Asheville Citizen-Times from Asheville, North Carolina • Page 15

At 45 In Air Crash THE ASHEVILLE CITIZEN, Oct. 6, 1970 15 Flamboyant Curtis Turner Was A Track Sh Showman CHARLOTTE, N.C (AP) Curtis Turner was making a now-rare appearance in a stock car race at Rockingham, N.C. He started way back from the pole, and everybody figured it was unlikely he'd pass enough cars to win. Who cared? People just liked to see the old master run. He ran-flat out to win as they say at the track, gunning the accelerator the way, slowing as little as possible for the turns, or for the slower traffic as he zoomed by.

There would always be people in the stands with eyes on Curtis This time Turner wasn't driving machinery durable enough to last under this kind of gunning. He blew an engine. A tire hit the oil slick and the car went spinning into the wall, across the track, onto the infeild apron. The stocky, sweaty. grimey Turner jumped out grinning, waved to the crowd to show he was okay, then walked toward his pit as if nothing had happened.

Soon a small airplane roared down the runway behind the track. It circled over the stands. One wing bobbed a salute. and then the other. The crowd roared as the plane disappeared.

Turner just went home," said the announcer over the loudspeaker. The race was still going on, but Turner had done his day's work. He didn't win, so what dif- ference did it make who did? The fast runs around the track, the wreck, the wave with the plane were all typical of Crash Fatal To Driving Great Curtis Turner. You expected him to do something different. something you'd like to see, something you could go home and talk about.

Sunday, Turner's small airplane crashed in Pennsylvania, and the legend ended. Turner, 45, and Clarence King, 51, a golf pro who lived in Roanoke. were killed. Turner, who had homes in Roanoke and Charlotte, had been in the Charlotte area over the weekend and had come to terms with Richard Howard, president of the Charlotte Motor Speedway, to appear in the National 500 race next Sunday. Flying his twin-engine he left Monroe, east of Charlotte, Sunday morning, stopped in Madison, N.

and Roanoke and continued northward. Witnesses said the plane went into a tailspin and crashed at DuBois, Pa, chortly after taking off from the DuBois-Jefferson Airport on a flight back to Roanoke. Like Buck Baker and Lee Petty, whose sons are carrying on their tradition as drivers. Fireball Roberts who died of pneumonia after being critically burned in a crash on the Charlotte track in 1964. and Junior Johnson and Cotton Owens, who have now turned to building cars, Curtis Turner was one of the young drivers who helped popularize the sport cf auto racing the South in the years after World War II.

In those days, a man raced a car he himself helped keep in shape and he raced it on unpaved tracks with makeshift bleachers. Turner won his first race in 1946 on a dirt track in Mount Airy. N.C. As interest in the sport grew, automobile manufacturers, tire manufacturers and gasoline companies got in the act, sweetening the purses of the major races, providing top-notch technical care for cars subsidizing the drivers. Soon, stock car racing was big business.

Many of the old drivers grew with it, but Curtis Turner didn't fit their mold-or any mold. He was a man who did something different. In private life he was a successful lumberman, and. he decided to try the business end of racing. He formed a company and established the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

In 1960 it was the site of the first World 600 race. Then the track ran into financial difficulty and went into receivership. Turner was out of the picture. Later he was suspended from big-league racing by Bill France president of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), for trying to organize race drivers into the Teamsters Union. Turner was reinstated in four years and again became a drawing card for the superspeedways.

In the years that followed, Turner had aged, but his antics continued. There was the time in 1967, for instance, when his pilot's license was suspended by the Federal Aviation Agency for landing his plane in a church parking lot at Easley, S. services. At about the same time the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles suspended his license to drive a motor vehicle on the roads because of viola- Lions Win, Take Co Conference Lead downs for Detroit on runs of three and 20 yards, Altie Taylor scored on a seven-yard sprint and Bill Munson passed 13 yards to Larry Walton for a touchdown accounting for the Lions scoring. The fired-up Bears took a 7-0 halftime lead on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Jack Concannon to Dick Gordon in the first quarter before the Lions' third-quarter barrage.

Concannon and Gordon teamed on a 61-yard pass play on the first play of the fourth quarter to put the Bears close at 21-14. But the Lions' cornerback Dick Lebeau intercepted a Concannon pass at the Detroit 25 midway in the final period and ran it back to the Bears 31 to prepare the way for Farr's 20- yard insurance touchdown. With about eight minutes left Lebeau intercepted another Concannon bomb on the Lions' six. It was Lebeau's 50th interception tying him with former Lion Yale Lary for the all-time team leadership. I A capacity crowd of 58,210 WINC Fisherman Accept Proposed Regulations By LARRY MAYER Citizen-Times Outdoor Writer Western North Carolina fishermen accepted proposed changes by the State Wildlife Resources Commission in the statewide fishing regulations for 1971 without the usual bitter criticisms Monday night at the first of three scheduled fish hearings throughout the state.

A crowd of 114 sportsmen and wildlife resources commission personnel turned out to the first meeting, which was held at the Buncombe County Courthouse. The proposals to permit the use of treble hooks a in except all in designated native trout and waters, trophy trout waters and to extend the open fishing season on game lands waters from Labor Day through Oct. 21 under the same game lands fishing permit requirements. The extended season would permit fishermen to keep only one brook trout 12 inches or longer, or one rainbow or brown trout 16 inches or longer on an artificial lure with a single hook. In trophy trout waters, only artificial flies with single hooks would be permitted and the fishing would be on the same days as the particular Buckeyes Widen Grid Poll Lead By HERSCHEL NISSENSON Associated Press Sports Writer Top-ranked Ohio State opened up its lead over runnerup Texas Monday in the weekly Associated Press college football poll.

The Buckeyes received 27 of the 38 first-place votes from sports writers and across the country and total of 713 points after trimming Duke 34-10. Texas' 11th-hour 20-17 victory over UCLA on a 45 yard touchdown pass with 12 seconds left kept the Longhorns in the No. 2 spot with six first-place ballots and 610 points last week they trailed Ohio State by 24 points and the week before that by a mere 13. Stanford's stunning 26-14 loss to Purdue dropped the Indians from third to 12tn and enabled Dame and Southern California to move un one spot each third and fourth, respectiveThe Irish blanked Michigan State 29-0 and the Trojans walloped Oregon State 15-13 Mississippi's nationallv televised 48-23 rout. of Alabama boosted the Rebels from seventh to fifth and Nebraska remained sixth by beating Minnesota 35- Jet to Piedmont.

the Memphis Nashville. tions. So Turner -famous as a chauffer of skill had to be chaufeered himself wherever he went. Turner's image was freewheeling and reckless, but those who frequented his posh offices of the Carolina-Atlantic Timber Coo. in Roanoke said he was a smooth savvy businessman.

He won about 365 races in his career, including the prestigious 500 at Darlington, S. in 1956, the American 500 at Rockingham in 1965, and the famed Pikes Peak Hill Climb in 1962. Turner is survived by his widow, the former Carolyn Jean Vance, who is expecting their first child; two sons and two daughters by a previous marriage, and his parents, wto live in Stuart, Va. Funeral arrangements were incomplete Monday. DETROIT (AP) Detroit ploded for 21 points in the third quarter and got a fourthtouchdown after a key interception as the Lions beat the Chicago Bears 28-14 Monday night to take sole possession of first place in the Central Division of the National Football Conference.

Mel Farr scored two touch- SCOREBOARD Pro Football American Conference American Conference East Division LT Pct. Pts Miami 2 1. 0 .667 54 Baltimore 2 1 0 .667 54 New York Jets 0 .333 83 Buffalo 0 .333 44 Boston 1 2 0 .333 54 Centra! Division Houston Cleveland 2 1 0 .667 .667 77 Cincinnati 2 0 .333 Pittsburgh 0 0 .000 27 Denver Kansas City 0 1.000 .333 67 0 Oakland .000 San Diego 2 .000 51 National Conference East Division Pet. Pts Dallas 21 0 .667 52 St. Louis 0 .667 60 Washington 1 2 0 .333 77 New York Giants 3 .000 36 Philadelphia 0 0 .000 44 Central Division Detroit 0 0 1.000 86 Chicago 0 .667 58 Green Bay .667 40 Minnesota CNN 0 .667 63 West Division Los Angeles 3 0 1.000 90 San Francisco 0 .667 80 New Orleans 0.

.333 17 Atlanta --0 0 .667 69 Monday's Results Detroit 28. nicano 14 Saturday's Games Miami at New York Jets, night Sunday's Games Philadelphia at New York Giants San Francisco at Los Angeles, national television Atlanta at Baltimore Houston Boston at Kansas City Buffalo at Pittsburgh Cincinnati at Cleveland Denver at Oakland Detroit at Washington New Orleans at St. Louis Minnesota at Chicago Monday's Games Green Bay at San Diego, night, national television Exhibition Pro Basketball Carolina 140, VirgiABAna Philadelphia 130, Boston 119 Baltimore 117, Atlanta 110 Buffalo 113, Detroit 103 Asheville 2 plus a national television audience watched Detroit push its record to 3-0 while Chicago fell to 2-1. Chicago, which had six first downs in the first half, finished with eight compared with Detroit's 22, after only five firsthalf first downs. The Lions had 350 yards total offense to 177 for the Bears.

Detroit gave up just 38 yards rushing while running for 140 yards of their own. Gordon was the game's leading receiver with four catches for 95 yards. Bears Lions First downs 8 22 Rushing yardage 38 140 Passing yardage 139 210 Return yardage 24 53 Passes 10-18-2 13-19-0 Punts 5-44 6-30 Yards penalized 53 53 Fumbles lost Chicago 7 0 0 7-14 Detroit 0 0 21 7-28 Chi--Gordon 20 pass from Concannon (Percival kick) -Farr 2 run (Mann kick) Det-Taylor 7 run (Mann kick) Det-Walton 13 pass from Munson (Mann Chi--Gordon 61 pass from Concannon (Percival kick) Det-Farr 20 run (Mann kick) (stream was open during the regular season. It was also proposed to remove the size limit on trout in Bent Creek upstream from Lake Powhatan, and to restore the South Toe River from the fish barrier downstream to the Mt. Mitchell Management Area line to native trout fishing three days per week.

Newly-appointed U. S. Forest Service biologist Bill Zeebdyk said the Forest Service opposed the one-trophy, trout limit on the game lands waters during the extended season. He proposed the Wildlife Commission permit the same possession limits as during the regular season, and that these limits should be evaluated for future reference. Zeebdyk's proposal brought a question from one trophy trout fisherman in the audience: "Since the Forest Service wants the same possession limits during the extended season as are in effect during the regular season, I wonder if the Forest Service would volunteer to let its rangers help enforce the fishing regulations." Some fishermen expressed fear that permitting, treble hooks to be result in killing more trout, particularly when these fish were released.

Wildlife Resources Commission Inland Fisheries chief Harry Cornell, who presided over the meeting, stressed that in liberalizing certain regulations, it was a question not of what the fish could stand but rather a question of how the fishermen would observe the regulations. Marty Kelege examined the wreckage of a plane that crashed Sunday near Dubois, killing auto racing great Curtis M. Turner and golf pro Civil Air Patrol ranger cadet Charles King, both of Roanoke, Va. The twin engine plane struck a hillside shortly after takeoff from Dubois-Jefferson Airport. (AP Wirephoto) Wittman Has New Life' With Miami Floridians By STEVE WHITE Special To The Citizen-Times From the bitter cold of the Rockies to the sunshine and sand of Miami Beach is a happy change for anyone who makes his living during the winter months.

For Greg Wittman, it's more than a happy change it's a new life. The former Western Carolina University basketball star was traded June 26 by the Denver Rockets to the Miami Floridians after his first year in the Most pro players would resent being traded from a championship contender to a last place team but not Greg Wittman. "As far as I am concerned, it has to be the greatest trade in basketball history," said the 6-foot-8, 210-pound forward. "First of all, I'm glad to get out of Denver and back in the South. Secondly, I'll have a chance to play now." The trade which sent Wittman packing his bags to the land of fun and sun was a part of the major deal in which the Rockets also gave up three-time all-league star Larry Jones for Don Sidle and Larry Cannon.

Wittman broke into the ABA with a bang when he came off the bench in the season opener New Orleans and hit on five quick jumpers and ended $8 8 a day 3 mile rents an OLDS CUTLASS for only the gas you use. Budget Rent a Car 240 Valley St. 252-4449 Free Pickup Delivery Gary A. Rice, Mgr. Washington's Airportonly Piedmont jets there.

Asheville: 3 share the "new Floridians" with Miami. The team, under Coach Hal Blitman who built his reputation at Cheyney State (a small college power in Pennsylvania) has a lot of new faces around. Along with Wittman and Jones, owner Ned Doyle, the advertising magnate, has dealt for established players Mack Calvin and Tom Washington from the L. A. Stars (now Utah), Warren Davis from Pittsburgh, and Ron Frantz from New Orleans.

They join holdovers Skip Thoren and George Lehman. That gives the Floridians seven players who were regular starters last year in the ABA. Wittman reported to the Floridians camp August 31 and has been a "pleasant surprise," according to Coach Blitman. "We knew he could play, but he has performed above our expectations in our exhibition games." Greg scored 42 points in an exhibition game earlier this week and currently is holding down a starting forward spot. The Floridians open their season October 15 against the Carolina Cougars.

"About the only time the people back home (Sylva, Cullowhee and Rockingham) hear about me is when we play the Cougars. play extra hard against Wittman said. In one game against the Cougars last year, he scored 10 points and wound up late in the game in the backcourt guarding Bob Verga. "That was a joke," said Wittman as he laughingly remembered. Greg's wife, the former Judy Buchanan of Sylva, and 15- month-old daughter Tiffany Leigh left for Miami last Saturday.

"I think we are going to enjoy Miami better, especially the weather," said the attractive Mrs. Wittman as she bade all her shivering relatives farewell for the winter. And for Greg, it's farewell to bench splinters and hello to personal fouls and hopefully a basket which will beat the Cougars. Then the folks back home will know he is still around. up with 15 points in his first pro game.

The Rockingham native saw plenty of action in the early part of last season, but the Rockets were floundering around in the cellar. Coach John McClendon was fired and Joe Belmont, former ABA official and AAU player, was hired. From that point on, Wittman saw plenty of action on the bench. "I seriously considered quitting before I would spend another year in Denver. But this trade makes me feel like a new man.

I'm really looking forward to the season, explained an 1 enthused Wittman. The Floridians are a new club a new name. players, home, uniforms and owner. They will be experimenting with the regional franchise setup which was SO successful for the Carolina Cougars last year. Tampa and Jacksonville will Memphis- Piedmont jets only you direct.

254-8131 Asheville 8 GREG WITTMAN 10. Michigan climbed two spots to seventh by downing Texas 14-10 and Air Force was up from 10th to cighth after bouncing Colorado State 37-22. Rounding out the Top Ten were Auburn and Arkansas, which were 12th and 11th a week ago. Auburn whipped Kentucky 33-15 and Arkansas walloped Texas Christian 49-14 Colorado, eighth last week. lost to Kansas State 21-20 and dropped to 17th.

The second Ten consisted of West Virginia. Stanford Georgia Tech, Arizona State, UCLA. Missouri, Colorado, North Carolina, Louisiana State and Tennessee. The Top Twenty teams, with first -place votes in parentheses, season records and total points. Points tabulated on basis of 1.

Ohio State( 27) 2-0 713 2. Texas (6) 3. 610 3. Notre Dame 3-0 576 Southern California (2) 3-0-1 531 Mississippi (1) 3-0 459 Nebraska 3-0-1 402 (1) 3-0 278 8. Air Force 4-0 265 Auburn 3-0 218 10.

Arkansas 3-1 199 West Virkinia 147 12. Stanford 134 13. Georgia Tech 4-0 131 14. Arizona State 3-0 106 15. UCLA 3-1 80 1: Missouri 3-1 Colorado 18.

North Carolina 4-0 19. Louisiana State 20. Tennessee 2-1 19 Others receiving votes, listed alphabetically: Houston, lowa State. Kansas, Kansas State, Mississippi Princeton, Texas Toledo, Tulane, Washington. York- up, morning evening return.

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