Tim mentioned Pedro Rodriguez. About 50 years before NASCAR tried to market racing to Mexicans by trying to convince them Columbia's Juan Pablo Montoya is "Latino" or "Hispanic", a true Mexican driver made his debut start.
Source: Reading Eagle
Lee Petty ran only a handful of convertible series races. But on this date in 1958, he showed 'em who's boss by leading half the laps and taking the trophy home to Level Cross.
Ken Rush finished 2nd driving a Chevrolet owned by Julian Petty, Lee's brother.
Read on for more:
http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2013/05/may-16-1958-lee-wins-ragtop-race.html
Took a bit of effort but finally parsed together that the race was postponed from May 14th (as shown on Ned's trophy) to May 15th because of two days of rain.
I don't have full access to the archives of the Richmond Times Dispatch. However, I can kind of tell through these snippets that the first GN race at Langley was originally scheduled for Thursday, May 14th. It was then pushed to Friday, May 15th.
Looks like the move in the GN race put Langley head-to-head with the weekly racing program at Southside Speedway.
Though I still don't know who requested the shift or why the Langley date was moved, the date change does explain the wrong date on Ned's trophy.
How 'bout this line:
Gentleman Ned opined, after the race, that "it's nice to win by acomfortable margin but it must have been boring for the fans".
If this were today, Ned would most certainly be fined for 'criticizing the product'.
And Daytona 500 winner and eventual 1964 Grand National champion for the first of seven times - The King - ended up dead stinkin' last in this one. Completed only one lap. ONE. UNO.
Ray Lamm has this photo in his collection of Ned making a pit stop in the 1964 Tidewater 200 at Langley in Hampton VA.
And it interesting Ned won in his Ford on the same day GM re-iterated its position not to enter NASCAR.
From Spartanburg Herald Journal
