One of the early posts in the series was about the NASCAR convertible division which ran its last race at Darlington in 1962. It was to that post that Jim Streeter responded with something like “with all this talk about convertibles, why not the NASCAR Speedway Division?” Seems that Jim has some very special memories of races in that division whereas I was almost helpless in trying to find any information. I did remember my Uncle Bobby had once told me that the “Indy Cars” raced at Darlington a long time ago, so I knew at least that much, but, like my Uncle Bobby, I was into STOCK cars. Cars that looked like the ones on the street. I was clueless as where to get information about the series because, as Jim Streeter pointed out, if you use Internet Search Engines, not much comes up at all. Enter RacersReunion member Laverne Zachary who is connected with the Occonneechee Speedway event, The Celebration of the Automobile. Laverne says “look in the back of Greg Fielden's book on the convertible division and you’ll find something”. I rely on Greg’s books for much of the History Minutes and have all of his books except “High Speed at Low Tide”. Don’t know how I missed that one. Sure enough, just as Laverne said, there is a Greg Fielden's synopsis of the Speedway Division in the “Rumbling Ragtops”. The following information is taken from, and greatly abbreviated, Greg Fielden's book.
When NASCAR started in 1948, there was one division, the modified division which consisted of the pre-World War II coupes, although I clearly remember watching some four-door “coaches” as they were called, race in the early days at Columbia Speedway. The modified division is still around although greatly removed from those early days.
Then, in 1949, NASCAR formed the “Strictly Stock” Division which ran its first event in Charlotte in June of 1949. As they say, the rest is history. Strictly Stock evolved into what is now the “Premier” series known as the “Cup” Series. 1950 saw the Sportsman Division start up which was really nothing more than cars looking like the modifieds but with less expensive engines. 1951 saw the establishment of the Short Track Division which consisted of Grand National Cars competing on tracks shorter than a half mile for a different points championship. It is my guess that this evolved into the Late Model Sportsman and the Limited Sportsman Divisions which became the backbone of local short track racing through the late fifties and sixties. Big Bill was on a roll with all his racing innovations.
On November 10, 1951, NASCAR announced that a new division was forthcoming for the 1952 season which promised the drivers a lucrative outlet “for further speed experimentation in the new Speedway Division”. The rules mainly called for American made engine blocks installed in one or two seat Indy style race cars. The first event was to be held February 3 – 10, 1952 during the third annual NASCAR Speedweeks. The “event” was to be timed runs on the beach, with an average speed for the north run then the return south run on the beach. Prize consisted of $1,000.00 for fastest in each class plus an “elaborate trophy”.
As Greg Fielden states in his book, initial interest in the new division was extremely high and it became the most talked about subject in motor racing at the time. The new series was dubbed “The Southern Bred Indy Car Tour”. Only eleven cars showed up for that February Speedweek, but the ever clever Big Bill France has already anticipated such a possibility so his “official” statement was that the Speedweek Event was merely a preview of what was to come. In that event, Buck Baker’s Cadillac powered vehicle averaged 140.41 mph on his run and Fireball Roberts was second fastest at 131.48 in a Ford.
Very soon after the Beach Speed Fest, Harold Brasington, builder of Darlington Raceway, announced he was scheduling a 200 mile race on the mile and a quarter asphalt track in the peanut land of South Carolina. Remember that Harold had attended the Indy 500 a couple years prior and that is where he got the idea to build the Darlington track. He was eagerly anticipating having the Speedway Division run on his track. Harold had already run two full blown Indy car events on his track, on in 1950 won by Johnny Parsons and in 1951 won by Walt Faulkner and both events were financial disasters for Brasington. But he did love the Indy cars.
So, Big Bill and Harold went together for the race but when only 21 cars turned out for the Speedway event, a hastily scheduled 100 mile Grand National Event was added to the program so the fans could at least have some racing excitement that day. Dick Rathman won the Grand National prelude to the Speedway event.
Buck Baker was favored to win the pole for the Darlington event, but a spin in practice messed up his car. Speedy Thompson won the pole with a speed just over 100 mph. The fastest qualifier, however, was Tom Cherry at 102.464 mph. Buck Baker ran the entire 200 miles without a pit stop and won the event by three laps. The race was very competitive as Buck and Speedy Thompson raced side-by-side and wheel-to-wheel for 25 laps. Baker’s winning average speed was 95.100 mph. The 1952 season ended with only 7 races having been run and very little interest in the events by fans who were more attuned to watching the stock cars race. Regardless, Big Bill elected to go with a 1953 Season and decided to schedule the Speedway events in tandem with Sportsman cars.
Here is where the historical records get very limited and questionable. It is reported that there were two races actually run in the Speedway Division in 1953. The race at Fayetteville, NC was run on June 28th and was won by Pete Allen of Dayton, Ohio. The only other race for which I can find any information in 1953 was in Martinsville, Virginia and was won by Wayne Alspaugh from Indiana. The information in Fielden's records flatly state that the interest in that division simply did not exist and the two race 1953 season was the end of the run for the Speedway Division. Big Bill tried, but even his ability to sell almost anything race related to almost any boy, simply did not work this time. NASCAR’s Speedway Division was a complete and utter failure so it is no surprise that NASCAR doesn’t recognize the effort of those who competed. Jim Streeter has said he has wonderful memories of watching the Speedway cars run but I doubt that anyone in the France family would admit to knowing what a Speedway Car was.
Just for information, Greg Fielden records the seven events of the 1952 season. I’m not going into all of it, but I think it’s historically important to give you the race and the winner of those events as follows:
May 10, 1952, Darlington, SC, 200 miles won by Buck Baker
May 25, 1952, Martinsville, VA (dirt track) 100 miles won by Tex Keene
May 30, 1952, Rochester, NY, ½ mile dirt track 100 miles won by Wally Campbell
June 1, 1952, Charlotte, NC ¾ mile dirt track, 101.25 miles won by Wally Campbell
June 8, 1952, Atlanta, Ga, Lakewood Speedway, 1 mile dirt, 100 miles, won by Al Keller
June 15, 1952, Heidelberg, PA, ½ mile dirt track, 100 miles won by Tom Cherry
June 29, 1952, Langhorne, PA, 1 mile dirt track, 100 miles won by Tom Cherry
Buck Baker was declared the National Champion for the Speedway Division for his consistent finishes. Pete Allen was declared the National Champion for the Division after the two races of the 1953 season. That was the end of the adventure of the Southern Bred Indy Cars. Big Bill had laid a huge size egg with this experiment but he was quick to blame the steel strike in the country and the incredibly hot summer weather in 1953 (prior to global warming) for the inability to get fans interested in the series. Regardless of how Big Bill failed in this endeavor, NASCAR fans can be thankful that Bill remained loyal to the Stock Cars and the Strickly Stock Division which progressed into the Grand National Division and now the Cup Series. There is the story about Big Bill going to the Indy 500 once and being escorted off the property as he was not welcomed there so those type cars just simply did not suit Big Bill.
Reading the accounts of the Speedway events in Fielden's books, even with my ability to visualize races almost anywhere, leave much to desire for excitement. Other than the Darlington event and the 25 lap wheel to wheel duel between Baker and Thompson, most races seemed to lack excitement. In spite of the fields being spiced up with some well known stock car drivers, fans just weren't getting into the open wheel cars. Some of those in the Speedway Series you’ll recognize as our stock car pioneers, were Buck Baker, Speedy Thompson, Jim Reed, Jack Smith, Jimmy Thompson, Rick Rathman, and Al Keller.
I understand, not only from Jim Streeter's recollection, but also from another long time race fan I spoke with, that some of the Speedway cars were around until sometime in 1957 or 1958 and some track owners would schedule special races for them to compete WITHOUT NASCAR sanction. Perhaps it is one of those races staged in Raleigh, NC, that got this entire discussion started.
That’s it for this week! No controversial opinions, no current events, nothing but history here. Thanks to Jim Streeter from bringing up the issue and to Laverne Zachary for telling me where to find the information. A little “tag line” used in the Racing History Minute is: “Honor the past, embrace the present and dream for the future”. I hope this Legendtorial honored the past in the way it was intended.
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