The Martinsville grandfather clock trophy is pure NASCAR poetry, born in 1964 when Fred Lorenzen lapped the field for 980 of 1,000 laps across two races. Track founder H. Clay Earles wanted a prize with soul, something a winner would park in the living room and brag about for decades, not stash in a closet. It worked. The towering, chime-ringing clocks became the Paperclip’s signature, a tradition drivers chase like a championship ring.

This year, the chime almost flatlined. Howard Miller Clock Company, owner of the Ridgeway brand that crafted the trophies, announced a shutdown, blaming tariffs, costs, and supply-chain headaches. The news hit the garage like a late-race wreck. What now for the clock? No way the sport lets its most iconic hardware fade to black.

Hermle Clocks the save as

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