The time of the race was two hours, thirty-six minutes, and ten seconds with the average speed being 57.631 miles per hour (92.748km/h).[2] The pole position spot was chosen by a random drawing;[2] the rain that swept through the area had made the track far too muddy for qualifying sessions.[3] Brooks drew the pole and the race was then started under green-yellow. The cars paced for 24 laps to help pack the clay; Richard Petty took over the lead on lap 25 to help bring about true racing.
Those 24 laps were the only laps that Earl Brooks would lead in his NASCAR Grand National career.[2]
Background
In 1953, Richmond International Raceway began hosting the Grand National Series with Lee Petty winning that first race in Richmond.[4] The original track was paved in 1968.[5] In 1988, the track was re-designed into its present D-shaped configuration
The name for the raceway complex was "Strawberry Hill" until the Virginia State Fairgrounds site was bought out in 1999 and renamed the "Richmond International Raceway".
Bobby Allison broke a tie rod coming out of turn 4 on the 131st lap.[2] Similar to his wreck at Talladega 20 years later, Allison flipped down the front stretch, cleared a guard rail, smashed through a fence and came to rest near the scorers' table - a table at which his wife Judy was sitting. Fortunately, Bobby, Judy and others were OK.
Most of the team owners in this race were individuals rather than multi-car teams; as the case usually was with NASCAR races prior to the mid-1970s.[6]
Richard Petty would receive ($22,387 when considering inflation) $2,450 for winning the race while Don Biederman would be the lowest finishing driver (27th) to receive a prize bonus for $150 ($1,371 when considering inflation).[2] The drivers who finished 29th and 30th (last place) would not receive any prize money.[2] Total winnings for this race would be $11,610 ($1,019,861 when considering inflation).
Frog Fagan would make his official NASCAR Cup Series debut in this race.[7] Eleven thousand fans would see a race with eleven cautions for seventy-one laps and three hundred laps were completed on a track spanning 0.500 miles (0.805km).[2] J.P. Barthelette would serve as one of the crew chiefs in the race alongside Frankie Scott, Dale Inman and Bud Hartje. Their drivers were Dick Hutcherson, Wendell Scott, Richard Petty and James Hylton.[8]
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.
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.
