1959 Southern 500

1959 Southern 500
Race details
Race 36 of 44 in the 1959 NASCAR Grand National Series season

Layout of Darlington Raceway
Date September 7, 1959
Location Darlington Raceway (Darlington, South Carolina)
Course Permanent racing facility
1.375 mi (2.221 km)
Distance 400 laps, 500 mi (800 km)
WeatherTemperatures reaching up to 88 °F (31 °C); wind speeds up to 8.9 miles per hour (14.3 km/h)[1]
Average speed 111.836 miles per hour (179.983 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Fireball Roberts Jim Stephens
Most laps led
Driver Jim Reed Jim Reed
Laps 152
Winner
No. 7
 Jim Reed
 Jim Reed

The 1959 Southern 500 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) event that took place on September 7, 1959, at Darlington Raceway in the American community of Darlington, South Carolina.[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

It took four hours and twenty-eight minutes for the race to reach its full conclusion; Jim Reed defeated Bob Burdick by more than two laps; driving the famous 1957 Chevrolet to its third and final win at the Southern 500.[2] Seventy-eight thousand people attended this live race.[2] Notable speeds for this race were: 111.836 miles per hour (179.983 km/h) as the average speed and 123.734 miles per hour (199.131 km/h) per hour as the pole position speed.[2] Richard Petty would lead his first career laps here and Goodyear would get its first victory since re-entering racing. Today, Goodyear Eagle tires have the monopoly on all NASCAR racing series. Total winnings for this race were $51,990 ($420,608.6 when adjusted for inflation).[2]

Joe Caspolitch's ride was owned by the city of Florence, South Carolina. The city government bought the ride from Lee Petty in order to field Caspolitch in the race. Since then, not a single branch of the American government (federal, municipal, or state government) has claimed ownership or has attempted to claim ownership of a NASCAR vehicle.

While Richard Petty and Buddy Baker got their first state of superspeedway action at the 1959 Southern 500, this would be the first major race in NASCAR history where a person from the Northern United States would actually win by a good margin over a resident of the Southeastern United States.[3]

Top thirty finishers

  1. Jim Reed (his seventh and final NASCAR win)
  2. Bob Burdick
  3. Bobby Johns
  4. Richard Petty
  5. Tommy Irwin
  6. Jim Paschal
  7. Fireball Roberts
  8. Larry Frank
  9. Buck Baker
  10. Jimmy Thompson
  11. Shep Langdon
  12. Bill Champion
  13. Joe Caspolitch
  14. Speedy Thompson
  15. Charlie Cregar
  16. Herman Beam
  17. Rex White
  18. L.D. Austin
  19. Cotton Owens
  20. Lee Petty
  21. Bud Crothers
  22. Al White
  23. G.C. Spencer
  24. Earl Balmer
  25. Dick Blackwell
  26. Tiny Lund
  27. Cale Yarborough
  28. Jack Smith
  29. Marvin Panch
  30. Johnny Patterson

References

  1. ↑ "1959 Southern 500 weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2012-08-03.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "1959 Southern 500 racing results". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
  3. ↑ "Stars, Bars and Cars". Hemmings. Retrieved 2015-01-21.
Preceded by
1958		 Southern 500 races
1959 		Succeeded by
1960