Official name International 200 | ||
Date June 26, 1960 (1960-June-26) Location Bowman Gray Stadium, Winston-Salem, North Carolina Course Permanent racing facility
0.250 mi (0.421 km) Distance 200 laps, 50.0 mi (35.0 km) Weather Hot with temperatures approaching 90 °F (32 °C); wind speeds up to 15.9 miles per hour (25.6 km/h) | ||
The 1960 International 200 was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) event that was held on June 26, 1960, at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Contents
The transition to purposely-built racers began in the early 1960s and occurred gradually over that decade. Changes made to the sport by the late 1960s brought an end to the "strictly stock" vehicles of the 1950s; most of the cars were trailered to events or hauled in by trucks.
Background
Bowman Gray Stadium is a NASCAR sanctioned 1⁄4-mile (0.40 km) asphalt flat oval short track and longstanding football stadium located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It is one of stock car racing's most legendary venues, and is referred to as "NASCAR's longest-running weekly race track". Bowman Gray Stadium is part of the Winston-Salem Sports and Entertainment Complex and is home of the Winston-Salem State University Rams football team. It was also the home of the Wake Forest University football team from 1956 until Groves Stadium (later BB&T Field) opened in 1968.
Summary
It took one hour and five minutes to resolve two hundred laps of racing. The average speed of the race was 45.872 miles per hour (73.824 km/h) while Lee Petty would qualify for the pole position with a speed of 47.850 miles per hour (77.007 km/h). These speeds would be relatively slow on today's highway systems for passenger automobiles. Glen Wood managed to defeat Petty by half a lap in the actual race.
The foreign makes that participated in this race were the MG (as a part of Great Britain's now-defunct MG Cars) and the Triumph (as a part of Great Britain's now-defunct Triumph Motor Company). Smokey Cook would end up as the last-place finisher in a 1952 MG T-type.
Lowe's appeared as an official NASCAR sponsor for the first time in its history. Ten thousand and five hundred people appeared in person to watch this live untelevised race. This would be the 22nd race out of the 44 raced that year; making this race the official halfway point of the 1960 Grand National Series season.
Individual race winnings ranged from the winner's share of $1,125 ($9,107.56 when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's share of $140 ($1,133.39 when adjusted for inflation). NASCAR allowed the organizers of this event to give out a grand total of $4,755 for all the qualifying drivers ($38,494.64 when adjusted for inflation).
Finishing order
* Driver failed to finish race
† Driver is deceased