1959 Southern 500


The 1959 Southern 500, the 10th running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on September 7, 1959, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina.

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

It took four hours and twenty-eight minutes for the race to reach its conclusion; Jim Reed defeated Bob Burdick by more than two laps; he actually won in a 1959 Chevrolet Impala that was listed as a 1957 Chevrolet. Reed's vehicle took its third and final win at the Southern 500. The newer and faster 1959 Chevrolet vehicles lead a total of 154 laps while the older 1957 Chevrolet vehicles only lead 57 laps. Seventy-eight thousand people attended this live race.
Notable speeds for this race were: as the average speed and per hour as the pole position speed. Richard Petty would lead his first career laps from lap 93 to lap 99. The Goodyear would get its first victory since re-entering racing. Goodyear Eagle tires currently have the monopoly on all NASCAR racing series. Total winnings for this race were $51,990. Neil Castles' car had a problem early in the race, spent most of the day fixing it, and then came back out and was on track at the finish albeit 272 laps down. Events like that occurred quite frequently if the team thought they could pick up a few points.
Drivers points were unimportant in the 1950s regardless of many races the drivers ran. It wasn't until Winston came on the scene in the 1970s that the driver's championship amounted to much more than a nice trophy. Castles clearly didn't get any extra money for going back out, since he's shown as getting the same $150 as all the other drivers who failed to finish the race.
This race was the first time Coca-Cola sponsored a car, Joe Weatherly, who finished 43rd. It was also probably one of, if not the only time ever that a race track advertised its grand opening by sponsoring a car in one of NASCAR's biggest races. Atlanta International Raceway sponsored Jack Smith's car with their opening date, November 22. Interestingly, though, there weren't any races scheduled at the track until July 1960.
Joe Caspolitch's ride was owned by the city of Florence, South Carolina. The city government bought the ride from Lee Petty in order to field Caspolitch in the race. Since then, not a single branch of the American government has claimed ownership or has attempted to claim ownership of a NASCAR vehicle.
While Richard Petty and Buddy Baker got their first superspeedway action during this race in 1959, this would be the first major race in NASCAR history where a person from the Northern United States would win over a resident of the Southeastern United States. Charley Cregar, Bud Crothers, and Johnny Patterson would make their final NASCAR Cup Series appearance at this event.
Bud Crothers would qualify the race in 32nd place and would end up with a 21st-place finish after finishing 318 laps. This was the only Grand National Series race for Bill Champion; where he would finish 12th after qualifying 25th. Mario Rossi, Shorty Johns and Roy Burdick were crew chiefs in attendance for this event.
Scenes from this race were used in the 1960 film Thunder in Carolina, starring Rory Calhoun and Alan Hale, Jr.

Qualifying

Withdrew from race: Billy Cash, Junior Johnson

Finishing order

Section reference:
  1. Jim Reed
  2. Bob Burdick
  3. Bobby Johns
  4. Richard Petty
  5. Tommy Irwin
  6. Jim Paschal
  7. Fireball Roberts
  8. Larry Frank
  9. Buck Baker
  10. Jimmy Thompson
  11. Shep Langdon
  12. Bill Champion
  13. Joe Caspolitch
  14. Speedy Thompson
  15. Charlie Cregar
  16. Herman Beam
  17. Rex White
  18. L.D. Austin
  19. Cotton Owens
  20. Lee Petty
  21. Bud Crothers
  22. Al White
  23. G.C. Spencer
  24. Earl Balmer
  25. Dick Blackwell
  26. Tiny Lund
  27. Cale Yarborough
  28. Jack Smith
  29. Marvin Panch
  30. Johnny Patterson
  31. Banjo Matthews
  32. George Green
  33. Roy Tyner
  34. Bob Duell
  35. Bob Welborn
  36. Tom Pistone
  37. Neil Castles
  38. Possum Jones
  39. Lennie Page
  40. Buddy Baker
  41. Bob Perry
  42. Joe Lee Johnson
  43. Joe Weatherly
  44. Dick Joslin
  45. Elmo Langley
  46. Joe Eubanks
  47. Marvin Porter
  48. Elmo Henderson
  49. Larry Flynn
  50. Carl Burris

    Timeline

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