Other September 3 Southern 500 winners

Other Labor Day Southern 500 winners on September 3rd.

1951 - Herb Thomas

1956 - Curtis Turner

• For reasons I don't yet know, Lee Petty didn't race his traditional #42 Plymouth. Instead he raced a #35 Ford - apparently entered originally for Glen Wood and owned by Fred Frazier. Lee started 68th in the 70 car field and finished 17th.

• Perhaps one of the funniest race stories I've ever heard is captured in this photo shared by Dargan Watts . "Dink Widenhouse was involved in a wreck during the running of the 1956 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. and when he started to climb out of his car, his legs became tangled in his lap belt and he also realized that he had a cut on his arm, which startled him so badly that he fainted and ended up in the position shown in the picture."

1973 - Cale Yarborough

from Motor Racing Programme Covers

from Woody Delbridge collection

1979 - David Pearson

Pre-race activities

Race day! (part 1)

Part 2

From Ray Lamm collection

From Ray Lamm collection

2nd place finisher Bill Elliott - From Ray Lamm collection

For the 1956 Southern 500, I found this starting line-up in the September 2 Wilmington Star News . Looks like Lee Petty DID qualify his Dodge in the 9th row. Glen Wood had to draw for position and was slated to start in 23rd row - almost out back. But clearly something happened between Saturday and Monday for LP to abandon his Dodge and climb aboard the Ford.

I just learned of some family history about the 1951 Southern 500 that I did not know but thought it was interesting enough to share. My uncle Buck Petty (my mother's brother) was part owner of one of the cars in the race. He had a gas station in Liberty, NC. and the story goes that they went around the hosiery mill collecting $50 from anyone wanting in on owning a race car. I think the owner of the mill even got involved. They got enough money to go to Gate City Motors, the Chrysler dealer in Greensboro, and bought a 1951 Plymouth. You think a 1950 Plymouth winning the first Southern 500 had anything to do with their choice? They took the car to Buck's station in Liberty and got it ready for the race. Ultimate Racing History list Hubert Westmoreland as the owner but dad thinks he helped tune the engine and was more or less the crew chief. Hubert was from High Point and at the time known for building drag motors. The actual owner was a bunch of hosiery mill workers and the owner of the mill. I don't know how many people put up money except for Uncle Buck and Arnold Hogan (still building old cars) but I suspect the owner of the mill had the biggest stack in the deal as $50 was more than a weeks pay back then.

They enlisted Johnny Yountz to drive the car and put #78 on it. Johnny started 34th with the plan being to run the apron to save the tires but they still had a few flats. He is listed as finishing 43rd while completing 366 of the 400 laps. Sadly Johnny's day ended on his roof or he would have had a much better finish.

Now for the rest of the story. I've heard stories like this before but I'm told this is true. They beat the top back out, repainted the car and took it back to Greensboro and turned the car back in to the dealer.

What a great story, Dennis.

great article, good stuff. thanks

Dennis - Here is qualifying results for the 1952 Southern 500.

Dave, This shows the photos were sold in 2006 right? I looked on e-bay and could not find them. Would love to see a picture of the car.

I should have said 1951 at Darlington, not 1952.

That's what I gathered from the listing, too, Dennis.