iowa short tracks -
dirt and clay, flat to high banks. To this day,
there isn't a definite number on just how many
features Lund won in his career - some have said as
many as five hundred.
After a stint in
Korea in the Army, Tiny was ready for the big time
and in 1955 decided to try his hand in stock car
racing.
Difficult Debut
Lund went south
and managed to scrounge together a '55 Chevrolet for
a big money Grand National event in Lehi, Arkansas -
$2,900.00 to the winner, an unbelievable sum at the
time, with Carl Rupert and his safety belt company
footing the bill. While the race was dominated by
Speedy Thompson and his Pete DePaolo (1925
Indianapolis 500 champion driver, by now was
operating a Ford factory team in NASCAR) owned Ford,
Lund qualified mid-pack but experienced a
frightening accident on lap sixty-five when his car
flipped end over end and his flimsy safety belt
broke. He was bruised and had a broken arm but was
hooked.
No Where Fast
For
1956, Lund tacked on with Gus Holzmueller - they did
little, a fourth in Columbia (SC) their best result.
He also ran a few events for A.L. Bumgarner, without
the equipment to succeed but their relationship led
them to go racing in 1957, as Lund split primary
time between Bumgarner's Pontiacs and a Petty
Enterprises Oldsmobile; it was with Bumgarner that
he nearly won an event at the Cleveland County
Fairgrounds, winning the pole and leading until a
right rear axle gave out, and he also showed muscle
in the season's premiere event at Martinsville
Speedway before his engine expired. Two other poles
on the season showed he had raw speed but the
reliability wasn't there and so Lund left Bumgarner
and became a journeyman for 1958. He won a pair of
pole positions at Gastonia and Hillsboro but did
nothing much else and for 1959 he fielded self-owned
Chevrolets. Again major success eluded Lund and by
1963 he was rideless.
Hero
In February of
1963, Lund went down to Daytona shopping around for
any ride, but soon was thrust into the limelight
when his good friend Marvin Panch, then driver for
the now famous Wood Brothers racing team, had a
massive accident while testing an experimental
Ford-powered Maserati sports car for the second
Daytona Continental three-hour sportscar race (it is
now the Rolex 24, having adopted a 24-hour format in
1965) - it had suddenly swerved out of control,
flipped over, and burst into flames. Lund, with no
regard to his own safety, ran into the inferno and
managed to pull Panch out of the wreckage. For his
actions, Lund was awarded the
Carnegie Medal of Honor.
Panch, stricken in
hospital and originally told he would never race
again, asked Lund to take over his ride and Glen
Wood agreed, believing Lund the best replacement
available at such short notice. He timed in fourth
in individual qualifying trials, but could only
muster a sixth place finish in the second qualifying
heat to determine the race lineup. Lund would take
the green flag from twelfth on the grid.
Cinderella
The race almost
didn't get underway that Sunday, delayed over an
hour and a half due to heavy rains, and then the
first ten laps were run under caution. As the green
flag waved on the Great American Race, it was
Fireball Roberts on pole in a Banjo Matthews
Pontiac and "Flying" Fred Lorenzen in a
Holman-Moody factory
Ford outside of him - the race had no clearcut
favorite on the onset but as contenders like Junior
Johnson fell by the wayside, Lorenzen took control.
But Lund was methodically working his way through
the field and his Wood Brothers team had an ace up
their sleeve - they planned to make the race on a
stop less than the field. Lund managed to take the
lead very late in the going, but Lorenzen came out
of no where with ten to go and passed Lund before
his gas tank sputtered and he had to dive to pit
road. Then Ned Jarrett made the pass on Lund for the
top spot but with three to go he befell the same
fate as Lorenzen. It was all down to whether or not
Lund could make it on fuel; he sputtered on the
final lap, but he managed to coast home to win what
has been called the fairytale story of NASCAR.
Journeyman Redux
Lund's
victory (on a single set of tires!) jumpstarted what
had been a dead career but didn't spell instant
success; he would stay in the Wood Brothers Ford for
several races after Daytona, and came close to
another victory in the Southeastern 500 before his
motor gave out, but regular driver Marvin Panch
returned and Lund was kicked to the curb.
Holman-Moody gave
him a car for several big races at Atlanta, Daytona
and Charlotte but nothing came of it. For 1964 he
was back to journeyman status, hooking up with a
string of backmarkers before vaulting into the lead
in the Columbia 200 and then overheating. Late in
the year, he settled in with Lyle Stelter and
despite little success they continued their
partnership into the 1965 season and it was with
Stelter that Lund got his second career victory in
that year's Columbia 200, qualifying in fourth and
wrestling control from short track ace Ned Jarrett
before rains came after the race had been declared
official, and washed away the second half of the
event. In 1966, he continued his partnership with
Stelter and flexed his muscle, dominating at
Spartanburg before a differential failed and at
Manassas before his engine grenaded; nonetheless he
took victory at Beltsville Speedway, but mechanical
gremlins and accidents in the form of 21 DNF's kept
him from more widespread success.
For 1967, he
teamed once again with Stelter for the majority of
the year but it was with Petty Enterprises in a #42
liveried Plymouth with which he had most of his
success; he finished fourth in the Daytona 500
despite running out of fuel with a lap to go behind
the Ford factory contingent of USAC star Mario
Andretti and Fred Lorenzen, handing third to
perennial independent James Hylton, and then
finished fifth in the World 600 in that same ride.
He struggled in Stelter's Fords despite a promising
run in Fonda, NY where he qualified second and lead
some before an axle broke; plagued by horrific
reliability, they parted at season's end.
For
1968, he teamed with Big Bud Moore and his Mercury's
and also ran Moore's cars in the new NASCAR Grand
American division designed for light cars like
Mustangs and Camaros; a fifth in the Firecracker 400
and a fourth in Rockingham highlighted his short
Grand National season, but he won the Grand American
championship. In 1969, he continued to toil in the
Grand American division and ran one Grand National
race, guesting for Bill France, Sr. himself who had
placed himself on the entry list in the inaugural
Talladega 500 as an abortive attempt to get an "in"
with Richard Petty's new drivers' association on the
eve of their boycott over tire safety protests; Lund
drove into the lead but his clutch packed in and he
was classified ninth.
"Winning"
Along with his
back-to-back Grand American championships in '70 and
'71, Lund "won" two Grand National events in 1971 -
the Buddy Shuman 100 (a 276-lap race, 100 miles, as
NASCAR rules required 100 mile races at the time) at
Hickory Motor Speedway and the
Wilkes 400 at North
Wilkesboro Speedway driving a Camaro Grand American
car for Ronnie Hopkins. As the number of entrants
for the fields were low, NASCAR allowed Grand
American cars to fill out the remaining spots on the
grid; Grand American cars equally fast if not more
so than the regular Grand National cars at short
tracks, and Lund controlled the event at Hickory
before falling into a win when dominator Richard
Petty fell by the wayside at North Wilkesboro.
Neither of these victories were added to Lund's
official win tally, as the legitimacy of whether or
not Lund should've been considered a Grand National
competitor in these events has been questioned.
NASCAR had dictated that if a Grand American car won
it would not be credited with the victory; first
place points would not be awarded. Despite this, the
wins were counted as constructors victories for
Chevrolet and starts for Lund.
Greg Fielden and
Peter Golenbock's "Stock Car Racing Encyclopedia"
has credited Lund with the two victories, bringing
his career total to five. This also has disputed the
win total between Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip,
both of whom are tied at 84. Allison had one win in
such a race in a Grand American car, which he claims
should put him one greater than Waltrip.
Tragedy
After 1971, Lund
began to fade from the Grand National limelight and
moved to the new Grand National East and short track
Late Model Sportsman (now Busch Series) series'; he
twice won the Sportsman season opener down in
Daytona and continued to rack up the triumphs on the
short tracks that he had cut his teeth on.
In 1975, he
entered an A.J. King Dodge in the Talladega 500 as
first alternate; when Grant Adcox's car was
withdrawn from the event, Lund was in and after a
short track event that Saturday was flown down in
Bobby Allison's private airplane. The race was
delayed a week by heavy rains but on August 17th the
green flag was waved by Juan Manuel Fangio.
On the seventh
lap, the race took a horrific turn when Lund got
into fellow independent J.D. McDuffie on the
backstretch; Lund and McDuffie spun down the track
as it turned into chaos behind them. Rookie Terry
Link was spun straight into the drivers' door of
Lund's Dodge and Link's Pontiac exploded in flames.
Richard Simpson and David Garmany, two Vietnam War
veterans spectating in the infield, climbed over the
catchfencing and with help from Walter Ballard, who
was also involved in the crash, pulled Link from his
car and managed to revive him. Lund, however, was
beyond saving. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Drivers in race were not informed of the tragedy
however Richard Petty ominously remarked on his
radio that ... "I don't think he's going to get out
of that one,".
Aftermath
Buddy Baker was
victorious in that Talladega 500 in a Bud Moore Ford
but there was no celebration as he fell to his knees
upon hearing of Lund's passing. The entire NASCAR
community was saddened by the death of one of their
most colorful stars. At the time of his passing, he
was married to Wanda Lund and had one son,
Christopher DeWayne Lund.
Lund was inducted
into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in
1994, and in 1998 named one of NASCAR's 50 greatest
drivers.
There is a Tiny
Lund Grandstand at Daytona International Speedway,
and in his hometown of Harlan, Iowa, there is a
local dirt-track International Motor Contest
Association (IMCA) Modified race, the Tiny Lund
Memorial, with over 200 entries annually for this
popular event.
Sons of Lund and Jarrett Together by Sponsorship
In
2001, Christopher Lund, who by this time was grown
and a 30-year old financial analyst at United Parcel
Service, was profiled on the firm's Web site in
preparation for their NASCAR sponsorship with Dale
Jarrett. Ironically, Jarrett's father Ned had raced
Lund's father in that 1963 Daytona 500, and it was
ironic that UPS chose Lund to be profiled to
celebrate their employee and his racing heritage.
When asked about
Tiny, Christoper mentioned, "I didn't really know my
father very well, but when I think about the shoes I
would have to fill, I realize what a truly
larger-than-life man he was. I am so proud of the
success my father was able to attain in his
lifetime."
Lund mentioned in
regards to the UPS sponsorship, "I love UPS and plan
to retire here. I feel like we all got a bonus when
UPS got involved in this awesome sport."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tiny Lund
DeWayne Louis Lund was born in Harlan, Iowa in 1929. Tiny started racing
motorcycles at age 15, then tried Sprints and Midgets , but gave them up because
of his size. Lund stayed with Modified's, earning a good reputation in Iowa even
as a youngster. In 1955, after serving in the US Air Force, he returned to
racing. On February 14,1963, Marvin Panch was driving a Maserati experimental
car in practice at Daytona International Speedway when the car became airborne,
slid on it's top and caught fire. Tiny was the first man to reach Panch and
pulled him from the fire. Because of his burns, Panch was not able to compete in
the Daytona 500. Panch suggested to the Wood Brothers that they let Tiny drive
their Ford in the Daytona 500. Tiny won the biggest Winston Cup race of his
career, the Daytona 500, and was subsequently awarded the Carnegie Medal for
Heroism. During his career, Tiny won over 500 major features and 49 major racing
events. He was a four-time champion in the Grand American division, winning
titles in 1968, 70, 71 and 74, Lund died August 10, 1975 after a racing
accident.

Daytona International Speedway: Tiny Lund Grandstands (Named in 1994): Tiny Lund (1929-1975). Lund was a gentle,
fun-loving giant who drove a race car like a demon. He was a master of dirt
tracks, but he also mastered Daytona International Speedway by winning the 1963
Daytona 500. Tiny was a four-time NASCAR Grand American division champion and he
twice won Daytona's Permatex 300, a forerunner of today's Busch Series race.
TINY LUND: Dwayne “Tiny” Lund was the first
and still, to this day, the only driver to ever win the Daytona 500 (1963)
on
one set of tires. After pulling Marvin Panch from a burning sports car after
crashing at Daytona in 1963, he was awarded the Carnegie Medal for Heroism.
Unable to compete in the 500, Panch asked the Wood Brothers to let Tiny drive
the car in the race and the rest was history. A three time Grand American
Champion (1968, 70 and 71), he was also the Grand National East Champion in
1973, was the winner of 41 of 109 Grand American races from 1968-72 and was
voted the most popular Georgia driver four times from 1969-1972. Tiny was also
voted most popular Grand American driver four years in a row (1968-1962) and
earned $164,204.00 in his NASCAR career. On August 17, 1975, while doing a
friend a favor and subbing for him in a race, a horrible wreck at Talladega,
Alabama claimed Tiny’s life at 45 years old.
Buddy Baker says that a lot of would-be rivalries take care of themselves. "At
Martinsville one Sunday afternoon I was so mad at Tiny Lund I didn't know what
to do. I wanted to run right over the top of his car," Baker said. "Finally,
the race ended. I was standing down in my pits and I saw him coming, walking
toward me. Tiny was 6-7 or more and weighed about 300 pounds. When he walked,
dust would puff from under his shoes.
"I looked over there about three feet from me, and there was part of an axle
about the length of a ball bat. My first thought was to take the axle
and
whop him across the head. Then it occurred to me, what if I miss? He might
really get mad then. Tiny
kept coming straight toward me. He got within
about 10 feet, and he burst out laughing. It was one of the sweetest smiles
I ever saw. "That's the thing," Baker said. "Before you get into one of
these scraps with another driver, make sure you know who you are fooling
with.
A 'notchback 63 1/2' Ford was made especially for racing by Ford. At
the Atlanta 500 in 1962, the
Holman and
Moody... crew (Fast Freddie Lorenzen) and the folks at Ford came up with the "Starlift" removable roof
option that was supposedly an over-the-counter option for 1962 Galaxie
convertibles. The new replacement roof was as 'swoopy' as a roller coaster ride
and it did wonders for the 1962's top speed. The fact that the windows on a
stock street model wouldn't go up with the new hard top roof did make the
option a little more suspect. NASCAR approved it...they won...NASCAR outlawed
it. Ford stylists permanently cured the problem in 1963 with a "convertible"
style roofline.
The
Galaxie raced with its stock glass windows and the chrome strips carried off the
showroom floor.
The 427 was capable of 650 horsepower with the right gears. Whole
catalogs full of special "off-highway" or "police package" parts were being
produced by the 'Big Three' solely for NASCAR cars. Pontiac offered an
over-the-counter 421 "Super Duty" engine package that never came installed in
any regular production car, and unless your name was Yunick or Fox, you had very
little chance of actually buying one from your local dealer. Built in only
limited numbers specifically for racing, Chevy had come up with a stagger-valved
big-block 427. They were the forerunners of the modern "Rat" motor and kept a
closely guarded secret, the new power plants quickly came to be called 'Mystery
Motors'.
Add the rollcage, a pair of slacks (jeans), a T-shirt, helmet &
goggles, a stiff shock on the right front and a little less in the right rear
and you were ready to race a Stock car.

Ford drivers
Tiny Lund's Galaxie #0 and Fireball Roberts in his Passino Purple Galaxie #22
with Junior Johnson's # 3 Chevrolet at the
Daytona Firecracker 400 in 1963.

1963 Maserati
Ten days before the 1963 Daytona 500, Marvin Panch
wrecked while testing a "Bird Cage" Maserati. Pinned inside an overturned
and blazing car, Dewayne 'Tiny' Lund, a journeyman on the modified and GN
circuits, sprinted to the car and before track safety crews could arrive,
Lund lifted the blazing sports car off Panch. When Panch asked the Wood
Brothers to give Lund his 500 ride, they quickly agreed. Tiny qualified the
Galaxie 12th and crossed the finish line out of gas but ahead of
second-place Fred Lorenzen. Lund was awarded the Carnegie Medal for
heroism shortly after his Daytona 500 win.

A big man with an ironic nickname, Lund won five NASCAR Winston Cup races
through a 21-year career.
Lund's career was distinguished by one act of heroism in February, 1963, when
he rescued fellow driver Marvin Panch from a burning car during a practice
session at Daytona. The injured Panch asked Lund to take his place in the Wood
Brothers' Ford. In the crowning achievement of his career, Lund won the Daytona
500.
He was a four-time NASCAR Grand American champion. Lund was fatally injured
in an accident during the Talladega 500 in 1975. In 1994, Lund was inducted in
the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega, Ala.

Tiny as own tire man at the old Richmond Fairgrounds
Tiny Lund
Another Story
DeWayne Louis Lund was born in Harlan, Iowa in 1929. Tiny
started racing motorcycles at age 15, then tried Sprints and Midgets , but gave
them up because of his size. Lund stayed with Modified's, earning a good
reputation in Iowa even as a youngster. In 1955, after serving in the US Air
Force, he returned to racing. On February 14,1963, Marvin Panch was driving a
Maserati experimental car in practice at Daytona International Speedway when the
car became airborne, slid on it's top and caught fire. Tiny was the first man to
rach Panch and pulled him from the fire. Because of his burns, Panch was not
able to compete in the Daytona 500. Panch suggested to the Wood Brothers that
they let Tiny drive their Ford in the Daytona 500. Tiny won the biggest Winston
Cup race of his career, the Daytona 500, and was subsequently awarded the
Carnegie Medal for Heroism. During his career, Tiny won over 500 major features
and 49 major racing events. He was a four-time champion in the Grand American
division, winning titles in 1968, 70, 71 and 74, Lund died August 10, 1975 after
a racing accident.
July, 2003: One-race paint
schemes should really be of interest to NASCAR fans across the nation
because they remind us, in a subtle way, where NASCAR has been. The Wood
Brothers special paint schemes track the timeline of 50 years worth of
hard work, victories won and lost, and storybook finishes. Perhaps the
best example is the paint scheme that will be run at Daytona on July
1st. The Wood Brothers will return to Daytona in July with a Ford Taurus
that duplicates the paint scheme carried in 1963 when Tiny Lund won the
Daytona 500 in storybook fashion. You see Marvin Panch, not Tiny Lund,
was the driver for the Wood Brothers when they rolled into Daytona for Speedweeks in 1963.
Marvin Panch had some twenty years of racing experience when he joined
the Wood Brothers team in 1962. During the ’62 season, Panch ran 14
races for Glen and Leonard Wood and, though he didn’t post a victory
that year, his obvious skills behind the wheel impressed the Wood
Brothers because they kept him on for the 1963 season.
At the 1963 running of the Daytona 500, Panch qualified the Wood
Brothers Galaxie with little fanfare. With several days of Speedweeks
still remaining, what else was there to do but drive fast cars? The
Briggs Cunningham Maserati team was at Daytona experimenting with Grand
National engines and, when they asked Panch if he would take some hot
laps in their car, he eagerly accepted. The car did not feel right from
the start, and following a stop for fuel and a few adjustments to the
car, Panch went back out onto the track. Panch opened the Maserati up,
eager to collect a $10,000 prize offered by Bill France to the first
driver to break the 180 mile per hour mark, and according to Panch, he
almost made the mark when the Maserati went airborne, came down on its
side and rolled upside down before coming to a stop near the tunnel
turn.
Because of the Maserati’s design, Panch was trapped in the burning
wreckage and the first fire crews on the scene apparently didn’t
understand his shouted instructions to aim their extinguishers at the
burning engine compartment. Their confusion nearly cost Panch his life
and would have were it not for a giant of a man called “Tiny” Lund.
DeWayne Lund, all 6 feet, 6 inches of him, hailed from Iowa. In a bow to
his huge stature, he had been nicknamed “Tiny.” In 1963, Lund was at
Daytona International Speedway without a steady ride and as the flaming
wreckage of Panch’s Maserati came to a skidding halt, he was entering
the track through the tunnel along with a group of men, including a
Firestone Tire engineer. The group of five leapt a fence, ran to the
mangled, burning sports car and attempted to lift the car enough to let
Panch escape. At the same time, Panch kicked the door out and was
halfway free when the fuel tank erupted. Panch’s would-be-rescuers
dropped the car and stepped back, then one shouted that Panch was still
trapped and kicking. The men stepped back into the fight and lifted the
car again, burning themselves in the process. With the car again lifted,
Tiny Lund grabbed Panch by the ankles and dragged him free of the fiery
wreckage.
Marvin Panch was taken to a nearby hospital where his burns were found
to be not life threatening. In a hospital bed conference with Glen and
Leonard Wood, it was decided to offer the Wood Brothers ride to Tiny
Lund, the man who contributed so much to saving Panch’s life. Naturally,
being without a ride, Lund accepted.
In true storybook fashion, Tiny Lund went on to win the 1963 Daytona 500
in the car he “borrowed” from the Wood Brothers – though arguably,
through his heroic action, he earned the ride fair and square. The fact
that the Daytona 500 marked Lund’s first career victory was just more
icing on the cake. Add to all this the fact that Lund reportedly ran out
of gas as he crossed the finish line and the story has all the makings
of a Hollywood thriller. Finally, as if this weren’t all just too much,
DeWayne Lund would eventually be awarded the Carnegie Medal for Heroism
for helping to save Panch’s life.
Marvin Panch would recover and continued to drive racecars – and win
races - for the Wood Brothers Racing Team through the 1966 season.
Driving for other teams, Tiny Lund would go on to score four more
official NASCAR wins before he lost his life tragically in 1975 while
running in the Talladega 500. For those who knew him, and for those who
care to keep track of such things, Tiny Lund was truly a giant of a man,
both in stature and in heart and soul.
When the green flag drops at Daytona this July 1st, there will be a car
on the track that honors not only the 50th anniversary of the Wood
Brothers Racing Team, but the bravery of men like Marvin Panch and Tiny
Lund and also the fact that, in NASCAR anything is possible. copyright 2000, Michael Smith
Annual
Tiny Lund Memorial Nationals
Shelby County Speedway
Festival in September
For festival information --
click here!
Or Email
tinylundfest@fmctc.com
Every fall the speedway
celebrates Tiny's memory by hosting the Tiny Lund Memorial Nationals,
drawing over 208 participating drivers in 1999 and paying out over $50,000+
in cash and contingencies. John Burnette-Larkins, former editor of Hawkeye
Racing News, named it one of the "Top 3 must see" races in Iowa. Wanda Lund
Early, Tiny's widow, attends each year to preside over the festivities and
visit with family and friends.
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