1956 Old Dominion 400

1956 Old Dominion 400
Race details[1]
Race 54 of 56 in the 1956 NASCAR Grand National Series season

A map showing the layout of Martinsville Speedway
Date October 28, 1956 (1956-October-28)
Official name Old Dominion 400
Location Martinsville Speedway, Martinsville, Virginia
Course Permanent racing facility
0.500 mi (0.804 km)
Distance 400 laps, 200 mi (321 km)
Weather Cold with temperatures approaching 60.1 °F (15.6 °C); winds reaching up to approximately 8 miles per hour (13 km/h)
Average speed 61.136 miles per hour (98.389 km/h)
Attendance 9,500[1]
Pole position
Driver
Carl Kiekhaefer
Most laps led
Driver Jack Smith Carl Kiekhaefer
Laps 185
Winner
No. 402 Jack Smith Carl Kiekhaefer
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1956 Old Dominion 400 was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Sprint Cup Series) event that was held on October 28, 1956 at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia. As a NASCAR-sanctioned "Sweepstakes" race, sedan vehicles from the Grand National Series and stock convertibles from the NASCAR Convertible division raced side-by-side with other for the same amount of money and championship points.[2]

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.

Background

Martinsville Speedway is one of five short tracks to hold NASCAR races.[3] The standard track at Martinsville Speedway is a four-turn short track oval that is 0.526 miles (0.847 km) long.[4] The track's turns are banked at eleven degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at zero degrees. The back stretch also has a zero degree banking.[4]

Summary

Four hundred laps were done on a paved oval track spanning 0.500 miles (0.805 km) for a grand total of 200.0 miles (321.9 km).[1] The race took three hours, sixteen minutes, and seventeen seconds to complete thanks to four caution flags.[1] During the late 1950s, the admirable traits concerning NASCAR stock car drivers who were successful included broadly-defined shoulders and arms that were relatively large. These drivers generally were tougher competitors in 1956 than they are today due to the lack of technology that was inside the vehicles.[5] Forty vehicles would qualify to start this race; an incredible amount for the NASCAR Cup Series in its formative years.[6]

Nine thousand and five hundred stock car racing fans attended the live race to see Jack Smith win the race in his 1956 Dodge vehicle (beating thirty-nine other drivers in the process).[1] A Canadian named Norman Schihl participated in the race and finished in 23rd place.[1] Notable speeds were: 61.136 miles per hour (98.389 km/h) for the average speed and 67.643 miles per hour (108.861 km/h) for the pole position speed.[1] While some multi-car teams were present in the race, the majority of drivers had an owner that wasn't incorporated into a team.[7] Jack Smith officially became the fiftieth different driver to win what is now known as a Sprint Cup Series race.

Total winnings for this race were $11,739 ($102,173.84 when considering inflation). The winner of the race (Jack Smith) would receive the majority of the winnings with $2,264 ($19,705.39 when considering inflation) being awarded to him while last place finisher Jimmie Lewallen would walk away with only $100 ($870.38 when considering inflation).[1]

Larry Frank, Bill Lutz, Larry Odo, and Bill Poor would make their NASCAR debut in this racing event.[8]

Finishers

  1. Jack Smith†
  2. Marvin Panch
  3. Bill Amick†
  4. Speedy Thompson†
  5. Fireball Roberts†
  6. Joe Weatherly†
  7. Buck Baker†
  8. Bunk Moore
  9. Frank Mundy†
  10. Gwyn Staley†
  11. Jimmy Massey
  12. Paul Goldsmith
  13. Billy Myers
  14. Johnny Allen
  15. Bob Welborn†
  16. Don Oldenberg
  17. Bill Poor
  18. Bun Emery
  19. Larry Odo
  20. Tiny Lund†
  21. Lee Petty†
  22. Bobby Keck†
  23. Norman Schihl
  24. Art Brinkley
  25. Johnny Dodson
  26. Billy Rafter
  27. Bill Champion†
  28. Curtis Turner*†
  29. Bob Duell*
  30. Ralph Moody*†
  31. Jim Paschal*†
  32. Rex White*
  33. Glen Wood*
  34. Tom Pistone*
  35. Joe Eubanks*†
  36. Billy Carden*†
  37. Mel Carson*
  38. Larry Frank*†
  39. Bill Lutz*
  40. Jimmie Lewallen*†

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

Timeline

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Racing results at Racing Reference
  2. ↑ Additional information about the 1956 Old Dominion 400 at Ultimate Racing History
  3. ↑ "NASCAR Race Tracks". NASCAR. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
  4. 1 2 "NASCAR Tracks—The Martinsville Speedway". Martinsville Speedway. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
  5. ↑ General characteristics of the race winner and other 1950s NASCAR drivers at Legends of NASCAR
  6. ↑ Fantasy NASCAR Racing at Yolasite
  7. ↑ NASCAR stats for the 1956 Old Dominion 400 at Driver Averages
  8. ↑ NASCAR Cup Series debuts at the 1956 Old Dominion 400 at Race-Database
Preceded by
1956 untitled race at Cleveland County Fairgrounds		 NASCAR Grand National Series Season
1956 		Succeeded by
1956 Buddy Shuman 250
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