1961 World 600

1961 World 600

Race details[1]
Race 24 of 52 in the 1961 NASCAR Grand National Series season
Layout of Charlotte Motor Speedway
Date	May 28, 1961
Official name	World 600
Location	Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.500 mi (2.414 km)
Distance	400 laps, 600 mi (965 km)
Weather	Mild with temperatures reaching up to 73 °F (23 °C); wind speeds up to 10.1 miles per hour (16.3 km/h)
Average speed	111.633 miles per hour (179.656 km/h)
Attendance	46,538[2]
Pole position
Driver	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises
Most laps led
Driver	David Pearson	John Masoni
Laps	225
Winner
No. 3	David Pearson	John Masoni
Television in the United States
Network	ABC
Announcers	Chris Economaki

The 1961 World 600, the second running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that took place on May 28, 1961 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. Chris Economaki called the race in one of the few televised NASCAR races of the 1960s. A series of two qualifying events took place on May 21 to determine the starting grid for this prestigious racing event.

This race began a streak of 1856 consecutive races where at least one of the drivers in the race was from North Carolina. The streak would come to an end after Dale Earnhardt, Jr. did not race in the 2012 Bank of America 500 at Charlotte after getting a concussion after the previous race at Talladega; Scott Riggs failed to qualify for that same race, and Mark Martin raced in Michael Waltrip's #55 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota instead of Brian Vickers for that same race.

Background

Lowe's Motor Speedway is a motorsports complex located in Concord, North Carolina, 13 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina. The complex features a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend and the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge, as well as the Bank of America 500. The speedway was built in 1959 by Bruton Smith and is considered the home track for NASCAR with many race teams located in the Charlotte area. The track is owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) with Marcus G. Smith (son of Bruton Smith) as track president.

Summary

Four hundred laps were done over a paved oval track spanning 1.500 miles (2.414 km) with a time of five hours, twenty-two minutes, and twenty-nine seconds.^[2] Seven cautions were done for fifty-seven laps with the result of David Pearson defeating Fireball Roberts by more than two laps for his first NASCAR Cup series victory.^[2] He and Richard Petty would both acquire wins in what is now called the Coca-Cola 600 (but in different years). There were fifty-five competitors; Cafe Burgundy, Daytona Kennel, and Holly Farms were the main sponsors for some of the drivers.^[2] Even though there were 55 cars in the event, only 19 vehicles were allowed to qualify during each pre-race qualifying session.

The average speed was 111.633 miles per hour (179.656 km/h) while the pole position speed was 131.611 miles per hour (211.807 km/h).^[2]

Attendance for this race was 46,538 people and the top prize was $24,280 ($192,266.24 when adjusted for inflation).^[2] The last place competitor received $200 ($1,583.74 when adjusted for inflation).^[2] Popular competitors for this race included: Ralph Earnhardt (who promised to be a very competitive driver early in the race), Ned Jarrett, Tiny Lund, Junior Johnson, Joe Weatherly, Richard Petty, and Roy Tyner. A terrible crash occurred in this race to driver Reds Kagle; he would lose a leg in this race and Charlotte Motor Speedway would lose 20 feet or 6.1 metres of steel guardrail in the process.^[2][3]

The race car drivers still had to commute to the races using the same stock cars that competed in a typical weekend's race through a policy of homologation (and under their own power). This policy was in effect until roughly 1975. By 1980, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power any more.

Finishing order

1. David Pearson (only car to finish on lead lap - raced with a 1961 Pontiac Catalina)
2. Fireball Roberts (also drive a 1961 Pontiac Catalina vehicle)
3. Rex White (highest finishing Chevrolet)
4. Ned Jarrett
5. Jim Paschal
6. Tiny Lund
7. Jack Smith
8. Bob Welborn
9. Junior Johnson (sponsored by Holly Farms)
10. Joe Weatherly
11. Ralph Earnhardt
12. Paul Lewis
13. Joe Eubanks (highest finishing Ford Galaxie vehicle)
14. T.C. Hunt (highest finishing Dodge)
15. Emanuel Zervakis
16. Lee Reitzel
17. Elmo Langley (highest finishing T-Bird)
18. Friday Hassler
19. Bobby Johns
20. Tommy Irwin* (highest ranking driver not to finish the race - driveshaft problems)
21. Bobby Waddell
22. Ed Markstellar
23. Doug Yates
24. Herman Beam
25. Wes Morgan
26. Buddy Baker*
27. Bob Burdick*
28. Banjo Matthews*
29. Tubby Gonzales*
30. Richard Petty*
31. G.C. Spencer (lowest finishing driver to finish the race - 75 laps behind)
32. Bob Barron*
33. Johnny Allen*
34. Reds Kagle*
35. Fred Lorenzen*
36. Roy Tyner*
37. Tim Flock (his final NASCAR Cup race before retiring^[4])
38. Ed Livingston*
39. Jimmy Pardue*
40. Curtis Crider*
41. Speedy Thompson*
42. Buck Baker*
43. Marvin Panch*
44. Curtis Turner*
45. Marvin Porter*
46. Nelson Stacy*
47. Jimmy Thompson*
48. Gene Stokes*
49. Jim Reed*
50. Roscoe Thompson*
51. Bobby Allison*
52. Joe Lee Johnson*
53. Larry Frank*
54. Doug Cox*
55. E.J. Trivette*

Note: ^* denotes that the driver failed to finish the race.

References

1. "Weather information for the 1961 World 600". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2012-09-05.
2. "Racing information for the 1961 World 600". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2012-09-05.
3. "Reds Kagle crashes in 1961 World 600 at Charlotte". Daily Motion. Retrieved 2012-09-06.
4. "Tim Flock's retirement". Race Database. Retrieved 2012-09-05.