Tiny Lund
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| Born: | November 14, 1929 | |
| Birthplace: | Harlan, Iowa | |
| Died: | August 17, 1975 (aged 45) | |
| Cause of Death: | Racing accident at Talladega | |
| Achievements: | — | |
| Awards: | 1963 Daytona 500 Winner
NASCAR Grand American division champion - 1968, 1970, 1971 Two-Time Daytona Permatex 300 Winner |
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| NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Statistics | ||
| 303 races run over 20 years. | ||
| Best Cup Position: | 10th - 1963 (Grand National) | |
| First Race: | 1955 LeHi 300 (Memphis-Arkansas) | |
| Last Race: | 1975 Talladega 500 (Talladega) | |
| First Win: | 1963 Daytona 500 (Daytona) | |
| Last Win: | 1966 Beltsville 200 (Beltsville) | |
| Wins | Top Tens | Poles |
| 3 or 5 (disputed) | 54 | 6 |
DeWayne Louis "Tiny" Lund (November 14, 1929 in Harlan, Iowa – August 17, 1975 at Talladega Superspeedway) was a NASCAR driver. He was known as "Tiny" due to his rather large and imposing size.
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[edit] Background
Lund started racing at a young age in a motorcycle, then moved up to midget cars and sprint cars.
Lund served in the Korean Conflict in the United States Army, and in 1955 decided to try stock car racing.
[edit] Debut
Lund went south with a 1955 Chevrolet and competed in the Lehi, Arkansas event, with sponsorship from Carl Rupert and his safety belt company. The race was dominated by Speedy Thompson and his Pete DePaolo owned Ford. Lund qualified mid-pack but his event ended in an accident on lap sixty-five. Lund's flipped end over end and his safety belt broke. He was bruised and had a broken arm.
For 1956, Lund teamed up with Gus Holzmueller, and their best result was a fourth place finish at Columbia, South Carolina. Lund also ran a few events for A.L. Bumgarner. In 1957 Lund split between Bumgarner's Pontiacs and a Petty Enterprises Oldsmobile. With Bumgarner Lund nearly won an event at the Cleveland County Fairgrounds. He won the pole position, and was leading until a right rear axle gave out. Lund had two other poles on the season. Lund left Bumgarner and became a journeyman for 1958. He won a pair of pole positions at Gastonia and Hillsboro. In 1959 he fielded self-owned Chevrolets. Lund didn't have major success, and he was rideless by 1963.
[edit] 1963 Daytona 500
In February of 1963, Lund went down to Daytona shopping around for any ride. Lund's friend Marvin Panch, the driver for the now famous Wood Brothers racing team, had an accident while testing an experimental Ford-powered Maserati sports car for the second Daytona Continental three-hour sportscar race (a precursor to the Rolex 24). Panch's car swerved out of control, flipped over, and burst into flames. Lund ran into the inferno and managed to pull Panch out of the wreckage. For his actions, Lund was awarded the Carnegie Medal of Honor. [1]
Panch, in hospital, asked Lund to take over his ride and Glen Wood agreed. He timed in fourth in individual qualifying trials, and finished sixth in the second qualifying race. Lund took the green flag from twelfth on the grid.
The start of the race was delayed 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 and "Flying" Fred Lorenzen outside of him. Lorenzen led the race. Lund worked his way through the field. The Wood Brothers team had an ace up their sleeve - they planned to complete the race on one stop less than the field. [1] Lund managed to take the lead very late in the race. Lorenzen passed Lund with ten laps left to go, but Lorenzen ran out of gas and had to dive down pit road out of contention. Then Ned Jarrett made the pass on Lund for the top spot but with three to go he also ran out of gas. Lund's car ran out of fuel on the final lap, but he managed to coast home to win the 1963 Daytona 500.
[edit] Return to journeyman
Lund's victory jumpstarted what had been a dead career. Lund stayed 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. Marvin Panch returned and Lund was without a ride. Holman-Moody gave him a car for several big races at Atlanta, Daytona and Charlotte without success. For 1964 he was back to journeyman status. He hooked up with a series of lesser known owners before vaulting into the lead in the Columbia 200 before overheating. Late in the year, he settled in with Lyle Stelter and despite little success they continued their partnership into the 1965 season. With Stelter Lund got his second career victory in that year's Columbia 200, qualifying in fourth and taking the lead from Ned Jarrett before rains came and washed out the second half of the event. In 1966, he continued his partnership with Stelter. Lund was leading at Spartanburg before a differential failed and at Manassas before his engine blew up. Lund did win at Beltsville Speedway. Lund had twenty-one DNF's (Did Not Finish) that season.
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. Lund 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. Lund finished fifth in the World 600 in that same ride. He struggled in Stelter's Fords despite a promising run in Fonda, New York where he qualified second and lead some before an axle broke. Lund and Stelter parted at season's end.
For 1968, he teamed with Big Bud Moore and his Mercury's. Lund also ran Moore's cars in the new NASCAR Grand American division designed for pony cars like Mustangs and Camaros. Lund finished 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 race in the Grand American division and ran one Grand National race, guesting for Bill France, Sr. in the inaugural Talladega 500. The race was known for a driver's boycott over tire safety protests. Lund drove into the lead but his clutch packed in and he was classified ninth.
In 1968, Lund appeared as one of the race drivers in the racing scene of the MGM movie 'Speedway' which starred Elvis Presley and Nancy Sinatra.
[edit] Wins in Grand American races
Along with his back-to-back Grand American championships in 1970 and 1971, Lund "won" two Grand National events in 1971 - the Buddy Shuman 100 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. 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 have 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.
[edit] Death at Talladega
After 1971, Lund began to fade from the Grand National limelight and moved to the new Grand National East Division (the replacement for the Grand American Series) and short track Late Model Sportsman (now Nationwide Series) series'. Lund twice won the Sportsman season opener down in Daytona and continued to rack up victories on 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 spectators 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,".
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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, Christopher 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."
[edit] References
- ^ a b Rick Minter (February 16, 2007). "'Tiny' delivered huge win for Woods at Daytona". . Fond du Lac Reporter
| Preceded by Fireball Roberts |
Daytona 500 Winner 1963 |
Succeeded by Richard Petty |
