The first race on the newly PAVED North Wilkesboro Speedway was a 160-lap, 100-mile NASCAR convertible division event on September 22, 1957.
Race preview from Statesville Record and Landmark.
The field was expected to include a handful of GN stars including Lee Petty, Bill Amick Fireball Roberts and Buck Baker.
The day before Wilkesboro, the GN cars raced at the Cleveland County fairgrounds track in Shelby NC. Buck Baker and Bill Amick won and placed third, respectively. (Link to Tim Leeming's RHM .) A long-night of celebration may have prevented them from making the trip to North Wilkesboro. Fireball Roberts blew a tire and smacked the fence in the race at Shelby, and the team may not have been able to repair the car overnight for Wilkesboro.
Ken Rush in a Frank Hayworth-owned Mercury won the pole. After finishing 5th at Shelby, Lee Petty made the trek to Wilkesboro and qualified second In one of his occasional convertible division starts. Glen Wood and Paul Goldsmith made up the second row.
Rush leveraged his top starting spot to lead the first 21 laps. The driver of car number 21 - Glen Wood - then took the point to pace the field for the next 42 laps. I'd like to say the driver of car number of 42 - Lee Petty - then took over to dominate the rest of the day. But that wasn't the case. Instead, it was Goldsmith who took the lead from Wood. Once out front, Goldsmith led the remaining 97 laps to claim the victory.
Photo of the winner - Getty Images
| Fin | Driver | Sponsor / Owner | Car |
| 1 | Paul Goldsmith | Slim Rominger | '57 Ford |
| 2 | Lee Petty | Petty Engineering | '57 Oldsmobile |
| 3 | Possum Jones | Bob Welborn | '57 Chevrolet |
| 4 | Glen Wood | Wood Brothers | '56 Ford |
| 5 | Roger Baldwin | Roger Baldwin | '56 Ford |
| 6 | Joe Weatherly | Holman-Moody | '57 Ford |
| 7 | Shorty York | Jim Paschal | '57 Mercury |
| 8 | Ken Rush | Frank Hayworth | '57 Mercury |
| 9 | Pee Wee Jones | '57 Ford | |
| 10 | Bill Morton | '56 Ford | |
| 11 | Bob Welborn | Bob Welborn | '57 Chevrolet |
| 12 | Ted Chamberlain | Ted Chamberlain | '56 Plymouth |
| 13 | Neil Castles | Neil Castles | '56 Ford |
| 14 | E.J. Brewer | E.J. Brewer | '56 Chevrolet |
| 15 | Pete Stewart | '56 Plymouth | |
| 16 | Larry Frank | Lonnie Fish | '56 Chevrolet |
| 17 | Dick Walters | '56 Ford | |
| 18 | Jim Paschal | Holman-Moody | '57 Ford |
| 19 | Whitey Norman | Whitey Norman | '56 Ford |
| 20 | Dave Terrell | Dave Terrell | '57 Chevrolet |
| 21 | Don Gray | Lonnie Fish | '57 Chevrolet |
| 22 | Gwyn Staley | J. H. Petty | '57 Chevrolet |
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 09/22/17 12:02:28PM
