1964 World 600

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search

<templatestyles src="Module:Infobox/styles.css"></templatestyles>

1964 World 600
Race details[1][2][3]
Race 25 of 62 in the 1964 NASCAR Grand National Series season
The dangerous crash that hospitalized Fireball Roberts before he died of pneumonia 6 weeks later.
The dangerous crash that hospitalized Fireball Roberts before he died of pneumonia 6 weeks later.
Date May 24, 1964 (1964-May-24)
Official name World 600
Location Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina
Course Permanent racing facility
1.500 mi (2.414 km)
Distance 400 laps, 600 mi (965.5 km)
Weather Temperatures between 64.9 °F (18.3 °C) and 82.0 °F (27.8 °C); wind speed reaching a maximum of 10.10 miles per hour (16.25 km/h)
Average speed 125.772 miles per hour (202.410 km/h)
Attendance 66,311
Pole position
Driver
Burton-Robinson
Time 149.64 seconds
Most laps led
Driver Jim Paschal Petty Enterprises
Laps 126
Winner
No. 41 Jim Paschal Petty Enterprises
Television in the United States
Network CBS (through local affiliate WBTV)
Announcers local reporters

The 1964 World 600, the fifth running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that took place on May 24, 1964 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.

Background

Charlotte Motor Speedway is a motorsports complex located in Concord, North Carolina, 13 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina. The complex features a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend and the Sprint All-Star Race, as well as the Bank of America 500. The speedway was built in 1959 by Bruton Smith and Curtis Turner and is considered the home track for NASCAR with many race teams located in the Charlotte area. The track is owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) with Marcus G. Smith (son of Bruton Smith) as track president.

Summary

This race took place in the daytime because the lights for nighttime racing were not installed until 1992 (for the 8th NASCAR All-Star Race in its "modern day" history).

The race covered four hundred laps of a paved oval track spanning 1.500 miles (2.414 km). It took four hours, forty-six minutes, and fourteen seconds for the race to go from the first green flag to the checkered flag.[2][3] Seven cautions were given out by NASCAR officials for forty-eight laps.[2] Notable speeds were: 125.772 miles per hour (202.410 km/h) for the average speed and 144.346 miles per hour (232.302 km/h) for the pole position speed.[2][3] There was a live attendance of exactly 66,311 racing fans.[2][3] Miss Linda Vaughn was selected to be Pontiac's representative at this event; she was an adolescent during that time.[4]

Jim Paschal defeated Richard Petty by more than four laps.[2] Other notable drivers included: Ralph Earnhardt, Roy Tyner, Fireball Roberts, Elmo Langley, and Buddy Baker.[2][3] The top two finishers were teammates at Petty Enterprises (now Richard Petty Motorsports).[2][3] Jim Paschal would receive $24,785 ($189,105.3 when adjusted for inflation) in prize money after becoming the only driver to finish all 400 laps of the race.[2][3] Pete Stewart was rewarded with $600 ($4,577.9 when adjusted for inflation) for finishing only one lap; resulting in a last place finish.[2][3] Billy Wade started in pole position while the winner started in 12th place.[2][3]

Death of Fireball Roberts

Fireball Roberts ended up in a terrible crash in this race while trying to avoid Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett's crash on lap 7.[2][3][5] Roberts was sent to Charlotte hospital by a team of emergency paramedics.[5] While he was not seriously injured by the crash itself, Roberts was trapped when his ankle became pinned up from under the dashboard and caught by either the clutch or brake pedal.[5] The death would have occurred at the speedway if Jarrett hadn't pulled Roberts out in time.[5] Instead, he died in hospital on July 2 of that year; leaving behind a wife (Doris Roberts) and a young daughter (Pamela Jane Roberts Trivette).[5] Many fans could hear Roberts screaming "My God, Ned, help me! I'm on fire!" after being caught on fire because of the crash.[6]

Before the fatal accident, Roberts was going to announce his retirement from the NASCAR Cup Series after the race to work as a spokesperson for a beer company.[6] Fireball, as he was known to his racing fans and to his fellow drivers, was the first superstar of the superspeedway era.[6]

Doctors ultimately blamed his death on pneumonia and he spent the last 39 days of his life at Charlotte Memorial Hospital (now Carolinas Medical Center) in extremely critical condition.[6] The entire week from April 29 through May 1, 1964 ultimately became one of the darkest weeks in motorsports history as Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald were both killed in that year's Indianapolis 500. Actual home video footage of the accident was being recorded as the race occurred. The race was being televised by local CBS affiliate WBTV. Roberts' body was eventually delivered to his burial crypt in Daytona Beach, Florida.[6] One of the quotes that came in an earlier race sometime prior to his death was "I fear fire the most!"

A couple of inventions that would come as a result of Roberts' death would be the fire suit and a specialized fuel cell for racing, preventing drivers from racing in a T-shirt and jeans.[7] These inventions would first see notable usage at the 1964 Firecracker 400; just two days after Roberts' death.

Finishing order

<templatestyles src="Div col/styles.css"/>

  1. Jim Paschal†
  2. Richard Petty
  3. Rex White
  4. Fred Lorenzen
  5. Billy Wade†
  6. G.C. Spencer†
  7. Larry Frank†
  8. David Pearson
  9. Wendell Scott†
  10. Jack Anderson
  11. Curtis Crider†
  12. J.T. Putney†
  13. Darel Dieringer†*
  14. Worth McMillion†
  15. Doug Cooper†
  16. Roy Tyner†
  17. Bob Derrington†
  18. Bunkie Blackburn†*
  19. Paul Goldsmith*
  20. Buck Baker†*
  21. Bill McMahan*
  22. Ken Spikes*†
  23. Larry Thomas†*
  24. Jimmy Pardue†*
  25. Bobby Isaac†*
  26. LeeRoy Yarbrough†*
  27. Stick Elliott*
  28. Cale Yarborough*
  29. Marvin Panch*
  30. Roy Mayne*
  31. Ken Rush*
  32. Mark Hurley*
  33. Ned Jarrett*
  34. Junior Johnson*
  35. Fireball Roberts†*
  36. Buddy Baker*†
  37. Ralph Earnhardt†*
  38. Neil Castles*
  39. Jimmy Helms*
  40. Bob Cooper*
  41. Bud Harless†*
  42. Elmo Langley†*
  43. E.J. Trivette*
  44. Pete Stewart*

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

Timeline

  • Start of race: Jimmy Pardue has the pole position to begin the event
  • Lap 3: Bud Harless didn't race for long before his vehicle's engine couldn't handle the pressure anymore
  • Lap 5: Ralph Earnhardt ruined his engine
  • Lap 6: Buddy Baker managed to overheat his vehicle
  • Lap 11: Mark Hurley managed to bust his vehicle's transmission
  • Lap 28: The ignition on Ken Rush's vehicle stopped working
  • Lap 34: Bobby Isaac took over the lead from Jimmy Pardue
  • Lap 44: Paul Goldsmith took over the lead from Bobby Isaac
  • Lap 60: LeeRoy Yarbrough took over the lead from Paul Goldsmith
  • Lap 67: Paul Goldsmith took over the lead from LeeRoy Yarbrough
  • Lap 70: Jimmy Pardue took over the lead from Paul Goldsmith
  • Lap 80: Paul Goldsmith took over the lead from Jimmy Pardue
  • Lap 122: LeeRoy Yarbrough took over the lead from Paul Goldsmith
  • Lap 123: David Pearson took over the lead from LeeRoy Yarbrough
  • Lap 124: Buck Baker took over the lead from David Pearson
  • Lap 148: Paul Goldsmith took over the lead from Buck Baker
  • Lap 189: Fred Lorenzen took over the lead from Paul Goldsmith
  • Lap 223: Paul Goldsmith took over the lead from Fred Lorenzen
  • Lap 254: Fred Lorenzen took over the lead from Paul Goldsmith
  • Lap 275: Jim Paschal took over the lead from Fred Lorenzen
  • Lap 344: Darel Dieringer managed to blow his vehicle's engine
  • Finish: Jim Paschal was officially declared the winner of the event

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Preceded by NASCAR Grand National Races
1964		 Succeeded by
1964 Pickens 200
Preceded by World 600 races
1964		 Succeeded by
1965
Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=1964_World_600&oldid=715789894"