If you’ve read about how PJ Sykes uncovered decades of vintage Richmond Window Corp advertisements tucked away during an office clean-up, you may remember one image in particular: a black-and-white ad inviting Richmond neighbors to “come see Lennie Pond’s car” at the company’s Carytown showroom. That single photo deserves its own story, so here it is, and with the Cook Out 400 coming to Richmond Raceway, there’s no better time to tell it.
Long before “content marketing” was a phrase anyone used, Richmond Window Corp., founded in 1954 and known today as Renewal by Andersen of Central Virginia and Roanoke, figured out one of the most effective ways to get the community’s attention: hitch your name to a local hero going 170-plus miles an hour.
In 1977, that hero was Lennie Pond, a Chesterfield County racer who’d already beaten Darrell Waltrip for NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors and was about to become one of Virginia’s most beloved stock car drivers. For at least one Richmond-area race that year, and by company recollection several others as well, Pond climbed into a car carrying “RICHMOND WINDOW CORP” across the door panel. We still have the photos and the newspaper ad to prove it, and we thought it was time to tell the story.
Who Was Lennie Pond?
If you grew up around Richmond in the ’70s and ’80s, you probably didn’t need an introduction. For everyone else: Lennie Wayne Pond (August 11, 1940 – February 10, 2016) was a native of Ettrick, Virginia, who got his start racing on his parents’ farm before working his way up through modifieds, dirt tracks, and Virginia Late Model competition, where he won five state championships.
Pond moved into NASCAR’s premier series, then called Winston Cup, in 1973, and immediately made a name for himself by winning the Rookie of the Year title over a young Darrell Waltrip. Five years later, in the 1978 Talladega 500, he picked up his only career Cup win, running a then-record average speed of 174.7 mph, the fastest 500-mile race win in motorsports history at that point.
Over 17 seasons and 234 career starts, Pond racked up 39 top five and 88 top ten finishes and a best points finish of fifth in the final 1976 standings. Fittingly, his very last Cup start came in 1989 at his home track, Richmond International Raceway, where he’d already finished runner-up four times.
After hanging up his helmet, Pond stayed close to home, spending nearly three decades selling cars at Heritage Chevrolet in Chester, Virginia, the kind of second act that made him even more of a fixture in the community. He passed away in 2016 at age 75, and NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and drivers across the sport paid tribute to a man remembered as one of the nicest, most genuine competitors the garage ever had. NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison remembered him as a fair, tough competitor, someone who raced you hard, then stuck around to help you out if you needed it once the checkered flag fell.
We reached out to Randy Hallman, who has written about stock car racing for more than 50 years and was the racing beat writer for The Richmond News Leader from 1972 through 1987, meaning he covered Pond’s career, including the Richmond Window Corp. partnership, as it happened. Hallman, who has the Randy Hallman Deadline Room named in his honor at Richmond Raceway’s media center, shared this:
“Lennie Pond was, first of all, a great person to know. He was kind, had a sense of humor, and he was devoted to the sport of stock car racing. He was well liked by his competitors, beloved by fans.
Lennie was fast, extremely talented, and the consummate professional. He raced hard and fair. Lennie always gave his sponsors a great deal. His cars were designed to look good, and the designs gave his sponsors, including Richmond Window Corp., great exposure.”
— Randy Hallman, longtime Richmond Times-Dispatch motorsports columnist
The Richmond Window Corp. Connection
Here’s where our own history comes in. In 1977, Richmond Window Corp., then based at 2810 W. Cary St. in Carytown, put its name as the primary sponsor on Pond’s stock car for The Capital City 400 held on September 11, 1977 at the Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway. The car ran with the No. 54 on the doors with “RICHMOND WINDOW CORP” painted in bold letters down the side and Pond’s own signature stitched onto the sheet metal near the rear quarter panel.
It wasn’t just a paint job and a handshake, either. Richmond Window turned the partnership into a full community event. A newspaper ad from September 3, 1977, invited locals to a promotional appearance:
“Come see Lennie Pond’s car, Sat. Sept. 10th at our showroom! Get tips from ‘Lennie’ on racing, then, get valuable tips on how to save on insulating your home with our ‘exclusive’ insulating products as seen in our showroom.”
The idea was simple, bring a genuine local celebrity and his race car into the Carytown showroom, let the neighborhood meet a NASCAR driver in person, and then walk them straight into a conversation about insulated replacement windows and Reynolds “Roughwood” aluminum siding. Lennie Pond didn’t just lend his name to Richmond Window, he showed up in person and brought the crowd with him.
Richmond Raceway, Then and Now
Pond’s home track has gone through a few names over the years, and it’s worth knowing which one he actually raced at. When Pond ran there in the 1970s, the 0.5-mile oval on the old State Fairgrounds was known as Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway, it had only just been paved in 1968, a few years before Pond arrived on the NASCAR scene in 1973. It wasn’t renamed Richmond International Raceway until a major 1988 rebuild reshaped it into the 0.75-mile D-shaped oval fans know today, and it took its current name, Richmond Raceway, in a 2017 rebranding.
Through every name change, it’s remained one of NASCAR’s most storied short tracks, and one Pond knew as well as anyone, finishing runner-up there four times and running his very last Cup Series start on that track in 1989. Fittingly, 2026 marks Richmond Raceway’s 80th anniversary, since the track first opened in 1946 as part of the Atlantic Rural Exposition (now the State Fair of Virginia). Eighty years of racing history, and more than 70 years of Richmond Window Corp serving the same community.
Why We’re Telling This Story Now
Lennie Pond passed away in 2016, but his legacy, Rookie of the Year in 1973, that record-setting Talladega win in 1978, five Virginia Late Model titles, and a reputation as one of the kindest people in the garage, is still very much alive in Richmond racing lore. With NASCAR back in town, we’re proud that Richmond Window Corp. got to be part of that story, and we’re glad we still have the photos and the old newspaper ad to share it with a new generation of Richmond neighbors heading to the track.
Randy Hallman, who covered so much of Pond’s career firsthand, summed up what made him worth remembering: he considers Pond a big reason his own five-decade career covering motorsports was such a great one. Coming from someone who’s chronicled Richmond racing since 1972, that’s a fitting tribute to close on. You can read more of Hallman’s writing on Pond in his 2016 obituary for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and in this collection of remembrances from those who knew him.
This is just one piece of the larger collection PJ Sykes has been preserving from Richmond Window Corp’s archives, alongside old “Hatchet Days” giveaways, free-turkey promotions, and decades of newspaper ads from the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Richmond News Leader. If you haven’t already, take a look at the full story behind that vintage advertisement project to see more of where this photo came from.
From Richmond Window Corp to Renewal by Andersen
The products have come a long way since RUSCO storm windows and Reynolds “Roughwood” siding, but the idea behind that 1977 showroom event hasn’t changed: Richmond Window Corp., now Renewal by Andersen of Central Virginia and Roanoke, has always been about being part of this community, not just selling to it. If your windows or doors are due for an upgrade, connect with our team to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation.
Heading to Richmond Raceway for NASCAR Weekend? We’ll be cheering for the next great Richmond racing story, just like we did back in 1977.
