1966 Southern 500
Encyclopedia
The 1966 Southern 500 was a NASCAR
Grand National Series race held on September 5, 1966, at Darlington Raceway
in Darlington
, South Carolina
, United States
.
LeeRoy Yarbrough
won the pole position with a qualifying speed of 140.058 miles per hour (225.4 km/h). Darel Dieringer
won the race from Richard Petty
in front of an audience of 28,000 people. There were 28 lead changes and 8 cautions for 80 laps, and the race lasted four hours and twenty-one minutes. This race was scheduled for 364 laps on a paved oval track spanning 1.375 miles (2.2 km), for a total distance of 500.5 miles (805.5 km). The average race speed was 114.83 miles per hour (184.8 km/h).
Junior Johnson
was disqualified just prior to the race for cheating. Bob Derrington
and Eddie MacDonald made their final NASCAR appearances.
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
Grand National Series race held on September 5, 1966, at Darlington Raceway
Darlington Raceway
Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed the "Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition"...
in Darlington
Darlington, South Carolina
Darlington is a city in and the county seat of Darlington County, in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of South Carolina. It is a center for tobacco farming. The population was 6,720 at the 2000 census and is part of the Florence Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Summary
A field of 44 drivers competed for a total purse of $67,960 ($ in today's money).LeeRoy Yarbrough
LeeRoy Yarbrough
Lonnie "LeeRoy" Yarbrough was a NASCAR racer. His best season was 1969 when he won seven races, tallied 21 finishes in the top-ten and earned $193,211...
won the pole position with a qualifying speed of 140.058 miles per hour (225.4 km/h). Darel Dieringer
Darel Dieringer
Darel Dieringer was a NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series driver.-Summary:...
won the race from Richard Petty
Richard Petty
Richard Lee Petty is a former NASCAR driver who raced in the Strictly Stock/Grand National Era and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series...
in front of an audience of 28,000 people. There were 28 lead changes and 8 cautions for 80 laps, and the race lasted four hours and twenty-one minutes. This race was scheduled for 364 laps on a paved oval track spanning 1.375 miles (2.2 km), for a total distance of 500.5 miles (805.5 km). The average race speed was 114.83 miles per hour (184.8 km/h).
Junior Johnson
Junior Johnson
Robert Glenn Johnson, Jr. , better known as Junior Johnson, is a retired moonshiner in the rural South who became one of the early superstars of NASCAR in the 1950s and 1960s. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career before retiring in 1966...
was disqualified just prior to the race for cheating. Bob Derrington
Bob Derrington
Bob Derrington is a retired NASCAR Grand National Series race car driver whose career spanned from 1964 to 1966.-Summary:His average start was 20th place while his average finish was 15th. Derrington also earned three finishes in the "top five" and raced a distance of - the equivalent of 13,427 laps...
and Eddie MacDonald made their final NASCAR appearances.
Finishing order
- Darel Dieringer
- Richard Petty
- David Pearson
- Marvin PanchMarvin PanchMarvin Panch Marvin Panch Marvin Panch (born May 28, 1926, in Menomonie, Wisconsin, is a former NASCAR driver.-Early career:He started his racing career as a car owner in Oakland, California. One week, his driver did not show up, and he raced the car to a third place finish...
- Fred LorenzenFred LorenzenFred Lorenzen , nicknamed The Golden Boy, Fast Freddie, The Elmhurst Express and Flyin Freddy, is a former NASCAR driver active between 1958 and 1972. He won the 1965 Daytona 500. Lorenzen was born in Elmurst, Illinois.-Early career:Lorenzen first caught the car bug young, and had built his first...
- Jim PaschalJim PaschalJames Roy "Jim" Paschal, Jr. was a NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup driver. He won twenty-five races and twelve poles over his career. Elected to the "Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame" in 1977, he won the World 600 in 1964 and the 1967 Charlotte Motor Speedway...
- Dick HutchersonDick HutchersonDick Hutcherson was an American businessman and a former stock car racer. A native of Keokuk, Iowa, Hutcherson drove in NASCAR competition from 1964 to 1967. In 1965 he finished second in the overall NASCAR Drivers Championship and had nine wins...
- LeeRoy YarbroughLeeRoy YarbroughLonnie "LeeRoy" Yarbrough was a NASCAR racer. His best season was 1969 when he won seven races, tallied 21 finishes in the top-ten and earned $193,211...
- Sam McQuaggSam McQuaggSamuel "Sam" McQuagg was an American former NASCAR Rookie of the Year driver. He died of cancer on January 3, 2009 at the age of 73...
- G.C. SpencerG.C. SpencerG. C. Spencer July 9, 1925 in Owensboro, Kentucky – September 20, 2007 in Johnson City, Tennessee was a NASCAR driver who competed in 415 Grand National/Winston Cup races from 1958 to 1977...
- Cale YarboroughCale YarboroughWilliam Caleb "Cale" Yarborough , is a farmer, businessman and former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner. He is one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships...
- Paul LewisPaul Lewis (racing driver)Paul Lewis is a retired NASCAR Grand National Series race car driver whose career spanned from 1960 to 1968 while primarily driving a #2 Dodge vehicle owned by Mr. Bobby Allison-Summary:...
- Ned JarrettNed JarrettNed Jarrett is a retired race car driver and two-time NASCAR champion.Jarrett was best known for his calm demeanor, and he became known as "Gentleman Ned Jarrett", yet he was an intense competitor when he put his two hands on the steering wheel of a NASCAR Grand National stock car...
- Curtis TurnerCurtis TurnerCurtis Turner was an early NASCAR driver. In addition to his success in racing, he made a fortune, lost it, and remade it buying and selling timberlands. Throughout his life he developed a reputation for drinking and partying...
- James HyltonJames HyltonJames Harvey Hylton is a part-time race car driver. He is a two-time winner in NASCAR and competes in the ARCA RE/MAX Series,finishing 16th in points in 2006. He made headlines while attempting to qualify for the 2007 Daytona 500 at age 72...
- Paul GoldsmithPaul GoldsmithPaul Goldsmith is a motorcycle Hall of Famer, Motorsports Hall of Fame of America inductee and former USAC and NASCAR driver.- Motorcycle career :...
- H. B. BaileyH. B. BaileyHerring "H. B." Bailey was a NASCAR driver. He raced his #36 Pontiac part-time as an independent driver in the Grand National/Winston Cup series from 1962 to 1993 making 85 races over his career....
- Elmo LangleyElmo LangleyElmo Langley was a NASCAR driver and owner. Langley primarily used the number "64" on his race cars during his NASCAR career.-Racing career:...
- J.T. PutneyJ.T. PutneyJ.T. Putney ) was a former NASCAR Grand National Series race car driver who would accomplish 16 finishes in the "top five" in addition to 49 finishes in the "top ten." Herman Beam would become one of Putney's employers; guiding him to a seventh-place finish at the end of the 1965 NASCAR Grand...
- John Sears
- Larry HessLarry HessLarry Hess is a retired NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver whose career spanned from 1965 to 1969. His choice of vehicles ranged from a Ford to a Rambler and even the occasional Dodge vehicle.-Summary:...
- Henley GrayHenley GrayHenley Gray is a retired NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver whose career spanned from 1964 to 1977.-Summary:...
- Neil CastlesNeil CastlesNeil "Soapy" Castles is a retired NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series driver that participate from 1957 to 1976.-History:...
- Wendell ScottWendell ScottWendell Oliver Scott was an American stock car racing driver from Danville, Virginia. He is the only black driver to win a race in what is now the Sprint Cup Series. According to a 2008 biography of Scott, he broke the color barrier in Southern stock car racing on May 23, 1952, at the Danville...
- Bill ChampionBill ChampionBuford Billy Champion , is a retired American professional baseball player, a right-handed pitcher who played in 202 games in the Major Leagues from -. He would play for the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies.-External links:...
- Frank Warren
- Bunkie BlackburnBunkie BlackburnJames Ronald "Bunkie" Blackburn was a NASCAR racecar driver.-Career:Blackburn's father owned and operated the Fayetteville, North Carolina racetrack....
- Tiny LundTiny LundDeWayne Louis "Tiny" Lund was a NASCAR driver. He was ironically nicknamed "Tiny" due to his rather large and imposing size.-Background:...
- Friday HasslerFriday HasslerRaymond "Friday" Hassler was a NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series driver.-Summary:He made his debut in 1960 but only drove a handful of races per year until 1967 when he drove 21 of the 49 races for Red Sharp and finished 32nd in points. He improved to 27th for Sharp the next year and...
- Earl Balmer
- Blackie Watt
- Earl Brooks
- Buddy BakerBuddy BakerElzie Wylie Baker, Jr. , nicknamed "Leadfoot" or more famously Buddy, is a former American NASCAR racecar driver.-Early life:...
- Eddie MacDonald
- Stick Elliott
- Bobby AllisonBobby AllisonRobert Arthur Allison is a former NASCAR Winston Cup driver and was named one of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers. His two sons, Clifford Allison and Davey Allison followed him into racing, and both died within a year of each other....
- Bobby JohnsBobby JohnsBobby Johns is a retired American racecar driver.Johns raced in the NASCAR series in the 1956-1969 seasons, with 141 career starts. He had 2 wins among his 36 top ten finishes and finished the 1960 season 3rd in the points...
- Bob DerringtonBob DerringtonBob Derrington is a retired NASCAR Grand National Series race car driver whose career spanned from 1964 to 1966.-Summary:His average start was 20th place while his average finish was 15th. Derrington also earned three finishes in the "top five" and raced a distance of - the equivalent of 13,427 laps...
- Buddy ArringtonBuddy ArringtonBuddy Arrington is a retired NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup driver.- Biography :...
- Wayne SmithWayne SmithWayne Smith may refer to:* Wayne Smith , Australian politician* Wayne Smith , Jamaican Reggae musician* Wayne Smith , hockey player for the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL...
- Buck BakerBuck BakerElzie Wylie Baker Sr. , better known as Buck Baker, was an American race car driver.-Racing career:...
- Doug Cooper
- Jerry GrantJerry GrantJerry Grant , is a former driver in the USAC Championship Car series. He raced in the 1965-1977 seasons, with 54 career starts, including the Indianapolis 500 in 1965-1968, 1970 and 1972-1976...
- Jimmy HelmsJimmy HelmsJames H. Helms is an American soul singer.-Early days:Helms' first release "Ragtime Girl" was put out on Pye Records in 1963...