Ken Curtis is best remembered for his role as Festus Haggen on the long-
running CBS western TV series Gunsmoke (1955 – 1975). Curtis was a
singer before moving into acting and combined both careers once he
entered films, performing with the popular Sons of the Pioneers from 1949
to 1953 as well as singing with the Tommy Dorsey band. Curtis replaced
Frank Sinatra as vocalist for the band. Curtis’ last acting role was as the
aging cattle rancher "Seaborn Tay" (above) in the Turner Network TV
production Conagher (1991).  

At the Grammy Awards of 1967, Frank Sinatra received the Record of
the Year Award for “Strangers in the Night”, the title track from the 1966
album which also garnered a Grammy Award. 

Brian Wilson’s life was derailed for years by drug abuse and mental illness. For
the first time in 12-years, Brian joined The Beach Boys on stage during his 34th
birthday party in June of 1976. Paul and Linda McCartney were there.

Brian Wilson today

Richard Lee Petty is a former  NASCAR driver who raced in the Strictly Stock/Grand National Era and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. He is most well-known for winning
the NASCAR Championship seven times, Dale Earnhardt is the only other driver to accomplish this feat, winning a record 200 races during his career, winning the
Daytona 500 a record seven times, and winning a record 27 races, ten of them consecutively, in the 1967 season alone. Petty is widely considered one of the
greatest NASCAR drivers of all time and is one of the most respected figures in    
motorsports as a whole.

He also collected a record number of poles (127) and over 700 top-ten finishes in
his 1,185 starts, including 513 consecutive starts from 1971–1989. Petty is a second generation driver. His father, Lee Petty, won the first Daytona 500 in 1959 and was
also a 3 time NASCAR champion. Richard’s son, Kyle Petty is also a well-known
NASCAR driver. The Petty family still resides in Richard’s home town of Level
Cross, North Carolina and operates Richard Petty Motorsports.

This #43 Richard Petty STP Pontiac Grand Prix ran at Daytona and
Talladega in 1984.