1969 World 600

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1969 World 600
Race details [1] [2]
Race 21 of 54 in the 1969 NASCAR Grand National Series season
Lowe's Motor Speedway.svg
Layout of Charlotte Motor Speedway
Date May 25, 1969 (1969-05-25)
Official name World 600
Location Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 2.414 km (1.500 miles)
Distance 334 laps, 501 mi (804 km)
Weather Very hot with temperatures of 84 °F (29 °C); wind speeds of 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h)
Average speed 134.361 miles per hour (216.233 km/h)
Attendance 75,000 [3]
Pole position
Driver
 Banjo Matthews
Most laps led
Driver LeeRoy Yarbrough Junior Johnson
Laps 274
Winner
No. 98 LeeRoy Yarbrough Junior Johnson
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1969 World 600, the 10th running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that took place on May 25, 1969, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.

Contents

Background

The race was held at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) asphalt quad-oval in Concord, North Carolina. The track, which opened in 1960, was built by Bruton Smith and Curtis Turner.

Qualifying

Grid [3] No.DriverManufacturerOwner
127 Donnie Allison '69 Ford Banjo Matthews
298 LeeRoy Yarbrough '69 Mercury Junior Johnson
317 David Pearson '69 Ford Holman-Moody Racing
421 Cale Yarborough '69 Mercury Wood Brothers
543 Richard Petty '69 Ford Petty Enterprises
622 Bobby Allison '69 Dodge Mario Rossi
76 Buddy Baker '69 Dodge Cotton Owens
830 Dave Marcis '69 Dodge Milt Lunda
999 Paul Goldsmith '69 Dodge Ray Nichels
1071 Bobby Isaac '69 Dodge Nord Krauskopf
1148 James Hylton '69 Dodge James Hylton
123 Neil Castles '69 Dodge Ray Fox
1314 Sam McQuagg '69 Plymouth Bill Ellis
1439 Friday Hassler '67 Chevrolet Friday Hassler
1567 Buddy Arrington '69 Dodge Buddy Arrington
1664 Elmo Langley '68 Ford Elmo Langley
1732 Dick Brooks '69 Plymouth Dick Brooks
1810 Bill Champion '68 Ford Bill Champion
1908 E.J. Trivette '69 Chevrolet E.C. Reid
2061 Hoss Ellington '67 Mercury Hoss Ellington

Race report

Four hundred laps were raced on the paved oval track spanning 1.5 miles (2.4 km). [3] After nearly four hours and thirty minutes of racing, LeeRoy Yarbrough defeated Donnie Allison by two laps [4] in front of 75000 spectators. The 16-lap difference between 2nd-place finisher Donnie Allison and 3rd-place finisher James Hylton was another notable feature of this event. [3] Five cautions would be waved for 45 laps along with 13 lead changes among eight different drivers. [2] [3] [4] LeeRoy Yarbrough would lead the race from lap 162 through lap 400; putting on a very strong performance to win the race.

There were 44 drivers in the race; racing for a total of $132,100 ($1,097,557 when considering inflation). [5] Ed Negre would get the last-place finish in Don Tarr's 1967 Chevrolet due to a transmission problem on the second lap. Don Tarr scored his best career finish of 6th place. [2] [3] [4] Allison would gain the pole position with a speed of 159.296 miles per hour (256.362 km/h) while the average race speed was 134.631 miles per hour (216.668 km/h). [3] [4] There was a 16-lap difference between 2nd-place finisher Donnie Allison and 3rd-place finisher James Hylton; showing the spectators that those two drivers did not have a similar set of racing skills. [3] [4]

Pearson's car rode the guardrail on a lap 13 crash. [3] His car came back on the inside of the racetrack but while riding the guardrail Pearson hit a flag pole. Dave Marcis would have a long career ahead of him after leading the laps in this race. However, this would be the final race for Gerald Chamberlain and Larry Hess. [4]

Eleven notable crew chiefs: Cotton Owens, Dick Hutcherson, Glen Wood, Banjo Matthews, Jim Vandiver, Dale Inman and Harry Hyde. [6]

Timeline

Section reference: [3]

Finishing order

Section reference: [3]

  1. LeeRoy Yarbrough
  2. Donnie Allison
  3. James Hylton
  4. G.C. Spencer
  5. Bobby Isaac
  6. Don Tarr
  7. Hoss Ellington
  8. Jabe Thomas
  9. Friday Hassler
  10. Elmo Langley
  11. Sonny Hutchins
  12. Buddy Young
  13. E.J. Trivette
  14. Roy Tyner
  15. J.D. McDuffie
  16. Buddy Baker
  17. Ed Hessert
  18. Bill Seifert
  19. Richard Petty
  20. Ben Arnold
  21. Cecil Gordon
  22. Buddy Arrington
  23. Cale Yarborough
  24. Earl Brooks
  25. Sam McQuagg
  26. Dave Marcis
  27. Paul Goldsmith
  28. Neil Castles
  29. John Sears
  30. Frank Warren
  31. Bill Champion
  32. Larry Hess
  33. Dick Brooks
  34. Roy Mayne
  35. Wendell Scott
  36. Dub Simpson
  37. Dick Johnson
  38. Gerald Chamberlain
  39. Richard Brickhouse
  40. Henley Gray
  41. Bobby Allison
  42. David Pearson
  43. John Kenney
  44. Ed Negre

References

  1. ↑ Weather information for the 1969 World 600 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
  2. 1 2 3 1969 World 600 at Database Racing
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1969 World 600 at Racing Reference
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 1969 World 600 at Race Database
  5. ↑ 1969 World 600 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet
  6. ↑ 1969 World 600 crew chief information at Racing Reference
Preceded by NASCAR Grand National Series season
1969		Succeeded by
Preceded by World 600 races
1969		Succeeded by
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