In July 1959, the Grand National cars rolled into Pennsylvania for a 200-lap race on the half-mile Heidelberg Speedway.
Lee Petty won the first race of his GN career at Heidelberg in 1949. The race was the 7th of an 8-race schedule in the first year of NASCAR's Strictly Stock division. A GN race was run at the track two years later, and Herb Thomas won the 1951 edition. Another 8 years passed before Heidelberg hosted another GN race.
The race was scheduled for Sunday afternoon, July 19th.
Heavy rains turned the track into a mud pit, and track officials and NASCAR had no choice but to postpone the race. Well, it seemed they had no choice. Some fans took issue with the decision - at least the part about rescheduling the race without giving the fans the opportunity to get a refund. What is common practice today apparently wasn't so widely accepted back in the day.
Because of the full GN schedule in 1959 and no more races planned up north, it was unlikely the race could be conveniently rescheduled for later in the year. The decision was made to move the race to Tuesday night, two days after its original date. And to deflect some of the angst, Ed Otto made the decision to offer refunds to those who couldn't stick around the extra two days.
Also, the race was moved from the half-mile track to the inner quarter-mile track which cut the 200-lap race distance from 100 to 50 miles. With the race being moved from Sunday afternoon to Tuesday night, Heidelberg didn't have the necessary lighting for the half-mile track.
Local driver Dick Bailey won the pole. Bailey ran 4 GN races in his career: two in 1951 (incl the Heidelberg race won by Herb Thomas), the 1958 Daytona Beach & Road Course race, and the 1959 Heidelberg event.
Rex White lined up on the front row with Bailey. Lee Petty timed third, and Russ Gemberling of Kent Ohio qualified 4th for his only career GN start.
A few other drivers made their only career GN start in the race. I don't know if that was the plan all along - or if Otto and others had to rally some local drivers to fill the field after some GN regulars left following Sunday's rainout.
Drivers making their only GN start included Gemberling and:
- Two drivers whose names would suggest they were better suited for Daytona: August Sand and Scott Sandman
- Bill Woolkin
- Russ Whitman
- Jim Bickerstaff
- Don Strain
- Larry Lyndstrom
Sandman finished 21st in the 22-car field driving an Edsel. From what I can tell, it was only the 2nd of 3 times an Edsel raced in GN. The first time was the 1959 Daytona 500 (plus the 100-mile qualifer) when Paul Bass raced a convertible one in his only GN outing. The third time was in 1961 when Mike Saathoff raced one at Marchbanks Speedway in Hanford CA in his only career GN start. ( Click here for Tim Leeming's Racing History Minute.)
The local guys had a brief period of success early in the race. Bailey powered at the green to lead the first three laps from his top starting spot. Gemberling managed to shake Petty and White and got by Bailey to lead three laps himself.
But then the big dogs went to work. Rex took the lead on lap 7 and was GONE. He led nearly 150 laps and seemed to be in a position to close out the night with a win. With about 50 laps to go, however, short track ace Jim Reed slipped by Rex to take the lead.
Reed's car had begun smoking around lap 150. Whether he had a tire rub or possible oil leak isn't known. Either way, the smoke apparently made no difference to the multi-time NASCAR Short Track Division champion. Reed led those final 50 laps and took the checkers. White finished 2nd - the only other car on the lead lap. The 1949 winner, Lee Petty, finished third and was three laps down to the top two. Petty returned a year later and won the 1960 race - the fourth and final GN race at Heidelberg.
| Fin | Driver | Car |
| 1 | Jim Reed | '59 Chevrolet |
| 2 | Rex White | '59 Chevrolet |
| 3 | Lee Petty | '59 Plymouth |
| 4 | Marvin Porter | '57 Ford |
| 5 | Cotton Owens | '59 Pontiac |
| 6 | Don Dahle | '57 Chevrolet |
| 7 | Slim Brown | '56 Chevrolet |
| 8 | Ken Johnson | '57 Ford |
| 9 | Don Strain | '56 Ford |
| 10 | Lennie Page | '57 Ford |
| 11 | Al White | '58 Ford |
| 12 | Jim Austin | '59 Ford |
| 13 | August Sand | '57 Ford |
| 14 | Russ Gemberling | '56 Dodge |
| 15 | Bill Woolkin | '57 Plymouth |
| 16 | Larry Lyndstrom | '57 Ford |
| 17 | Elmo Langley | '57 Ford |
| 18 | Ted Chamberlain | '57 Chevrolet |
| 19 | Dick Bailey | '59 Plymouth |
| 20 | Russ Whitman | '57 Ford |
| 21 | Scott Sandman | '58 Edsel |
| 22 | Jim Bickerstaff | '56 Ford |
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
