In the final race of NASCAR's second season for its Strictly Stock / Grand National division, Lee Petty has a consistent day, leads the final 43 laps, and wins a scheduled 200-lap race on the one-mile, dirt Occoneechee Speedway in Hillsboro, North Carolina.
Fonty Flock won the pole and dominated much of the race by leading 124 of the 175 laps. (Darkness caused the race to be shortened by 25 laps.) But problems late caused Fonty to surrender the lead. Lee soon took over and held onto the lead.
The storyline of the weekend was the championship battle between Bill Rexford and Fireball Roberts. Rexford needed a solid finish to lock it up. However, he exited early and sweated it out as Fireball raced on. But in time, Roberts too fell out and Rexford claimed the championship.
But... NEITHER would have won had Bill France not dropped a massive penalty on Lee earlier in the season. Because he ran a non-NASCAR sanctioned event in July, France docked him 100% of the GN points he'd earned to that point. Had France not assessed Petty the penalty, Lee likely would have been the 1950 champion rather than Rexford. He rallied from zero points in late July to finish third in the standings behind Rexford and Roberts by season's end.
Lee wasn't the only one hit with a left hook by France. He nailed reigning champion and a central figure in the formation of NASCAR, Red Byron, with a 100% points penalty not just once but twice.
Read on for more:
https://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2013/10/october-291950-lee-petty-hauls-in.html
| Fin | Driver | Car |
| 1 | Lee Petty | '49 Plymouth |
| 2 | Buck Baker | '50 Oldsmobile |
| 3 | Weldon Adams | '50 Plymouth |
| 4 | Tim Flock | '50 Plymouth |
| 5 | Bill Blair | '50 Oldsmobile |
| 6 | Gayle Warren | '50 Plymouth |
| 7 | Ray Duhigg | '49 Plymouth |
| 8 | Jim Delaney | '50 Plymouth |
| 9 | Herbert Burns | '49 Lincoln |
| 10 | Jack Holloway | '50 Mercury |
| 11 | George Hartley | '50 Mercury |
| 12 | Johnny Grubb | '50 Oldsmobile |
| 13 | Tommy Melvin | '50 Oldsmobile |
| 14 | Ewell Weddle | '49 Lincoln |
| 15 | Ted Chamberlain | '50 Plymouth |
| 16 | Slick Smith | '50 Plymouth |
| 17 | Lloyd Moore | '50 Oldsmobile |
| 18 | Herb Thomas | '50 Plymouth |
| 19 | Louise Smith | '50 Nash |
| 20 | Fonty Flock | '50 Oldsmobile |
| 21 | Fireball Roberts | '49 Oldsmobile |
| 22 | Jimmy Ayers | '50 Plymouth |
| 23 | Coleman Grant | '49 Lincoln |
| 24 | Jack Reynolds | '50 Plymouth |
| 25 | Clyde Minter | '47 Buick |
| 26 | Bill Rexford | '50 Oldsmobile |
| 27 | Bucky Sager | '50 Plymouth |
| 28 | Jim Paschal | '50 Oldsmobile |
| 29 | Curtis Turner | '50 Oldsmobile |
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 10/29/20 09:41:09AM
