Elzie Wylie Baker Sr., better known as Buck Baker, was an American stock car racer. Born in Richburg, South Carolina, Baker began his NASCAR career in 1949 and won his first race three years later at Columbia Speedway. Twenty-seven years later, Baker retired after 1976 National 500.
James Roy Paschal, Jr. was a NASCAR Grand National Series and Winston Cup Series driver.
Jack Thomas Smith was an American stock car racer. He raced in the first NASCAR race, in 1949, and is a member of the NMPA Hall of Fame in Darlington, South Carolina.
Concord Speedway was a motorsports facility located in the town of Midland, North Carolina, southeast of Concord, North Carolina. The complex featured a 1⁄2-mile asphalt tri-oval and a 1⁄4-mile asphalt oval.
Robert "Bob" Joe Welborn of Denton was a NASCAR Grand National Series driver. He was named to NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers list in 1998. He won the final three NASCAR Convertible Division championships in 1956, 1957, and 1958.
The NASCAR Convertible Division was a division of convertible cars early in NASCAR's history, from 1956 until 1959, although the signature race for convertibles remained a Convertible Division race until 1962. Two remnants of the Convertible Division are still used in the NASCAR Cup Series today: the Bluegreen Vacations Duel and the Goodyear 400.
Emanuel Zervakis was an American NASCAR driver and team owner. He won two NASCAR Grand National Series races in his career, both in 1961. He later went on to own a part-time Cup team and a successful Busch Series team, receiving five Busch wins as an owner, four with Butch Lindley and one with Ricky Rudd.
Wilbur Rakestraw was an American racing car driver. He was born in Dallas, Georgia, into a family of racers. His career included racing in the SRE organization as well as the 11 NASCAR Grand National Series and 30 Convertible races. Rakestraw was known for his toughness and thoughtfulness of other drivers due to one incident at Lakewood Speedway in 1957 when he drove through a fence and into the infield lake to avoid T-boning another driver who had crashed in front of him. After he retired from racing, Rakestraw went to work as a mechanic and later became a service manager for a local grading company.
Possum Jones was a NASCAR Grand National driver.
Larry Frank was an American NASCAR Grand National Series driver. He is best known for winning the 1962 Southern 500.
Nelson Stacy was an American race car driver from Maysville, Kentucky. He won the 1958, 1959, and 1960 MARC Series championships. He also won four NASCAR Grand National Series races in 1961 and 1962, including the 1961 Southern 500 at Darlington Speedway and the 1962 World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
McCormick Field Raceway was a quarter-mile oval track constructed in 1956 built around the McCormick Field in Asheville, North Carolina after the town had lost its minor league team. The track hosted weekly stock car races, a pair of NASCAR Convertible Series, and one Grand National race.
Roswell Howard, Sr. was an American stock car racing driver. He competed in the NASCAR Grand National Series and the NASCAR Convertible Division in the 1950s and early 1960s, in addition to racing throughout the southeast, winning the 1957 MARC Southern Late Model Championship.
The 1957 Rebel 300 was a NASCAR Convertible Series race in Darlington, South Carolina on May 12, 1957. While the Rebel 300 was originally a convertible race, it eventually became absorbed into what is now known as the NASCAR Cup Series. From a lineal historical standpoint, this race is the first in the lineal history of the current Darlington Cup race since 2005, the Southern 500.
Bowman Gray Stadium is a NASCAR sanctioned quarter-mile asphalt flat oval short track and longstanding football stadium located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It is one of stock car racing's most legendary venues, and is referred to as "NASCAR's longest-running weekly race track". Bowman Gray Stadium is part of the Winston-Salem Sports and Entertainment Complex and is home of the Winston-Salem State University Rams football team. It was also the home of the Wake Forest University football team from 1956 until Groves Stadium opened in 1968. Bowman Gray Stadium was a popular venue for high school football in the 1970s and 1980s. Parkland and R.J. Reynolds High Schools shared Bowman Gray Stadium as their home field for high school football until the two schools built their own facility in 1994.
Bob "Brownie" King is a retired NASCAR Grand National Series driver. He drove in both the 1959 Daytona 500 and the 1960 Daytona 500. Prior to the creation of the Daytona 500, he drove multiple times in the NASCAR sanctioned Grand National race at the Daytona Beach and Road Course.
Fareed "Fred" Joseph Harb Jr. was an American stock car racing driver. The High Point, North Carolina resident made 144 NASCAR Grand National Series starts from 1955 to 1965, earning 13 top fives and 42 top tens. He raced in the NASCAR Convertible Division, making 24 starts.
The 1956 NASCAR Grand National Season began on November 13, 1955, and ended on November 18, 1956, lasting slightly longer than a full year.
