The Grand National drivers made their third visit to Rambi Raceway in Myrtle Beach on July 23, 1960.
- 1958: Bob Welborn won the first one while driving for Julian Petty. Tim Leeming's RHM:
http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/stock-car-racing-history/26440/racing-history-minute-august-23-1958
- 1959: Ned Jarrett won his first career GN race in Rambi's second one. Tim Leeming's RHM :
http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/stock-car-racing-history/25862/racing-history-minute-august-1-1959
Jarrett picked up where he'd left off the year before by winning the pole for the 200-lap race on Rambi's dirt half-mile. Junior Johnson started alongside him. Tommy Irwin, Rex White and Lee Petty rounded out the top 5 starters.
Ned took off at the green and led the first quarter of the race. Junior then took over to lead past the halfway mark. Specific lap leaders for the second half of the race have apparently been lost to history, but sounds like the last 100 laps were pretty competitive.
Tommy Irwin found himself in the lead with just a few laps remaining. But as often happens, racing's fickle finger of fate can touch anyone at any time. With 4 laps to go, Irwin blew a tire and hit the fence. He was done and went home with a P8 DNF.
Two-time GN champ Buck Baker eased by Irwin and led the remaining three laps to capture the win. Second place finisher Lee Petty, however, disagreed with the outcome. He insisted HE had won the race vs. Baker and protested the finish.
The protest came at a bit of a risk for Lee. NASCAR officials said Lee's scoring record failed to take into a consideration a pit stop he made during the race. And if NASCAR studied the scoring log further, he risked falling out of second place.
In the end, Lee's protest was denied. Buck remained the winner as he was flagged. Lee kept his 2nd place finish and was the only other car on the lead lap with Baker. Rex White finished third.
Race report from Spartanburg Herald .
Richard Petty finished 5th, but at least he DID finish. In 8 career starts at Rambi, the King had five DNFs. Oof.
I'm not so sure drivers are superstitious any more, but back in the day many of them were. Buck was one who subscribed to the adage of not tempting fate. One of the things many drivers simply didn't do was to have their photo taken before a race. I recall Randy Myers saying Billy Myers believed the same thing. He did allow himself to have his photo snapped before the 1957 Southern 500, but then...
Baker finally compromised his long-held conviction and had his photo taken before the race at Rambi. Of course, the setting wasn't just any random picture. He was asked to have his photo taken with the race beauty queen. Tough gig - but someone had to do it.
As it turned out, violating the superstition did not negatively affect Buck. It actually HELPED him - or so it seemed. After all, he did win the race. But he also wanted to make it clear to all that other superstitions were still off limits such as driving a green race car.
| Fin | Driver | Car |
| 1 | Buck Baker | '60 Chevrolet |
| 2 | Lee Petty | '60 Plymouth |
| 3 | Rex White | '60 Chevrolet |
| 4 | Junior Johnson | '60 Chevrolet |
| 5 | Richard Petty | '60 Plymouth |
| 6 | Ned Jarrett | '60 Ford |
| 7 | Doug Yates | '59 Plymouth |
| 8 | Tommy Irwin | '59 T-Bird |
| 9 | Roy Tyner | '60 Ford |
| 10 | Wilbur Rakestraw | '60 Ford |
| 11 | David Pearson | '59 Chevrolet |
| 12 | Bunkie Blackburn | '58 Ford |
| 13 | Curtis Crider | '58 Ford |
| 14 | Jimmy Pardue | '59 Dodge |
| 15 | Neil Castles | '58 Ford |
| 16 | Jimmy Thompson | '59 T-Bird |
| 17 | Fred Harb | '58 Ford |
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 07/23/17 10:06:46AM
