The convertible division drivers arrived at the dirt, half-mile Southern States Fairgrounds in Charlottefor a 200-lap, 100-mile ragtop race on Sunday, August 3, 1958. Today, I blogged about what happened upon their arrival and will excerpt part of it at RR.
http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2015/08/august-8-1958-ken-rush-inherits.html
As the cars readied for qualifying, a summer shower arrived and gave the track and the fans a good soaking. Bob Welborn and Soapy Castles had already made their laps, and Fred Harb was on the track when the rain began to fall. Promoter Bruton Smith and his crew tried to run cars on the muddy surface to help pack it and ready it for racing.
The decision was made to postpone the race. No make up date was initially announced, but Bruton and NASCAR soon decided to try again on Friday the 8th. 
Curtis Turner won the pole when the drivers returned five days later. Two-time Grand National champion, Buck Baker lined up alongside Pops. Lee Petty timed third in one of his infrequent convertible division starts, and Joe Weatherly started on the outside of the second row.
Lee Petty's son, Richard, planned to run what would have been his second convertible start and fifth overall career start after racing in Grand National events at the Canadian National Exposition in Toronto, Civic Stadium in Buffalo, and Wall Stadium in New Jersey.
The day before the original date of the Charlotte convertible race, Lee raced in the first Grand National race on Bridgehampton, New York's road course. After the convertible race was postponed, Papa Lee returned home and likely told his 21 year-old son "I got this." As a result, Richard went back to servicing his dad's car in the pits.
The race was not a good one for the #42 Petty Plymouth. Problems with the rear-end relegated Lee to a 15th place DNF. The car was likely the same one (minus the hard top roof) Lee raced 24 hours earlier in a 200-lap GN race in Columbia, SC.
Turner was unable to leverage his top qualifying spot. Buck Baker got by him right away and proceeded to dominate the race. After leading 183 laps and with victory in sight, Baker broke a ball joint and lost one of his front wheels.
Ken Rush had been tooling behind Baker. Rush was driving a #44 1957 Chevrolet fielded by Julian Petty as a teammate to Bob Welborn. When Baker broke, Rush assumed the lead and led the remaining 17 laps.
| Fin | Driver | Car |
| 1 | Ken Rush | '57 Chevrolet |
| 2 | Larry Frank | '57 Chevrolet |
| 3 | Tiny Lund | '56 Ford |
| 4 | Fred Harb | '57 Mercury |
| 5 | Roy Tyner | '58 Plymouth |
| 6 | Whitey Norman | '57 Chevrolet |
| 7 | Joe Weatherly | '58 Ford |
| 8 | Buck Baker | '58 Chevrolet |
| 9 | Bill Poor | '56 Chevrolet |
| 10 | Harvey Hege | '57 Ford |
| 11 | Johnny Gardner | '56 Ford |
| 12 | Bob Welborn | '57 Chevrolet |
| 13 | Curtis Turner | '57 Ford |
| 14 | Tootle Estes | '58 Ford |
| 15 | Lee Petty | '57 Oldsmobile |
| 16 | Neil Castles | '56 Ford |
| 17 | Wayne Lambath | '56 Chevrolet |
| 18 | Shep Langdon | '56 Ford |
| 19 | Richard Spittle | '56 Chevrolet |
| 20 | George Dunn | '57 Mercury |
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
