1952 Southern 500

1952 Southern 500
Race details
Race 25 of 34 in the 1952 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season

Date September 1, 1952 (1952-September-01)
Location Darlington Raceway (Darlington, South Carolina)
Course Permanent racing facility
1.250 mi (2.011 km)
Distance 500 laps, 500.0 mi (804.6 km)
Avg Speed 74.512 miles per hour (119.915 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Fonty Flock Frank Christian
Most laps led
Driver Fonty Flock Frank Christian
Laps 341
Winner
14
 Fonty Flock
 Frank Christian
Television
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1952 Southern 500 was a NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup Series) race that took place on September 1, 1952 at Darlington Raceway in the American community of Darlington, South Carolina.[1]

Summary

Seven cautions were waved for forty laps in front of 32,400 audience members.[1] The notable speeds were: 74.512 miles per hour (119.915 km/h) as the average speed and 88.550 miles per hour (142.507 km/h) as the pole position speed.[1] This race was constantly threatened to be postponed because of rain and was red flagged once because of actual rainfall.[2] It took six hours, forty-two minutes, and thirty-seven seconds for the race to reach its conclusion; Fonty Flock was the winner.[1] He would stop on the front straight, climb up on his hood and lead the entire crowd in singing his own version of the classic Southern American song Dixie.[2] Flock's uniform would consist of Bermuda shorts and argyle socks in addition to a pencil-thin moustache reminiscent of Clark Gable.[3][4]

Total winnings for this race were $23,855 ($197,381.37 in today's money).[5] Sixty-six divers competed; all of them were born in the United States of America.[1] Jim Paschal was the last place driver of the race; finishing in 66th with an engine problem on lap 18.[1]

Top forty finishers

  1. Fonty Flock (in his 1952 Oldsmobile 88)
  2. Johnny Patterson (in his 1952 Hudson Hornet)
  3. Herb Thomas
  4. Bub King
  5. Banjo Matthews
  6. Lee Petty
  7. Joe Eubanks
  8. Herschel Buchanan
  9. Buck Baker
  10. Ray Duhigg
  11. Jack Smith
  12. Rollin Smith
  13. Jimmy Thompson
  14. Speedy Thompson
  15. Lloyd Moore
  16. Joe Weatherly
  17. Buddy Shuman
  18. Keith Hammer
  19. Clyde Pittinger
  20. Pat Kirkwood
  21. Gene Comstock
  22. W.E. Baker
  23. Herb Fry
  24. Iggy Katona
  25. Dick Passwater
  26. Bill Miller
  27. Tony Bonadies
  28. Donald Thomas
  29. Bob Flock
  30. Erwin Blatt
  31. Ted Chamberlain
  32. Al Fleming
  33. Tim Flock
  34. E.C. Ramsey
  35. Dick Rathmann
  36. Al Conroy
  37. Coleman Lawrence
  38. Charles Wielder
  39. Rudy Hires
  40. Ralph Liguori

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "1952 Southern 500 information". Racing Reference. http://www.racing-reference.info/race/1952-25/W. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
  2. ^ a b "1952 Southern 500 information (weather/additional race reference)". Motor Racing Network. http://www.motorracingnetwork.com/Race-Series/NASCAR-Sprint-Cup/News/Articles/2002/08/Southern-500-The-Granddaddy-Of-Them-All.aspx. Retrieved 2011-02-21. 
  3. ^ "Fonty Flock's Racing Uniform @ the 1952 Southern 500". Georgia Racing History. http://georgiaracinghistory.com/2010/04/30/fonty-flock-made-number-14-successful/. Retrieved 2011-02-21. 
  4. ^ "Fonty Flock's Racing Uniform @ the 1952 Southern 500 (second reference)". Encyclopedia of Alabama. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1049. Retrieved 2011-02-21. 
  5. ^ "1952 Southern 500 information (total winnings information)". Stat Sheet. http://statsheet.com/nascar/races/1952-09-01-southern-500. Retrieved 2011-02-20. 
Preceded by
1951		 Southern 500 races
1952		 Succeeded by
1953