There has been a spark plug war for the hearts and minds of racing fans in America that’s lasted for about a century now and shows no signs of abating. Don’t believe us? Let’s just look at NHRA drag racing for a second. There’s the E3 Spark Plugs sponsorship of the pro mod series, there’s the Denso nationals this weekend in Las Vegas and in two weeks there’s the NGK nationals in Charlotte! Champion is sponsoring cars and making their presence known as well. Spark plugs are and have been a hot marketing commodity for longer than anyone reading this has been alive and this film from 1956 is further proof of that statement.
Take it from a Champion is the title of the film that spends time with Johnny Parsons at the Indy 500 and then goes stock car racing on the beach course at Daytona and awesomely on the big banks of Darlington, the track that really took stock car racing to the big leagues. More than 70 cars start the race at Darlington and not surprisingly the “right guy” wins. The right guy is Herb Thomas driving one of Smokey Yunick’s cars and there’s some bitchin’ footage of a young Yunick celebrating the win in his greasy, sweat-soaked glory.
This was a pretty big dollar production for its time when we consider how many cameras and locations were employed to make it. We have no idea where it was shown or how it was distributed back then but we do know that it provides a valuable and up-close look at what it was like to not only be a professional racing driver back then but what it was like to be a fan of motorsports during what some call its golden era.
