Wow! I actually am looking at TWO Grand National races run on this date in 1951. In the overall scheme of mileage, even back in the day of two lane blacktop, the distance between the two tracks was not that great. We've seen dates before when they raced somewhere on the East Coast and the West Coast on the same day, but today there was a 100 mile/200 lap race on a half-mile dirt track known as "Pine Grove Speedway" in Shippenville, PA. and also a 100 mile/200 lap race on the half-mile dirt track in Martinsville, VA. Twenty cars started in Shippenville and 23 in Martinsville. So, let's look at Shippenville first.

It is noted that most of the field at Shippenville were NOT Grand National regulars as most of the "regulars" were racing at Martinsville. It is also noted that NASCAR had "reinstated" Billy Carden after suspension, noted, somewhat tongue in cheek that NASCAR needed him to help populate the field at Shippenville.

There are literally no records in my source of who won the pole, who led what laps, or anything whatsoever with the exception of the finishing order and the mention of Carden's reinstatement. So, let's go to the finishing order, many names you are not likely to recognize, or at least I didn't. We will all recognize the winner, I'm sure.

1. Tim Flock, Black Phantom Olds 88, winning $1,000.00

2. John McGinley, Walt Chapman Hudson, winning $700.00

3. Billy Carden, Sam Know Olds 88, winning $450.00

4. Jimmy Florian, Olds 88, winning $350.00

5. Lloyd Moore, Julian Buesink Ford, winning $200.00

6. Hep Jones

7. Ed Benedict

8. Bob Dietrich

9. Russ Hepler

10. Dick Stone

11. Bob Lillenthal

12. Wimpy Ervin

13. Charles Gattalia

14. Bill Rexford

15.Don Bailey

16. Jerry Groh

17. Joe Merola

18. Nook Walters

19. Quinton Daniels

20. Irving Leitch

Now on to Martinsville where we know Herb Thomas snagged the pole with a speed of 56.109 mph in FABULOUS Hudson Hornet. Bill Snowden would start second in a Ford, Frank Mundy in an Olds third, Billy Myers in a Hudson fourth, and Neil Cole in an Olds fifth.

Herb Thomas led the first 28 laps before the hard charging Curtis Turner assumed the lead when Herb slammed into the wall and ended his day. Turner would lead until lap 44 when a tie rod broke on his Olds, ending his day. Turner was making a strong bid to end a four month losing streak. Billy Myers took over when Turner left the track, and would lead to lap 67. It was on lap 68 when Leonard Tippett went out front and he would stay there until lap 86 when the drive shaft in his Hudson broke sending him to the pits for the day. It was at that point that Frank Munday took over and led the remaining 13 laps to take the win.

Finishing order:

1. Frank Mundy, Gray Ghost Olds 88, winning $1,000.00

2. Lee Petty Petty Special Plymouth, winning $700.00

3. Billy Myers, R. G. Shelton Hudson, winning $400.00

4. Bill Snowden, Snowden Ford, winning $300.00

5. Jimmie Lewallen, Plymouth, winning $200.00

6. Pappy Hough

7. Coleman Lawrence

8. Leon Sales

9. Dell Pearson

10. Cal Johnson

11. Leonard Tippett

12. Bill Blair

13. Donald Thomas

14. Curtis Turner

15.Jim Reed

16. Otis Martin

17. Neil Cole

18. Herb Thomas

19. Jim Paschal

20. Coleman Grant

21.Bob Walters

22. J.C. White

23. Jack Wade

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

Very interesting re: the Shippenville race. Guessing Tim Flock left PA with more than $1,000 in his pocket. Would think he got a good bit of show money as well. And Bill Rexford was the reigning GN champion - he may have received a similar deal.

Also, October 14 was a Sunday - makes sense for Martinsville. But I wonder if Shippenville could have been a make-up date from a rainout. Judging by who ran which race, perhaps not. Maybe NASCAR did indeed sanction 2 races on the same date in the same time zone and a few hundred miles away.

Shippenville hosted only this one GN event. The sanctioned race may have been a favor by France towards the promoter.

Took some effort but I managed to find this archived article by Mark Aumann from 2011 that was originally published on NASCAR.com.

http://web.archive.org/web/20110620191947/http://www.nascar.com/news/110617/retro-mburke-nascar-tripleheader/index.html

NASCAR tripled the action one day in 1951

With points leaders scattered across U.S., Burke comes from nowhere for win

By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM
June 17, 2011 11:27 AM, EDT

The recent doubleheader at Texas Motor Speedway featuring open-wheeled cars brought to mind a time when NASCAR did that one better, running three races on the same day in 1951.

Bill France was determined to spotlight the "national" in his fledgling -- but mainly regional -- National Association for Stock Car Automobile Racing. With the success of the inaugural Southern 500 at Darlington the previous season, drivers around the country began to show interest in stock cars and tracks in hosting races.

NASCAR already had strong ties to the Northeast, having run several races in Pennsylvania and New York during the first two Cup seasons. And 1950 champion Bill Rexford -- who turned 23 that season -- was a native of Conowango Valley, N.Y.

But the sanctioning body wanted a West Coast presence, and in 1951, France found a handful of tracks in California willing to run races under NASCAR sanctions. However, most of the big-name drivers running for the championship were unwilling (or unable because of the costs involved) to tow across the country, leaving mostly California-based drivers to fill the fields out west.

So on Oct. 14, 1951, NASCAR sanctioned three races: a 100-mile race on the dirt at half-mile Martinsville Speedway, a race of similar length at a half-mile dirt track north of Pittsburgh known as Pine Grove Speedway and a 250-miler at high-banked Oakland Stadium in California.

With a tight battle for the championship, the top three drivers in the points standings each chose a different venue. Points leader Herb Thomas and most of the Cup regulars stayed close to home and comprised the 23-car field at Martinsville. Fonty Flock towed Frank Christian's No. 14 Red Devil out west, while brother Tim Flock -- running third in the standings -- chose to make the trip to Shippenville, Pa.

Martinsville turned out to be a race in which it wasn't necessarily advantageous to hold the lead. Thomas started on the pole in his Fabulous Hudson Hornet and led the first 28 laps before crashing, leading to an 18th-place finish. Curtis Turner then took over the top spot, only to have a tie rod break. That left Billy Myers in front, but soon he was passed by Leonard Tippett.

Tippett soon fell victim to mechanical issues when his Hornet broke a driveshaft. That handed the lead to Atlanta's Frank Mundy, who had been tabbed as a fill-in by owner Ted Chester in the No. 7 Gray Ghost Oldsmobile. Despite pressure from Lee Petty and Myers, Mundy led the final 114 laps for his second win of the season and the $1,000 first-place check.

Tim Flock, driving Chester's other car -- the Black Phantom -- had a much easier time of it up north. Rexford went out early and Flock was never headed, beating John McGinley, Billy Carden, Jimmy Florian and Lloyd Moore for his sixth win of the year, also worth $1,000.

Imagine a short-track Talladega Superspeedway with twice the steepness in the corners. That pretty much describes Oakland Stadium, a tremendously fast five-eighths mile with turns banked at an incredible 62 degrees. Bob Sweikert, who went on to win the 1955 Indianapolis 500, once turned a lap at over 108 mph there in a roadster.

The fastest way around Oakland Stadium was much like running Darlington. The groove was right up against the outside wall, making passing incredibly difficult. Once a driver grabbed the lead, it was his until he made a mistake or broke something.

Fonty Flock had the newer, more powerful Oldsmobile, but the locals had the advantage of being more familiar with the track, and that eventually paid off for Marvin Burke, who grew up in nearby Pittsburg, Calif., and had raced competitively in the area for several years after World War II. The 33-year-old Burke led 156 of the 400 laps in his 1950 Mercury, beating two other Bay Area natives -- Robert Caswell and Wood Brown -- to the finish line. Flock wound up a distant 11th.

Burke never competed in another NASCAR race, leaving him with the rare distinction as the only driver in NASCAR's history books to be undefeated. Burke, who died in 1994, was recently inducted into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame.

Martinsville was later paved and remains on the NASCAR schedule, but the other two tracks have been long gone from the racing scene. Pine Grove never hosted another Cup race and eventually was shut down in the late '50s. However, the outline of the track can still seen south of Shippenville on satellite images. Oakland Stadium hosted two more NASCAR races in 1954 but fell victim to development shortly thereafter.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

As referenced in Aumann's article, it look like you can still see the outline of the remnants of Pine Grove Speedway.

While 3 GN events were scheduled for the same day, several drivers who raced frequently in the series even then skipped all three events in favor of staying closer to home.

Buddy Shuman promoted a NASCAR sanctioned race at WNC Fairgrounds. Its interesting though that Billy Carden was expected to race in the event - though he ended up racing that day in Pennsylvania.

What I'm NOT sure about is where the WNC Fairgrounds track was located. Maybe others can help - is this the track that became Asheville-Weaverville? New Asheville? Or perhaps another track in the area of Asheville-Weaverville-Hendersonville-Fletcher-Skyland?

Source: Hendersonville Times-News

Chase, the current WNC Fairgrounds ( W estern N orth C arolina), home of the Mountain State Fair , are located in Fletcher, NC... see website:

http://www.mountainfair.org/

Found several references to races at WNC Fairgrounds in 1951-1954, but don't know if it was locarted in Fletcher then or not.

Searching about this morning, I connected Fletcher and the fairgrounds also. But having never heard of it, I wasn't sure if that connection was valid. Even tried the Google satellite view hoping to spot the outline of a track's remnants - but didn't see anything. Hoping Buddy Shuman being the promoter might be the key to getting the right answer.

Chase, after seeing a number of other articles and ads, I've come to the conclusion that the WNC fairgrounds of 1951 were at Hendersonville, NC and the racetrack often referred to as Hendersonville Speedway.

An excerpt from a 1990s news story regarding the controversy of state funding for the Mountain State Fair and its name:

Wonder if Bopper has this in his ghost track directory?

Map Link to original 1950s Western North Carolina (WNC) Fairgrounds in Hendersonville, NC, site of Hendersonville Speedway:

http://www.topoquest.com/map.php?lat=35.28512&lon=-82.42817&datum=nad83&zoom=4

With that as a guide, here is what I think the modern day aerial view looks like. I think the fairgrounds may have been just to the slight northeast of Oakdale Cemetery.

A close-up view - though I'm not sure I can make out the shape of an oval track anywhere.

But based on that little clipping you posted Dave, looks like the fairgrounds may have been where East Henderson HS is now. If so, definitely nothing left - except a street called Fairground Ave.

Say, didn't this post start out with something about Shippenville and Martinsville? Who got us off track? Oh. Wait. Never mind.

Also, on this date - October 14 - in the year 1967, my NASCAR Grand National racing hero, J.T. Putney won the Qualifying Race to determine the final seven starting positions in the 10/15/1967 National 500 at Charlotte. Putney parlayed his Saturday Chevy win into an 11th place finish in the Sunday main event won by Buddy Baker. Results from Ultimate Racing History:

National 500 Qualifying Race
NASCARGrand Nationalrace
Charlotte Motor Speedway ,Charlotte,NC
October 14, 1967
20laps on 1.5 mile paved oval;30 miles