Two stock car races.
Two sanctioning bodies.
Two coasts.
Two half-mile dirt tracks.
Two Hall Of Fame drivers with memorable nicknames as winners.
Two over-the-top race promoters.
One date.
USAC's stock car division competed in a 100-lap race at JC Agajanian's Ascot Park in Gardena, California.
Super Tex, A.J. Foyt, won the race despite having a bit of pedestrian day at the track. Only three cars led the race - and two of them fell out of contention with engine problems leaving the third driver (Foyt) to take over the lead and cruise the remaining distance for the win.
Top 10 finishers:
| Fin | Driver | Car |
| 1 | A.J.Foyt | 1961 Ford |
| 2 | NormNelson | 1962 Ford |
| 3 | DonWhite | 1962 Ford |
| 4 | MiltCurcio | 1961 Ford |
| 5 | JohnRostek | 1961 Ford |
| 6 | EddiePagan | 1961 Ford |
| 7 | RonHornaday Sr. | 1962 Ford |
| 8 | RodgerWard | 1962 Chevrolet |
| 9 | LloydDane | 1961 Chevrolet |
| 10 | MarvinPorter | 1960 Pontiac |
Three time zones and 2,500 miles to the east, NASCAR's Grand National division raced on the half-mile, dirt Concord Speedway.
Race preview...
Promoter Bruton Smith and the fans were hoping for a continuation of a great race between Jack Smith and Joe Weatherly. Both battled hard in the previous race at Concord with Smith leaving town with his third consecutive win at the track.
Rather than another epic battle, the race was a ho-hum, rain-shortened affair. The race was postponed after only 78 of the scheduled 200 laps - 22 laps shy of halfway. NASCAR originally planned to resume the race and finish the remaining laps. A packed schedule, however, made finding a suitable date difficult.
Sometime later (not sure when), NASCAR decided a return date could not be booked. Rather than declare the race as a non-event because the drivers hadn't made it to halfway, NASCAR invoked its unwritten EIRI clause in the rulebook.
Little Joe Weatherly led all 78 laps his his Bud Moore Pontiac before the rain arrived. He was awarded the win, and the victory is included in his total number of GN wins - despite the race not making it to 100 laps. As quirky as the ruling was, the decision was made to only award half the number of points and pay only half the advertised purse . I'm curious to know who made that call - Big Bill or Bruton. Either way, with race being declared "official", I'm really perplexed (as were the drivers then I'm sure) why the full purse wasn't distributed. After all, the drivers may only have completed 40% of the laps - but they took 100% of risk with each lap run.
| Fin | Driver | Car |
| 1 | Joe Weatherly | '61 Pontiac |
| 2 | Richard Petty | '62 Plymouth |
| 3 | Ralph Earnhardt | '61 Pontiac |
| 4 | Jack Smith | '61 Pontiac |
| 5 | Buddy Baker | '61 Chrysler |
| 6 | Jim Paschal | '62 Pontiac |
| 7 | G.C. Spencer | '61 Chevrolet |
| 8 | Wendell Scott | '61 Chevrolet |
| 9 | Tommy Irwin | '61 Chevrolet |
| 10 | Tom Cox | '60 Plymouth |
| 11 | Curtis Crider | '61 Mercury |
| 12 | Herman Beam | '60 Ford |
| 13 | Cotton Owens | '62 Pontiac |
| 14 | Bill McDonald | '61 Chevrolet |
| 15 | Rex White | '61 Chevrolet |
| 16 | Fred Lorenzen | '62 Ford |
| 17 | Stick Elliott | '60 Ford |
| 18 | Lee Reitzel | '60 Ford |
| 19 | Bob Cooper | '60 Ford |
| 20 | Ned Jarrett | '60 Chevrolet |
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
