Did Marty Robbins prefer College Station over El Paso?

As I read Henry Mayo’s terrific blog on Monday about the 40^th anniversary of Richard Petty’s NASCAR win at the Texas World Speedway, I came across an interesting tidbit. As a long-time fan of classic country music, I noticed that Marty Robbins finished 29^th in the same race.

And, no, he didn’t wear A White Sport Coat (and a Pink Carnation).

A quick internet search revealed a number of great photos of Robbins at the Texas World Speedway in the 1973 Alamo 500. Thanks to MoParDealer.com for allowing us to use these great images:

Robbins was passionate about racing and appeared in 35 NASCAR events. He never won, but had six top-10 finishes to his credit. He apparently liked College Station, too, making three straight appearances at Texas World Speedway from 1971-73. In fact, the only tracks where he had more races were Talladega (10), Charlotte (6), Daytona (5) and Michigan (4).

Petty, on the other hand, dominated at TWS. He appeared in all eight NASCAR races at TWS between 1969 and 1981, winning three times and finishing worse than sixth only once. Henry’s blog didn’t include any photos of Petty racing at the TWS, but MoParDealer.com has this one from 1973:

It makes you wonder how history might have changed had Robbins visited College Station before he wrote “El Paso.”  Well, maybe not.