It should be a safe assumption that all of you reading this History Minute have, at the very least, a passing knowledge of how and why Darlington Raceway came about. If not, there are two posts here on the Forum outlining the construction and history of the track. Also, there is a brief history of Harold Brasington, the man with the dream and desire to have a major race track for stock cars. So much so was Harold Brasington involved with Darlington that most of the actual construction work was the tractors or whatever it took, he got the job done. He also worked with NASCAR and the Central States Racing Association (CSRA) to get a race sanctioned on his new track.
Harold had attended the Indy 500 in 1949 and was convinced stock cars could race 500 miles as well, if they had a track on which do to it. So, he set about building that track. When completed, it was 1.25 miles around with high banked turns in one and two and slightly flatter turns in three and four. He set his first race for Labor Day, 1950. Sam Nunis had planned to run a 500 mile race on Lakewood Speedway, a dirt track near Atlanta, but when Brasington got Darlington completed, Big Bill France believed the asphalt track would be the way to go.
Not at all certain that stock cars could race at speed for 500 miles, Big Bill suggested to Brasington that he increase the size of the field from 30 as Brasington initally planned, to 75 with the hopes some may finish. Most of the talk around the Southeast in the days leading up to the first of 15 days of qualifying was mostly in agreement that it was unlikely many cars could stand the pace of racing 500 miles on asphalt at the speeds they would be making. Nevertheless, the race was set and 15 days prior, the qualifying got underway.
When qualifying was over, Curtis Turner had an Oldsmobile on the pole with a four lap average speed of 82.034 mph. Middle of the front row (they started three abreast as did Indy) was Jimmy Thompson in a Lincoln with Gober Sosebee in an Oldsmobile on the outside. The second row was made up of Bob Flock, Lee Morgan and Virgil Livengood, all in Oldsmobiles. Dorothy Shull of West Columbia attempted to qualify on the last day but spun her car three different times in turn two and did not make the field. Louise Smith, a premier woman driver of the day, failed to enter within the prescribed time and was not allowed an attempt to qualify.
On Labor Day morning, 75 cars took the green flag and roared into turn one in a cloud of dust. Literally, the dust was so thick it could have been a dirt track. In reality, hardly any of the drivers in the race had ever driven on asphalt and certainly not a track of that length with turns banked that high. Turn one was like bumper cars as cars banged off each other but they all made it through. Gober Sosebee would lead the first four laps before Curtis Turner took over on lap 5. On lap 27, Cotton Owens assumed the lead and he would stay there until lap 49. On lap 50, the slowest qualifier in the race, Johnny Mantz, took over the lead and he would stay there until lap 400 when the checkered flag waved.
Johnny Mantz was driving a Plymouth, a lighter car than most, and therein was a huge advantage. Tires were popping like fireworks on the Fourth of July as the heavier cars were overtaxing what the tires could stand. Soon, crews were going into the infield and taking tires off passenger cars, first with owner's permission and later by stealing them, just to keep tires on the cars. Johnny Mantz, who had competed in the Indy 500 several times, decided to use a hard compound "truck" tire on his light Plymouth and basically all he had to stop for was fuel. He had come from his 43rd starting position to the lead in 50 laps and would steadily lengthen that lead until he would win by nine laps.
The Plymouth, number 98jr, just kept on lapping the heavier and faster cars who were stopping ever 14 to 20 laps for tires. Oh, and the number 98jr? That was Johnny's number for his Indy ride in a J. C. Agajanian car and anyone with any knowledge of Indy will recognize that famous name. Having only competed in two NASCAR races prior to Darlington's first Southern 500, Johnny Mantz was more inclined to think along "Indy terms". An interesting fact about that Plymouth is that it was being used by Big Bill France and Harold Brasington to run errands around town before being converted to a race car by painting the number on the doors. Truly stock back in those days.
The stories of that first race are legendary. Things like Brasington expecting a crowd of 5,000 and hoping for maybe 9,000 but was surprised with approximately 25,000. Ladies at the track in their best summer outfits. Men in ties with their fedoras to shade their eyes. And let us not forget the bloody wreck that "killed" Buck Baker. Seems he had an horrendous accident and was knocked out. When the rescue folks got there all they saw as a knocked out Buck Baker with "blood" all over him and the inside of the car. One worker described it as the "bloodiest accident I've ever witnessed". In a few minutes Buck began to move and utter sounds and the surprised rescue workers began to remove him from the car. What really happened was Buck had filled the thermos behind the seat with cold tomato juice to drink during the race and the thermos had burst and splattered tomato juice everywhere.
The race started at 11:00 a.m. which, incidentally, was the same time they started races in Indy. Still the Indy influence. It was 6:30 and getting dark when Mantz finally raced under the flag at an average speed for 500 miles of 75.250 mph which was almost 2 mph FASTER than he had qualified. Amazingly,there were only two caution flags for a total of 13 laps.
One additional interesting fact about the first Southern 500 is that Herb Thomas qualified for the race but withdrew before the event, as did Bill Bennett, Louis Hawkins and Pap White. No reason given. Thomas would go on to Southern 500 fame in later races.
Top ten finishers:
1. Johnny Mantz, Westmoreland/France Plymouth, winning $10,500.00
2. Fireball Roberts, Sam Rice Oldsmobile, winning $3,500.00
3. Red Byron, Parks Novelty Cadillac, winning $2,000.00
4. Bill Rexford, Julian Buesink Oldsmobile, winning $1,500.00
5. Chuck Mahoney, Brooks Motors Mercury, winning $1,000.00
6. Lee Petty, Petty Special Plymouth, winning $800.00
7. Cotton Owens, Plymouth, winning $930.00
8. Bill Blair, Sam Rice Cadillac, winning $600.00
9. Hershel McGriff, City of Roses Oldsmobile, winning $500.00
10.George Hartley, Julian Buesink Oldsmobile, winning $450.00
Tim Flock was 11th, Gober Sosebee 17th, Bill Widenhouse 26th, Bob Flock 27th, Fonty Flock 28th, Jack Smith 29th, Jimmie Lewallen 43rd, Jim Paschal 53rd, and Curtis Turner 60th. Marshall Teague would finish 63rd, Buck Baker 69th (tomato juice and all) and finishing 75th and last, completing 24 of the 400 laps, was Roscoe Thompson.
Darlington Raceway still stands and in known by many names, most prominent in my opinion is "Too Tough to Tame". David Pearson and Cale Yarborough did pretty well taming the track, but it was that first Southern 500 in 1950 that gave us the confirmation that "stock cars" could race for 500 miles and people would love it. It was 1959 before the next superspeedway opened in Daytona, with Charlotte and Atlanta soon to follow. Then came Rockingham in 1965 and Talladega in 1969. These days NASCAR races all over the country and what was once a Labor Day tradition in the South Carolina Pee Dee has been replaced by a night race spectacular at Atlanta International Raceway. The Southern 500 is still a named used by Darlington but it is a race run on the Saturday night of Mother's Day weekend. Not quite the same. But then, neither are the cars, the drivers, or I dare say the fans. Things were different in 1950. That first Southern 500 set the bar for what was to come. So all fans of today's NASCAR can whisper a "thank you Harold Brasington" for what he did that first Labor Day race in 1950.
Other Southern 500 Races run on September 4th, through 1983.
1961:
1. Nelson Stacy, Ford
2. Fireball Roberts, Pontiac
3. David Pearson, Pontiac
4. Jim Paschal, Pontiac
5.Emanuel Zervakis, Chevrolet
1967:
1. Richard Petty, Plymouth
2. David Pearson, Ford
3. G. C. Spencer, Plymouth
4. Charlie Glotzbach, Dodge
5. Lil Bud Moore, Dodge
1972:
1. Bobby Allison, Chevrolet
2. David Pearson, Mercury
3. Richard Petty, Dodge
4. Fred Lorenzen, Chevrolet
5. H. B. Bailey, Pontiac
1978:
1. Cale Yarborough, Chevrolet
2. Darrell Waltrip, Chevrolet
3. Richard Petty, Chevrolet
4. Terry Labonte, Chevrolet
5. Bobby Allison, Ford
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
