1966 Southeastern 500

The 1966 Southeastern 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) race that took place on March 20, 1966 at Bristol International Speedway in the American community of Bristol, Tennessee.^[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

Five hundred laps were done on a paved oval track spanning 0.500 miles (0.805 km).^[2] The total time of the race was three hours, twenty-four minutes, and twenty-six seconds.^[2] There were seven cautions for 92 laps.^[2] Speeds were: 69.952 miles per hour or 112.577 kilometres per hour and 86.248 miles per hour or 138.803 kilometres per hour for the pole position speed (accomplished by David Pearson).^[2] Dick Hutcherson defeated Paul Lewis by outlapping him more than four times; resulting in Ford's 200th win.^[2]

Twenty-five thousand fans saw thirty-two drivers start a race that only seven would complete.^[2] Attrition levels were worse in this Bristol race than it is in the 2010 NASCAR Cup Series season; a rare instance where lower speeds on a track are more dangerous than faster speeds. By contrast, the 2010 Food City 500 would see an average speed of 79.618 miles per hour or 128.133 kilometres per hour and a pole position speed of 124.63 miles per hour or 200.57 kilometres per hour with only eight drivers not being able to complete the race.^[3]

The total winnings for the race were $21,735 in American dollars ($157,985.58 when inflation is taken into effect).^[2]

Finishing order

† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased
* Driver failed to finish race

References