The inaugural Southern Five-Hundred (Southern 500 since 1951) was an automobile race held at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina on September 4, 1950, as part of the 1950 NASCAR Grand National. While the 1950 race was co-sanctioned by NASCAR and its rival Central States Racing Association, all subsequent Southern 500 races were hosted exclusively by NASCAR.[3]
It is NASCAR's first 500-mile race, and still holds status as one of NASCAR's premier events. Since there had never been a 500-mile stock car race and Darlington was NASCAR's first superspeedway, drivers and teams came to the event with unique strategies. Darlington set the precedent for race strategies to come at tracks like the Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
Background
The track at the time was a four-turn 1.25-mile (2.01km) oval.[4] The track's first two turns are banked at twenty-five degrees, while the final two are banked two degrees lower at twenty-three degrees.[4] The front stretch (the location of the finish line) and the backstretch is banked at six degrees.[4]
Harold Brasington was a retired racer in 1948, who had gotten to know Bill France, Sr. while competing against France at the Daytona Beach Road Course and other dirt tracks in the Southeast and Midwestern United States.[5] He began planning a new speedway after he noticed the huge crowds while attending the 1948 Indianapolis 500[5] and thought, "If Tony Hulman can do it here, I can do it back home."[5] Brasington bought 70 acres from farmer Sherman Ramsey and started making a race track from a cotton and peanut field.[5] However, he was forced to create an egg-shaped oval with one corner tighter, narrower, and more steeply banked because he promised Ramsey that the new track would not disturb Ramsey's minnow pond at the west side of the property.[5] Brasington was able to make the other turn at the east side of the property wide, sweeping, and flat as he wanted.[5] It took almost a year to build the track.[5]
Race report
Historical information
The Interstate Highway System would not begin construction until later in the decade; its heyday and prominence as an "American superhighway" for leisure and business travel did not kick in until the late 1960s when NASCAR first felt the need to expand outside its regional "shell" and into the national stage.[6]
Qualifying
More than 80 entrants showed up for the race.[5] Brasington used a two-week qualifying scheme and arranged the 75 cars in three rows of 25, similar to the Indianapolis 500.[7] During those two weeks of qualifications, locals could take their cars and try to qualify, unlike today where independent contract drivers used to run the races.
Drivers who failed to qualify for the race were Dorothy Shull, Bill Bennett, Lewis Hawkins, Pap White, Louise Smith, and Pat Sutton. The fastest qualifying speed was 82.034 miles per hour or 132.021 kilometres per hour by Wally Campbell, while the slowest was 74.637 miles per hour or 120.117 kilometres per hour by Bill Widenhouse.[2]Herb Thomas did qualify for the race beforehand; the car was on the grid until just before the race when it was repossessed, counting as an automatic withdrawal for Thomas.[2]
Pee Wee Martin and Bob Smith retired from professional stock car racing after this event. Byron Beatty, Walt Crawford, P.E. Godfrey, Bill Henson, Pete Keller, Jerry Kempf, Lee Morgan, Dick Soper, and Jack Yardley made their only NASCAR start in this event. Weldon Adams, Roy Bentley, Jack Carr, Gene Comstock, Gene Darragh, John DuBoise, Carson Dyer, Joe Eubanks, Johnny Grubb, J.E. Hardie, Tex Keene, Bub King, Virgil Livengood, Hub McBride, Hershel McGriff, Bill Osborne, Barney Smith, Rollin Smith, Jesse James Taylor, Charles Tidwell, Murrace Walker, Bill Widenhouse and Shorty York began their NASCAR career at this race and established the first generation of stock car drivers.[8]
Analysis
U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond was the official marshal for the 1950 Southern 500.[9][10]
The top prize for the race was $10,510 ($137,357 when adjusted for inflation) while the lowest prize was $100 ($1,307 when adjusted for inflation) for 72nd-75th place. Seventy-five cars competed in this era of relatively unregulated racing for a total of $25,325 in winnings ($330,976 when adjusted for inflation).[11] It is pretty incredible, especially for this era to see more than 50 cars out of the 75 starters were still running on lap 300 of 400.[11]
Gober Sosebee led the first four laps. Curtis Turner, the polesitter, then led until lap 22 before being wrecked out of the race on lap 275 with a significant amount of roof damage. After Turner lost the lead, Cotton Owens lead for 23 laps. After that, Mantz led to the finish. Mantz had taken advantage of an offer from Firestone to test a tire designed for asphalt stock car racing. While some cars used over 60 tires to go the remainder of the race, Mantz kept increasing his lead and won by over nine laps. The total time of the race was 6 hours, 38 minutes, and 40 seconds. The average speed was 75.250 miles per hour (121.103km/h) while the pole position speed was 82.034 miles per hour (132.021km/h). Two cautions lasted thirteen laps. Four hundred laps were done spanning 1.250 miles (2.012km). Most of the known DNFs in the race were caused by crashes, the worst of which involved drivers Tex Keene, Curtis Turner, and Jack Smith all rolling their cars over the course of the race.[11]
For the average car in the race, the tire load unleashed on the tires on the new, paved circuit was too much on the tires, whether it was a Firestone or a random dirt tire. A legend spread around that teams were so desperate to get new tires that they would steal the tires from parking lots and the infield from the spectators. The race is considered to be the first "tire disaster" in NASCAR history, with the next major tire disaster being the 1969 Talladega 500.[12]
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