Buddy Baker
Racing fans were greeted on Monday morning with the sad news that NASCAR legend Buddy Baker had passed away during the night after losing a battle with lung cancer. Baker was 74-years-old.
What many fans around the country and even in this area may not know is that Maryville’s Smoky Mountain Speedway once hosted NASCAR sanctioned events. From 1965-1971, there were a total of 12 Grand National(as they were called then) races held on the half-mile facility.
Baker competed in five of those races with finishes of second and fourth to his credit as well as one pole. However, the most memorable moment involving the ‘Gentle Giant’ at Smoky Mountain was not related to a stellar finish, but instead, revolved around a crash and its aftermath.
The accident in question occurred in 1968 on lap 75 of a 200-lap affair that would ultimately be won by Richard Petty. Baker was driving a Dodge maintained by the legendary Raymond Fox at the time.
“I blew a right front tire at the old Smoky Mountain Raceway and went head-on into the wall,” Baker recalled during a round table discussion among NASCAR legends. “I broke some ribs on the right hand side. They sent a guy about the size of… well, about 145 pounds to get a hold of me and I weighed about 225 pounds then.”
The track at that time kept an old retired hearse on the grounds in the event that a driver needed to be taken to a local hospital. The vehicle was rushed to the scene of the accident and that’s where the story takes an unusual turn.
Baker beside the Ray Fox owned Dodge he drove in 1968
“First off, he got me by the head and tried to take me out of the car,” the 1980 winner of the Daytona 500 continued amid the laughter of his counterparts. “Then they brought this little gurney out there with little small wheels on it and the thing looked like it was about six feet tall. They had an old Pontiac ambulance there and this guy finally gets some help and they finally get me on there.
“Well, they put the straps on me and they carry me over to this old Pontiac, I can still remember seeing that Indian(logo) that looked like it was on fire with a big red face on it. And I’m thinking ‘Man, I’m hurt. I’m really hurt’.
Baker was indeed hurt as he suffered broken ribs and a concussion as a result of the crash.
“They put me up in the back of that thing and here goes this ambulance around the corner and I go ‘I don’t think I ran this fast tonight’,” baker recalled. “We go down the back straightaway and he stops. They had to open the gate for us to leave from the back straightaway. About that time, the guy hit the accelerator and the back door flew open and they didn’t tighten the wheels up on the thing so I shoot out the back.
“They had to put a red flag out for people coming out of the pits,” the driver/broadcaster said as the laughter grew to a roar among the other racers in the room. “I’m going round-and-round down the racetrack and I see these cars going whoom! whoom! whoom! on both sides of me. I knew I had to do something so I got one arm out of the straps and I started waving. I went down and hit in the red mud on the inside of the racetrack and this gurney goes end-over-end. Then the little guy came over there and said ‘Are you hurt?’. I said ‘No, I’m dead. All you’ve got to do is cover me up here’.”
Buddy Baker was not only a great driver but also a tremendous ambassador for the sport of auto racing. He will be truly missed.
Click here for the link to the video in which Baker recounts the story.
