The 1957 Grand National season ended on October 27, 1957 in Greensboro NC. Buck Baker won the race AND claimed the championship.
http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/stock-car-racing-history/28256/racing-history-minute-october-27-1957
The 1958 season began a week later on November 3, 1957 at Champion Speedway in Fayetteville. NASCAR's 1957 convertible season was scheduled to wrap-up a week before the Grand National drivers with a October 20th race in Wilson, NC.
http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/stock-car-racing-history/28039/october-20-1957-billy-myers-and-bob-welborn-are-winners
Because of a rain-out about a month earlier, however, a 100-mile race at Columbia Speedway was rescheduled for Halloween on October 31st to conclude the season.
Rain spoiled a lot of racing in the Carolinas the weekend of September 26-28. Many of the events were re-scheduled the following week. Included amongst the events was the 1st attempt to run the 200-lap convertible race at Columbia.
Source: Spartanburg Herald
Qualifying was held on Thursday afternoon. Possum Jones didn't play dead on the road, and he nabbed the pole. Future NASCAR HOFer Glen Wood qualified 2nd to join the Possum on the front row. Bob Welborn - who had already wrapped up the 1957 championship - timed 3rd. And he was joined on the second row by Billy Myers in the Petty Engineering Olds. Little Joe Weatherly started 6th, and Gwyn Staley started 7th in Julian Petty's Chevrolet.
The green flag dropped as scheduled, but... then the rain returned. The race was stopped after 25 laps with pole-winner Possum out front. The original plan was to resume the race on Saturday night; however, rains continued to pelt the area for yet another full weekend.
Source: Spartanburg Herald
Realizing Mother Nature disapproved of racing in late September and early October, the race was rescheduled for Thursday October 31 - Halloween - the same day of the week as 2013. Source: Spartanburg Herald
Fortunately, the third time was the charm for Columbia. The race resumed at lap 26, and the full distance was completed. Joe Weatherly won and Billy Myers was second - the only two cars to finish on the lead lap. Staley finished 3rd in Julian's car, and the 57 champ Welborn was 4th. The big loser over the 4 week span to run the race was Glen Wood. After starting second , he broke an idler arm, exited after 52 laps (about 25 laps per night), and finished SECOND to last.
As of tonight, I don't have a race report from the newspaper. Unfortunately, the November 1st edition of the Spartanburg paper isn't on Google News Archive - and I can't find a mention in several other papers I checked. Because the race was on a Thursday night, it may have finished too late to make the deadline for most Friday morning papers. Also, I don't know the lap leaders for the race other than Possum leading at lap 25 and Weatherly at lap 200.
I have put out a couple of feelers for more info. If I get additional info, I'll edit the post or add it as a comment.
| Fin | Driver | Sponsor / Owner | Car |
| 1 | Joe Weatherly | Holman-Moody | '57 Ford |
| 2 | Billy Myers | Petty Engineering | '57 Oldsmobile |
| 3 | Gwyn Staley | J. H. Petty | '57 Chevrolet |
| 4 | Bob Welborn | Bob Welborn | '57 Chevrolet |
| 5 | Larry Frank | Lonnie Fish | '57 Chevrolet |
| 6 | Possum Jones | Bob Welborn | '57 Chevrolet |
| 7 | Clarence DeZalia | Clarence DeZalia | '56 Mercury |
| 8 | Bill Martin | '57 Ford | |
| 9 | Bill Poor | Bill Poor | '56 Chevrolet |
| 10 | Lee Petty | Petty Engineering | '57 Oldsmobile |
| 11 | Bill Morgan | '56 Ford | |
| 12 | Banjo Matthews | Slim Rominger | '57 Ford |
| 13 | Jim Russell | Jim Russell | '56 Ford |
| 14 | Roger Baldwin | Roger Baldwin | '56 Ford |
| 15 | Glen Wood | Wood Brothers | '57 Ford |
| 16 | Ken Rush | Frank Hayworth | '56 Mercury |
--
Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 10/30/17 03:49:47PM
