1956 Virginia 500

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1956 Virginia 500
Race details
Race 18 of 56 in the 1956 NASCAR Grand National Series season

Map of the track
Date April 25, 1956 (1956-April-25)
Location Martinsville Speedway (Martinsville, Virginia)
Course Permanent racing facility
0.525 mi (0.844 km)
Distance 500 laps, 262.5 mi (442.4 km)
WeatherTemperatures reaching an average of 67.7 °F (19.8 °C); wind speeds reaching an average of 11.16 miles per hour (17.96 km/h)[1]
Average speed 60.824 miles per hour (97.887 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Buck Baker Carl Kiekhaefer
Most laps led
Driver Speedy Thompson Carl Kiekhaefer
Laps 259
Winner
No. 502
 Buck Baker
 Carl Kiekhaefer
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1956 Virginia 500 is a NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup Series) race that took place on May 20, 1956 at Martinsville Speedway in the American community of Martinsville, Virginia.[2]

Five hundred laps took place on a paved oval track spanning 0.500 miles (0.805 km) for a grand total of 250 miles (400 km).[2] The time of the race was four hours and three minutes while there were seven cautions for twenty laps.[2] The average speed was 60.824 miles per hour (97.887 km/h) while the pole position speed was 66.103 miles per hour (106.382 km/h).[2][3] Compared to the top speed of today's passenger vehicles which is considered to be 99 miles per hour (159 km/h) in most makes and models, these stock cars were considered to be slow. Buck Baker defeated Speedy Thompson by half a lap.[2] Other notable drivers who participated in the race included Arden Mounts, Cotton Owens, Fireball Roberts, Tiny Lund, Paul Goldsmith, and Lee Petty.[2] The winning vehicle was a 1956 Dodge Coronet. Thirty-five American drivers dueled each other with no foreign-born competitors either in qualifying or the race itself.[2]

Twenty thousands fans were on hand to watch the race live.[2] The total winnings of the race was $10,275 ($88,224.14 in today's money).[3][4] Buck Baker received the lion's share with $3,100 in winnings ($26,617.5 in today's money).[2][3]

Results

  1. Buck Baker†
  2. Speedy Thompson†
  3. Lee Petty†
  4. Paul Goldsmith
  5. Gwyn Staley†
  6. Rex White
  7. Sherman Utsman
  8. Billy Myers
  9. Jack Smith†
  10. Ralph Moody†
  11. Harvey Henderson
  12. Tiny Lund†
  13. Bobby Johns
  14. Reitzel Darner*
  15. Bobby Myers*†
  16. Fireball Roberts†
  17. Ray Chaike
  18. Pee Wee Jones
  19. George Cork
  20. Herb Thomas*†
  21. Pete Stewart*
  22. Arden Mounts†
  23. Don Carr*
  24. Fred Lorenzen (lowest finishing car to complete the race)
  25. Jim Paschal*†
  26. Blackie Pitt*†
  27. Cotton Owens*†
  28. Ted Cannady*
  29. Darvin Randahl*
  30. Tim Flock*†
  31. Johnny Allen*
  32. Joe Bill O'Dell*
  33. Bob Duell*
  34. Jim Rhoades*
  35. Ralph Liguori*

† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased
* Driver failed to finish race

References

  1. ↑ "1956 Virginia 500 information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2011-08-26. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 "1956 Virginia 500 information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2011-01-17. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "1956 Virginia 500 information". Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet. Retrieved 2012-02-12. 
  4. ↑ "1956 Virginia 500 information (second entry)". Stat Sheet. Retrieved 2011-01-17. 
Preceded by
1955		 Virginia 500 races
1956 		Succeeded by
1957
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.