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1956 Wilkes County 160

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1956 Wilkes County 160
Race details[1]
Race 10 of 56 in the 1956 NASCAR Grand National Series season
Date April 8, 1956 (1956-April-08)
Official name Wilkes County 160
Location North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Course Permanent racing facility
0.625 mi (1.00 km)
Distance 160 laps, 100 mi (160 km)
Weather Cold with temperatures approaching 51.1 °F (10.6 °C); wind speeds up to 19 miles per hour (31 km/h)
Average speed 71.034 miles per hour (114.318 km/h)
Attendance 7,500[2]
Pole position
Driver
A.L. Bumgarner
Most laps led
Driver Speedy Thompson Carl Kiekhaefer
Laps 97
Winner
No. 300A Tim Flock Carl Kiekhaefer
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1956 Wilkes County 160 was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Sprint Cup Series) event that was held on April 8, 1956, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

By the 1990s, NASCAR's top-level series became a media circus that only races at facilities that are worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Summary

The attendance at the race reached 7500 people[2] and the race was held in a matter of one hour, twenty-four minutes, and twenty-eight seconds.[2] There were 160 laps done on a .625 miles (1.006 km) mile dirt track with the total distance of the race being 100 miles (160 km) miles.[2] The average speed being 71.034 miles per hour (114.318 km/h)[2] and the pole position speed was considered to be 78.37 miles per hour (126.12 km/h).[2] Top ten finishers of the race were: Tim Flock,[2] Billy Myers,[2] Jim Paschal,[2] Herb Thomas,[2] Ralph Moody,[2] Dink Widenhouse,[2] Allen Adkins,[2] Lee Petty,[2] Bill Blair,[2] and Whitey Norman.[2] Other notable racers included: Fireball Roberts,[2] Buck Baker,[2] Gwyn Staley,[2] Junior Johnson,[2] and Tiny Lund.[2] Dick Beaty (who finished twelfth place in the race) would go on to become the "top cop" in NASCAR decades later; passing a rule requiring vehicles to "pass to the right" on the restart.[3]

Out of the twenty-nine competitors for this race, there were thirteen race car drivers that failed to finish – leaving sixteen drivers that ended up competing the entire 160 laps (100 miles) of the race.[2] The most common problem was the piston (which occurred in two different drivers).[2] After racing, the top prize was $1,100 ($12,327.54 when considering inflation) and the prize for last place was $0.[2] Due to the niche status of the sport at that time, this event was completely untelevised and could only be seen either live or through local radio. NASCAR's then-current prize structure only gave out monetary rewards from first place to twentieth place; all other finishers did not receive any prize winnings at all.[2] This is in complete contrast to today where everybody gets more than $100,000 just because they qualified for race day. It is believed that the high prize winnings in addition to rising gasoline and electricity prices are to blame for today's NASCAR events being too expensive for most people to watch other than through live television coverage.

Several models of automobile participated in the race including: Ford (active), Chevrolet (active), Pontiac (defunct), Dodge (active), Mercury (active but not participating in racing), and Plymouth (defunct).[2] This was the only race for North Wilkesboro Speedway in the entire 1956 season.[3] Racing numbers in this era were not limited to double-digit numbers. There were a couple drivers with triple digit numbers and even a driver using the letter "X" as his race car number. Fortunately, this practice was discarded by NASCAR after the 1963 Sandlapper 200 where Frank Warren would take his single-lettered car to a 13th-place finish (after starting in 18th).

Finishing order

  1. Tim Flock† (first victory for Chrysler at this track[3])
  2. Billy Myers† (less than 1 lap behind – highest winning Mercury)
  3. Jim Paschal† (less than 1 lap behind)
  4. Herb Thomas† (less than 1 lap behind – highest winning Chevrolet)
  5. Ralph Moody† (1 lap behind – highest winning Ford)
  6. Dink Widenhouse (2 laps behind)
  7. Allen Adkins (2 laps behind)
  8. Lee Petty† (2 laps behind – highest finishing Dodge)
  9. Bill Blair (9 laps behind)
  10. Whitey Norman (10 laps behind)
  11. Buck Baker† (12 laps behind)
  12. Dick Beaty (13 laps behind)
  13. Ed Cole (15 laps behind)
  14. Tiny Lund (18 laps behind – highest finishing Pontiac)
  15. Gwyn Staley*† (26 laps behind)
  16. Ken Milligan (26 laps behind)
  17. Joe Eubanks*† (27 laps behind)
  18. Speedy Thompson*† (33 laps behind – also led the most laps)
  19. Rex White* (48 laps behind)
  20. John McVitty*† (58 laps behind)
  21. Dick Blackwell (58 laps behind)
  22. Jimmie Lewallen*† (67 laps behind)
  23. Lou Spears* (77 laps behind)
  24. Ralph Liguori* (115 laps behind)
  25. Fireball Roberts*† (122 laps behind)
  26. Johnny Allen* (138 laps behind)
  27. Bobby Keck*† (138 laps behind)
  28. Junior Johnson* (143 laps behind)
  29. Harvey Henderson* (147 laps behind)

* Driver failed to finish race
† Driver is deceased.

Timeline

  • Start of race: Junior Johnson started the race with the pole position
  • Lap 13: Engine troubles gave Harvey Henderson a last-place finish
  • Lap 17: A problematic piston ended Junior Johnson's hopes of winning the race
  • Lap 18: Speedy Thompson takes over the lead from Junior Johnson
  • Lap 22: Johnny Allen had a terminal crash
  • Lap 38: Driveshaft problems ended Fireball Roberts' race weekend
  • Lap 45: A tire came loose off Ralph Liguri's vehicle
  • Lap 83: Lou Spears' car managed to overheat itself, making him accept a 23rd-place finish
  • Lap 93: Jimmie Lewallen's engine gave up, forcing him to accept an less than stellar finish
  • Lap 102: John McVitty's fuel pump developed problems, causing him to leave the event
  • Lap 112: A frame came loose off Rex White's vehicle
  • Lap 115: Tim Flock takes over the lead from Speedy Thompson
  • Lap 127: Speedy Thompson suddenly had a faulty gas line in his vehicle, making him depart from the race early
  • Lap 133: Joe Eubanks had some troubles with his vehicle's axle, causing him to settle for a 17th-place finish
  • Lap 134: Gwyn Staley's vehicle developed transmission problems, forcing him out of the race
  • Finish: Tim Flock was officially declared the winner of the event

References

  1. ^ "1956 Wilkes County 160 weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z "1956 Wilkes County 160 information". Racing Reference. Archived from the original on 2009-10-08. Retrieved 2009-10-06. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ a b c "Additional 1956 Wilkes County 160 information". Save the Speedway. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
Preceded by Wilkes County 160 races
1955 		Succeeded by
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