Racing History Minute - November 9, 1958

The 150 laps/50 mile race on the .333 mile paved track known as Champion Speedway in Fayetteville, NC, on this date in 1958, was actually the first race of soon to be very exciting 1959 season. February, 1959, would bring us the very first Daytona 500 and the season would progress through 44 races and end on October 25,1959, aqt Concord, NC. Lee Petty would win the first Daytona 500 and would claim his third, and final, Grand National Championship. Cotton Owens would finish second in the standings with Speedy Thompson third. But it was fourth place finisher in the season standings that should have turned some head. Herman Beam, nicknamed "Herman the Turtle" was fourth and more amazingly, that was after starting only 30 of the 44 races. Herman made his living in racing by driving a steady pace, much slower than the "hotdog stars" and bringing his car home in one piece. But, I digress and apologize for that little trip into the 1959 future.

Twenty-five starters kicked off the 1959 season at Champion Speedway with Bob Welborn qualifying on the pole with a speed of 61.985 mph in a Julian Petty Chevrolet. Rex White, in another Chevy, would start second, Roy Tyner, Chevy, starting third, Glen Wood in a Wood Brothers Ford fourth and Buck Baker in a Chevy fifth.

Welborn led the first 9 laps before Rex White muscled his Chevy out front. Welborn followed in the tire tracks of the leader but seemed content to follow Rex. On lap 42, Rex lost the lead when his Chevy began to overheat and that allowed Welborn to re-take the lead which he would hold until the checkered flag. White continued to nurse the number 40 around the track and was able to bring it home in 10th place, only 4 laps behind the winner.

Finishing Order:

1. Bob Welborn, Julian Petty Chevrolet, winning $600.00

2. Glen Wood, Wood Brothers Ford, winning $475.00

3.Buck Baker, Baker Chevrolet, winning $350.00

4. Roy Tyner, Tyner Chevrolet, winning $250.00 (1 lap down)

5. Junior Johnson, Paul Spaulding Ford, winning $215.00 (2 laps down)

6. Tommy Irwin

7. Tiny Lund

8. Joe Lee Johnson

9. Lee Petty

10. Rex White

11. George Dunn

12. Jimmy Thompson

13. Richard Petty

14. Bobby Keck

15. Bill Poor

16. Brownie King

17. L. D. Austin

18. Clarence DeZaila

19. Jimmy Pardu

20. Shep Langdon

21. Jimmie Lewallen

22. Harvey Hege

23. R. L. Combs

24.Fred Harb

25. Charlie Griffith

Honor the past, embrace the present, dream for the future

Note the AP story has Welborn winning $200 more than the race report.

The race was originally scheduled for Sunday, November 2nd. - Dave Fulton

Spartanburg Herald

A rainout postponed the race by a week to November 9 - Spartanburg Herald

Spartanburg Herald HAS ROY WEATHERLY OF NORFOLK,VA. LISTED AS BEING ON THE RACE ENTRY LIST?
ANY KIN TO JOE WEATHERLY OF NORFOLK,VA.?
DIDN'T SEE EITHER JOE WEATHERLY OR ROY WEATHERLY OF NORFOLK,VA., RACING THIS RACE?

Thanks for any information or photos posted.
Dennis Garrett
Richmond,Va.USA

Roy Tyner's name appears right before Weatherly - and both are 3-letter names. My bet is the copy writer just typed Joe's name incorrectly, and an editor didn't read or catch it.

But as you pointed out, Weatherly didn't race even though he supposedly had entered. It's possible he planned to race on November 2nd but had other things to do on the November 9th make-up date.

Leveraged Tim's RHM and added a bit more of my own to create a blog entry that posted today:

https://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2015/11/november-9-1958-welborn-is-champions.html