Marvin
Panch's career started in 1955 driving for Tom
Harbison, a Pennsylvania car dealer. During this time Panch ran
extremely well, out qualifying and outrunning the (Ford) factory
cars. As a result Panch was offered a ride driving a Ford for
Pete DePaolo.
Panch won his first Grand National (now Winston Cup) race on July 20, 1956 at Montgomery, Alabama. Panch won the pole and dominated the 100-mile event, finishing a lap ahead of Buck Baker.
Panch began the 1957 season by
winning the first two races of the year at
Lancaster, California and Concord, North Carolina. He posted
another victory at Spartanburg, South Carolina in April. On June 6,
1957, the Automobile Manufacturers Association (AMA) decided to get
out of racing following a tragic accident at Martinsville, in which
Billy Myers' Mercury cleared a retaining wall and went into
the stands where a group of spectators were.
Following the AMA ban on
racing, the Ford team, now being ran out of the Holman-Moody
shop in Charlotte gave each of it's drivers a couple of race cars to
run the rest of the season. Panch was able to win three more races
that year, one driving for Herb Thomas, to finish second in
the race for series championship. Despite the six wins and 22
top-five finishes in his 42 starts that year, Panchs' career took a
major step backward following the departure of the Ford factory
team. In the next three seasons he only competed in 24 races.
"We just didn't have the money to run our own team, and I was just never able to get back into a good car until Fireball called," says Panch. "those were some hard times."
Panch finished second in the second of two preliminary races leading up to the 1961 Daytona 500 and he knew then that he had a great race car (see # 20 below). Before the 500, Yunick told Panch to stay back away from Roberts in case he blew an engine or crashed. Yunick said he didn't want both drivers caught up in a wreck. Panch said, "I was suppose to stay about a half lap behind him (Roberts) and that's where I was when his engine uncorked." Roberts, who had won the pole for the 500, totally dominated the race as he led 170 laps before his engine conked out with 13 laps remaining.
"When he (Yunick) told me to go, that year old Pontiac ran as good or better than the new ones as we outran all those new ones," says Panch. "I had just been coasting." Panch finished 16 seconds in front of Joe Weatherly for his biggest win and the victory that provided a much needed boost to his career.
A
little more than a year after his Daytona 500 win, Panch was hired
by the Woods Brothers to drive their Ford. This partnership
would eventually yield 8 wins, 11 seconds and 11 third place
finishes in 69 starts during the 1962-66 seasons.
"We had a lot of success together," says Panch. "We won some races, and always finished up good when we didn't win. It was like having money in the bank." The relationship came to an end on March 27, 1966 when Ford Motor Co. pulled out of NASCAR because of a rules dispute with NASCAR president Bill France.
For the second time in his career, Panch had been knocked for a loop when Ford elected to withdraw from the sport. But this time things worked out much better for Panch. Richard Howard, vice president and general manager of Charlotte (now Lowe's) Motor Speedway wanted to get some idled Ford drivers in his race and called Panch. "I told him I would love to, but I didn't have a ride. He suggested that I call Lee Petty. I did and a day or two later we had a deal." Panch captured the Charlotte 600 for his 17th and last career victory.
Panch
actually drove Petty Enterprises' dirt car, a year old
Plymouth. During that race the seat was rubbing some old burns on
his back and by that time Richard Petty had fallen out of the race.
Panch gave the wheel over to Petty with 42 laps to go.
California Dreamin'
Marvin
hailed from Oakland, California and was a car owner in the late
‘40’s. As a young man he was encouraged by the late Margo Burke to
take over the driving chores of his Mercury late model and see how
he faired. He was good from day one, with plenty of natural talent,
and started winning races all over the west coast in the early
‘50’s. He won five races when NASCAR came west, however, he had
notched many before that and was a big crowd favorite everywhere he
went. In 1954 Big Bill France asked him to come east and he helped
him arrange a ride. Marv was fast, smooth and won early on. He drove
for the Wood Brothers, the Petty’s and Holman & Moody, with 17
Winston Cup Wins including the 1962 Daytona 500, driving for Smokey
Yunick in the Jim Stephens Pontiac. On of NASCAR’s 50 greatest
drivers and already a Hall of Famer, we are pleased to have veteran
Chrysler Corp. test driver and long time friend Danny Eames with us
tonight to accept Marvin’s award. Unfortunately Marv could not be in
two places at one time and as badly as he wanted to be here tonight
he was commissioned by Pontiac to restore his Daytona winning car
for the Brickyard 400 next weekend. See
www.stockcarreunion.com
| Lifetime | EVENTS | POLES | WINS | TOP 5 | MONEY |
| Totals | 214 | 21 | 17 | 97 | $262,966. |
Please Check Out MarvinPanch.com For More Details and Stories on Marvin! |
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