1960 Atlanta 500

Last updated
1960 Atlanta 500
Race details [1]
Race 44 of 44 in the 1960 NASCAR Grand National Series season
1960 Atlanta 500 program cover and logo.jpg
1960 Atlanta 500 program cover
Date October 30, 1960 (1960-October-30)
Official name Atlanta 500
Location Atlanta International Raceway, Hampton, Georgia
Course Permanent racing facility
1.500 mi (2.400 km)
Distance 334 laps, 501.0 mi (804 km)
Weather Temperatures of 69.1 °F (20.6 °C); wind speeds of 15 miles per hour (24 km/h)
Average speed 108.408 mph (174.466 km/h)
Attendance 30,000 [2]
Pole position
Driver John Hines
Time 160.030 seconds
Most laps led
Driver Bobby Johns Cotton Owens
Laps 194
Winner
No. 5Bobby JohnsCotton Owens
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1960 Atlanta 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on October 30, 1960, at Atlanta International Raceway in Hampton, Georgia.

Contents

Background

Atlanta International Raceway (now Atlanta Motor Speedway) is one of ten current intermediate tracks to hold NASCAR races; the others are Charlotte Motor Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Homestead Miami Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Texas Motor Speedway. [3] However, at the time, only Charlotte and Darlington were built.

The layout at Atlanta International Speedway at the time was a four-turn traditional oval track that is 1.54 miles (2.48 km) long. [4] The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, and the back stretch are banked at five. [4]

Race report

The transition to purpose-built racecars began in the early 1960s and occurred gradually over that decade. Changes made to the sport by the late 1960s brought an end to the "strictly stock" vehicles of the 1950s.

Thirty thousand spectators would attend this live spectacle where Bobby Johns (in his 1960 Pontiac Catalina) would defeat Johnny Allen (in his 1960 Chevrolet Bel Air) by a distance of one lap. [2] [5] The late-season combination of Speedy Thompson and the Wood Brothers racing organization paid off as they managed to win their first two races. Thompson tried to win his third race in a row, but came up short as he finished in fourth-place; with Bobby Johns out-lapping him four times over. [2] [5]

Johns would acquire his only victory on a superspeedway in this race. This would also serve as his only victory in the 1960 NASCAR Grand National Series season. [2] [5] In the 1960 NASCAR Grand National Series points standings, Rex White would beat Richard Petty by a whopping 3,936 points. [6] It would completely shatter the record set by Lee Petty in 1959, but still wouldn't come close to the all-time record.

The race itself took four hours and thirty-six minutes to fully resolve 334 laps; with speeds averaging 108.408 miles per hour (174.466 km/h). [2] [5] Fireball Roberts would qualify for the pole position with a speed of 134.596 miles per hour (216.611 km/h). [2] The other top ten finishers were: Jim Paschal, Speedy Thompson, Rex White (officially declared the Grand National Champion that year [7] ), Lee Petty, Richard Petty, Joe Weatherly, Bob Welborn and Fred Lorenzen. [2] [5]

Bill Gazaway would receive the last-place finish for his collision involving the rear end of his 1960 Oldsmobile vehicle on the first lap of the race; [2] [5] giving him the shortest NASCAR Grand National Series career alongside Paul Norris and Rich Vogler. LeeRoy Yarbrough would make his first NASCAR career start here; finishing in 33rd due to a crash on lap 60. [2] [5] Eight notable crew chiefs participated in the event; including Bud Moore, Ray Fox, Leonard Wood and Cotton Owens. [8]

The record for the shortest NASCAR career would be broken in 1990 by Rich Vogler. He qualified for a 1990 race at Pocono, but he died the night before the race. He was given a 40th-place finish and a "Did Not Start", which means he completed zero laps. The fewest lead changes were committed here; this record would be officially tied with the 1961 Dixie 400 the following year.

Qualifying

GridNo.DriverManufacturerQualifying time [9] Speed [9] Owner
122 Fireball Roberts '60 Pontiac2:40.030134.975 John Hines
247 Jack Smith '60 Pontiac2:41.180134.012 Jack Smith
327 Junior Johnson '60 Pontiac2:41.810133.490 John Masoni
428 Fred Lorenzen '60 Ford2:44.660133.169 Fred Lorenzen
55 Bobby Johns '60 Pontiac2:44.660131.179 Cotton Owens
612 Joe Weatherly '60 Ford2:44.130131.603 Holman-Moody
794 Banjo Matthews '60 Ford2:44.070131.651 Banjo Matthews
84 Rex White '60 Chevrolet2:45.790130.285 Rex White
985 Emanuel Zervakis '60 Chevrolet2:45.960130.152 Monroe Shook
1090 Tiny Lund '60 Ford2:46.100130.042 Junie Donlavey

Timeline

Section reference: [2]

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References

  1. "1960 Atlanta 500 weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2011-03-11.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "1960 Atlanta 500 racing results". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2011-03-08.
  3. "NASCAR Race Tracks". NASCAR. Archived from the original on October 12, 2010. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  4. 1 2 "NASCAR Tracks—The Atlanta Motor Speedway". Atlanta Motor Speedway. Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "1960 Atlanta 500 racing results (third reference)". Race Database. Retrieved 2011-03-12.
  6. "NASCAR Grand National standings for 1960". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  7. "1960 NASCAR Grand National Series champion". How Stuff Works. Archived from the original on 2011-06-03. Retrieved 2011-03-11.
  8. "1960 Atlanta 500 crew chief information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2017-07-10.
  9. 1 2 "1960 Atlanta 500 qualifying results". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2017-03-03.