Columbia Speedway had a reputation for being one of the toughest tracks on the circuit back in those days. Doing well here made a statement about ones driving abilities. The best came here to race on a regular basis and those wanting to hone their skills could find no better venue. This night brought a young Richard Petty to competition for the first time. He had waited for the opportunity and the permission from his father, Lee who was a force to be reckoned with in those days. Lee had already won the Grand National Championship in 1954, and would go on to win his second this year (1958) and his third in 1959. Richard Petty knew he wanted to follow in Lee’s footsteps, he couldn’t have known what would begin this night.
The well-known and flashy, Fireball Roberts, started on the pole in the #22 Frank Strickland ’57 Chevrolet. Alongside Roberts was another well-known hot shoe, Bob Welborn, in a J.H. Petty prepared ’57 Chevrolet. The rest of the starting field of 25 was Larry Frank, Ken Rush, Gober, Solesbee, Possum Jones, Benny Rakestraw, Glen Wood, Gene White, Roy Tyner, Wilbur Rakestraw, Fred Harb, Richard Petty, George Dunn, Brownie King, Clarence DeZaila, Johnny Gardner, John Hamby, Bobby Lee, Neil Castle, Shep Langdon, Bill Poor, Johnny Allen, Doug Cox, and Don Pettyman.
I’m sure Richard felt pretty good about his 13th starting position in his first time out in his 1957 Oldsmobile. He had qualified ahead of some veteran drivers. Columbia Speedway was considered a fast dirt track for that era. Average qualifying lap speeds normally were in the 64 to 66 mph range and on this night Fireball turned it at 65.029 mph. The 2 hour race lasted 1:52:20 and the average race speed was 53.412 mph.
Bob Welborn came home the winner with Fireball Roberts in 2nd and Larry Frank in 3rd. Only those top three completed all 200 laps. Richard Petty finished a very respectable 6th place only 5 laps down from the winner, which was pretty impressive considering that Ken Rush, after qualifying 4th finished in 10th place and was 9 laps down.
With all the great racing action the fans saw at Columbia Speedway, I’m sure some may not have given much thought to the first outing of champion, Lee’s son. But some did take notice. One in particular decided that very night, this would be the driver he would pull for. He even asked for and received the first ever (to become very famous) Richard Petty autograph. Of the many fine things to be said about my friend, Tim Leeming, he knew how to pick a winner. If only he could find the autograph. He did manage, however, to get (on video) confirmation from The King that he was in fact the first recipient of his autograph. I suppose that’s worth something.
Richard received his first win at this same race track just over a year later on July 18, 1959 in another Convertible Series race. On that night he was driving a 1959 Plymouth. The rest, as they say… is history!
Source- http://racing-reference.info
