1965 Southern 500
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 45 of 55 in the 1965 NASCAR Grand National Series season | |||
 Map of the Darlington Raceway | |||
| Date | September 6, 1965 | ||
| Location | Darlington Raceway (Darlington, South Carolina, USA) | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 1.375 mi (2.212 km) | ||
| Distance | 364 laps, 500.5 mi (805.4 km) | ||
| Weather | Temperatures reaching up to 81 °F (27 °C); wind speeds up to 13 miles per hour (21 km/h)[1] | ||
| Average speed | 115.878 miles per hour (186.488 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Junior Johnson | Junior Johnson & Associates | |
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Darel Dieringer | Bud Moore Engineering | |
| Laps | 199 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 86 |
Ned Jarrett |
Bondy Long | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ABC (tape-delay basis) | ||
| Announcers | Jim McKay | ||
The 1965 Southern 500 was a NASCAR Grand National (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 6, 1965, at Darlington Raceway in the American community of Darlington, South Carolina.
The race took four hours and nineteen minutes to complete with Ned Jarrett beating Buck Baker by a distance of fourteen laps and 19 laps over third and fourth place finishers: Darel Dieringer and Roy Mayne; which would remain a NASCAR record to this very day.
Summary
In mileage, the gap between Jarrett and Baker is the equivalent of 19.25 miles or 30.98 kilometres. Drivers who failed to qualify for this race were: Pee Wee Ellwanger (Dodge), Wendell Scott (Ford), Worth McMillion (Pontiac) and Bernard Alvarez (Ford).[2] By modern day standards, this race was considered to be a blowout. Every competitive car had problems with the exception of Jarrett's vehicle; even Buddy Baker's vehicle overheated on lap 123 and he was the odds-on favorite to win the race that day.
Jarrett would go on to claim his second NASCAR championship title after the November 7 race at the Dog Track Speedway in Moyock, North Carolina. While 44 cars would originally start the race, only 15 of them would survive until the end. Buren Skeen received fatal injuries in a crash on the second lap of the race and died a week later. Cale Yarborough would sail off the wall in an unrelated accident; he crashed with Sam McQuagg. Fortunately, seat belts managed to save both of their lives. Curtis Turner would be permitted to race after Bill France dropped his lifetime ban for promoting a trade union with NASCAR. Richard Petty did not race even though he stopped boycotting Chrysler and the Grand National Series.
Other notable names who participated included: Junior Johnson, LeeRoy Yarbrough, Elmo Langley, Wendell Scott, and Darel Dieringer. The winner would walk away with $21,060 while the last place winner would receive $750 in total winnings.[3]
Finishing order
- Ned Jarrett
- Buck Baker†
- Darel Dieringer*†
- Roy Mayne
- Buddy Arrington
- H. B. Bailey†
- Stick Elliott
- Frank Warren
- J. T. Putney
- Wendell Scott†
- Fred Lorenzen*
- Jimmy Helms
- Bob Derrington
- Paul Lewis
- Wayne Smith
- E. J. Trivette
- Bobby Johns*
- Don Hume
- Dick Hutcherson*†
- G. C. Spencer*
- Larry Hess*
- Jim Paschal*†
- Bud Harless*†
- Gene Black*
- Neil Castles*
- Elmo Langley*†
- LeeRoy Yarbrough*†
- Buddy Baker*
- Sam McQuagg*†
- Cale Yarborough*
- Bunkie Blackburn*†
- Earl Balmer*
- Doug Cooper*
- Junior Spencer*
- Curtis Turner*†
- Bobby Wawak*†
- Marvin Panch*
- Henley Gray*
- Tiny Lund*†
- Bud Moore*
- Bert Robbins*
- Buren Skeen*†
- Red Wickersham*
- Junior Johnson*
† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased
* Driver failed to finish race
References
- ↑ "1965 Southern 500 weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2012-09-02.
- ↑ "1965 Southern 500 information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2015-03-01.
- ↑ "1965 Southern 500 information". Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet. Retrieved 2012-09-08.
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| Preceded by 1965 Myers Brothers 250 |
NASCAR Grand National Series season 1965 |
Succeeded by 1965 Buddy Shuman 250 |
| Preceded by 1964 |
Southern 500 races 1965 |
Succeeded by 1966 |