Racing History Minute - October 9, 1955

I spent a while searching around the site, and I was [somewhat] surprised to see no Racing History Minute on the October 9, 1955 race held at the Memphis-Arkansas Speedway in LeHi, Arkansas. I decided to take it upon myself to do this recap of the race on the 1.5 mile dirt oval.

The race was a simple affair. Fonty Flock won the pole, but brother Tim led the first 42 laps. Speedy Thompson took the lead on lap 43 and led the rest of the way to take the win in his Ford.

The 40^th race of the 1955 Grand National saw the debut of several famous drivers who all won GN races: Tiny Lund, Johnny Allen, Chuck Stevenson, and Norm Nelson. Lund and Allen are familiar names to NASCAR fans. Chuck Stevenson was the 1952 AAA IndyCar champion and a veteran of the Indy 500 (and would continue to race IndyCars well into the 1960s). Norm Nelson went on to be one of the best drivers in the Midwest rival of NASCAR, the USAC Stock Car Series.

In this race, all 3 Flocks raced together as teammates on the Kiekhaefer team. Bob, Fonty, and Tim drove the 308, 301, and 300, respectively. Nelson drove the 4^th Kiekhaefer car, numbered 299. Over the years, Kiekhaefer numbers got a bit cheeky, with cars numbered 299, 300, 300A, 300B, 300C, 301, 500, 500B, 500D, 501, 502, and 901 all being used. It was only when I realized the Chrysler 300 and Dodge D-500 were the cars being fielded that I understood the numbering system, but that doesn't explain the #901. Several two digit numbers were used for races at Darlington, where the Kiekhaefer triple digits were, for some reason, forbidden.

There were an astounding 6 Pete DePaolo Fords in addition to 2 Charlie Schwam Fords. The drivers for DePaolo were Speedy Thompson, Marvin Panch, Buck Baker, Johnny Mantz, Chuck Stevenson, and Joe Weatherly; Billy Carden and Curtis Turner drove the Schwam Fords. It was a full all-star line up with 107 GN wins and 52 Convertible wins from these drivers. In addition, both Stevenson and Mantz had several IndyCar wins.

In spite of the large West coast presence, this race did not count for Pacific Coast GN points. For some unknown reason, Jim Reed was disqualified on lap 8 and moved to last in the results. Reed was, over the years, the subject of harsh punishments for NASCAR. Reed had multiple wins taken away over the years, which is harsh when considering NASCAR only disqualified 1 or 2 other drivers for violations over the years; most drivers would simply get fined, but Reed always got the axe.

There is a more important subject here, the story, rather stories, of 3 drivers: Tiny Lund, Ralph Liguori, and Johnny Allen.

The military had Allen stationed in Corpus Christi at the time, and Allen was getting involved in racing with Spook Crawford. Spook was appropriately nicknamed because he was a spook, or a driver who constantly was getting loose as he drove around the track. They acquired a Plymouth and went to Arkansas, since it was the closest race to where they were. And thus history began.

Lund was making his debut in Carl Rupert's Rupert Safety Belt car. During the race, Lund had a huge crash that saw him barrel roll several times and get thrown from the car... So much for those Rupert Safety Belts! Drivers had to swerve to avoid hitting both driver and car. Then along comes Ralph Liguori in his Julian Petty Chevrolet. Ralph has three choices: (1) hit Tiny, (2) hit Tiny's car and take himself out of the race, or (3) miss both and still crash himself out. Well, he's dead anyway, so I hit him! Ralph reasoned, and thus choice (1) was the winner. Ralph ran over Tiny's head, but, more than that, Tiny wasn't hurt by Ralph! Ralph went on to finish in 8^th, one day before his 29^th birthday. Tiny wound up in a hospital for two weeks with a broken arm and bruises.

It was a spectacular day in Arkansas.

1	10	Speedy Thompson	297	Pete DePaolo	1955 Ford	200	2900	running
2	6	Marvin Panch	98	Pete DePaolo	1955 Ford	200	1450	running
3	12	Jimmy Massey	4	Hubert Westmoreland	1955 Chevrolet	196	1000	running
4	2	Tim Flock	300	Carl Kiekhaefer	1955 Chrysler	195	850	running
5	8	Bob Flock	308	Carl Kiekhaefer	1955 Chrysler	195	650	running
6	3	Buck Baker	87	Pete DePaolo	1955 Ford	194	525	running
7	18	Jimmie Lewallen	88	Ernest Woods	1955 Oldsmobile	190	400	running
8	25	Ralph Liguori	44	Julian Petty	1955 Chevrolet	189	350	running
9	14	Dink Widenhouse	B-29	Dink Widenhouse	1955 Ford	185	250	running
10	20	Bob Welborn	49	Bob Welborn	1955 Chevrolet	183	225	running
11	24	Lee Petty	42	Petty Enterprises	1955 Dodge	183	150	running
12	35	Bill Blair	22	Bill Blair	1955 Oldsmobile	182	125	running
13	22	Hooker Hood	188	Hooker Hood	1954 Oldsmobile	177	125	running
14	40	Al Hager	12		1955 Chevrolet	176	125	running
15	27	Leland Sewell	51-X	Bill Taylor	1955 Ford	176	125	running
16	42	Banks Simpson	89	Buck Baker	1955 Buick	172	95	running
17	31	Johnny Allen	64	Spook Crawford	1955 Plymouth	169	195	running
18	39	Norm Nelson	299	Carl Kiekhaefer	1955 Chrysler	162	95	engine
19	32	Gene Rose	84		1955 Chrysler	160	95	running
20	30	Bob Coleman	5		1955 Ford	152	95	running
21	20	Roscoe Rann	155		1954 Chrysler	146	60	running
22	7	Herb Thomas	92	Herb Thomas	1955 Chevrolet	132	60	rear end
23	26	Joe Guide	52	Sally Guide	1953 Hudson	125	160	running
24	41	Bill Morton	1	Bill Morton	1955 Buick	123	60	accident
25	23	Tiny Lund	37	Carl Rupert	1955 Chevrolet	65	60	accident
26	37	Jim Murray	46		1955 Buick	63	60	fuel pump
27	4	Billy Carden	99	Charlie Schwam	1955 Ford	55	60	accident
28	17	Joe Eubanks	70	Lancaster Brothers	1955 Chevrolet	46	60	steering
29	21	Johnny Mantz	15	Pete DePaolo	1955 Ford	46	60	vapor lock
30	15	Chuck Stevenson	68	Pete DePaolo	1955 Ford	43	60	vapor lock
31	13	Gwyn Staley	2	Hubert Westmoreland	1955 Chevrolet	38	60	fuel pump
32	8	Joe Weatherly	86	Pete DePaolo	1955 Ford	29	60	vapor lock
33	19	Dave Terrell	198	Dave Terrell	1955 Oldsmobile	27	60	accident
34	16	Russ Graham	17	Earl Wright	1955 Chevrolet	22	60	overheating
35	11	Bill Widenhouse	25	Sam McCuthen	1955 Chevrolet	22	60	radiator
36	5	Curtis Turner	95	Charlie Schwam	1955 Ford	19	40	vapor lock
37	38	Eddie Skinner	28	Frank Dodge	1953 Oldsmobile	13	40	gasket
38	36	Floyd Curtis	112		1955 Ford	10	40	radiator
39	1	Fonty Flock	301	Carl Kiekhaefer	1955 Chrysler	5	40	radiator
40	29	Ted Cannady	32	Ted Cannady	1953 Ford	3	40	piston
41	33	Jim Reed	7	Jim Reed	1955 Chevrolet	8		disqualified

updated by @alex-fl-racing-fan: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM

Alex - well done! I had the October 10, 1954 Memphis-Arkansas race tee'd up to post about today. Instead, I think I'll contribute to yours for October 1955 race there.

Pops and Johnny Mantz from Getty

The eventual winner goes toe to toe with Norm Nelson. - Getty

Race report from Daily Standard of Sikeston, Missouri.

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.

Alex, I had no idea that longtime USAC stock car standout, Norm Nelson had ventured south to Arkansas in 1955, making the first of his 5 career NASCAR Grand National starts. 3 races later, at Las Vegas, he'd become a NASCAR Grand National winner. He wouldn't start a NASCAR GN event again until 1966, racing once that year and one time in 1967 and 1968.

Norm Nelson photo from Midwestracingarchives.com

Thanks for the history lesson, Alex. That's a good photo Chase has posted of Nelson racing winner, Speedy Thompson.

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"