46 Years ago this month the first American 500 Race was held at Rockingham and Curtis Turner
would win with several broken ribs and his first race since a 4 year suspension by Big Bill France.
@dave-fulton13 years ago
My buddy & I wanted to go down from Richmond. We did make it to the March 1996 Peach Blossom 500 at Rockingham, taking the "Race Train" that ran from DC, through Fredericksburg, Richmond, Petersbur and Raleigh to a rail siding across from the Speedway. It was a beautiful place with all the green grass and new concrete grandstands.
@laverne-zachary13 years ago
Dave riding that "Race Train" sounds like a real experience.Did that include coffee & doughnuts?
@dave-fulton13 years ago
Laverne, it actually included a box lunch to take into the grandstands. There were a number of special cars hooked to a Seaboard north/south NY to Florida train. They dropped the cars off on a siding right across from the speedway and picked us back up around 6:00 pm on Sunday night. It took 5 hours to run the race which started at Noon and ended at 5:00 pm, average speed 100 mph. Took the train again in March 1967 and they called the race at 9:00 in the morning due to heavy rain. By noon, the weather was gorgeous. They opened a movie theater in Hamlet and packed it full of race fans to watch a Haley Mills movie, if you can imagine that. We had to wait for the northbound Seaboard train at 6:00 pm to return to Richmond and drove back down in June for the rescheduled race. That was the last time I rode the race train. They also ran it to Darlington for several years.
@laverne-zachary13 years ago
Dave thats what I call real dedication!How long did the return trip take?
@dave-fulton13 years ago
I'll show my age by saying I don't remember the time length
@billy-weeks13 years ago
I had one of these.. as a cub scout we got tours of the track from time to time... and they took us through the old storage building out there and they gave us all a couple of the old ones..... wish i still had them...
My buddy & I wanted to go down from Richmond. We did make it to the March 1996 Peach Blossom 500 at Rockingham, taking the "Race Train" that ran from DC, through Fredericksburg, Richmond, Petersbur and Raleigh to a rail siding across from the Speedway. It was a beautiful place with all the green grass and new concrete grandstands.
Dave riding that "Race Train" sounds like a real experience.Did that include coffee & doughnuts?
Laverne, it actually included a box lunch to take into the grandstands. There were a number of special cars hooked to a Seaboard north/south NY to Florida train. They dropped the cars off on a siding right across from the speedway and picked us back up around 6:00 pm on Sunday night. It took 5 hours to run the race which started at Noon and ended at 5:00 pm, average speed 100 mph. Took the train again in March 1967 and they called the race at 9:00 in the morning due to heavy rain. By noon, the weather was gorgeous. They opened a movie theater in Hamlet and packed it full of race fans to watch a Haley Mills movie, if you can imagine that. We had to wait for the northbound Seaboard train at 6:00 pm to return to Richmond and drove back down in June for the rescheduled race. That was the last time I rode the race train. They also ran it to Darlington for several years.
Dave thats what I call real dedication!How long did the return trip take?
I'll show my age by saying I don't remember the time length
I had one of these.. as a cub scout we got tours of the track from time to time... and they took us through the old storage building out there and they gave us all a couple of the old ones..... wish i still had them...