Dargan Watts
Darlington 1951
This shows the 1951 starting field for the Southern 500 when 82 cars filled the track. Frank Mundy put his '51 Stoudebaker on the pole, but made only 12 laps before his car lost oil pressure and finished dead last. He was among 40 drivers who received no money. Herb Thomas was the second fastest qualifier and brought his '51 Hudson home in first place and earned $8,800. He led 311 of the 400 laps. Jesse james Taylor was third fastest in another '51 Hudson and finished 2nd to Thomas, one lap behind. Notice pit crew members are behind the "wall", but if you look at the solid white line to the left, you will notice that this is the actual pits. There was no wall to protect the pit members when they serviced the race cars. Not until several pit members and a NASCAR official were killed did NASCAR institute a concrete and steel wall for protection of the workers.
