1966 Buddy Shuman 250

1966 Buddy Shuman 250
Race details
Race 43 of 49 in the 1966 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season
Date September 9, 1966 (1966-September-09)
Location Hickory Speedway (Hickory, North Carolina, USA)
Course Permanent racing facility
0.400 mi (0.644 km)
Distance 250 laps, 100 mi (150 km)
Avg Speed 76.923 miles per hour (123.796 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Richard Petty Petty Enterprises
Most laps led
Driver David Pearson Cotton Owens
Laps 195
Winner
6
 David Pearson
 Cotton Owens
Television
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1966 Buddy Shuman 250 is a NASCAR Grand National Series event that took place on September 9, 1966 at Hickory Motor Speedway in the American community of Hickory, North Carolina.

Summary

David Pearson managed to defeat Richard Petty by at least one lap; clinching his first NASCAR championship in the process.[1][2]

There were 21 competitors in this race; all of them were American-born males.[1][2] 250 laps were finished on a dirt oval track in one hour and twenty five minutes.[1] Petty would qualify for the pole position with a top speed of 76.923 miles per hour (123.796 km/h) while the average speed of the race would only be 70.533 miles per hour (113.512 km/h).[1][2] Darel Dieringer would finish in last place due to an overheating engine on lap 3 out of 250.[1][2] The entire purse of the race would be a paltry $4,640 ($31,401.15 in today's money).[2] Pearson would receive $1,000 of it ($6,767.49 in today's money) while Dieringer would collect a meager $100 ($676.75 in today's money) along with seven other low-ranked finishers.[1]

Other notable names to make their appearance include Junior Johnson, African-American race car driver Wendell Scott, perennial underdog J.D. McDuffie, and future pace car driver Elmo Langley.[1][2] A crash would take Junior Johnson out of the race on lap 212.[1][2] Three changes for first place were made along with five caution flags for a distance of 14 laps.[1][2]

Finishers

  1. David Pearson
  2. Richard Petty
  3. Paul Lewis
  4. James Hylton
  5. Hank Thomas
  6. Wendell Scott
  7. Bobby Allison
  8. Clyde Lynn
  9. John Sears
  10. Bill Seifert
  11. Junior Johnson*
  12. Elmo Langley
  13. Henley Gray
  14. J.T. Putney
  15. J.D. McDuffie
  16. Paul Dean Holt*
  17. Buddy Baker*
  18. Buck Baker*
  19. Neil Castles*
  20. Tom Pistone*
  21. Darel Dieringer*

* Driver failed to finish race

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 1966 Buddy Shuman 250 at Racing Reference
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h 1966 Buddy Shuman 250 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet
Preceded by
1966 Southern 500		 NASCAR Grand National Series season
1966		 Succeeded by
1966 Capital City 300