Racing History Minute - July 12, 1953

I know there are at least some of you reading this today who thought I would be using July 12, 1958, as the History Minute because this is the date that King Richard Petty began his career in a convertible race at The Columbia Speedway. I've told the story a million times of how I met him that first race (I was 11years old) and immediately became a fan. My Uncle Bobby, who got me into racing, took me to that race because he didn't know his favorite, Lee Petty, was not racing that night. I picked Richard as my new favorite (I had been, and continued to be, a Lee Petty fan) mainly because he was young, new, and I would finally have someone of my own to pull for rather than just mirror my Uncle Bobby's preference.

My Uncle Bobby turned 80 on June 14th. I spent the afternoon with him on Tuesday of this week and while he is in poor physical health, his mental state is superb. He has the clearest memory of that race, along with hundreds of others. We were talking about that July 12th night in 1958, and he reminded me I never shut my mouth all the way home about Richard Petty and that race. You can find the facts about that race many, many places but I'll tell you he started 13th, finished 6th out of 25 starters, although he was five laps down.

RacersReunion member, and fellow racing history lover, TMC Chase, blogged about the first Richard Petty event on this date last year. You can find his blogs here on the site. Chase covers the event in detail and is a renowned Richard Petty fan and historian. Check out his blog posts.

Now, for our History Minute for today, we will travel to Atlanta, GA to a ONE mile dirt track known as Lakewood Speedway. RacersReunion member, Cody Dinsmore, can give you every historic detail you ever want to know about Lakewood, but for today, we are going to the 100 mile race held there on this date 55 years ago.

Only 17 cars showed up for the event and it was Herb Thomas putting that FABULOUS Hudson Hornet on the pole at a speed of 72.765 mph. Buck Baker would start his Griffin Motor Company Oldsmobile in second place.

At the drop of the green, it was Baker moving into the lead with Herb Thomas in hot pursuit. However, no one could do anything with the swift Olds of Baker as he led the first 84 circuits before a crowd of over 12,000 fans. On lap 85, Herb Thomas moved the Hudson into the lead as Baker encountered tire problems surely caused by the rapid pace he was setting. Thomas would lead the final 15 laps to win for the seventh time in the 22 races thus far in the 1953 season. Thomas left the event with a 284 point lead over Dick Rathmann in the National Championship race.

Hudsons would take four of the top five finishing positions with only Lee Petty's Dodge in third, breaking the Hornet lock on the race.

Top five finishers were:

1. Herb Thomas, FABULOUS Hudson Hornet, winning $1,000.00

2. Dick Rathmann, Walt Chapman Hudson, winning $700.00

3. Lee Petty, Petty Engineering Dodge, winning $450.00

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

5. Jerry Wimbish, Hudson, winning $200.00

Remaining finishers, in order, were Gober Sosebee, Buck Baker, Neil Robert, C.H. Dingler, Gordon Brackman, Nero Steptoe, Fonty Flock, Jim Paschal, Curtis Turner, Rosceo Thompson, Max King, and Jimmy Ayers.

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

Thanks Tim for the mention of last year's post about the King's 1st career start. As a re-run, here is the link to my blog post about what turned out to be an historical moment for Petty racing:

http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2012/07/july-12-this-day-in-petty-history-part_12.html

VERY brief race report from Spartanburg Herald Journal . The paper's headline for the article focused on the local angle vs. the race winner.

Kudos to your dear Uncle Bobby for introducing you to stock car racing and nurturing that education, Tim. May his health improve.

An Uncle Bobby Bump