From This Day in Motorsports:
April 12
1924
Curtis Turner ... Born ... One of NASCAR's earliest stars and among its most controversial drivers....won 17 poles and 17 races in his career, which spanned 1949 through 1968....he won the fourth Winston Cup race of its inaugural season of 1949, then won 16 more, almost all of them during the '50s....he was suspended fron competition by NASCAR president Bill France, Sr. in 1960 because he tried to organize the drivers for the Teamsters Union...was the first president of the Charlotte Motor Speedway, and needed a loan from the Teamsters in 1960 to repay creditors....when France got wind of it, he banned Turner until late in the 1965 season. During the time that he was banned from NASCAR Turner raced in the USAC stock car series....he died in a plane crash in 1970.
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1952
Buck Baker scored his first career NASCAR Grand National win, taking the 100 mile race on the 1/2 mile dirt Columbia Speedway in Columbia, South Carolina. Baker's Hudson Hornet finished 14 seconds ahead of Lee Petty in a Plymouth. Petty took the point lead from Fonty Flock, sidelined with a dislocated shoulder suffered in an April 6th Martinsville flip. Gober Sosebee filled in for Flock. On lap 25, a spectator tried to drive his car across the track and E.C. Ramsey's Ford slammed into it. The furious Ramsey climbed out of his car and beat up the drunken driver.
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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM