1968 Northern 300

1968 Northern 300
Race details
Race 29 of 49 in the 1968 NASCAR Grand National Series season

Trenton Speedway, featuring its "kidney bean" shape.
Date July 14, 1968
Location Trenton Speedway (Trenton, New Jersey)
Course Permanent racing facility
1.000 mi (1.609 km)
Distance 300 laps, 300 mi (500 km)
WeatherTemperatures reaching up to 82.9 °F (28.3 °C); wind speeds up to 9.9 miles per hour (15.9 km/h)[1]
Average speed 89.079 miles per hour (143.359 km/h)
Pole position
Driver LeeRoy Yarbrough Junior Johnson & Associates
Most laps led
Driver LeeRoy Yarbrough Junior Johnson & Associates
Laps 285
Winner
No. 98
 LeeRoy Yarbrough
 Junior Johnson & Associates
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers Ned Jarrett (radio commentary)

The 1968 Northern 300 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 July 14, 1968, at Trenton Speedway in the American community of Trenton, New Jersey.[2]

Summary

Three hundred laps were done on a paved oval track spanning 1.000 mile (1.609 km).[2] The total time of the race was three hours and twenty-two minutes; LeeRoy Yarbrough defeated David Pearson by more than one lap in front of 16800 people.[2][3] Speeds for the race were: 89.079 miles per hour (143.359 km/h) as the average and 103.717 miles per hour (166.916 km/h) as the pole position speed.[2] Five cautions were waved for twenty-eight laps.[2] Retired Canadian driver Frog Fagan participated in this race.[2] Total winnings for this race were $17,725 USD ($120,207.73 when considering inflation).

Bobby Allison was driving a 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle to this event. While he flourished early on as an independent race car driver, he quickly floundered after being able to compete against NASCAR racing legends like LeeRoy Yarbrough and David Pearson on a consistent basis.

Gene Black, Blaine Kauffman, and David Mote would end their top-level professional stock car careers at this event.[4]

Finishing order

  1. LeeRoy Yarbrough†
  2. David Pearson
  3. Bobby Allison
  4. Charlie Glotzbach
  5. Pete Hamilton
  6. James Hylton
  7. John Sears†
  8. G.C. Spencer†
  9. Elmo Langley†
  10. Clyde Lynn†
  11. Jabe Thomas
  12. Wendell Scott†
  13. Dick Johnson
  14. Bill Seifert
  15. Bill Champion*†
  16. Bobby Isaac*†
  17. Blaine Kaufmann*
  18. Darel Dieringer*†
  19. J.D. McDuffie*†
  20. Buddy Baker*
  21. Buck Baker*†
  22. Richard Petty*
  23. Earl Brooks*†
  24. Paul Dean Holt*
  25. Stan Meserve*
  26. Neil Castles*
  27. Don Tarr*
  28. Roy Hallquist*
  29. Sonny Hutchins*†
  30. Roy Tyner*†
  31. Gene Black*
  32. Ed Negre*
  33. Frog Fagan*
  34. David Mote*
  35. Bill Vanderhoff*
  36. George Davis*

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

References

  1. ↑ "1968 Northern 300 weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "1968 Northern 300 information (second reference)". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2011-03-02.
  3. ↑ "1968 Northern 300 information (winner information)". Everything Stock Car. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
  4. ↑ "Retirements from NASCAR". Race Database. Retrieved 2012-11-08.
Preceded by
1968 Fonda 200		 NASCAR Grand National Season
1968 		Succeeded by
1968 Volunteer 500