The 1955 LeHi 300 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on October 9, 1955, at Memphis-Arkansas Speedway in LeHi, Arkansas. The race car drivers still had to commute to the races using the same stock cars that competed in a typical weekend's race through a policy of homologation. This policy was in effect until roughly 1975. By 1980, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power any more.
Background
The Memphis-Arkansas Speedway was a dirtoval track located just west of West Memphis, Arkansas, United States, in the community of LeHi. This speedway had a total distance spanning. Its elevation is 200 feet above sea level and all races used the Central Time Zone. While the track opened on October 7, 1954, it soon ran out of money. Paving the track cost $100,000 and the dirt surface was unmanageable after a certain number of years. As a result, the track was closed permanently in 1957 when it was sold to a local farmer named Clayton Eubanks Sr., who used the abandoned race track for catfish, rice, and soybeans for a number of years. The proposed Interstate highway that was being built near the abandoned rack track was not finished in time to save it.
Race report
The 200-lap race took three hours and thirty-four minutes to complete in front of 8500 live spectators. Speedy Thompson defeated Marvin Panch by ¾ of a single lap. Ford would win their first race as a manufacturer since 1950. Fonty Flock earned the pole position with a speed of while the winner of the race achieved a speed of. Jim Reed was disqualified for using non-stock cylinder heads, and was considered a repeat violation according to NASCAR. The in-race disqualification resulted in Reed given the last-place finish on lap 8. All of the 41 drivers on the racing grid were Caucasian American-born males. This was the 40th racing event out of the 45 done in the 1955 NASCAR Grand National Series season. The total amount of prize winnings that could have been earned from this racing event was $9,120. Smokey Yunick and Carl Kiekhaefer were the two notable crew chiefs that participated in the event. Tiny Lund would make his career start during this event and would make $60 for his troubles. Other drivers making their NASCAR Cup Series debut in this race included Johnny Allen, Bill Morton, Jim Murray, Norm Nelson, and Chuck Stevenson. A lot of drivers would make their grand exits from NASCAR after this race: this relatively long list included Floyd Curtis, Hooker Hood, Roscoe Rann and Leland Sewell. One-time race car drivers Bob Coleman, Al Hager, and Gene Rose would make their only NASCAR appearances during this race. Even during the 1950s, it was unusual to see four cars fail to finish the race due to problems with the vapor lock. It occurs when the liquidfuel changes state from liquid to gas while still in the fuel delivery system. This disrupts the operation of the fuel pump, causing loss of feed pressure to the carburetor, resulting in transient loss of power or complete stalling. Restarting the engine from this state may be difficult. The fuel can vaporize due to being heated by the engine, by the local climate or due to a lower boiling point at high altitude.
Qualifying
Top 10 finishers
Timeline
Section reference:
Start of race: Tim Flock started the race with the pole position.
Lap 3: A piston located inside Ted Cannady's vehicle stopped working properly.
Lap 5: Radiator issues forced Fonty Flock into the sidelines for the remainder of the race.
Lap 8: Jim Reed was disqualified from the race.
Lap 10: The radiator on Floyd Curtis' vehicle no longer worked properly.
Lap 13: The gasket on Eddie Skinner's vehicle fell off.
Lap 19: The vapor lock on Curtis Turner's vehicle acted in an unusual manner.
Lap 22: Russ Graham's vehicle overheated; Bill Widenhouse's radiator started acting strangely.
