1966 American 500
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| Race details[1] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 49 of 49 in the 1966 NASCAR Grand National Series season | |||
| Date | October 30, 1966 | ||
| Official name | American 500 | ||
| Location | North Carolina Motor Speedway, Rockingham, North Carolina | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 1.000 mi (1.609 km) |
||
| Distance | 500 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km) | ||
| Weather | Chilly with temperatures reaching up to 69.3 °F (20.7 °C); wind speeds up to 8 miles per hour (13 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 104.348 miles per hour (167.932 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 35,000[2] | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Holman Moody | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Fred Lorenzen | Holman Moody | |
| Laps | 320 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 28 | Fred Lorenzen | Holman Moody | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | untelevised | ||
| Announcers | none | ||
The 1966 American 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Sprint Cup Series) event that was held on October 30, 1966 at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, 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
There were 43 American-born drivers on the grid along with Canadian-born driver Don Biederman.[2] Tiny Lund would finish in last place due to a clutch issue on lap 2 out of the 500 laps that were raced that day.[2][3] The race took nearly five hours to finish with Fred Lorenzen defeating Don White by more than four laps in front of a crowd of 35000 spectators.[2][3] Lorenzen would clinch the pole position with qualifying speeds reaching 116 miles per hour (187 km/h); with the average speed of the racing only being 11 miles per hour (18 km/h) slower.[2][3] There were 20 different lead changes and NASCAR had to wave the caution flag four times for a total distance of 35 laps.[2][3]
The other drivers in the top ten were: Ned Jarrett, Cale Yarborough, Junior Johnson, Buddy Baker, David Pearson, Jim Paschal, Donnie Allison, and James Hylton.[2][3] While NASCAR promoters kept luring Junior Johnson back to the Grand National Series for the betterment of the fans, he promptly declared his retirement after this race. Ned Jarrett retired because he and Junior Johnson were involved in the crash that killed Fireball Roberts at an earlier NASCAR race. They both received severe burns pulling Roberts out of the wreckage. The risk was greater than the reward at the time; given the relatively unregulated nature of NASCAR racing during the late 1960s.
Bobby Johns finished in 38th place due to a carburetor problem;[2][3] a practice discontinued since NASCAR adopted fuel injection in 2012. Tommy Bostick would make his only NASCAR appearance during this race.[3] The winner of the race would receive $14,550 of the total prize purse ($106,118 when adjusted for inflation) while the last-place finisher went home with a mere $500 ($3,646.67 when adjusted for inflation).[4]
References
- ↑ Weather information for the 1966 American 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 1966 American 500 racing information at Racing Reference. Accessed 2012-03-04. Archived 2012-03-06.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 1966 American 500 racing information at Race Database. Accessed 2012-03-04. Archived 2012-03-06.
- ↑ Prize information for the 1966 American 500 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet. Accessed 2012-03-04. Archived 2012-03-06.
| Preceded by | NASCAR Grand National Series Season 1966-67 |
Succeeded by 1967 Augusta 300 |
| Preceded by | American 500 races 1966 |
Succeeded by 1967 |
