1957 Southern 500


The 1957 Southern 500, the eighth running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on September 2, 1957, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina.
Herb Thomas, already a two time Southern 500 winner, arrived in Darlington in a visibly shaken state. Thomas finally gave up his ride to Fonty Flock stating that he was just too nervous to drive the race.

Background

, nicknamed by many NASCAR fans and drivers as "The Lady in Black" or "The Track Too Tough to Tame" and advertised as a "NASCAR Tradition", is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that will be effective at both ends.
The track is a four-turn oval. The track's first two turns are banked at twenty-five degrees, while the final two turns are banked two degrees lower at twenty-three degrees. The front stretch and the back stretch is banked at six degrees. Darlington Raceway can seat up to 60,000 people.
Darlington has something of a legendary quality among drivers and older fans; this is probably due to its long track length relative to other NASCAR speedways of its era and hence the first venue where many of them became cognizant of the truly high speeds that stock cars could achieve on a long track. The track allegedly earned the moniker The Lady in Black because the night before the race the track maintenance crew would cover the entire track with fresh asphalt sealant, in the early years of the speedway, thus making the racing surface dark black. Darlington is also known as "The Track Too Tough to Tame" because drivers can run lap after lap without a problem and then bounce off of the wall the following lap. Racers will frequently explain that they have to race the racetrack, not their competition. Drivers hitting the wall are considered to have received their "Darlington Stripe" thanks to the missing paint on the right side of the car.

Race report

The event took five hours and one second to complete on a paved oval track spanning for a distance of. Seventy-five thousand fans attended. Billy Carden qualified for this event in 45th place and finished in 6th place. The most notable crew chiefs for this race were Jess Potter, Bud Moore, Shorty Johns and Ray Fox.
Speedy Thompson defeated Cotton Owens by three laps at an average speed of. Thompson drove the iconic 1957 Chevrolet during that race; that vehicle went on to win the 1958 and the 1959 runnings of the Southern 500. Owens won the pole position with a speed of during qualifying. Speedy Thompson would record his only Southern 500 victory here even though he would win on other paved superspeedways.
T.A. Toomes received the last-place finish due to a problem with his brakes on lap 3 out of 364. Runt Harris returned to NASCAR after a 7-year absence, driving his way to a 39th-place finish after his vehicle developed problems with its clutch. Former Cup series race winner Bill Blair made his only start of the 1957 NASCAR Grand National Series season; finishing in 38th place after inflicting terminal damage to his vehicle.
Brownie King was 59 laps down; he started in 31st and managed to improve his position to 21st place. However, he was unable to properly compete for a win or even a finish in the top-15.
Bobby Myers lost his life as a result of a race-related crash; Fonty Flock and Paul Goldsmith were also involved in this accident.
George Parrish made a notable appearance in this race using a 1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk; he witnessed the fatal crash of Bobby Myers at close range. Parrish retired after the 1958 NASCAR Cup Series season.
As a rookie, Cale Yarborough made his NASCAR debut here and finished in 42nd place. Fonty Flock retired after this race.

Qualifying

Failed to qualify: Eddie Skinner, Ted Chamberlain, Joe Eubanks, Fred Knapp, Duke DeBrizzi, Dave Terrell, Larry Frank, Bill Widenhouse, Arden Mounts, Bob Whitmire, Barney Smith, Jim Linke

Finishing order

Section reference:
  1. Speedy Thompson
  2. Cotton Owens
  3. Marvin Panch
  4. Jim Reed
  5. Buck Baker
  6. Billy Carden
  7. Billy Myers
  8. Johnny Mackinson
  9. Possum Jones
  10. Jack Smith
  11. Curtis Turner
  12. Johnny Allen
  13. Dick Beaty
  14. Jimmie Lewallen
  15. Eddie Pagan
  16. Bobby Johns
  17. Jimmy Thompson
  18. Nace Mattingly
  19. L.D. Austin
  20. Tiny Lund
  21. Brownie King
  22. Bobby Keck
  23. Roy Tyner
  24. Lee Petty
  25. George Parrish
  26. Marvin Potter
  27. Whitey Norman
  28. Rex White
  29. Bob Duell
  30. Peck Peckham
  31. Bill Champion
  32. Bill Amick
  33. Fireball Roberts
  34. Parnelli Jones
  35. Jim Paschal
  36. Shorty York
  37. Joe Caspolitch
  38. Bill Blair
  39. Runt Harris
  40. Joe Weatherly
  41. Banjo Matthews
  42. Cale Yarborough
  43. Bobby Myers
  44. Paul Goldsmith
  45. Chuck Hansen
  46. Gwyn Staley
  47. Frankie Schneider
  48. Fonty Flock
  49. Neil Castles
  50. T.A. Toomes

    Timeline

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