1955 LeHi 300

The 1955 LeHi 300 (known officially in NASCAR as 1955-40) was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Sprint Cup Series, also formerly known as the Winston Cup Series and the Winston Cup Grand National Series) racing event that took place on October 9, 1955, at Memphis-Arkansas Speedway in the American community of LeHi, Arkansas.^[2]

The race car drivers still had to commute to the races using the same stock cars that competed in a typical weekend's race through a policy of homologation (and under their own power). This policy was in effect until roughly 1975. By 1980, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power any more.

Summary

The 200-lap race took three hours and thirty-four minutes to complete in front of 8500 live spectators.^[2] Speedy Thompson defeated Marvin Panch^[3] by ¾ of a single lap.^[2] Ford would win their first race as a manufacturer since 1950. Fonty Flock earned the pole position with a speed of 100.390 miles per hour (161.562 km/h) while the winner of the race achieved a speed of 83.948 miles per hour (135.101 km/h).^[2] Jim Reed was disqualified from the race due to a flagrant violation of the rules and was given the last-place finish on lap 8.^[2] All of the 41 drivers on the racing grid were Caucasian American-born males.^[2] This was the 40th racing event out of the 45 done in the 1955 NASCAR Grand National Series season.^[2] The total amount of prize winnings that could have been earned from this racing event was $9,120 ($80,289.99 when adjusted for inflation).^[4]

Tiny Lund would make his career start during this event and would make $60 for his troubles ($528.22 when adjusted for inflation).^[2] Other drivers making their NASCAR Cup Series debut in this race included Johnny Allen, Bill Morton, Jim Murray, Norm Nelson, and Chuck Stevenson.^[5] A lot of drivers would make their grand exits from NASCAR after this race: this relatively long list included Floyd Curtis, Hooker Hood, Roscoe Rann and Leland Sewell.^[5] One-time race car drivers Bob Coleman, Al Hager, and Gene Rose would make their only NASCAR appearances during this race.^[5]

Even during the 1950s, it was unusual to see four cars fail to finish the race due to problems with the vapor lock. It occurs when the liquid fuel changes state from liquid to gas while still in the fuel delivery system. This disrupts the operation of the fuel pump, causing loss of feed pressure to the carburetor, resulting in transient loss of power or complete stalling. Restarting the engine from this state may be difficult. The fuel can vaporize due to being heated by the engine, by the local climate or due to a lower boiling point at high altitude.

Top ten finishers

1. Speedy Thompson – #297
2. Marvin Panch – #98
3. Jimmy Massey – #04
4. Tim Flock – #300
5. Bob Flock – #308
6. Buck Baker – #87
7. Jimmie Lewallen – #88
8. Ralph Liguori – #44
9. Dink Widenhouse – #B29
10. Bob Welborn – #49

Timeline

• Start of race: Tim Flock started the race with the pole position
• Lap 3: A piston located inside Ted Cannady's vehicle stopped working properly
• Lap 8: Jim Reed was disqualified from the race
• Lap 22: Russ Graham's vehicle overheated
• Lap 27: Dave Terrell had a terminal crash
• Lap 38: Gwyn Staley's fuel pump started acting funny; forcing him off the track
• Lap 43: Speedy Thompson takes over the lead from Tim Flock
• Lap 46: Johnny Mantz suddenly had problems with his vapor lock along with Joe Eubanks
• Lap 55: Billy Carden had a terminal crash
• Lap 63: Jim Murray's fuel pump was giving him problems
• Lap 65: Tiny Lund had a terminal crash
• Lap 123: Bill Morton had a terminal crash
• Lap 132: The rear end of Herb Thomas' vehicle fell off; forcing him to leave the event
• Lap 162: Norm Nelson's engine became problematic; causing him to exit the race early
• End of race: Speedy Thompson wins the race

References