1956 Southern 500

1956 Southern 500

Race details
Race 44 of 56 in the 1956 NASCAR Grand National Series season
Layout of Darlington Raceway
Date	September 3, 1956 (1956-September-03)
Location	Darlington Raceway Darlington, South Carolina, U.S.
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.375 mi (2.221 km)
Distance	400 laps, 500 mi (800 km)
Weather	Hot with temperatures reaching up to 89.1 °F (31.7 °C); wind speed up to 13 miles per hour (21 km/h)
Average speed	95.167 miles per hour (153.156 km/h)
Attendance	70,000
Pole position
Driver	Speedy Thompson	Carl Kiekhaefer
Most laps led
Driver	Curtis Turner	Charlie Schwam
Laps	225
Winner
No. 99	Curtis Turner	Charlie Schwam
Television in the United States
Network	WJMX (local AM radio)
Announcers	Local radio announcers

The 1956 Southern 500, the seventh running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Sprint Cup Series) event that was held on September 3, 1956 at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina.

This race was considered to be the "Labor Day Classic" for 1956; complete with a pre-race beauty pageant with a judging panel led by Fonty Flock and a parade down the front stretch of the race track.

By the 1990s, NASCAR's top-level series became a media circus that only races at facilities that are worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Background

Layout of Darlington Raceway, the track where the race was held.

Darlington Raceway, nicknamed by many NASCAR fans and drivers as "The Lady in Black" or "The Track Too Tough to Tame" and advertised as a "NASCAR Tradition", is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that will be effective at both ends.

The track is a four-turn 1.366 miles (2.198 km) oval. The track's first two turns are banked at twenty-five degrees, while the final two turns are banked two degrees lower at twenty-three degrees. The front stretch (the location of the finish line) and the back stretch is banked at six degrees. Darlington Raceway can seat up to 60,000 people.

Summary

There were 364 laps done on a paved track spanning 1.375 miles (2.213 km). It only took five hours, fifteen minutes, and thirty-three seconds for the race to reach its conclusion. Seven cautions were committed for seventy-eight laps and the margin of victory was more than two laps. Attendance was established at seventy thousand people; about the size of a typical modern day sporting event.

The average speed of the race was 95.167 miles per hour (153.156 km/h) while the pole speed was 119.695 miles per hour (192.630 km/h) and was achieved by Speedy Thompson. Seventy American drivers competed as the race entries; there were no foreigners in that race. Other notable drivers in the race included future car owner Junior Johnson, Joe Weatherly, Fonty Flock, Gwyn Staley, Fireball Roberts, Tiny Lund and Herb Thomas.

Bobby Myers fell out then drove in relief for Jim Paschal finishing in sixth place. Paschal, however got credit for the finish according to NASCAR's archives of race finishes. Larry Flynn made contact with Bill Brown during this race. Brown, sporting a very rare onboard (on the front bumper), flew over the wall, destroying the guardrail there, and rolled down the bank, and Flynn's gas can flew out. It was hit by someone and a fire started, which spread to the car. Luckily, seatbelts helped to save the lives of both Flynn and Brown.

Ten drivers failed to qualify for this race; two of them did not have an officially registered number with NASCAR authorities. Only one Pontiac and one Chrysler were too slow to compete in the 1956 Southern 500. The rest of the non-qualifying vehicles were Chevrolet, Ford, Dodge and Plymouth. Total winnings for the race was $35,365 ($307,809.69 when adjusted for inflation). Manufacturers involved in the event included Chevrolet (active), Ford (active), Dodge (active), Mercury (defunct after 2010), Plymouth (defunct), Chrysler (active), Pontiac (defunct), and Buick (active).

Finishing results

1. Curtis Turner† (led 225 laps and won the race)
2. Speedy Thompson† (led 14 laps)
3. Marvin Panch (led 39 laps)
4. Jim Reed
5. Paul Goldsmith (sponsored by Smokey Yunick's Best Damn Garage)
6. Jim Paschal† (led 32 laps)
7. Bill Amick†
8. Joe Weatherly
9. Bobby Johns
10. Pat Kirkwood†
11. Rex White
12. Tim Flock† (led 16 laps)
13. Roz Howard†
14. Johnny Patterson
15. Junior Johnson
16. Billy Myers
17. Lee Petty†
18. Harold Hardesty
19. Elmo Langley†
20. Shorty York
21. Bill Champion†
22. Possum Jones
23. Emanuel Zervakis†
24. Tiny Lund†
25. Johnny Allen
26. Buck Baker†
27. Jack Smith†
28. Billy Carden†
29. Bill Blair†
30. Sherman Utsman
31. Lou Spears
32. Brownie King
33. Joe Eubanks*† (highest ranked driver not to finish the race - gasket issues)
34. Allen Adkins
35. Tom Lupo
36. Gene Bergin
37. Ralph Liguori*
38. Frank Mundy*†
39. Harvey Henderson
40. Dick Beaty*
41. Judge Rider
42. Wade Fields
43. Bill Brown*
44. Larry Flynn*†
45. Johnny Dodson*
46. Blackie Pitt*†
47. Pat Grogan*
48. Clyde Palmer*
49. Herb Thomas*†
50. Parnelli Jones*
51. Fireball Roberts*† (led 34 laps)
52. Ray Hendrick*†
53. Bill Widenhouse*†
54. Dink Widenhouse*
55. Roy Bentley* (sponsored by Marion Cox)
56. Ken Love (lowest ranked driver to finish the race)
57. Ralph Moody*†
58. Fonty Flock*†
59. Danny Letner*
60. Don Oldenberg*
61. Bobby Myers*†
62. Bob Duell* (sponsored by Police Special)
63. Nace Mattingly*
64. Pee Wee Jones*
65. Gwyn Staley*†
66. Doug Yates*
67. Peck Peckham*
68. Russ Graham*
69. Jesse James Taylor*
70. Arden Mounts*†

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

Timeline

• Start of race: Marvin Panch officially began the event with the pole position
• Lap 2: Speedy Thompson took over the lead from Marvin Panch
• Lap 12: Piston troubles made Arden Mounts into the last-place finisher
• Lap 17: Tim Flock took over the lead from Speedy Thompson
• Lap 25: Jesse James Taylor's engine problems would force him to leave the race early
• Lap 26: Russ Graham had a terminal crash; forcing him to exit the race
• Lap 27: Gasket problems would force Peck Peckerham to exit the race
• Lap 33: Marvin Panch took over the lead from Tim Flock
• Lap 34: Curtis Turner took over the lead from Marvin Panch
• Lap 36: Tim Flock took over the lead from Curtis Turner
• Lap 39: Curtis Turner took over the lead from Tim Flock
• Lap 54: Doug Yates had a terminal crash; forcing him to exit the race prematurely
• Lap 57: Gwyn Staley had a terminal crash; ending his race weekend
• Lap 60: Throttle problems forced Pee Wee Jones to stop racing for the remainder of the race
• Lap 73: Engine problems managed to take Nace Mattingly out of the race
• Lap 96: Marvin Panch took over the lead from Curtis Turner
• Lap 101: Jim Paschal took over the lead from Marvin Panch
• Lap 132: Fireball Roberts took over the lead from Jim Paschal
• Lap 167: Curtis Turner took over the lead from Fireball Roberts
• Lap 169: Marvin Panch took over the lead from Curtis Turner
• Lap 202: Curtis Turner took over the lead from Marvin Panch
• Lap 264: Dick Beaty had a terminal crash; forcing him to exit the race
• Lap 300: The axle on Ralph Liguori's vehicle became problematic
• Lap 317: Joe Eubanks' vehicle managed to blow a gasket
• End of race: Curtis Turner was officially declared the winner of the event

References

Preceded by 1955

Southern 500 races 1957

Succeeded by 1957