DARLINGTON 250 - SEPTEMBER 1,1968

DARLINGTON 250 1968

September 1, 1968

Darlington, SC.

Tiny Lund and Buck Baker were on top of the speed chart after first day qualifying on Thursday for race number 17 of 1968 at the 1 3/8 mile paved Darlington Raceway. Only six cars made qualifying runs. Second day qualifying saw Paul Goldsmith in Smokey Yunicks Camaro lay down a lap 5 miles per hour faster than Lunds best lap. Only seven cars made qualifying runs. The rest of the starting positions were determined by the order of the cars registration at the speedway. Smokey brought two Camaros to Darlington but Bunkie Blackburn tangled with Neil Castles in practice causing too much damage to make the field.

Tiny Lund piloted the Bud Moore Cougar to his 7 ^th win of the season collecting $3,675 of the $20,000 purse. Only seven of the twenty five starters were running at the finish. The win also pushed Tiny into the lead in the point standings.

Fin. Start Driver Car # Laps Status

1 1 Tiny Lund 68 Cougar 16 182 Running

2 8 Bobby Allison 68 Camaro 9 177 Running

3 23 Billy Yuma 68 Camaro 08 174 Running

4 3 Harold Dunaway 68 Camaro 22 174 Running

5 7 Paul Goldsmith 68 Camaro 13 172 Running

6 25 John Sears 66 Dart 4 171 Running

7 12 Peter Greeg 68 Porsche 59 Running

8 5 Bob Tarrozzi 68 Dart 93 Accident

9 9 Bud Moore 68 Camaro 1 Engine

10 19 Al Straub 68 Mustang 74

11 11 Jack Ryan 67 Porsche 36 Accident

12 20 Jim Hall 68 Dart 48

13 18 Earle Canavan 68 Javelin 31

14 21 T. C. Hunt 68 Camaro 88 Driveshaft

15 10 Terry Wagner 68 Camaro 23 Accident

16 2 Buck Baker 68 Camaro 87 97 Engine

17 15 Roy Tyner 68 Camaro 5

18 Bill Champion 68 Camaro

19 6 Curtis Turner 68 Javelin 33 70 Engine

20 4 C.B. Gwyn 68 Cougar 04

21 22 Ernie Shaw 68 Mustang 17

22 16 Jimmy Vaughn 68 Camaro 7

23 24 Jim Vandiver 68 Camaro 3

24 Ed Hinchcliff 68 Mustang 76

25 17 Larry Newton 67 Cooper 63 1

Tiny Lund

Paul Goldsmith

Larry Newton in a 67 Austin Cooper and John Sears in a Dodge Dart

at least Larry got 1 lap in the Cooper.....good to see he was smart enough to get below the apron line where he was a bit safe....

In these days of so few mechanical failures and so many drivers completing races, it's easy to forget how few cars often finished races in all stock car divisions "back in the day" and the often great separation between them.

so true, to think of only 7 cars running at the end of one of these races brings a whole new meaning to start and park doesn't it.....

From what I'm seeing in old newspaper articles, looks like the race was on Saturday, August 31 vs. September 1.

Race preview from Sumter Daily Item

tangle - from Spartanburg Herald

Race report from Gadsden Times

Race report from Spartanburg Herald

Thanks Chase. Ultimate Racing History had it listed as the 31st and the NASCAR Newsletter had it as the 1st.

Smokey Yunick had entered a second Camaro at this race (in addition to the #3 Goldsmith car) with Bunkie Blackburn driving. The car was numbered #131 was damaged in a practice incident with Neil Castles & could not start the race. The color photo show the 2nd Yunick car at Darlington along with the #1 Lil' Bud Moore "Barbecue King" Camaro that I posted a photo of in an earlier thread. By the way, the car that Bobby Allison finished 2nd in was the #9 Camaro that Stan Starr normally drove.

(Sorry the photo was sent to me years ago & I can't remember the owner).

Wonder why Donnie Allison did not make the field after entering the '68 Mustang?

I miss that aspect of racing very much. Cars today are almost bulletproof across all disciplines and you don't have as much of that unpredictability brought in by the reliability factor anymore.

Not sure why that Mini was even entered. You wanted the Mini at slow, twisty circuits when road racing and on ovals, they'd have perhaps been similarly capable contenders on dirt tracks or really short asphalt tracks but certainly not big, fast Darlington..