After finishing 3rd at Monroe County Fairgrounds in Rochester, NY on July 3rd, Lee Petty DROVE approximately 860 miles overnight from New York to Spartanburg SC. The long haul was worth it because Lee Petty won the inaugural NASCAR Grand National race at Piedmont Interstate Fairground track in Spartanburg.
Rochester's winner Herb Thomas, second place Dick Rathman, and Tim Flock also made the trek - though they flew vs. driving.
But with two races in two days separated by nearly a thousand miles, those drivers needed a bit of rest. Flock's catnap was nearly his undoing. While sleeping in the grass, a Champion Spark Plug rep charged with hanging some race day signage unknowingly backed his truck OVER TIM'S HEAD. How he wasn't killed is beyond me.
Buck Baker won the pole after having skipped the Rochester race. The rest of the starting line-up is unknown. But NASCAR claimed Baker made his qualifying run too late in the session and kicked him back to the end of the field for the start. Wait. Umm. Doesn't NASCAR provide the flagman and the official timing? And officials would have been able to tell Buck and his team how much time was left? Well, I guess that makes too sense so forget it. Back to the end of the line for you pal!
Buck recovered nicely though and finished 2nd. And after some pre-race antics by Fonty Flock perhaps brought on by the near death experience of his brother and another qualifying DQ penalty handed down to him by NASCAR, he saddled up and finished 4th.
Herb Thomas backed up his July 3rd Rochester win with a third at Spartanburg. Along with Lee, he had a pretty good 36 hours stint.
Read on for more:
http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2013/07/july-4-1953-lee-petty-hits-piedmont.html
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 07/04/18 11:49:45AM