As so often happens with the NASCAR history, we hit a string of dates where all the races were run at the same track over a period of years. So it is at this particular point in time as the Martinsville Fall event comes up day after day. So,in order to avoid another Martinsville event (not that there is anything at all wrong with Martinsville), we are going back to 1954 when SIXTY-FOUR cars qualified for a 250 miles event on the one mile dirt track in Langhorne, PA. The guys had just competed in a 100 mile event at the half-mile dirt track in Charlotte, NC on September 24th, but were ready to go on the 26th in Langhorne.
Herb Thomas put that Smokey Yunick Hudson on the pole with a speed of 89.418 mph. Lee Petty, in a Chrysler, qualified second, with Buck Baker third. My reference source, (Greg Fielden's "Forty Years of Stock Car Racing") is limited with the starting positions so I don't know who qualified fourth, but Bill Amick in his Ford was to start fifth.
Thomas led the first 11 laps and then Buck Baker took over in his Griffin Motors Oldsmobile. Buck would stay in front until lap 26 when Thomas regained the lead. On lap 45 Lee Petty took over and would lead until lap 70 when Baker moved out front again. On lap 97, West Coast driver, Hershel McGriff in his Frank Christain Oldsmobile took over. Lap 115 saw Thomas once more leading the pack until Buck Baker slipped by to lead two laps. The last 98 laps were all Herb Thomas in that Yunick Hudson. Herb won the event with an average speed of 71.186 mph, slowed by six caution flags for 25 laps. The victory was the 40th career Cup win for Thomas.
The race garnered lots of attention for the wrecks involved on the dusty, fast track. Lap four saw 10 cars crash with such force that 8 of those cars were unable to continue. No drivers were injured in that melee. On lap 166, Harvey Eakins, driving a Nash (remember those) went through the rail and plunged more than 30 feet . Rescue workers took several minutes to extract Eakins from the car and he was immediately transported to Mercer Hospital with back injuries.
The crowd of 22,000 were thrilled and excited with the performance of one Junior Johnson. Famous band leader, Paul Whiteman, had entered Junior in a Cadillac for the event but very early in the race the Caddy headed for the pits, apparently finished for the day with a destroyed rear end. The pit crew, however, went about installing another rear end and Junior roared back onto the track to begin a tremendous charge that brought him up to 15th, only 28 laps behind the winner at the end of the race. I have to wonder, since it was unlikely back them to carry spare parts like a rear end, if there was a spectator in the infield who would discover his Cadillac was missing something. No comment to that in my source.
Top five finishers:
1. Herb Thomas, Smokey Yunick Hudson, winning $2,450.00
2. Lee Petty, Petty Engineering Chrysler, winning $1,150.00
3. Hershel McGriff, Frank Christain Oldsmobile, winning $850.00
4. Buck Baker, Griffin Motors Oldsmobile, winning $625.00 (5 laps down)
5 Erick Erickson, Erickson Buick, winning $600.00 (6 laps down)
Sixth through tenth were Jimmie Leallen, Dick Rathmann, Tim Flock, John Dodd, Sr., Joe Eubanks and Jim Paschal. Marvin Panch13th, Junior Johnson 15th, Red Kagle 16th, and Van Van Wey 17th. Bill Widenhouse was 26th, Jim Reed 35th, Bill Blair 38th, Elmo Langley 59th, Bob Welborn 60th, and credited with 64th and final position is a driver listed only a P. Cunningham who is shown as qualified but DID NOT START.
As most of us know, Langhorne was a big circle track. It was a continous turn and I've heard some of the racers talk about running there. If you happen to be at Occonneechee Saturday, you can ask Marvin Panch about the races there. He did finish 13th in this event.
Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future
--
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
