The first race of the 1957 season was run November 11, 1956, on the 2.5 mile DIRT track known as Willow Springs Speedway in Lancaster, California. The track was actually an eleven turn road course on dirt. Amazing piece of information as I imagine what that must have been like to watch. Marvin Panch won that race for his second overall Grand National win.
The second race of the 1957 season was run on December 2, 1956, on the half-mile dirt track in Concord, NC, known as Concord Speedway. Concord was certainly a more familiar venue to the Grand National drivers than was the Willow Springs track. Curtis Turner won the pole at a speed of 62.586 mph. Joe Weatherly, in a team Pete DePaolo Ford would start second, Marvin Panch third in another DePaolo Ford, with Ralph Moody in a fourth DePaolo Ford starting in fourth place. Bill Amick was also in a Ford belonging to Oscar Maples and he would start fifth. Paul Goldsmith, in Smokey Yunick's Chevy was the first non Ford to start.
Curtis Turner led the first two laps before Marvin Panch forced his way into the lead. Panch would begin to pull away from the field. Turner would crash on lap 79 while in a heated battle for second place. On lap 122, Johnny Allen, driving a Plymouth, spun out of control and slammed into a telephone pole, splitting the pole as it fell into the grandstands. Fortunately, that portion of the grandstands was not crowded and there were no injuries in the stands and neither was Johnny injured.
Fireball Roberts, who was trying to make it to the race, missed a connecting flight and did not make it in time for the race. Ralph Earnhardt got the nod from DePaolo to fill in behind the wheel of the number 22 Ford. Ralph would start 22nd and be credited with a 12th place finish although he sailed over a dirt enbankment on lap 164 and damaged the car beyond immediate repair. Earnhardt was not hurt.
Marvin Panch would leave Concord with a 64 point lead in the standings over Jim Paschal. The 1957 season would play out through 53 races and Panch would end up second in the season ending standings.
Finishing order:
1. Marvin Panch, DePaolo Ford, winning $650.00
2. Paul Goldsmith, Yunick Chevrolet, winning $525.00
3. Bill Amick, Oscar Maples Ford, winning $400.00 (1 lap down)
4. Tiny Lund, Chevrolet, winning $320.00 (6 laps down)
5. Lee Petty, Petty Engineering Dodge, winning $290.00 (7 laps down)
6. Jim Paschal
7. Mel Larson
8. Joe Weatherly
9. Joe Eubanks
10. Bill Morton
11. Brownie King
12. Ralph Earnhardt
13. Ed Cole
14. Billy Myers
15. Billy Carden
16. Johnny Dodson
17. Dick Beaty
18. Ralph Moody
19. Johnny Allen
20. Jack Smith
21.Curtis Turner
22.Bill Champion
23. Bobby Waddell
24. Doug Cox
25.Bill Hall
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
