1968 American 500

Last updated
1968 American 500
Race details [1]
Race 48 of 49 in the 1968 NASCAR Grand National Series season
Rockingham Speedway.svg
Layout of Rockingham Speedway
Date October 27, 1968 (1968-October-27)
Official name American 500
Location North Carolina Motor Speedway, Rockingham, North Carolina
Course Permanent racing facility
1.017 mi (1.636 km)
Distance 492 laps, 500 mi (804 km)
Weather Chilly with temperatures of 67.3 °F (19.6 °C); wind speeds of 9.9 miles per hour (15.9 km/h)
Average speed 105.06 miles per hour (169.08 km/h)
Attendance 32,000 [2]
Pole position
Driver
 Wood Brothers Racing
Most laps led
Driver Richard Petty Petty Enterprises
Laps 216
Winner
No. 43Richard PettyPetty Enterprises
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1968 American 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on October 27, 1968, at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, 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

North Carolina Motor Speedway was opened as a flat, one-mile oval on October 31, 1965. In 1969, the track was extensively reconfigured to a high-banked, D-shaped oval just over one mile in length. In 1997, North Carolina Motor Speedway merged with Penske Motorsports, and was renamed North Carolina Speedway. Shortly thereafter, the infield was reconfigured, and competition on the infield road course, mostly by the SCCA, was discontinued. Currently, the track is home to the Fast Track High Performance Driving School, [3]

Race report

There were 44 drivers who managed to qualify for this event. Only one foreigner was present – Australian-born driver Frank Gardner – would become the last-place driver due to an incident requiring a black flag on the first lap. He would become the "prototype" for Cup Series driver Marcos Ambrose even though Garnder would never run another Cup Series race after this one. Gardner's last-place finish within the confines of the American stock car world was eventually overshadowed by his championship victory at the 1968 British Saloon Car Championship while driving a European version of the Ford Escort Twin Cam. [4]

American-born driver Dexter Gainey would be black-flagged exactly forty laps later and would be disqualified as well. Wendell Scott would become the lowest-finishing driver to complete the event; albeit 191 laps behind the lead lap drivers. [2] Five hundred laps was raced at this event for a duration for four hours and forty-five minutes. Speeds on the track would reach around 105.06 miles per hour or 169.08 kilometres per hour for the entire course of this race. Thirty-two thousand spectators would witness another Richard Petty victory with him out-racing David Pearson by a time of fifteen seconds. LeeRoy Yarbrough would finish in third place, and two laps behind the top two finishers. [2] Petty was running an older chassis with current sheet metal because he could not get his 1968 vehicle to run on a super-speedway. Shortly after this race, his switch to Ford for 1969 was announced.

Cale Yarborough's solo qualifying performance of 118.677 miles per hour (190.992 km/h) would help him clinch the pole position for the event. While Yarborough and Bobby Isaac would dominate the opening laps of this event, the event ended up being a "Petty and Pearson" show for the final 100 laps. Glotzbach quit after he turned Bud Moore into the wall separating pit road from the racetrack on lap 59. Moore swerved to avoid a loose wheel on pit road and swerved into Glotzbach's path. Glotzbach was penalized a lap for the crash, so he parked the car. [2]

Individual race winnings for the drivers ranged from the winner's share of $17,075 ($143,691 when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's share of $515 ($4,334 when adjusted for inflation). The entire prize purse that was handed out to all the qualifying participants was $69,800 ($587,389 when adjusted for inflation). [5] Twelve notable crew chiefs were reported as participating in the race; including Jake Elder, Bud Moore, Glen Wood, Banjo Matthews, Dale Inman, Harry Hyde and Junior Johnson. [6]

Qualifying

Grid [2] No.DriverManufacturer
121Cale Yarborough'68 Mercury
217David Pearson'68 Dodge
371Bobby Isaac'68 Dodge
443Richard Petty'68 Plymouth
599Paul Goldsmith'68 Dodge
698LeeRoy Yarbrough'68 Ford
76Charlie Glotzbach'68 Dodge
814Bobby Allison'68 Plymouth
916Tiny Lund'68 Mercury
103Buddy Baker'68 Dodge
1122Darell Dieringer'68 Plymouth
121Pete Hamilton'68 Dodge
1327Donnie Allison'68 Ford
1491Don White'68 Dodge
1529Bud Moore'68 Ford
1684G.C. Spencer'68 Ford
1748James Hylton'68 Dodge
1875Butch Hartman'68 Dodge
194John Sears'67 Ford
2003Richard Brickhouse'67 Plymouth

Finishing order

Section reference: [2]

  1. Richard Petty
  2. David Pearson
  3. LeeRoy Yarbrough
  4. Tiny Lund
  5. Bobby Allison
  6. Don White
  7. James Hylton
  8. G.C. Spencer
  9. Richard Brickhouse
  10. Butch Hartman
  11. John Sears
  12. Friday Hassler
  13. Bobby Johns
  14. Bill Seifert
  15. Clyde Lynn
  16. Donnie Allison
  17. Bobby Isaac
  18. Earl Brooks
  19. Roy Tyner
  20. Walson Gardner
  21. Henley Gray
  22. Dick Johnson
  23. Jabe Thomas
  24. Dave Marcis
  25. Buddy Baker
  26. Cale Yarborough
  27. Wendell Scott
  28. Bill Champion
  29. Paul Goldsmith
  30. Tommy Gale
  31. Red Farmer
  32. Neil Castles
  33. Darrell Dieringer
  34. Pete Hamilton
  35. J.D. McDuffie
  36. James Sears
  37. Don Tarr
  38. Ervin Pruett
  39. E.J. Trivette
  40. Elmo Langley
  41. Charlie Glotzbach
  42. Bud Moore
  43. Dexter Gainey
  44. Frank Gardner

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References

  1. ↑ Weather information for the 1968 American 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Racing information for the 1968 American 500 at Racing Reference
  3. ↑ "Fast Track High Performance Driving School, Inc". Fasttrackracing.com. Retrieved 2012-07-16.
  4. ↑ Official list of BTCC champions Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine at British Touring Car Championship
  5. ↑ Racing information for the 1968 American 500 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet
  6. ↑ 1968 American 500 crew chief information at Racing Reference
Preceded by NASCAR Grand National Season
1968		Succeeded by
Preceded by American 500 races
1968		Succeeded by
Preceded by Richard Petty's Career Wins
1960-1984		Succeeded by
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