Today in Nascar History September

[race crazy]

Today in Nascar History September 1st:

Winners on this date: Curtis Turner, Fonty Flock, Fireball Roberts, LeeRoy Yarbrough, Bobby Allison, Terry Labonte, Bill Elliott, Harry Gant, and Jeff Gordon (2 times).

September 1st, 1941: Lloyd Seay wins the 150 mile Championship race at Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta. Seay was Stock Car racing's first true superstar. The next day-September 2nd-Seay is shot to death by his cousin over a fight about the family moonshine business.



September 1st, 1952: Fonty Flock, driving comfortably in Bermuda shorts and a t-shirt, wins the 3rd annual Southern 500 at Darlington.



September 1st, 1958: Fireball Roberts wins the Southern 500 at Darlington. It is Fireball's 4th win out of the 7 starts he had made to this point in 1958.



September 1st, 1980: 2nd year driver Terry Labonte takes his first career Cup Series victory by winning the Southern 500 at Darlington.



September 1st, 1985: Bill Elliott takes his 10th win of the season in the Southern 500 at Darlington and a cool 1 million dollars for winning the inaugural Winston million dollar bonus-given to a driver if he could win at least 3 of Nascar's 4 biggest races in the same year-which Elliott did.



September 1st, 1996: Jeff Gordon takes his 3rd straight victory at Darlington and wins the Southern 500. Underdog Hut Stricklin leads the majority of the event, only to have overheating problems late in the race-allowing Gordon to take advantage.

[Alfordron]

I don't know if you want us commenting on your posts, but this is great stuff. Keep up the informative posts...Fireball, what a great name that was..lol

[race crazy]

yes comments are greatly appreciated-both good and bad-Im glad you enjoy it!

[race crazy]

Today in Nascar History September 2nd:

Winners on this date: Speedy Thompson, Fireball Roberts, Cale Yarborough (3 times), Harry Gant, Dale Earnhardt, Ward Burton, and Jimmie Johnson.

September 2nd, 1957: Speedy Thompson wins the Southern 500 at Darlington. It is the first Southern 500 to have an average speed of over 100 mph. Bobby Myers is fatally injured in a crash on the 28th lap :(



September 2nd, 1963: Fireball Roberts wins the Southern 500 at Darlington with a record average speed of 129.784 mph for the event. The race is run caution-free-to this point the only Southern 500 in history run without a yellow flag.



September 2nd, 2001: Ward Burton scores a popular win in the Southern 500 at Darlington. The underdog driver avoids the many wrecks that plague the event and pulls off the upset win.



September 2nd, 2007: Jimmie Johnson destroys the competition and scores the win in a dominating performance at California. Veteran driver Ricky Rudd makes his 900th career start-only to be injured in a multicar crash midway through the event.

[race crazy]

Today in Nascar History September 3rd:

Winners on this date: Herb Thomas, Curtis Turner, Larry Frank, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte, and Kasey Kahne.

September 3rd, 1951: A record 82 cars start the 2nd annual Southern 500 at Darlington. Herb Thomas wins the race in his Hudson Hornet.



September 3rd, 1962: Larry Frank is declared the winner of the Southern 500 5 hours after the race is completed. Junior Johnson had been flagged as the winner but a check of the scorecards by officials made them change their minds and they awarded the win to Frank-his first career series victory.



September 3rd, 1979: David Pearson-who is substitute driving for the injured Dale Earnhardt, wins his 3rd career Southern 500 at Darlington.



September 3rd, 2000: After starting 37th, Bobby Labonte uses the rain and a whole lot of luck to win the Southern 500 at Darlington. Labonte never leads a green flag lap, but he is out front when the rains come under a yellow flag, giving him the win.



September 3rd, 2006: Kasey Kahne holds off a late charge from the Fords of Mark Martin and Elliott Sadler to win at California.

[race crazy]

Today in Nascar History September 4th:

Winners on this date: Johnny Mantz, Nelson Stacy, Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, Bill Elliott (2 times), and Kyle Busch.

September 4th, 1938: Smokey Purser wins a 150 mile race contested on the Daytona Beach Road Course but is disqualified after he fails to allow his car to be inspected after the event.



September 4th, 1950: Johnny Mantz-a Californian, wins the inaugural Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina with a dominating performance. Mantz beats 2nd place finisher Fireball Roberts by 9 full laps to claim the biggest purse in Nascar history to that point-10,510 dollars.



September 4th, 1961: Rookie driver Nelson Stacy passes Marvin Panch late in the going to pull off an upset win in the Southern 500 at Darlington.



September 4th, 1978: Cale Yarborough takes his 4th career Southern 500 victory in the storied Labor Day weekend event at Darlington. Rookie Terry Labonte makes his Nascar debut, finishing a solid 4th in the race. Also-competitor D.K. Ulrich is suspended for the rest of the season after Nascar discovers illegal nitrous bottles in his car.



September 4th, 1994: Bill Elliott wins the Southern 500 at Darlington, ending a 52 race winless streak. It is Elliott's 40th career victory in the Cup Series.



September 4th, 2005: Talented rookie Kyle Busch, driving for Rick Hendrick, scores his first career Cup Series win in the 500 mile race at California. The race makes Busch the youngest ever winner in Cup Series history at a little over 20 years of age (this record was broken by Joey Logano earlier this year after his win in Loudon).

[race crazy]

Today in Nascar History September 5th:

Winners on this date: Gober Sosebee, Curtis Turner (2 times), Herb Thomas, Gwyn Staley, Buck Baker (2 times), Darel Dieringer, Bobby Isaac, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, and Elliott Sadler.

September 5th, 1948: Curtis Turner wins both races staged at North Wilkesboro in the same day. Turner starts from pole in the first race and dominates en route to the win. The field is inverted for the 2nd event but Turner passes everyone and goes on to make it 2 for 2.



September 5th, 1955: In only his 4th start back from serious injuries sustained at Charlotte in May, Herb Thomas wins the Southern 500 at Darlington in front of a packed crowd of 50,000.



September 5th, 1960: Buck Baker is declared the winner of the Southern 500 at Darlington. Rex White was flagged as the winner at first, but after a review of scorecards Nascar officials give the win to Baker. The race is a tragic event, as 3 crewmen lose their lives in the pit lane when Bobby Johns car careens into the backstretch pits :(



September 5th, 1977: David Pearson takes his 2nd straight victory in Darlington's Southern 500. After a wreck midway through the event-Cale Yarborough coins Darrell Waltrip's nickname "Jaws" after being taken out by him in the crash. (Jaws was the big movie at the time remember too ha)



September 5th, 1983: Bobby Allison withstands scorching heat to win his 4th Southern 500 at Darlington.



September 5th, 1993: Mark Martin wins the Southern 500 at Darlington. It is Martin's 4th straight Cup Series victory in a row.



September 5th, 2004: Elliott Sadler holds off the competition to score a popular win at California.

[race crazy]

Today in Nascar History September 6th:

Winners on this date: Herb Thomas, Junior Johnson, Ned Jarrett, David Pearson (2 times), Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, and Kasey Kahne.

September 6th, 1965: Ned Jarrett wins the Southern 500 at Darlington by an astonishing 14 laps over 2nd place Buck Baker. The margin of victory remains the largest to date in Nascar Cup Series history (and probably will forever).



September 6th, 1976: David Pearson beats Richard Petty to win the Southern 500 at Darlington. The win gives Pearson victories in each of the series 3 biggest races for 1976 (Daytona 500, World 600, Southern 500).



September 6th, 1982: Cale Yarborough wins Darlington's Southern 500 for a record 5th time by holding off Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty.



September 6th, 1998: Jeff Gordon wins the Southern 500 at Darlington along with the Winston No Bull 1 million dollar bonus. It is Gordon's 6th win in the last 7 races-continuing his amazing dominance in 1998.



September 6th, 2009: Kasey Kahne's short run car outduels Kevin Harvick's long run car for the victory in a short run at the end of the first ever Labor Day weekend night race held at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

[race crazy]

Today in Nascar History September 7th:

Winners on this date: Tim Flock, Lee Petty, Buck Baker (2 times), Fireball Roberts, Parnelli Jones, Jim Reed, Rex White, Bobby Allison (2 times), Buddy Baker, Neil Bonnett, Tim Richmond, Harry Gant, Ernie Irvan, Matt Kenseth, and Jimmie Johnson.

September 7th, 1947: The new Martinsville Speedway opens to a large crowd in Martinsville, VA. Red Byron wins the 50 lap race that is contested in rediculously dusty conditions on the new dirt oval.



September 7th, 1959: Jim Reed takes the win in the 10th annual Southern 500 at Darlington. It is also Goodyear Tire's first superspeedway victory.



September 7th, 2008: Jimmie Johnson beats Tony Stewart in a terrific late race battle to win the rain delayed race at Richmond.

(coolest trophy ever btw)

[race crazy]

Today in Nascar History September 8th:

Winners on this date: Herb Thomas, Lee Petty, Danny Graves, Rex White, Ned Jarrett, Richard Petty (3 times), Darrell Waltrip, Ricky Rudd, and Jimmie Johnson.

September 8th, 2001: Ricky Rudd and Kevin Harvick engage in an epic battle over the final 20 laps at Richmond-each of them trading swipes off of the others front bumpers. After almost being completely wrecked off of turn 2 by Harvick with 18 laps to go-Rudd runs Harvick back down and puts the bumper to the rookie-then goes onto win the event. (Boy as a huge Rudd fan I remember this one-one of my favorite races ever-wish I had video-Rudd should of crashed on the back with 18 to go-he was so sideways).



September 8th, 2007: Jimmie Johnson wins at Richmond, solidifying his strength going into the Chase as the defending champion from 2006.