1966 Buddy Shuman 250
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 43 of 49 in the 1966 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season | |||
| Date | September 9, 1966 | ||
| Location | Hickory Speedway (Hickory, North Carolina, USA) | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 0.400 mi (0.644 km) | ||
| Distance | 250 laps, 100 mi (150 km) | ||
| Weather | Temperatures reaching up to 82 °F (28 °C); wind speeds up to 7 miles per hour (11 km/h)[1] | ||
| Average speed | 76.923 miles per hour (123.796 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Richard Petty | Petty Enterprises | |
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | David Pearson | Cotton Owens | |
| Laps | 195 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 6 |
David Pearson |
Cotton Owens | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | untelevised | ||
| Announcers | none | ||
The 1966 Buddy Shuman 250 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)event that took place on September 9, 1966, at Hickory Motor Speedway in the American community of Hickory, North Carolina.
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
David Pearson managed to defeat Richard Petty by at least one lap; clinching his first NASCAR championship in the process.[2][3]
There were 21 competitors in this race; all of them were American-born males.[2][3] 250 laps were finished on a dirt oval track in one hour and twenty five minutes.[2] Petty would qualify for the pole position with a top speed of 76.923 miles per hour (123.796 km/h) while the average speed of the race would only be 70.533 miles per hour (113.512 km/h).[2][3] Darel Dieringer would finish in last place due to an overheating engine on lap 3 out of 250.[2][3] The entire purse of the race would be a paltry $4,640 ($33,726.85 when adjusted for inflation).[3] Pearson would receive $1,000 of it ($7,268.72 when adjusted for inflation) while Dieringer would collect a meager $100 ($726.87 when adjusted for inflation) along with seven other low-ranked finishers.[2]
Other notable names to make their appearance include Junior Johnson, African-American race car driver Wendell Scott, perennial underdog J.D. McDuffie, and future pace car driver Elmo Langley.[2][3] A crash would take Junior Johnson out of the race on lap 212.[2][3] Three changes for first place were made along with five caution flags for a distance of 14 laps.[2][3]
Timeline
- Start of race: David Pearson started the race with the pole position
- Lap 3: Darel Dieringer's vehicle overheated; causing him to exit the race
- Lap 14: Tom Pistone's vehicle overheated; making him withdraw from the event
- Lap 16: Junior Johnson takes over the lead from David Pearson
- Lap 20: Neil Castles's engine became problematic; ending his day on the track prematurely
- Lap 67: Buddy Baker's vehicle caught on fire; causing him to exit the rave early
- Lap 71: David Pearson takes over the lead from Junior Johnson
- Lap 212: Junior Johnson had a terminal crash; forcing him to withdraw from the race
- End of race: David Pearson wins the race
Finishers
- David Pearson
- Richard Petty
- Paul Lewis
- James Hylton
- Hank Thomas
- Wendell Scott
- Bobby Allison
- Clyde Lynn
- John Sears
- Bill Seifert
- Junior Johnson*
- Elmo Langley
- Henley Gray
- J.T. Putney
- J.D. McDuffie
- Paul Dean Holt*
- Buddy Baker*
- Buck Baker*
- Neil Castles*
- Tom Pistone*
- Darel Dieringer*
* Driver failed to finish race
References
| Preceded by 1966 Southern 500 |
NASCAR Grand National Series season 1966 |
Succeeded by 1966 Capital City 300 |