1963 Old Dominion 500

1963 Old Dominion 500
Race details
Race 48 of 55 in the 1963 NASCAR Grand National Series season

A map showing the layout of Martinsville Speedway
Date September 22, 1963
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 up to 73.9 °F (23.3 °C); wind speeds up to 17.1 miles per hour (27.5 km/h)[1]
Average speed 67.486 miles per hour (108.608 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Junior Johnson Fox Racing
Most laps led
Driver Fred Lorenzen Holman-Moody
Laps 421
Winner
No. 28
 Fred Lorenzen
 Holman-Moody
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1963 Old Dominion 500 is a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Sprint Cup Series, also formerly known as the Winston Cup Series and the Winston Cup Grand National Series) race that took place on September 22, 1963 at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia, U.S..

Summary

Possum Jones and Bobby Keck were the two drivers not to qualify for this event. The race was scheduled for 500 laps; taking three hours and forty-two minutes to complete. Fred Lorenzen defeated Marvin Panch by a single lap and two seconds. Twenty thousand people came to witness three lead changes and five cautions for eighteen laps. Junior Johnson won the pole position for this race; driving speeds up to 73.379 miles per hour (118.092 km/h) in qualifying. Speeds during the actual race managed to reach up to 67.486 miles per hour (108.608 km/h). Jimmy Massey became the last-place finisher after having to drop out prior to the race due to a terminal crash with Jimmy Pardue.[2] Most of the car owners that were involved in the race were independents and had no affiliation with a multi-car team.[3]

This race still holds the record for the fewest leaders in a NASCAR Cup Series race along with the 1961 Old Dominion 500, the 1965 Old Dominion 500 and the 1976 Old Dominion 500.[4] Individual winnings for this race were as low as $100 ($770.33 when adjusted for inflation) and as high as $3,800 ($29,272.39 when adjusted for inflation).[5]

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 anymore.

Top ten finishers

  1. Fred Lorenzen
  2. Marvin Panch
  3. Joe Weatherly
  4. David Pearson
  5. Richard Petty
  6. Billy Wade
  7. Fireball Roberts
  8. Nelson Stacy
  9. Jack Smith
  10. Buck Baker

References

  1. ↑ Weather information for the 1963 Old Dominion 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
  2. ↑ Race information about the 1963 Old Dominion 500 at Racing Reference
  3. ↑ Car ownership information at Driver Averages
  4. ↑ List of fewest leaders at Martinsville Speedway at CBS Sports
  5. ↑ Winnings information at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet
Preceded by
1963 Capital City 300		 NASCAR Grand National Series Season
1963 		Succeeded by
1963 untitled race at Dog Track Speedway
Preceded by
1962		 Old Dominion 500 races
1963 		Succeeded by
1964