Bobby Isaac
Special
thanks
goes
out
to
CK
Sports
NASCAR
History
Lesson
101
and
Michael
Smith.
MISUNDERSTOOD
CHAMPION
(Part
I)
Who
was
Bobby
Isaac?
Few
People
Really
Knew
By
Michael
Smith
In
today’s
NASCAR
Winston
Cup,
Busch
Grand
National
and
Craftsman
Truck
series,
it’s
difficult
to
imagine
even
a
mediocre
driver
living
in
real
obscurity.
Modern
media
has
the
bases
so
well
covered
that
we
can
find
out
information
on
any
driver
either
through
print,
television
or
online.
Such
is
the
case
with
Winston
Cup
champions,
too.
With
a
simple
click
of
a
computer
mouse
or
the
turn
of
a
magazine
page,
it’s
very
easy
to
get
the
scoop
on
Bobby
Labonte
or
Dale
Jarrett
or,
with
only
a
bit
more
digging
one
can
find
out
what
Cale
Yarborough
is
up
to
these
days
or
access
statistics
on
Cale’s
career.
Granted,
we
might
be
hard-pressed
to
get
intimate
details
about
Red
Byron
(NASCAR’s
first
champion)
but
the
so-called
“Modern
Era”
champions
are
pretty
much
an
open
book
with
one
possible
exception:
Bobby
Isaac
is
arguably
the
most
misunderstood
and
obscure
of
NASCAR’s
champions
from
the
past
three
decades.
Bobby
Isaac’s
upbringing
was
tough
and
unstructured.
Born
on
August
1,
1932
or
1934
(accounts
vary)
to
Jerry
and
Kathy
Isaac,
Bobby
was
the
second
to
the
youngest
of
nine
children.
The
family
home
sat
on
12
acres
that
provided
the
family
income
from
cotton
and
corn
crops.
When
he
was
six,
Bobby’s
father
died
and
before
long,
his
mother
took
a
job
in
a
furniture
store
to
provide
additional
income
for
the
family.
Bobby
was
left
pretty
much
on
his
own
during
the
day.
“If
I
didn’t
want
to
go
to
school
I
didn’t
have
to,”
Isaac
recalled
in
a
1971
magazine
interview.
At
the
age
of
13,
Bobby
dropped
all
pretense
of
attending
school
and
quit
altogether.
Three
years
later,
his
mother
passed
away,
leaving
Bobby
and
his
brothers
and
sisters
totally
alone.
The
lack
of
formal
education
beyond
the
sixth
grade
led
to
perhaps
the
greatest
myth
of
all;
that
Bobby
could
neither
read
nor
write
–
an
inaccuracy
that
has
been
repeated
in
a
widely
published
history
of
NASCAR’s
legendary
heroes
as
recently
as
1999.
Isaac
resented
the
persistent
lie
and
worried
that
it
might
prompt
other
aspiring
drivers
to
follow
his
path.
“I’ve
made
it,”
Isaac
said
in
1971.
“But
I
may
have
made
it
faster
if
I
had
finished
my
formal
education.
I
really
prefer
not
to
talk
about
it.
I
think
that
if
a
boy
is
sincerely
interested
in
auto
racing
he
should
finish
school,
go
to
college
and
get
an
engineering
degree.”
Left
literally
to
his
own
resources,
a
teenaged
Bobby
Isaac
took
a
job
in
a
sawmill,
knocked
off
for
a
year,
doing
little
or
nothing,
then
hired
on
as
a
helper
on
an
ice
truck.
Eventually,
Bobby
got
fed
up
with
job-hopping
and
living
hand
to
mouth,
and
he
set
out
hitch-hiking
his
way
out
of
the
farm
country
of
North
Carolina.
Fate
intervened
in
Bobby’s
plan,
however.
Bobby’s
sister
Goldie,
ten
years
his
elder,
happened
by
and
picked
him
up.
Goldie
convinced
Bobby
to
come
live
with
her
and
her
husband
Carl
Setzer.
Bobby
took
a
job
in
yet
another
sawmill,
working
with
his
brother-in-law.
Bobby
remained
with
his
sister
until
about
the
age
of
19
when
he
married.
However,
within
a
year
the
marriage
was
over
and
Bobby
went
back
to
job-hopping.
In
the
meantime,
Bobby
had
taken
to
racing.
Bobby
had
seen
his
first
race
at
about
the
age
of
17.
Right
around
the
time
of
his
first
marriage,
a
track
was
built
in
Hickory,
North
Carolina
and
for
reasons
he
couldn’t
explain
later,
Bobby
went
to
see
a
race.
Bobby
went
home
with
the
itch
to
run
the
dirt
track.
Bobby
bought
a
1937
Ford
and
put
roll
bars
in
it.
“I
thought
it
was
a
race
car,”
Bobby
recalled
years
later.
Bobby’s
first
local
race
ended
abruptly
when
he
flipped
the
Ford
on
the
second
lap.
The
wreck
did
little
to
dampen
Bobby’s
drive
to
race
full
time.
Bobby
continued
to
work,
jumping
from
the
sawmill
to
a
pool
hall,
then
to
a
cotton
mill
while
getting
in
whatever
weekly
racing
he
could.
Then,
in
1956
Bobby
went
racing
full
time,
racing
a
sportsman
division
car
with
Frank
Hefner
four
or
five
nights
a
week.
Bobby
pulled
down
between
$100
to
$125
per
week
during
the
1956
and
1956
seasons,
more
than
he
could
make
as
a
regular
working
man.
In
the
off-season,
Bobby
bided
his
time
working
with
his
brother-in-law
farming
and
drilling
wells.
In
1958
Bobby
took
another
important
step
when
he
spent
the
season
with
Ralph
Earnhardt.
During
that
season
Bobby
won
some
28
feature
events
racing
against
the
likes
of
Ned
Jarrett,
David
Pearson
and
Ralph
Earnhardt.
“I
got
to
know
some
of
the
drivers,
but
not
well
enough
for
them
to
let
me
have
a
car,”
Bobby
remembered
wistfully,
years
later.
The
inaugural
World
600
at
Charlotte
nearly
gave
Bobby
an
opportunity
to
turn
hot
laps
in
a
Grand
National
event.
Not
knowing
the
effects
of
running
a
600
mile
race,
Jimmy
Thompson’s
team
asked
Bobby
to
act
as
a
stand-in,
just
in
case
Thompson
should
become
too
tired
to
finish
the
event.
Bobby
took
the
car
out
for
practice
and
turned
laps
in
the
116
mph
range.
Unfortunately,
Thompson’s
car
gave
up
before
he
did
and
Bobby
didn’t
get
a
chance
to
fill
in
during
the
actual
race.
In
the
next
World
600,
Bobby
piloted
Junior
Johnson’s
main
event
car
during
one
of
the
mandatory
100
mile
preliminary
races.
Johnson,
wanting
to
save
his
World
600
car,
asked
Bobby
to
take
two
laps
and
park
the
car,
which
Bobby
obligingly
did,
without
fanfare
or
compensation.
“…I
was
still
happy
to
do
it,”
Bobby
told
a
reporter
years
later.
While
continuing
to
show
his
prowess
on
the
shade
tree,
small
town,
dirt
track
modified
circuit
Bobby
received
a
call
from
a
wealthy
young
man
by
the
name
of
Bondy
Long.
Long
had
recently
purchased
a
Plymouth
from
the
Petty
camp
and
wanted
Bobby
to
run
for
him
in
the
1963
season.
Unfortunately,
Bobby
failed
to
finish
his
qualifying
race
and
missed
out
on
the
Daytona
500.
After
a
couple
short
track
efforts,
the
team
realized
they
needed
better
equipment.
Long
approached
his
mother,
who
seems
to
have
been
not
only
wealthy
but
more
understanding
than
most.
Momma
Long
fronted
the
money
to
purchase
a
car
from
the
powerhouse
Holman-Moody
shop.
The
new
car
arrived
less
than
a
week
before
the
Atlanta
500.
Bobby
qualified
the
car
in
21st
position
and
finished
in
20th
when
a
blown
engine
sidelined
him
late
in
the
race.
Mechanical
woes
sidelined
them
more
often
than
not
during
the
next
few
races
and
a
rift
grew
between
Bobby
and
the
chief
mechanic
Mack
Howard.
Following
the
Southern
500
Bobby
stepped
out
of
the
car,
knowing
that
it
would
have
to
be
him
or
Howard.
“Bondy
had
his
choice.
Mack
or
me.
I
went.”
Nevertheless,
Bobby
would
wind
up
being
a
friend
of
Mack
Howard’s.
Bobby
took
a
chance
and
called
Smokey
Yunick
to
inquire
about
piloting
a
car
for
the
“Best
Damned
Garage
In
Town.”
Smokey
needed
a
driver
for
the
National
500
in
Charlotte
so
Bobby
stepped
into
the
car,
but
after
being
involved
in
a
couple
of
accidents,
Bobby
pulled
the
car
behind
the
wall.
In
the
winter
of
1963
Bobby
got
what
was
perhaps
his
biggest
break
when
Bud
Allman,
a
former
mechanic
for
Ned
Jarrett,
went
to
work
for
Ray
Nichels.
Once
in
the
Nichel’s
camp,
Allman
began
to
push
to
have
Bobby
installed
as
the
driver.
Bobby
eventually
got
the
job,
but
later
learned
that
had
he
even
once
complained
about
the
car,
he
would
likely
have
been
passed
over
for
Paul
Goldsmith.
Bobby
married
Patsy
Ann
Story
on
December
22,
1963
and
enjoyed
four
short
days
together
before
Bobby
hustled
off
to
be
with
the
Nichels’
team.
“It
was
my
first
factory
ride,
and
I
wasn’t
going
to
give
it
up,”
Bobby
explained
years
later.
At
the
1964
Daytona
500
Bobby
dashed
to
a
surprise
victory
over
Richard
Petty
and
Jimmy
Pardue
in
the
second
qualifying
race
–
his
first
start
for
the
factory
backed
team.
The
finish
was
not
without
its
excitement
however.
Coming
to
the
checkered
flag,
Richard
Petty
had
nearly
a
half
lap
lead
when
he
ran
out
of
gas
and
coasted
across
the
line
doing
about
45
mph
while
Bobby
and
Jimmy
Pardue
whizzed
by
at
nearly
170
mph.
The
photo
finish
camera
clicked
but
produced
a
blank
sheet
and
the
call
went
out
for
anyone
with
pictures
of
the
finish.
Meanwhile,
Bobby,
Richard
and
Jimmy
shared
the
spotlight,
each
holding
on
to
the
trophy.
Four
hours
later
it
was
announced
that
Bobby
had
been
the
winner.
Bobby
and
the
Nichels
team
ran
19
races
in
1964,
earning
7
top
ten
finishes
including
their
win
in
the
Daytona
qualifier
and
a
top
ten
in
the
Daytona
500
despite
engine
woes.
The
story
of
Bobby’s
1964
season
seems
to
be
“close
but
no
cigar”
as
time
and
again
he
was
narrowly
edged
out
on
the
super
speedways.
He
finished
second
to
Fred
Lorenzen
in
the
Atlanta
500
and
second
to
A.J.
Foyt
in
the
Firecracker
500
when
Foyt
made
a
pass
for
the
win
on
the
last
lap.
Following
Big
Bill
France’s
veto
of
the
hemi
engine
in
1965,
Ray
Nichels
took
Bobby
and
the
team
to
the
USAC
circuit.
Bobby
looked
back
on
that
stint
somewhat
fondly.
“We
had
a
pretty
good
season
up
there.
I
won
two
races
and
I
led
several
others
before
we
returned
to
NASCAR
late
in
the
1965
season.”
The
Nichels
team
returned
to
NASCAR
racing
late
in
the
season
but
Bobby
didn’t
last
long,
quitting
the
Dodge-backed
effort
to
drive
for
Junior
Johnson
who
had
recently
received
backing
from
Ford
for
the
1966
season.
That
season
turned
out
to
be
not
so
stellar
for
Bobby.
On
track
wrecks,
coupled
with
Ford’s
boycott
of
NASCAR
for
part
of
the
season,
conspired
to
hamper
Bobby’s
effort.
To
make
matters
worse,
when
Ford
returned,
Bobby
was
released
as
driver.
“It
wasn’t
a
good
year
for
me.
I
wrecked
in
seven
or
eight
races.
Ford
quit
for
awhile
and
when
it
came
back
I
was
fired.
I
still
made
about
$15,000
despite
a
bad
year.
Ford
paid
me
a
salary
of
$200
a
week
while
it
was
out
of
racing
and
even
after
I
was
fired.
I
also
got
$100
weekly
salary
from
Holly
Farms.”
Not
bad
for
part-time,
back-of-the-pack
racing.
The
future
did
not
look
bright
for
Bobby
Isaac
in
mid-1966.
As
he
explained
himself
a
few
years
later,
he
had
quite
a
Dodge
team
and
Ford
didn’t
want
him.
The
prospects
for
being
picked
up
by
any
team
seemed
dim
indeed.
Even
a
ray
of
light
at
the
end
of
the
season
flickered
and
died.
Asked
by
Cotton
Owens
to
fill
in
for
David
Pearson
in
the
season’s
final
race,
Bobby
gladly
obliged
but
seemingly
like
his
career,
the
car
developed
a
mechanical
problem
and
he
was
forced
to
drop
out.
There
seemed
to
be
no
end
to
Bobby's
struggles.
Next
Time:
Part
II
of
the
Bobby
Isaac
Story.
copyright
2001.
Michael
Smith
Special
thanks
for
this
story
goes
out
to
CK
Sports
NASCAR
History
Lesson
101
and
Michael
Smith.
Here
is
a
link
to
Michael's
previous
articles:
http://www.yourfunshop.com/home/archive3/index.html