Racing History Minute - June 8, 1952

This post likely doesn't fit the letter of the law when it comes to STOCK CAR RacersReunion. But it IS about a race that is part of NASCAR's record- even if NASCAR itself has discarded this part of its history.

Bill France Sr. bought an open wheel series to go head-to-head with AAA's Indianapolis style cars. The series was re-branded as the NASCAR Speedway Division. Overall, I know little to nothing about it. I'd really dig reading comments and posts from more folks that DO know something about it.

From what I understand, the short-lived series ran in 1952 and briefly in 1953. The season was almost literally that. Rather than run over the course of many months, the 7-race 1952 season was in May and June 1952: spring.

On June 8, 1952, the Speedway Division cars raced for the 5th time of the 7-race season on the famed Lakewood Speedway near Atlanta.

Wally Campbell won the pole, and Al Fleming timed 2nd in a car powered by a Hudson engine. Frankie Schneider qualified third, and Bill Miller lined up fourth in a car owned by a fella recognized by many: Raymond Parks.

The field barrels through the first turn of the 100-lap race. -  Getty Images

Miller led the first 60 laps but broke an axle to end his day. South Florida's Al Keller took over from there. Keller led the final 40 laps and claimed the win. -  Getty Images

Georgian Jack Smith who became a Grand National regular in the late 1950s finished 2nd. This pic is obviously not from the Lakewood race - but you get the idea. -  Getty Images

Another driver who became a GN regular - Speedy Thompson - finished 6th in a car fielded by NASCAR regular Buddy Shuman. -  Getty Images

Another Thompson - Georgia driver Roscoe Thompson - made a "home town" appearance but finished 16th in the 17 car field. - Getty Images

Race report from the Palm Beach Post

I found this video clip summarizing a bit more about the Speedway Division.

Fin	St	Driver	Car
1	15	Al Keller	Cadillac
2	8	Jack Smith	Chrysler
3	1	Wally Campbell	Ford
4	7	Buck Baker	Cadillac
5	4	Bill Miller	Oldsmobile
6	5	Speedy Thompson	GMC
7	11	Gene Darragh	Ford
8	6	Mickey Fenn	Ford
9	10	Lyle Scott	DeSoto
10	16	Sam Waldrop	Hudson
11	3	Frankie Schneider	Ford
12	13	Jim Reed	Ford
13	2	Al Fleming	Hudson
14	17	Bob Halston	Nash
15	12	Bob Johnson	Kaiser
16	14	Roscoe Thompson	Ford
17	9	Tex Keene	Mercury

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 03/02/17 12:00:38PM

As Tim Leeming posted a couple of years ago, the GN regulars raced at Occoneechee on June 8, 1952:

http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/stock-car-racing-history/24365/racing-history-minute-june-8-1952

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 03/02/17 12:04:44PM

Chase, I can't add much, but I will do my best. As far as I can understand, the Speedway Division.

Looking at the pictures, Al Keller drove a Kurtis chassis here. Speedy appears to be in a Kuzma . Roscoe appears to have a Marchese .

The premise of the Speedway division was simple: take an AAA IndyCar chassis, take out the typical Offenhauser or Novi racing engine, and replace it with the engine of the standard American car, the same "engines" found in the GN cars.

Interestingly, Al Keller would later quit NASCAR, go to AAA (later USAC), and die racing at Phoenix whilst top-5 in the season standings.

13th place June 8, 1952 Lakewood NASCAR Speedway Division finisher and outside pole sitter, Al Fleming , was an extremely talented open wheel driver from my hometown of Richmond, Virginia. He passed in 1966 at age 59. In your first photo (I've reproduced it below) , that's Al Fleming in car #74 starting on the outside pole at Lakewood. The Hudson powered entry was owned by JB Siegfred.

When the NASCAR Speedway Division got to Charlotte Speedway on June 29, 1952, Richmond's Al Fleming put his #74 Hudson powered machine on the pole - below:

In 2001, the Indy cars returned to Richmond for the first time since the early 50s. On October 12, 1946, Al Fleming of Richmond won the 3rd heat of the first racing event (won by Ted Horn) ever staged on the brand new 1/2-mile dirt track at the Virginia State Fairground's Strawberry Hill, owned by Atlantic Rural Exposition. The red car below that was displayed before the 2001 Richmond Indy Car race is the very one Fleming drove at Richmond in 1946:

Below is a 1952 NASCAR Speedway Division photo of Richmond's Al Fleming in his #74 Hudson powered JB Siegfred car beside Bill Miller in Raymond Parks' #7 Olds powered entry:

That's Al Fleming of Richmond back in 1946 wheeling his #8 outside of Bill Holland's #3 on the same Lakewood track:

Fleming raced far and wide from his Richmond, Virginia home base. Below, that's Fleming getting ready to start his #4 from the outside pole at a 1948 AAA race in Belleville, Kansas:

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

I attended the open wheel type race in 1952 at Raleigh Speedway. They were so short of cars they had to bring an old Indianapolis car Powered by a 4 cylinder T model engine. The engine had been converted to an over head cam. That engine a beautiful sound.