Race number 18 of the 1954 season was the very first road course race run by NASCAR's Grand National Division (now Cup). The race was staged on a 2 mile asphalt track which consisted of the runways at the Linden Airport in Linden, NJ.

Forty-three cars showed up to compete and 21 of those were "foreign" cars, making only the second time in NASCAR's 7 and a half year existance for Grand National cars that non-American made production cars were allowed. The foreign makes included Jaguar, Austin Healy, MG, Porshe and a Morgan.

Buck Baker put his heavy Oldsmobile 88 on the pole and led the first 10 laps before Herb Thomas in Smokey Yunick's Hudson slipped around to lead the next two circuits. Buck went back in front on lap13, but Herb Thomas bested him again for the lead a lap later. On lap 23, Al Keller, driving a Jaguar, drove the lighter machine into the lead he would hold the rest of the way to give Jaguar a win in the event.

Immediately after the race, Keller announced that he would no longer compete in NASCAR events as he was hoping to join the AAA Championship circuit which he hoped would give him a shot at the Indy 500. Ironically, Al was the third Grand National winner to abandon NASCAR in 1954 as Fonty and Tim Flock had already bolted from the NASCAR ranks.

The average speed for the 100 mile race was 77.569 mph even with four caution flags thrown during the event.

It seems strange now to have Toyota in NASCAR and many believing that is the first non-American manufacturer brand to compete and now find that many foreign makes were in this event in 1954. In fact, Jaguar took the win as well as FOUR of the top six positions. I would suspect the Jags were much better at handling a road course in those days than were the heavier American cars.

Top five finishers were:

1. Al Keller, Paul Whiteman Jaguar, winning $1,000.00

2. Joe Eubanks, Oats Motor Company Hudson, winning $650.00

3. Buck Baker, Ernest Woods Oldsmobile, winning $500.00

4. Bob Grossman, Jaguar, winning $400.00

5. Harry LaVois, Jaguar, winning $275.00

Sixth through tenth were Bill Claren in a Jaguar, Herb Thomas in a Hudson and Dick Rathman in a Hudson, Laird Bruner in an Oldsmobile and Lee Petty in a Dodge. Jack Smith was 23rd, Hershel McGriff 30th in a Jaguar, with Jim Reed 40th. Frankly, the remainder of the field are drivers mostly unknown to me although I do recognize a few of the names. Most of the field, apparently, and this is just my guess, were not destined to become NASCAR regulars.

Regardless of the outcome, it was NASCAR's first foray into road course racing and it appears it was moderately successful. We all know what exciting shows are staged at Sonoma and Watkins Glen with the Cup cars in the present day. Again, we have the pioneers of the sport to thank for all the contributions made to the development of the sport, such as this race on airport runways all those years ago.

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

P.S. This History Minute added early due to appointments I have tomorrow. Hope you all enjoy.

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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.

Some photos from the 1954 Linden race...

Al Keller and his winning Jaguar.

The pace car.

The starting line-up including the big sedans in one column (including Lee Petty) and the sporty ones in another.

The sporty ones at speed - including a convertible!

How's this for a disparity in the size of the cars raced? Dave Terrell in his bulky #126 Dodge races #27 Phillips Bell in a Jaguar. (Or it may be a 2nd #7 - also designated 7-A - of Harry LaVois who also raced a Jaguar.)

And The Winner!

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.

A road race with a light sports car like that against big, heavy land yachts. It's a surprise anyone else even led any laps lol.

Awesome pics, thanks for sharing.

Found this 2006 article on Autoweek .

Al and Goliath - NASCARs first brush with imports

Toyota's announcement of its 2007 entry into NASCARs Nextel Cup moved numberless trivia experts to note Toyota would not be the first overseas nameplate to run with the good ol boys. There have been at least eight interlopers, with Jaguar leading the pack.

Defining Jaguars NASCAR effort requires pawing through records a half-century old and only marginally more dependable than Enrons or WorldComs. Yet there is sufficient information on driver Al Keller, an East Coast road racer, and other NASCAR moments to make some fascinating footnotes.

On June 13, 1954, racing at the Linden Airport in New Jersey, a 43-car field produced three NASCAR milestones. One, it was NASCARs first road race. Two, Kellers win in the No. 4 Jaguar XK120 fixed-head coupe remains the only import win in NASCARs major seriesthen called Grand National. Three, because Keller had won on an oval in March at Oglethorpe Speedway in Savannah, Georgia, he became the first NASCAR pilot to win on both a road course and an oval in a single season.

A fourth milestone might have occurred. Because sports car luminary Bob Grossman drove, it might have been the first appearance of Gucci loafers at a NASCAR event. Experts opinions are divided on this.

Twenty-one import makes started at Linden, including Jaguar (13), MG (five), Austin-Healey (one), Morgan (one) and Porsche (one). Four Jaguars finished in the top-10 and five finished in the bottom-10. The Morgan finished 41st (in case youre wondering).

Born in Alexander, New York, in 1920, Keller was a postwar USAC midget and champ car driver usually described as a journeyman. From 1955 to 1961 he competed in six Indianapolis 500s, finishing two of them, and in more than two dozen other major AAA and USAC events.

Keller ran almost as many NASCAR races, successfully transitioning from USAC ovals to NASCAR ovals and from oval racing to road racing. In addition to his Linden win, Keller turned in two other noteworthy Grand National performances in 1954. As noted, he won at Oglethorpe Speedway, and he took the pole at Charlotte Speedwaynot the superspeedway but the three-quarter-mile dirt oval where NASCAR sanctioned its first event ever.

Keller went head to head with NASCARs hot dogs during the 1954 season. Buck Baker won the pole at Linden and finished third, with Hershel McGriff and Lee Petty in the field. Herb Thomas took the pole at Savannah, and Baker won at Charlotte after qualifying second behind Keller.

Keller raced in 29 Grand National races from 1949 to 1956, winning two, logging seven top-five and a dozen top-10 finishes, and taking one pole. In 1954, the only year in which Keller ran more than four Grand National races, he won two of 13 races, had six top-five and 12 top-10 finishes and won his one pole. As Marlon Brando might have put it, Kella coulda been a contenda.

NASCARs effort to reach out to the international community ended in 1958 at the Riverside Grand National race, where a pair of Citrons, a Renault and a Goliath competed. The Citrons finished 18th and 19th, and the Goliath finished 27th. The Renault posted a DNF. The Goliath, still running at the finish, might have been the last import to cross a NASCAR top-series finish line before Toyota does so next year.

And what of Al Keller? After years of seat hunting Keller got a full-season ride in the Konstant Hot Phillips-Offy for 1961. He opened the season with a fifth- place at the Indianapolis 500, notched four top-five finishes and won two poles, the second at the November race in Phoenix. There, 40 laps into the race, he wrecked in Turn Four and was killed.

Thanks to Toyota, the memory of Al Kellers Jaguar winand Goliaths lone appearancewill endure.

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.

Race report from Palm Beach Post .

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.

Thanks, Tim. There were, of course, furrin cars in NASCAR before the recent Toyota invasion.

When I attended my first NASCAR GT (later the Grand American division) race on the half-mile Richmond Fairgrounds dirt track on June 19, 1968, Jack Ryan finished 5th in a 1967 Porsche 911, running against the Mustangs, Camaros, Cougars, Barracudas and Dodge Darts.

But the car the crowd fell in love with was a tiny, little Austin-Cooper that would hug the dirt corners, never sliding, and pass every car in the turn. On the straights, the poor fellow was blown away. Wish I could remember who drove that car.

RR member, Dennis Andrews (son of Grand American driver, Wayne Andrews), our resident NASCAR Grand American expert explained what I saw in a post on the Grand American Fans page. When the NASCAR GT Division started in 1968, there were two groups of cars, kinda like an old NASCAR Modified-Sportsman race. The under two liter class included the Porsche, Austin-Cooper and Alfa-Romeo. watching an Austin-Cooper on the dirt against V-8 Detroit Iron was a hoot!

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

I'm guessing that the Austin-Cooper I saw at Richmond was probably driven by Larry Newton of Norfolk, Virginia. Two and 1/2 months later, Larry and his Austin Cooper showed up at Darlington for the August 31, 1968 NASCAR GT race and instantly became a sensation, referred to as the "mini-car" according to the clip below in the Charleston (SC) News & Courier. Unfortunately for Larry, he only completed 1 lap in the race and finished last in the 25-car field as posted in the results at Ultimate Racing History.

Darlington 250

NASCAR Grand Touring race
Darlington Raceway, Darlington, SC
August 31, 1968
182 laps on 1.375 mile paved oval; 250.25 miles

Fin St Driver # Owner Car Laps Money Status Laps Led
1 1 Tiny Lund 16 Bud Moore 1968 Mercury Cougar 182 3,500 running 175
2 8 Bobby Allison 9 1968 Chevrolet Camaro 177 2,050 running 6
3 23 Billy Yuma 08 1968 Chevrolet Camaro 174 1,475 running 0
4 3 Harold Dunaway 22 1968 Chevrolet Camaro 174 running 0
5 7 Paul Goldsmith 13 Smokey Yunick 1968 Chevrolet Camaro 172 1
6 25 John Sears 4 1966 Dodge Dart 171 0
11 2 Buck Baker 87 1968 Chevrolet Camaro 98 engine 0
14 21 T.C. Hunt 88 1968 Chevrolet Camaro driveshaft 0
25 17 Larry Newton 63 1967 Austin Cooper 1 0
6 Curtis Turner 33 1968 AMC Javelin 79 engine 0
4 C.B. Gwyn 04 1968 Mercury Cougar 0
5 Bob Tarrozzi 93 Dodge Dart accident 0
9 Bud Moore 1 1968 Chevrolet Camaro 0
10 Terry Warner 23 1968 Chevrolet Camaro 0
11 Jack Ryan 36 1967 Porsche accident 0
12 Peter Gregg 59 1968 Porsche 0
13 Walter Novak 39 1968 Chevrolet Camaro 0
14 Bunkie Blackburn 11 1968 Chevrolet Camaro 0
15 Roy Tyner 5 1968 Chevrolet Camaro 0
16 Jim Vaughan 7 1968 Chevrolet Camaro 0
18 Earle Canavan 31 1968 AMC Javelin 0
19 Al Straub 74 1968 Ford Mustang 0
20 Jim Hall 48 1968 Dodge Dart 0
22 Ernie Shaw 17 1968 Ford Mustang 0
24 Jim Vandiver 3 1968 Chevrolet Camaro 0

Notes: 7 of 25 starters running at finish.
Time of race: 02:00:48
Average Speed: 124.296 MPH
Pole Speed: 35.99 seconds
Race Purse: $ 20,000
Attendance: 8,000

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

From the Charleston paper:

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

Approximately eleven months after Al Keller's NASCAR Grand National win, he was one of many drivers involved in the horrific accident at the 1955 Indianapolis 500 that claimed the life of 2-time winner and race leader Bill Vukovich.

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.

Bowman-Gray had a Grand National race for several years that featured foreign cars called the International 200. The last one was 1963 or 1964. I think it was their gimmick because I find no record of foreign cars in other races. The race was seemingly open to any foreign cars that wanted to enter, up to and including Volkswagen. Granted, horsepower isn't a big help on a 1/4 mile track, but it's hard to picture a Beetle competing against the Hemi.That photo of the #126 Dodge and the #27 is either from another race or Racing Reference is incorrect. That's an Austin-Healey, not a Jaguar. The #72 convertible MG shown racing Keller's Jaguar is also not listed on in Racing Reference. The photo clearly shows a Linden Airport banner, so we're in the right place. Every photo I've seen of the winning Jaguar shows that paint scheme, so I think it's the right race and the right car.Those Hudsons must have been some kind of race car because Eubank's 2nd place car was on the same lap and there were two more in the top ten only a lap down. The Jaguar was running at least 170 horsepower and good race tires would have been available for it, although probably narrower than the American cars. Even on a two mile course, I wouldn't have expected the American cars to keep up after fifty laps.