Norfolk, Virginia. A place with a Naval Base where I spent a lifetime once. I know it has grown so much since I was there in the sixties, but I'm wondering what it was like on August 22, 1956, when 14 drivers showed up to race 100 miles/250 laps on the .4 mile dirt track?
Ralph Moody would put his Pete DePaolo Ford on the pole with Fireball Roberts in a team car to his outside. Bill Champion would start third in a Ford, Joe Weatherly fourth in a Ford, and Rex White fifth in a Chevrolet.
Details of the race, in my source, are skimpy, but I do know that Herb Thomas had rear end problems in his Chevrolet and had to park it on lap 154, which caused him to fall 96 points behind Buck Baker in the season long battle for points. Lee Petty,who was, and remained third in the standings, crashed his Dodge but finished in 7th place in the limited field. The pole sitter, Moody, went out of the race on lap 10 with a broken idler arm but came back to finish 11th, 146 laps behind the winner.
Billy Myers, who had started his Mercury in 9th position, steadily worked his way to the front and for the second time in 1956 was a winner. Jim Paschal, in another Mercury, finished second for the seventh time in the season, giving Mercury a 1-2 sweep as the fortunes of the winged footed God of the Romans smiled on that make in Norfolk.
Top five finishers were:
1. Billy Myers, Guy Wilson Mercury, winning $850.00
2. Jim Paschal, C.U. Later Alligator Mercury, winning $625.00
3. Rex White, Chevrolet, winning $450.00
4. Buck Baker, Kiekhaefer Dodge, winning $350.00
5. Johnny Allen, A.M. Crawford Plymouth, winning $310.00
Sixth through fourteenth were Bill Champion, Lee Petty, Fireball Roberts, Joe Weatherly, Herb Thomas, Ralph Moody, Jim Watkins, Bill Rafter and Joe McGraw.
Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future
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What a change! It's been awhile since I've checked in and I'm quite surprised. It may take me awhile to figure it our but first look it's really great.
updated by @tim-leeming: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
