1968 Grand Touring Division

1968 Grand Touring Division

One race remained on the 1968 schedule for the Grand Touring division after the race at North Wilkesboro. A 250 mile event scheduled for Oct. 12 ^th at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The Tarheel 250 was postponed that weekend because of rain, then was rained out again the following weekend. Because no suitable date for the event remained on the schedule word came from NASCAR headquarters the race would be canceled. Tiny Lund was declared the winner of the season long points title.

The picture over Al Straub's name is not Al. It looks like Phil Wills and the unidentified driver at lower right is Harold Dunaway.

Thanks Dennis

According to various reports I've found in newspapers from Spartanburg, Daytona and Lexington, NC, that final scheduled October 1968 GT race at Charlotte had some real interesting story lines.

In the initial GT qualifying, Paul Goldsmith in the Smokey Yunick Camaro destroyed all Charlotte Motor Speedway qualifying records, including the two new Grand National track records that had just been set on Wednesday and Thursday by Charlie Glotzbach and LeeRoy Yarbrough.

Goldsmith was set to lead a field of 30 starters on the original Saturday date. The first 17 cars were set in time trials and the final 13 positions, including Harry Gant in a Mustang, were set by sign-in order at NASCAR registration.

When the event was postponed the first time, it was determined that new time trials would take place, since the GT cars weren't impounded like the Grand National field for the National 500. I haven't been able to find any qualifying story for the second scheduled date and don't know if that occurred or not. Maybe Dennis or another member knows or can find the answer.

Dennis, I love that you do this. This division needs to be remembered, and it is great that your father had such an impact on this series' history.

Great additions Dave, Thanks!

Dennis, I have a complaint about these posts of yours! Each time I read one and see the photos added, it only makes me wish I had paid more attention to this division back in the day. The few races of this division I did attend were really great but I could have gone to many more had I not been so eager to make all the Grand National races. The Grand American series has its own unique history to which I wish I had paid more attention at the time. Thank you for putting the history of this division here for all to remember OR to learn about.

I want to second the comments of Alex and Tim. I only got to 3 GT/Grand American races, one each in 1968, 1969 and 1970, at three different tracks - 2 dirt, one asphalt - Richmond, South Boston and Raleigh. The races were great and I wish I remembered more and had gotten to more. We are really beholden to Dennis for educating us and fortunate that his Dad drove in the series and is a great source of information.

A heart felt THANK YOU to all who have replied to the post I've made on the Grand Touring division. Another big THANK YOU to all who added content about the events. Many times the information I had was incomplete and left questions that were answered by you guys. I'm always amazed at what is added to the reports. Keep up the good work as we go through the history of the Grand Touring / Grand American series.