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The 1956 Wilkes County 160 was a 160-lap race in the NASCAR Grand National Series (now Sprint Cup Series) that was held on April 8, 1956 at North Wilkesboro Speedway in the American community of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.[1] Summary The attendance at the race reached 7500 people[1] and the race was held in a matter of one hour, twenty-four minutes, and twenty-eight seconds.[1] There were 160 laps done on a mile dirt track with the total distance of the race being miles[1]. The average speed being [1] and the pole position speed was considered to be .[1] Top ten finishers of the race were: Tim Flock,[1] Billy Myers,[1] Jim Paschal,[1] Herb Thomas,[1] Ralph Moody,[1] Dink Widenhouse,[1] Allen Adkins,[1] Lee Petty,[1] Bill Blair,[1] and Whitey Norman.[1] Other notable racers included: Fireball Roberts,[1] Buck Baker,[1] Gwyn Staley,[1] Junior Johnson,[1] and Tiny Lund.[1] 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.[2] The three major corporate sponsors of that time were: C U Later Alligator,[1] Southeastern Dealers,[1] and Satcher Motors.[1] 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.[1] The most common problem was the piston (which occurred in two different drivers).[1] After racing, the top prize was $1,100 ($}} in today's money) and the prize for last place was $0.[1] 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.[1] This is in complete contrast to today where everybody gets more than $100,000 just because they qualified for race day. It is believe 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).[1] This was the only race for North Wilkesboro Speedway in the entire 1956 season.[2] 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). Results - Tim Flock (first victory for Chrysler at this track[2])
- Billy Myers (less than 1 lap behind highest winning Mercury)
- Jim Paschal (less than 1 lap behind)
- Herb Thomas (less than 1 lap behind highest winning Chevrolet)
- Ralph Moody (1 lap behind highest winning Ford)
- Dink Widenhouse (2 laps behind)
- Allen Adkins (2 laps behind)
- Lee Petty (2 laps behind highest finishing Dodge)
- Bill Blair (9 laps behind)
- Whitey Norman (10 laps behind)
- Buck Baker (12 laps behind)
- Dick Beaty (13 laps behind)
- Ed Cole (15 laps behind)
- Tiny Lund (18 laps behind highest finishing Pontiac)
- Gwyn Staley* (26 laps behind)
- Ken Milligan (26 laps behind)
- Joe Eubanks* (27 laps behind)
- Speedy Thompson* (33 laps behind also led the most laps)
- Rex White* (48 laps behind)
- John McVitty* (58 laps behind)
- Dick Blackwell (58 laps behind)
- Jimmie Lewallen* (67 laps behind)
- Lou Spears* (77 laps behind)
- Ralph Liguori* (115 laps behind)
- Fireball Roberts* (122 laps behind)
- Johnny Allen* (138 laps behind)
- Bobby Keck* (138 laps behind)
- Junior Johnson* (143 laps behind)
- Harvey Henderson* (147 laps behind)
* Driver failed to finish race
Driver is deceased. References
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