Racing History Minute - June 28, 1953

Wilson, North Carolina, is the home of a half-mile dirt track where the Grand National cars would race on June 28, 1953. Even though Wilson was a "good piece up the road" as my Uncle Bobby would often say, I know he always wanted to see a race there. Folks would talk about that track as if it was something special so I guess it must have been. Whatever attraction Wilson had, it brought 22 drivers there for a 100 mile/200 lap event.

My resource for information, Greg Fielden's "Forty Years of Stock Car Racing" has very little information as to lap leaders or starting positions so I don't know who was on the pole or where other competitors started. Considering the starting field, I will not venture a guess as to who was on the pole, but one would think it would come down to a contest between Fonty Flock, Herb Thomas, Tim Flock, Lee Petty or Speedy Thompson. Perhaps, and I'm betting "probably so", either TMC Chase or Dave Fulton will have newspaper clippings posted by the end of the day to fill us in.

What the record does show is that Speedy Thompson was leading the race on lap 191 when a tire blew on his Oldsmobile giving the lead to Fonty Flock. Speedy was going for his first Grand National win but lost time in the pits when his crew couldn't get the blown tire off the car. In desparatioin, Speedy returned to the track with three tires and one rim to run the remaining laps and ended up in sixth position.

Pop McGinnis caused some excitement when he got his Hudson up on the wooden guard rain to slide along the track on its driver's side. The car stopped in that position and Pop scrambled out, unhurt.

Top five finishers were:

1. Fonty Flock, Frank Christain Hudson, winning $1,000.00

2. Dick Rathman, Walt Chapman Hudson, winning $700.00**

3. Herb Thomas, FABULOUS Hudson Hornet, winning $450.00

4. Joe Eubanks, Oates Motor Company Hudson, winning $350.00

5. Buck Baker, Griffin Motor Company Oldsmobile, winning $200.00

Sixth through tenth were Speedy Thompson, Tim Flock, Fred Dove, Lee Petty, and Jimmie Lewallen. Bill Blair finished 14th, Bob Welborn 16th out of the 22 starters.

** Please note that Dick Rathmann was in his customary second finishing position for the 8th time in 18 races in the 1953 season. Reviewing the records of Dick Rathmann, he seems to be the quintessential bridesmaid over and over. I know that complex well!

One other point of interest for this date in Stock Car Racing History, but this doesn't concern NASCAR. Ernie Derr won a stock car race sanctioned by the International Motor Contest Association. What makes this fact important is that, as far as it is known and able to be confirmed, that race was the FIRST stock car race televised to a nationwide audience. NBC Calvacade of Sports televised portions of the race on its July 3rd airing for the Calvacade. So, some sixty years ago, televison got its feet wet in the sport but the ratings must not have been stellar. I think it was sometime in the 60s before ABC Wide World of Sports started airing portions of races in their Saturday afternoon time slot.

Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future

As you might expect, in-depth articles from short track races of that era are hard to come by in the day-to-day newspapers. Specialty periodicals such as National Speed Sport News or Illustrated Speedway News might have something more. But some of these races from early 1950s are tough to find much about.

But I did find a small clipping in Spartanburg's paper that is essentially a condensed version of what you posted.

Rathman was a trend setter with his extended run of second place finishes. But hey, he was from California. And they've been known to be the trend setters for the country.

Here is a photo of Fonty Flock and his Red Vogt Special / Frank Christian-owned Hudson. Per Getty Images, the picture was taken at Raleigh Speedway on May 30, 1993 - about a month before the Wilson race. Fonty won the Raleigh race as well. I'm guessing this car is the same one he raced to the win at Wilson.

Thanks, Tim. As you know, I lived in Wilson from 1970-1979. It is my wife's hometown and the birthplace of my two daughters. It was also where my dear friend and employer, Paul Sawyer once promoted races with Joe Weatherly, leasing the track from the American Legion. Paul would later install the Wilson lights, run a race with the grandstands burning down and become an honorary life member of the Wilson American Legion Post. All of those things, though, happened after the 1953 race you chronicle.

How I wish I could have seen a GN race at Wilson. I loved that old 1/2-mile dirt track. It's difficult to look at the photos of the now razed track.

Fonty Flock and Joe Weatherly posed in sombreros seem to be a popular period shot. I've seen several. Wonder if it had anything to do with the Mexican Road race - La Carrera Panamericana ? By the way, the 1953 Raleigh race won by Fonty on the 1-mile paved Raleigh Speedway paid the second largest purse of the 1953 Grand National season, surpassed only by the Southern 500.

thanks tim for this post i enjoy all of your racing minutes and this one is special because it is at my home track