Racing History Minute - September 30, 1955

NASCAR, as I understand, identifies any track one mile or more in length as a "super speedway". Based on that categorization, our event for today takes place on a super speedway known as Raleigh Speedway located in, of course, Raleigh, NC. The track was one mile in length, and paved. Not that many super speedways in NASCAR racing back in those days. Even more intriguing to me is to find this particular race was run "under the lights". That, in my opinion, was pretty innovative to have a one mile asphalt track running at night in 1955.

Fonty Flock qualified his Mercury Outboards Chrysler on the pole with a lap of 82.098 mph. Tim Flock, in another of those Mercury Outboard Chrysler would start second, Herb Thomas in the Motoramic Chevrolet qualified third, and Speedy Thompson was fourth in a Ford. Fifth place starter was Donald Thomas in a Herb Thomas Buick.

Tim Flock beat his brother Fonty into turn one on the drop of the green and Tim would lead the first 14 laps. Fonty took over on lap 15 and would stay in front until lap 46 when Herb Thomas vaulted into the lead. Herb was leading with Fonty almost playing bumper-tag with him from lap 47 until lap 68 when Fonty literally blew by Herb with his powerful Chrysler. Fonty would lead the remaining laps but Herb Thomas did not go "quietly into that good night" as he continued to fill Flock's mirror, finally finishing only six car lengths back in second.

Some 6,000 fans saw Flock average 73.829 mph for the 100 miles. His speed was slowed by 3 caution flags although my records do not indicate how many laps were run under caution.

Top five finishers were:

1. Fonty Flock, Mercury Outboards Chrysler, winning $1,100.00

2. Herb Thomas, Motoramic Chevrolet, winning $700.00

3. Tim Flock, Mercury Outboards Chrysler, winning $475.00

4. Donald Thomas, Herb Thomas Buick, winning $365.00

5. Bill Widenhouse, Bill McCutchen Chevrolet, winning $310.00

Top six finishers were all on the lead lap. Sixth place went to Bob Welborn. Three laps down was seventh place finisher Buck Baker who was in the same lap with eighth place Ralph Liquori. Ninth place was Lee Petty and tenth was Gwyn Staley.

Speedy Thompson was 17th, Junior Johnson 25th, Gary Lewallen 26th, Jim Massey 27th, Joe Eubanks 28th, Jim Paschal 29th, and Dink Widenhouse 30th. Jim Reed finished 31st, and Ned Jarrett, attempting to break into Grand National racing, finished 33rd. Curtis Turner was 35th, and credited with 36th and last position was George Parrish who lasted only 9 laps before his Studebaker dropped a cylinder.

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

The now retired Caulton Tudor wrote the column below for the Raleigh News & Observer in 2010. It was picked up and carried nationally in the That's Racin' feature.

Raleigh could have been a NASCAR contender
By Caulton Tudor - News & Observer (Raleigh)
Saturday, May. 08, 2010

There was a time when Raleigh was in position to be to stock car racing what Charlotte has become.

It was decades ago so many miles back that NASCAR was on training wheels and the fastest car around was a black Hudson Hornet with hand-painted numbers in white liquid shoe polish on at least one door and sometimes two.

The year was 1952, and there were only two modern paved race tracks in the South.

One was in Darlington, S.C. The other was located just inside what was then Raleighs northern-most city limits.

The Raleigh track technically named the Raleigh Southland Speedway but almost instantly nicknamed Dixie Speedway by fans was exactly a mile long, with matching 1,850-foot front and back straightaways and 16-degree banked turns. There also was a quarter-mile track on the infield that became a popular test for local sportsman events.

Unlike the similar oval in Darlington, the Raleigh track was completely lighted and the first long track sanctioned by NASCAR to hold night races.

When Fonty Flock drove a Hudson to a win in the Memorial Day 300 in 1953 at an average of almost 71 mph, the average winning speed on most stock car tracks was in the 60-mph range.

By 1955, Raleigh was hosting three of 45 races on the NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup) circuit two at the one-mile track and a third at the half-mile dirt track located across town at the State Fairgrounds.

Junior Johnson drove an Oldsmobile to a win on the short track and Herb Thomas in a Buick and Flock in a Chrysler won on the mile oval. Flocks triumph was one of four straight for the legendary Flock brothers and came near the end of a season during which Tim Flock won 18 times.

Tim regularly raced with his pet monkey, Jocko Flocko, inside the car and even went to the trouble of having a seat harness and small helmet fitted for the animal.

But during Fontys win in 53, Jocko somehow got free and more or less went wild. Tim, who was leading at the time, was forced to stop and have Jocko removed a highly unscheduled pit call that eventually left Tim to finish in third place.

Its hard to drive a race car as it is, Tim Flock said. But when you have a wild monkey in the car with you, its just about impossible.

In the mid-1950s, the mile races at Raleigh were the most popular in the state. The track hosted three straight July4 events.

But the engines died suddenly when a politically charged debate over a little-known noise ordinance was enforced.

Although it was a roundly unpopular decision, the courts eventually ruled the track noise was in such violation of the noise law that all racing had to cease. Had the track been built just a mile or 2 farther north, the city would not have had jurisdiction over Wake County, and the races almost certainly would have continued long into the future.

Although attempts at compromise continued for months, the court ruling was not reversed. By 1967, most of the track had been destroyed and soon overtaken by residential and commercial development.

Even so, Raleighs impact on NASCAR history was not over.

Since the state-owned, half-mile fairgrounds dirt track didnt fall under city jurisdiction, NASCAR continued to make stops in Raleigh.

The last event the Home State 200 on Sept. 30, 1970 was a landmark event. It was the final dirt track race for the Grand National division, which later was renamed Winston Cup.

Richard Petty won the race and stated without hesitation that it was a bittersweet victory.

I hope we dont forget what dirt track racing has meant to our sport, Petty said. I hope we come back to it once in a while, too. Just so we dont forget, too.

That didnt happen, of course. Dirt track races, like the tracks in Raleigh, became memories of a long-gone era.

Read more here: http://www.thatsracin.com/2010/05/08/34534/raleigh-could-have-been-a-nascar.html#storylink=cpy

tim youve done it again another great racing minute thanks

Thanks, Charles. We are having a great time with these Minutes.

Really sad that this track was lost due to a political battle. Pretty short-sighted on someone's part.

This link to Historic Aerials still shows the track existed for the most part in 1965. You can use the compare feature to see what's there today.

Thanks for the aerial view, Russ. Looks like a real "paperclip" - kinda like a double sized Martinsville.

Speed Age Magazine Oct. 1954 Raleigh Speedway article

photo 01. Speed Age Magazine Oct. 1954 page 40

photo 02. Speed Age Magazine Oct. 1954 page 41

photo 03. Speed Age Magazine Oct. 1954 page 42

photo 04. Speed Age Magazine Oct. 1954 page 43

photo 05. Speed Age Magazine Oct. 1954 page 80, missing last part of Raleigh Speedway article
In it's place is an outboard motor racing article and race results. LOL

I looked over the Speed Age Magazine Oct. 1954 for missing last part of Raleigh Speedway article and can't find it.

photo 06. Speed Age Magazine Oct. 1954 page 59 Auto Racing Results
Raleigh (N.C.) Speedway
One-Mile Banked Asphalt Track, 250 Miles, May 29, 1954

Thanks for any informaton or photos posted.
Dennis Garrett
Richmond,Va

Absolutely awesome, Dennis! Thanks for sharing.

Great addition to the minute, Dave. Thanks.

Truly sad Russ. But it has happened over and over.

Yes, Dennis, I second what Dave said. Truly awesome addition to the History Minute.

Thank you.