1969 World 600

1969 World 500
Race details[1][2]
Race 21 of 54 in the 1969 NASCAR Grand National Series season

Layout of Charlotte Motor Speedway
Date May 25, 1969 (1969-May-25)
Official name World 500
Location Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina
Course Permanent racing facility
1.500 mi (2.414 km)
Distance 334 laps, 501 mi (804 km)
Weather Warm with temperatures approaching 84 °F (29 °C); wind speeds up to 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.

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 anymore.

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 accomplished on a paved oval track spanning 1.5 miles (2.4 km).[3] After nearly four hours and thirty minutes of racing, LeeRoy Yarbrough managed to defeat Donnie Allison by two laps[4] in front of 75000 live spectators.[3] Five cautions would be given out for 45 laps along with 13 lead changes amongst eight different competing drivers.[3][2][4] One of the most spectactular feats of this race would be when LeeRoy Yarbrough would lead the race from lap 162 through lap 400; putting on a very strong performance to win the race.[4]

There were 44 drivers in the race; each of them would be racing for a racing purse that had a grand total of $132,100 ($852,416.61 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.[3][2][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]

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]

Top twenty finishers

Timeline

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 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
Preceded by
1969 Tidewater 375		 NASCAR Grand National Series season
1969 		Succeeded by
1969 Macon 300
Preceded by
1968		 World 600 races
1969 		Succeeded by
1970
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