Lakewood Speedway. Ever heard of it? It was a one mile dirt track that is a huge part of Georgia Racing History. On this date 60 years ago, the track lived up to its billing as a super competitive track as three cars completed a 100 mile race virtually "under a blanket" as they say. A crowd of 20,000 were on their feet cheering their favorite on but when the flag fell there was a stunned silence as most had no idea which of the three crossed the line first. To further complicate the matter, NASCAR was handing out penalty after penalty to the top finishers.
The only qualifying information available in my source (Greg Fielden's "Forty Years of Stock Car Racing") is the pole winner who was Herb Thomas in the FABULOUS Hudson Hornet. Herb qualified at a speed of 75.514 mph.
As for racing action during the event, we do know that Richard Garlington flipped the Oldsmobile he was driving four times and left the track in an ambulance heading to Crawford-Long Hospital unconscious. We also know that Stan Kross and Bill Harrison were involved in a horrendous crash half way through the race, but both were unhurt.
On the last lap, it was a three way battle between Herb Thomas in a Hudson, Buck Baker in an Oldsmobile and Dick Rathmann in another Hudson. As the three raced under the flag in a cloud of dust, it appeared Thomas had the win by less than a hood length over Baker, with Rathmann literally inches behind Baker. Great and exciting finish to a 100 mile race, right? Not so fast.
Enter NASCAR official Johnny Bruner. Johnny determined that Thomas had NOT fallen in at the rear of the pack after a yellow flag pit stop. Thus Thomas was penalized a lap and that gave the win to Buck Baker. But hold on!!! We're not done yet. A couple hours after the first ruling, it was determined that Buck had also failed to fall in at the end of the pack after a caution flag pit stop. Both drivers were "docked" a lap. This should give the win to Rathmann, right? Wrong again! Bruner ruled that Rathmann had gotten refueled with his car partially on the track during a caution and therefore he, too, was penalized a lap. Gober Sosebee, who initially had finished fourth, was now in the winning position. But wait!!! The screaming and hollering, ranting and raving was ferocious and it was surely leading to a brawl the likes of which Atlanta hadn't seen since General Sherman marched his way through there on the way to a beach vacation in Savannah.
Over in a secluded corner of the track, NASCAR officials came together for a discussion, one not recorded by a secretary's notes. The official version is that "the only decision reasonable men could make would be to cancel all penalities". That is what they did so the finish went back to the way the cars actually came under the flag.
Lee Petty came into this race leading the points but his sixth place finish behind second place Buck Baker, put Baker out front by 7 points.
Finishing order:
1. Herb Thomas, FABULOUS Hudson Hornet, $1,000.00
2. Buck Baker, Griffin Motors Oldsmobile, $650.00 (less than a hoodlengthback)
3. Dick Rathmann, Pure Hudson, $450.00 (less than half a car length back)
4. Gober Sosebee, Cherokee Garage Oldsmobile, $350.00 (1 lap down)
5. Fonty Flock, Hudson Hornet, $300.00 (1 lap down)
6. Lee Petty
7. Curtis Turner
8. Joe Eubanks
9. C. H. Dingler
10. Bill Blair
11. Jimmie Lewallen
12. Laird Bruner
13.Ralph Liguori
14. Jerry Wimbish
15. Floyd Curtis
16.Jim Clarke
17. Dave Terrell
18.Don Oldenburg
19. Jim Paschal
20. Otis Martin
21. Bill Irvin
22. Fireball Roberts
23. Joe H. Martin
24. Jack Smith
25. Al Keller
26. Stan Cross
27. Bill Harrelson
28. Harold Nash
29. Eddie Skinner
30. Elton Hildreth
31. Bob Flock
32. Ted Rambo
33. Emory Lewis
34. Dick Garlington
Average speed for the race was 60.494 mph
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
