Each year, for the past several years, thanks to a dedicated group of individuals who work very hard to preserve the history of stock car racing, a "Celebration of The Automobile" is held in Hillsborough, NC, at a track that was known as Orange Speedway. Having attended that event for the past four years, I can guarantee anyone reading this who is a fan of stock car racing that you will be thrilled to be a part of that celebration this year.
Occoneechee-Orange Speedway is a project undertaken by The Historic Speedway Group in an effort to prevent this historic venue from becoming an interstate highway exchange, a Walmart, or an apartment complex. The Historic Speedway Group has succeeded beautifully. The .9 mile dirt track is slowly be reclaimed from the dense overgrowth there when restoration efforts began. The track has long straights, one of which runs along the river bank and the other before concrete grandstands which seat quite a number of folks for the annual event held there. The two straights are connected by tight, flat turns. It is a beautiful site to behold if you have any memories of dirt track racing back in the day. If you don't have those memories, The Celebration of the Automobile will give you some to savor as the cars from yesteryear make laps during the Celebration. But, today, we are turning back the clock to an event held there on May 13, 1956, when 31 cars showed up to race for the win on a Mother's Day afternoon.
This was the era of the Carl Kiekhaefer dominance in those pristine white Chryslers. It appeared this day would be no different as Buck Baker put his number 300 on the pole with Speedy Thompson in the number 300c to his outside. Herb Thomas would start number 300b in sixth spot. The race was to be 100 laps, or 90 miles on the fast track.
The green flag went in the air and Speedyscooted his Chrysler out front with Buck hanging onto the rear bumper of the Thompson rocket. Baker would move to the inside, then the outside, trying to pass Thompson but with no success. Then, on lap 58, Baker slammed his Chrysler out front to lead the rest of the way although constantly badgered by Thompson trying to regain the lead.
On the last lap, coming off turn four, Speedy moved his car low and to the inside of Baker and almost made the pass, finishing less than a half car length behind the Charlotte, NC, charger. Lee Petty , in a Dodge, made a move coming off turn two on that last lap to get by both Speedy and Buck, but the Dodge slipped just enough to deny Lee the pass. Lee ran third, less than six car lengths behind the Chrysler duo. This was the ninth straight win for the Kiekhaefer team, a NASCAR record at the time. You may want to research the Carl Kiekhaefer race team if you're not familiar with the dominance this man had in NASCAR racing during his brief involvement in thesport.
Top five finishers were:
1. Buck Back, Kiekhaefer Chrysler, winning $ 1,100.00
2. Speedy Thompson, Kiekhaefer Chrysler, winning $700.00
3. Lee Petty, Petty Engineering Dodge, winning $475.00
4. Fireball Roberts, DePaolo Engineering Ford, winning $365.00
5. Cotton Owens, Pontiac, winning $310.00
Sixth through tenth, were Gwyn Staley, Joe Weatherly, Ralph Moody, Jimmy Massey, and Billy Myers. Herb Thomas was 11th, Rex White 13th, Emanuel Zervakis 14th, Bobby Johns 15th, Johnny Allen 18th with Dick Beatty 22nd.
Brownie King finished 22nd, Curtis Turner 26th, Jim Paschal 28th, with Bill Blair 30th.
When you go to the event put on by The Historic Speedway Group, you can sit in the stands and watch the vintage cars parade around the track, although some of the guys get into the "race mode" and make it more than a parade. Even that is a thrill to a race fan to see history come alive before your eyes. Some of the drivers listed in the finishing order, or their surviving family members actually come to the event and you can hear, first hand, the stories other relegated to the history books and the research engines on line.
Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future.
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What a change! It's been awhile since I've checked in and I'm quite surprised. It may take me awhile to figure it our but first look it's really great.
updated by @tim-leeming: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
