May 29, 1960 - The Charlotte debut that wasn't

TMC Chase
@tmc-chase
10 years ago
4,073 posts

The 1.5 mile Charlotte Motor Speedway constructed as a shotgun marriage between Curtis Turner and Bruton Smith was scheduled to run its inaugural World 600 on May 29, 1960. Because of construction delays and lack of readiness for racing (caused largely because of cash flow issues), the race was pushed back until June 19.

Original ticket fromĀ  Ed Sanseverino

Track billboard promoting the May 29th date - CMS pic

At the press conference announcing the delay, NASCAR announced the GN cars would race at Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds in Spartanburg on June 4th before heading to Charlotte for the multi-day event that became the norm over the years. NASCAR also said Richmond would replace Charlotte on the schedule for May 29th.

As it turns out, the teams instead raced at Piedmont on Saturday the 28th and Orange Speedway in Hillsboro on the 29th. At Hillsboro, Richard Petty won his first pole and Lee won the race.

http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2013/05/may-29-1960-lee-petty-hauls-in-hillsboro.html

After Hillsboro, the GN teams DID race at Richmond on June 5th before heading for Charlotte's debut. I'm not clear as to why Spartanburg, Hillsboro and Richmond ended up with different dates than was announced in the press conference - other than the obvious scrambling NASCAR had to do once it became apparently CMS couldn't make the May 29th date.

FromĀ  Spartanburg Herald




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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.

updated by @tmc-chase: 06/19/17 11:21:30AM
Dave Fulton
@dave-fulton
10 years ago
9,137 posts

Of special interest to Tim Leeming... the June 5th 1960 win at Richmond by Lee Petty was the first of an eventual 10 PLYMOUTH nameplate premier series wins for the now ghost brand.




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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
TMC Chase
@tmc-chase
7 years ago
4,073 posts

Bump for 1st World 600 on June 19, 1960 - that was bumped from its original date of May 29.




--
Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.