Racing History Minute-Riverside 500 at Riverside Raceway
Stock Car Racing History
Race report from Daytona Beach Morning Journal .
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Racing History Minute-Riverside 500 at Riverside Raceway
Stock Car Racing History
In addition to early rounds of qualifying, a 25-lap qualifying race was held to set the starting line-up for the race. From Spartanburg Herald .
Racing History Minute-Riverside 500 at Riverside Raceway
Stock Car Racing History
Race program
And the Henry Ford Arte House has several really neat photos from its collection on-line here:
http://thehenryford.artehouse.com/perl/collection.pl?collectionID=2824&productTypeID=62&ckon=leftNav&sessionID=197ea7c86c8a5099daa77d8300781aa8
A sampling...
Dan Gurney
Parnelli Jones
A.J. Foyt
Ron Hornaday Sr.
Fred Lorenzen
Fireball Roberts
Troy Ruttman
Jim Paschal
Richard Petty
updated by @tmc-chase: 01/20/17 11:17:07AM
Racing History Minute-Riverside 500 at Riverside Raceway
Stock Car Racing History
Jim Paschal in traffic before his rollover.
Annnddd... Jim Paschal getting into a bit of a problem.
updated by @tmc-chase: 01/20/17 11:16:05AM
December 31, 1964: Following in Daytona trailblazer's footsteps
Stock Car Racing History
Before Daytona International Speedway; NASCAR races on the beach; and unsanctioned, under-promoted, and underfunded modified races on the beach, there were speed runs on Daytona's legendary sands.
One of the legends from era was Sir Malcolm Cambell and his famed Bluebird. On December 31, 1964 - the 16th anniversary of Malcolm Campbell's death - his son Donald set the world speed record on WATER. He had also set the world LAND record earlier that year.
276 MPH - in a boat! No thank you.
From Spartanburg Herald .
Malcolm Campbell survived all his years of speed record attempts and passed away after suffering a series of strokes. Tragically, Donald Campbell died less than 3 years later while attempting another speed record on a lake.
Coincidentally, Malcolm Campbell's Bluebird was just returned from England to Daytona. Photographer Brian Cleary shared this time lapse sequence of photos as the car was put back on display.
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/31/18 01:21:44PM
Jeff Gordon in a winter hat. Or is it?
Trivia
Found this photo in a December 30th edition of the Daytona Beach Morning Journal. Studying it a bit, I thought this could well be Jeff Gordon.
I'll concede, however, that the photo is NOT of Jeff Gordon. But rather than spill the beans completely, I'll LINK you to the unveiling of it really is. Will be interesting to see if everyone is as surprised as I was about who it was. [ The Answer ]
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:10:12PM
December 30, 1956: Fireball ends '56 with a victory
Stock Car Racing History
Race preview / promo from Daytona Beach Morning Journal .
December 30, 1956: Fireball ends '56 with a victory
Stock Car Racing History
NASCAR's Grand National / Cup series has never raced on Christmas Day or New Year's Day. And the cars never raced on New Year's Eve either which is mildly surprising - especially back in the 1950s. The latest the teams participated in a NASCAR-sanctioned GN event was on December 30th way back in 1956. Fifteen cars raced in the makeshift Titusville Cocoa Speedway in Titusville FL in the 3rd race of the 1957 season. The track was a 1.6 road course that used a good bit of an airport runway.
Looking at the entrants for the Indian River Gold Cup 100, one may scratch their head at some of the oddities. One-third of the cars were fielded by Pete DePaolo's Ford team, and Petty Engineering took two Dodges to the race for Lee Petty and Tiny Lund. Yet even with half the field being comprised of 2 teams, Paul Goldsmith won the pole in his Smokey Yunick Chevy. Behind Goldsmith followed the 5 DePaolo Fords - Fireball Roberts in 2nd, Curtis Turner 3rd, Ralph Moody 4th, Joe Weatherly 5th and Marvin Panch 6th.
As the green dropped, Goldsmith took off and led the first half of the race - 27 laps. Weatherly lasted only 17 laps and was the 1st DePaolo car to fall out of the event. Seventeen laps later - and seven laps after he surrendered the lead, Goldsmith's Chevy was done for the day.
Fireball picked up the lead from Goldsmith and led the remaining 29 laps. Fortunately for his team, Weatherly's exit was an anomaly. His remaining teammates followed him across the line: Fireball 1st, Turner 2nd, Panch 3rd, and Moody 4th - the only cars to finish on the lead lap.
From Daytona Beach Morning Journal .
| Fin | Driver | Sponsor / Owner | Car |
| 1 | Fireball Roberts | Pete DePaolo | '56 Ford |
| 2 | Curtis Turner | Pete DePaolo | '56 Ford |
| 3 | Marvin Panch | Pete DePaolo | '56 Ford |
| 4 | Ralph Moody | Pete DePaolo | '56 Ford |
| 5 | Doug Cox | John Foster | '56 Ford |
| 6 | Tiny Lund | Petty Enterprises | '56 Dodge |
| 7 | Jim Paschal | Frank Hayworth | '56 Mercury |
| 8 | Johnny Allen | Spook Crawford | '56 Plymouth |
| 9 | Mel Larson | '56 Dodge | |
| 10 | Dick Joslin | '56 Chevrolet | |
| 11 | Lee Petty | Petty Enterprises | '56 Dodge |
| 12 | Chuck Thompson | '54 Oldsmobile | |
| 13 | Paul Goldsmith | Smokey Yunick | '56 Chevrolet |
| 14 | Jimmy Thompson | Gus Holzmueller | '56 Ford |
| 15 | Joe Weatherly | Pete DePaolo | '56 Ford |
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
December 30, 1967: USAC stock car rookie of the year
Stock Car Racing History
Al Unser Sr. was named as USAC's 1967 rookie of the year for its stock car series. From Spartanburg Herald .
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/30/20 12:37:10PM
December 30, 1961: Yankee wins over Rebels in Tobacco Bowl
Stock Car Racing History
Ed Flemke from Connecticut bested Carolinians at Bowman Gray Stadium on December 30, 1961 to win the Tobacco Bowl race. From Spartanburg Herald .
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM