1965 Virginia 500


The 1965 Virginia 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on April 25, 1965, at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia.
Fred Lorenzen, the winning driver of this race, would become the only driver to win four consecutive Martinsville races.

Background

is one of five short tracks to hold NASCAR races. The standard track at Martinsville Speedway is a four-turn short track oval that is long. The track's turns are banked at eleven degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at zero degrees. The back stretch also has a zero degree banking.
The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in NASCAR, being built in 1947 by partners H. Clay Earles, Henry Lawrence and Sam Rice per Virginia House Joint Resolution No. 76 on the death of H. Clay Earles. It is also the only race track that has been on the NASCAR circuit from its beginning in 1948. Along with this, Martinsville is the only NASCAR oval track on the entire NASCAR track circuit to have asphalt surfaces on the straightaways, then concrete to cover the turns.

Race report

The racing event took approximately three hours and forty-four minutes to completely finish. Five cautions were handed out by NASCAR officials for forty-nine laps. Fred Lorenzen beat Marvin Panch by two car lengths in front of ten thousand people. Curtis Crider retired from NASCAR after competing in this race. Most of the contenders in the race were driving Ford vehicles with the model years ranging from 1963 through 1965. Terry Murchinson had a clutch problem with his unsponsored 1964 Ford Galaxie after only two laps of racing and became the last-place finisher of the day. Jabe Thomas initially qualified in 11th position, withdrew from the event due to engine problem.
Total winnings of the race were $20,725. Each driver took home winnings between $4,350 and $250 on an individual basis. The transition to purpose-built racecars began in the early 1960s and occurred gradually over that decade. Changes made to the sport by the late 1960s brought an end to the "strictly stock" vehicles of the 1950s.
Ford ended up dominating NASCAR in 1965. This came about because Dodge discouraged their vehicles from participating in the league due to the Hemi engine being banned from competition. Petty Enterprises ended up going into drag racing until Dodge solved its issues with the people who ran NASCAR at that time. All but one of the top ten finishers drove a Ford vehicle; the sixth-place finisher drove a Dodge.
Notable crew chiefs for this race include Don Snyder, Lanty McClung, Herb Nab, and John Ervin.

Qualifying

Finishing order

Section reference:
  1. Fred Lorenzen
  2. Marvin Panch
  3. Dick Hutcherson†
  4. Tiny Lund†
  5. Buddy Arrington
  6. Elmo Langley†
  7. Paul Lewis
  8. Doug Cooper*
  9. Buren Skeen†
  10. Ned Jarrett
  11. Bob Derrington
  12. G.C. Spencer*†
  13. Henley Gray
  14. Clyde Lynn†
  15. Darel Dieringer*†
  16. Wendell Scott†
  17. Curtis Crider*
  18. Cale Yarborough
  19. Roy Tyner*†
  20. Larry Frank*†
  21. Donald Tucker
  22. Junior Johnson*
  23. Tom Pistone*
  24. Bud Harless*†
  25. Sonny Hutchins*†
  26. Bobby Johns*
  27. Gene Hobby*
  28. Buck Baker*†
  29. Larry Manning*
  30. Neil Castles*
  31. Junior Spencer*
  32. G.T. Nolen*
  33. Bill Morton*
  34. E.J. Trivette*
  35. Buddy Baker*†
  36. Terry Murchison*
† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased
* denotes that the driver did not finish the race

Timeline

Section reference: