1965 Gwyn Staley 400

Last updated
1965 Gwyn Staley 400
Race details [1]
Race 11 of 55 in the 1965 NASCAR Grand National Series season
NorthWilkesboroSpeedwayMap.svg
North Wilkesboro Speedway
Date April 18, 1965 (1965-April-18)
Official name Gwyn Staley 400
Location North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Course Permanent racing facility
0.625 mi (1.005 km)
Distance 400 laps, 250 mi (402 km)
Weather Very hot with temperatures of 81 °F (27 °C); wind speeds of 18.1 miles per hour (29.1 km/h)
Average speed 95.047 miles per hour (152.963 km/h)
Attendance 8,000 [2]
Pole position
Driver
 Junior Johnson & Associates
Most laps led
DriverJunior JohnsonJunior Johnson & Associates
Laps 356
Winner
No. 26Junior JohnsonJunior Johnson & Associates

The 1965 Gwyn Staley 400 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on April 18, 1965, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

Contents

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.

Background

Through the 1960s and 1970s the NASCAR Grand National Series began focusing on bigger, faster, and longer tracks. Like other short tracks in NASCAR at the time, crowd capacity and purses were small compared to the larger tracks. Over time, Enoch Staley and Jack Combs attempted to keep the facility modern and on pace with the growth of the sport. The West Grandstand was rebuilt with chair-type seats rather than the old bare concrete slabs. New larger restroom facilities were built, and the South Grandstand was expanded. A garage facility was also built within the track, which at the time was rare for short-track venues. But the main focus was on keeping ticket prices affordable. Food and beverage prices were kept low, and event parking and camping were always free. As long as profits covered maintenance costs, Staley was satisfied with the income of the track.

In the Gwyn Staley 160 of 1960, Junior Johnson beat 21 other drivers for the pole position with a lap speed of 83.860 mph. Glen Wood overtook Johnson to lead the first lap, but Johnson had the race under control and led the next 145 laps. Lee Petty moved up from the eighth starting position to challenge Johnson late in the race. With 14 laps remaining, Johnson and Petty made contact. Johnson's car was sent spinning into the guardrail. Petty lead the final 14 laps to win his third straight race at North Wilkesboro. The crowd of 9,200 pelted Petty with bottles, rocks, and debris after his win; he had done their local hero wrong. When Petty took the microphone in Victory Lane to explain his side of the story, the crowd began jeering. Rex White finished second, and Wood placed third. Ned Jarrett finished fourth under the alias John Lentz.

The length of the fall race in 1960 was increased from its usual 160 laps / 100 miles to 320 laps / 200 miles, this it became known as the Wilkes 320. Speeds increased immensely from the previous record, 1.83 seconds quicker than any previous qualifying lap (86.806 to 93.399 mph). Rex White posted the fastest qualifying lap and dethroned Lee Petty from his three-race winning streak at North Wilkesboro. Junior Johnson finished about half a lap behind White in second place.

In the 1961 running of the Gwyn Staley 400, Junior Johnson recorded another pole, this time by 0.57 seconds better than the previous track record, with his qualifying time of 23.52 (95.660 mph). Johnson led all of the 62 laps he ran before transmission problems forced him out of the race. Fred Lorenzen led the next 61 laps until engine problems took him out of the running. And Curtis Turner led 56 laps before experiencing problems as well. 1960 Grand National Champion Rex White, who started on the outside pole, led the remaining 221 laps and won the race. Tommy Irwin started the race in sixth position and finished the Gwyn Staley 400 two laps behind White. Richard Petty followed in third place. Fireball Roberts, in a Pontiac owned by Smokey Yunick, finished fourth (ten laps down), and Johnny Allen, who crashed out of the race on his 387th lap, still finished in fifth place. Only 12 of the 25 cars that entered the race were running at the finish of the first 400-lap edition of the Gwyn Staley race.

In the 1963 Wilkes 400, Fred Lorenzen captured his third straight pole at the track by breaking his own record with a lap time of 23.30 seconds / 96.566 mph. Richard Petty entered the race in an attempt to become the first driver to win four consecutive races at North Wilkesboro. But he experienced engine problems and lasted only 45 laps into the race. Lorenzen led 58 laps, but came up short of victory, six seconds behind winner Marvin Panch. Panch did not start the 1963 season until halfway through because he had nearly lost his life in a crash while testing a Maserati at Daytona that February. Panch, in a Wood Brothers car, started third and led 131 laps in the race. Holman-Moody took the next three spots in the final rundown, with Lorenzen second, Nelson Stacy third, and Fireball Roberts fourth. Stacy started fourth and led 56 laps, while Roberts started from the outside pole and led the most laps with 155.

The track was repaved just prior to the Gwyn Staley 400 in 1964, and the resulting lack of traction wreaked havoc. Fireball Roberts, Buck Baker, Buddy Arrington, and G.C. Spencer all crashed through the wooden guardrail in the first and second turns in Saturday's practice and qualifying. Roberts was unable to start the race because his Ford had been so heavily damaged. Fred Lorenzen won the pole and led 368 laps on the way to the win.

Race report

The race would be finished with a time of two hours and thirty-seven minutes with speeds approaching 95.047 miles per hour (152.963 km/h). [2] Three cautions slowed the race for 7 laps. [2] Junior Johnson would beat Bobby Johns by seven seconds in front of 8,000 loyal spectators. [2] Johns still competed in NASCAR while being conscripted by the United States Army and serving near Columbia, North Carolina. [3]

The pole speed would end up being 101.033 miles per hour (162.597 km/h); this speed would be accomplished by Junior Johnson qualifying in a two-lap solo session. [2] This would be the eleventh race out of 55 races done in the 1965 season. [2] Ford vehicles would sweep the top five finishing spots because 74% of the racing grid were driving Ford Motor Company vehicles. [3]

Individual race earnings for this event ranged from the winner's share of $4,500 ($36,508 when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's share of $150 ($1,217 when adjusted for inflation). The total prize purse handed out by NASCAR officials was $15,950 ($129,402 when adjusted for inflation). [4]

Notable crew chiefs for this race were Don Snyder, Lanty McClung, Herb Nab, Mario Rossi, and John Ervin. [5]

Qualifying

Grid [2] No.DriverManufacturer
126Junior Johnson'65 Ford
228Fred Lorenzen'65 Ford
321Marvin Panch'65 Ford
429Dick Hutcherson'65 Ford
511Ned Jarrett'65 Ford
67Bobby Johns'65 Ford
767Buddy Arrington'64 Dodge
860Doug Cooper'64 Ford
917Junior Spencer'64 Ford
1023Buren Skeen'64 Ford
1153J.T. Putney'63 Ford
1256Bill Morton'63 Ford
1353E.J. Trivette'63 Chevrolet
1420Clyde Lynn'64 Ford
1531Cale Yarborough'63 Ford
1649G.C. Spencer'64 Ford
1781Frank Weathers'63 Dodge
1874Donald Tucker'64 Ford
1915Darel Dieringer'64 Mercury
2068Bob Derrington'63 Ford

Finishing order

Section reference: [2]

  1. Junior Johnson (No. 26)
  2. Bobby Johns (No. 7)
  3. Ned Jarrett (No. 11)
  4. Dick Hutcherson† (No. 29)
  5. Marvin Panch* (No. 21)
  6. Darel Dieringer† (No. 15)
  7. Fred Lorenzen (No. 28)
  8. G.C. Spencer† (No. 49)
  9. Tiny Lund† (No. 10)
  10. William Paul Lewis (No. 27)
  11. Wendell Scott† (No. 34)
  12. Junior Spencer (No. 17)
  13. Bub Strickler† (No. 37)
  14. E.J. Trivette (No. 52)
  15. Jabe Thomas† (No. 25)
  16. Gene Black† (No. 75)
  17. Bob Derrington (No. 68)
  18. Henley Gray (No. 97)
  19. Doug Cooper* (No. 60)
  20. Buddy Baker*† (No. 88)
  21. Clyde Lynn*† (No. 20)
  22. Roy Tyner*† (No. 9)
  23. Buck Baker*† (No. 87)
  24. J.T. Putney*† (#53)
  25. G.T. Nolen* (No. 80)
  26. Frank Weathers* (No. 81)
  27. Cale Yarborough* (No. 31)
  28. Bill Morton* (No. 56)
  29. Elmo Langley*† (No. 64)
  30. Buren Skeen*† (No. 23)
  31. Donald Trucker* (No. 74)
  32. Doug Yates* (No. 72)
  33. Buddy Arrington* (No. 67)
  34. Neil Castles* (No. 86)

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

Timeline

Section reference: [2]

Related Research Articles

North Wilkesboro Speedway Motorsport track in the United States

North Wilkesboro Speedway is a short track that held races in NASCAR's top three series, including 93 Winston Cup Series races. The track, a NASCAR original, operated from 1949, NASCAR's inception, until the track's closure in 1996. The speedway briefly reopened in 2010 and hosted several Stock Car Series races, including the now-defunct ASA Late Model Series, USARacing Pro Cup Series, and PASS Super Late Models, before closing again in the spring of 2011. The track is located on U.S. Route 421, about five miles east of the town of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. It measured 0.625 miles (1.006 km) and featured a unique uphill backstretch and downhill frontstretch.

The 1955 NASCAR Grand National season began on November 7, 1954, and ended on October 30, 1955. Even though the season was resolved in the course of two different years, all NASCAR personnel were allowed to have their traditional two-month silly season that traditionally comes between mid-November and mid-February. Tim Flock won the 1955 championship by a margin of 1508 over top of Buck Baker. This season was unusual because of its 11-month season. As the ninth season of the series now known as the Cup Series, most of the drivers involved were still the first-generation race car drivers. They did not have any ties to the stock car racing world through their parents or grandparents although some of them served in World War II prior to their NASCAR careers. However, the generation that would gain notoriety and fame through nepotism would emerge about ten years later. The average horsepower of a stock car competing the 1955 NASCAR Grand National season would be 230 horsepower.

1965 Daytona 500 Auto race run in Florida in 1965

The 1965 Daytona 500, the 7th running of the event, was held on February 14, 1965 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Fred Lorenzen, driving a 1965 Ford, won the race from fourth position in a two-hour-and-23-minute time span by Darel Dieringer by a full lap. There were 3 cautions flags which slowed the race for 43 laps. The race ended on lap 133 due to persistent rain. This was Lorenzen's first victory of the season.

1961 World 600 Auto race held at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1961

The 1961 World 600, the second running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that took place on May 28, 1961, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. Chris Economaki called the race in one of the few televised NASCAR races of the 1960s. A series of two qualifying events took place on May 21 to determine the starting grid for this event.

The 1961 NASCAR Grand National season was the 13th season of professional stock car racing in the United States, and contested over 52 events from November 6, 1960, to October 29, 1961. Ned Jarrett captured the championship which was run on 20 dirt tracks, 31 paved tracks, and one road course. Seventeen events were considered short tracks, and 14 events were held at super speedways. Joe Weatherly won the season opening's event at Charlotte, and Jarrett went on to capture the championship with 27,272 points; 830 more than second-place finisher Rex White. Emanuel Zervakis finished third in points, with Joe Weatherly fourth and Fireball Roberts fifth.

1967 Wilkes 400 Auto race held at North Wilkesboro Speedway in 1967

The 1967 Wilkes 400 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on October 1, 1967, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro.

The 1963 NASCAR Grand National Series was an American stock car racing competition. It was the fourteenth running of what is now called the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

1964 World 600 Auto race held at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1964

The 1964 World 600, the fifth running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that took place on May 24, 1964, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.

1965 Southern 500 Auto race held at Darlington Raceway in 1965

The 1965 Southern 500, the 16th running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on September 6, 1965, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina.

1964 Wilkes 400 Auto race held at North Wilkesboro Speedway in 1964

The 1964 Wilkes 400 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on October 11, 1964, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

1961 Wilkes 200 Auto race run in North Carolina in 1961

The 1961 Wilkes 200 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on October 1, 1961, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

1973 Gwyn Staley 400 Auto race held at North Wilkesboro Speedway in 1973

The 1973 Gwyn Staley 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing event that took place at North Wilkesboro Speedway on April 8, 1973, in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

1967 Gwyn Staley 400 Auto race held at North Wilkesboro Speedway in 1967

The 1967 Gwyn Staley 400 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on April 16, 1967, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

1964 Volunteer 500 Auto race held at Bristol Motor Speedway in 1964

The 1964 Volunteer 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on July 26, 1964, at Bristol International Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee.

1965 Atlanta 500 Auto race run in Georgia in 1965

The 1965 Atlanta 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on April 11, 1965, at Atlanta International Raceway in Hampton, Georgia.

1962 Dixie 400 Auto race held at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1962

The 1962 Dixie 400 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on October 28, 1962, at Atlanta International Raceway in Hampton, Georgia.

1976 Gwyn Staley 400 Auto race held at North Wilkesboro Speedway in 1976

The 1976 Gwyn Staley 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series stock car race held on April 4, 1976, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Contested over 400 laps, it was the seventh race of the 30-event 1976 season. Cale Yarborough of Junior Johnson Motorsports took his second win of the season, while Richard Petty finished second and Bobby Allison third. Benny Parsons left the event with the season points lead.

1979 Northwestern Bank 400 Auto race held at North Wilkesboro Speedway in 1979

The 1979 Northwestern Bank 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on March 25, 1979, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

1977 Wilkes 400 Auto race held at North Wilkesboro Speedway in 1977

The 1977 Wilkes 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that was held on October 2, 1977, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

1965 Wilkes 400 Auto race held at North Wilkesboro Speedway in 1965

The 1965 Wilkes 400 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on October 3, 1965, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

References

  1. ↑ "1965 Gwyn Staley 400 weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "1965 Gwyn Staley 400 information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
  3. 1 2 "Ford domination @ the 1965 Gwyn Staley 400/Bobby Johns' Army status". Save the Speedway. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
  4. ↑ "1965 Gwyn Staley 400 winnings information". Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  5. ↑ "1965 Gwyn Staley 400 crew chiefss information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
Preceded by
1965 Greenville 200 		NASCAR Grand National races
1965		Succeeded by
1965 Virginia 500
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.