No. 3: 1950 Southern 500
In 1950 a wild idea was hatched: for the newly-formed NASCAR organization to hold a 500 mile endurance race in the heat of the South Carolina sun.
The event was meant to rival the Indianapolis 500, but run with stock cars on a much more narrow track to test the true ability of man and machine. This race would be called the Southern 500, and held nine years before the inaugural Daytona 500, it would lay the foundation for NASCAR to hold additional 500 mile events (and even later, a 600-mile event) in the future.
The entry list was as large as the buzz surrounding the massive event, with 80 cars entered. The pool was so massive that race organizers had to split qualifying into two weekends, similar to the old format for the Indianapolis 500.
75 competitors,including NASCAR greats and pioneers like Lee Petty, Fireball Roberts and Tim Flock, made up the starting grid, 25 rows deep and three cars across.
On Monday, Sept.4,1950 — with 25,000 in attendance — U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond gave the command and the inaugural Southern 500 officially began. The top share of the purse was small, only paying $10,510 to win and $100 to start, but it wasn’t the money that made these brave men strap into those cars — it was their love of racing and the thrill of the speed.
The pole position was won by Curtis Turner, who lead 22 laps in total but found trouble on lap 275 as his Plymouth rolled end over end, giving the lead to Cotton Owens for 23 laps.
For the final 102 circuits of the event, however, Johnny Mantz lead in his Hubert Westmorland Plymouth, driving to a commanding nine-lap lead over Fireball Roberts and laid claim to the first ever Southern 500 trophy in a race that took six hours, 38 minutes and 40 seconds to complete.
No. 2: 1997 Mountain Dew Southern 500
In 1997, R.J. Reynolds was at his wit’s end trying to figure out a way to rejuvenate his famed Winston Million program.
It had been 12 long years since any driver had taken home the big check for winning three of the sports four ‘majors’ (Daytona, Talladega, Charlotte and Darlington) in the same season, but this particular year, a driver who was quickly climbing the ranks of stock car racing’s top series finally did.
Jeff Gordon seemed to be the 90s’ master of Darlington, winning back-to-back Southern 500s in 1995 and 1996, and entered the 1997 edition with a shot at the Winston Million. His iconic No. 24 car was stout and his team even more so, as he would lead 116 of the 367 laps during the fateful day.
Winning the race, however, would not be so easy for the 1995 series champion — as Hall of Fame driver and past Southern 500 champion Bill Elliott and rising talent Jeff Burton were in pursuit of Gordon all race long.
Elliott would show fantastic pace for most of the event, leading 118 laps, but would start to fade away and finished fifth in the end while Burton went wheel-to-wheel with Gordon for the win.
On the final lap exiting turn four, the two were side by side for the race victory. At the last moment, Gordon door-checked Burton to slow his momentum and captured the flag by .144 of a second, claiming his third consecutive Southern 500 trophy and becoming just the second man in history to win the $1,000,000 check from Winston for his Grand Slam efforts.
No. 1 1985 Southern 500
The 1985 Southern 500 is not only most-remembered for a duel between two fierce rivals and even better friends; it spawned a career legacy and catapulted NASCAR to the top of the sports heap by creating auto racing’s first Million Dollar Man overnight.
That year, Bill Elliott was one of the top stock car drivers in all of the world, running second in points and winning both the Daytona 500 and the Talladega 500, meaning he had a chance to become the first driver ever to win the Winston Million coming into the Labor Day race that fall.
Elliott and Dale Earnhardt were the class of the field, leading 100 and 147 laps, respectively. Unfortunately for Earnhardt, his engine expired late in the race and dropped him out of contention, leaving NASCAR’s all-time most popular driver alone out front as he cemented his spot in the history books.
Elliott would win the race and the million dollar check, becoming the very first driver ever to accomplish this feat in the history of the sport and setting a benchmark that wouldn’t be touched for another 12 years.
The opinions expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Race Chaser Online, the Performance Motorsports Network, their sponsors or other contributors.
About the Writer
Rence Brown is Race Chaser Online’s West Coast-based correspondent, who currently resides in California and carries a deep passion for NASCAR, but is a follower of multiple forms of auto racing across multiple disciplines.
Brown, 23, is going back to school to pursue a journalism degree at Pierce College.
Email Rence at: [email protected]
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