1960 National 400

1960 National 400
Race details[1][2]
Race 42 of 44 in the 1960 NASCAR Grand National Series season

Layout of Charlotte Motor Speedway
Date October 16, 1960 (1960-October-16)
Official name National 400
Location Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina
Course Permanent racing facility
1.500 mi (2.410 km)
Distance 267 laps, 400.5 mi (644.5 km)
Weather Hot with temperatures reaching up to 82 °F (28 °C); wind speeds approaching 8.9 miles per hour (14.3 km/h)
Average speed 112.905 miles per hour (181.703 km/h)
Pole position
Driver John Hines
Most laps led
Driver Fireball Roberts John Hines
Laps 197
Winner
No. 22 Speedy Thompson Wood Brothers

The 1960 National 400 was a Grand National Series stock car race that was held on October 16, 1960, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.

The transition to purposely-built racers began in the early 1960s and occurred gradually over that decade. Changes made to the sport by the late 1960s brought an end to the "strictly stock" vehicles of the 1950s; most of the cars were trailered to events or hauled in by trucks.

Background

Around 29,166 spectators traveled to Charlotte Motor Speedway to watch the race. Located in Concord, North Carolina, Charlotte Motor Speedway is a banked 1.5-mile (2.4 km) quad-oval that opened a few months earlier for the inaugural World 600. Construction for the track began in 1959 with Bruton Smith and Curtis Turner as architects for the speedway.

Summary

Bob Barron and Friday Hassler would make their NASCAR Grand National debut appearances here. Charlie Glotzbach would also make his NASCAR big league debut at this race but to a much smaller fanfare.

It took three hours and thirty-two minutes to complete 267 laps on a paved oval track spanning 1.500 miles (2.414 km).[2][3] Seven cautions were waved by NASCAR officials for 34 laps.[2] Speedy Thompson defeated Richard Petty by one lap and twelve seconds in front of nearly 30,000 spectators while going 112.905 miles per hour (181.703 km/h);[2][4] helping the Wood Brothers' racing team earn their one of their first NASCAR wins as owners. Fireball Roberts was the qualifier for the pole position with a speed of 133.465 miles per hour (214.791 km/h).[2] He would eventually blow a tire on lap 232; causing him to crash and lose the lead.[5] There were fifty drivers who would ultimately participate in this event; all of them were American-born males.[2]

Fred Lorenzen would earn the event's last-place finish for a vibration problem that he developed on lap 4; earning only $200 for that day ($1,363.25 when adjusted for inflation).[2][6] Lowe's was one of the corporate sponsors of this racing event;[2] they still sponsor NASCAR to this very day through frequent Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson.

Top ten finishers

Pos[2] Grid No. Driver Manufacturer Laps Winnings Laps led
1 3 21 Speedy Thompson Ford 267 $12,710 44
2 21 43 Richard Petty Plymouth 266 $5,550 0
3 11 11 Ned Jarrett Ford 266 $3,275 13
4 6 5 Bobby Johns Pontiac 265 $2,880 0
5 14 27 Junior Johnson Pontiac 265 $1,855 0
6 4 4 Rex White Chevrolet 265 $2,050 0
7 9 85 Emanuel Zervakis Chevrolet 263 $1,100 0
8 7 44 Jim Paschal Pontiac 261 $920 0
9 30 59 Tom Pistone Pontiac 260 $700 0
10 17 94 Banjo Matthews Ford 259 $725 0

Timeline

Fireball Roberts
Jack Smith
Fireball Roberts
Speedy Thompson
Fireball Roberts
Ned Jarrett
Larry Frank
Fireball Roberts
Speedy Thompson
1
11
21
31
41
51
61
71
81
91
101
111
121
131
141
151
161
171
181
191
201
211
221
231
241
251
261

References

  1. "1960 National 400 weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "1960 National 400 information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2011-02-18.
  3. "1960 National 400 additional track information". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved 2011-02-18.
  4. "1960 National 400 information (exact comparison between Petty and Thompson)". Racin' Today. Retrieved 2011-02-18.
  5. "1960 National 400 information (second reference)". How Stuff Works. Retrieved 2011-02-18.
  6. "About the last-place finisher of the 1960 National 400". Everything Stock Car. Retrieved 2011-02-18.
Preceded by
1960 Wilkes 320
NASCAR Grand National Series Season
1960
Succeeded by
1960 Capital City 200
Preceded by
none
National 400 races
1960
Succeeded by
1961
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/23/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.