Official name National 400 | ||
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Date October 16, 1960 (1960-October-16) Course Permanent racing facility1.500 mi (2.410 km) Distance 267 laps, 400.5 mi (644.5 km) Weather Hot with temperatures reaching up to 82 °F (28 °C); wind speeds approaching 8.9 miles per hour (14.3 km/h) | ||
The 1960 National 400 was a Grand National Series stock car race that was held on October 16, 1960, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, 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
Around 29,166 spectators traveled to Charlotte Motor Speedway to watch the race. Located in Concord, North Carolina, Charlotte Motor Speedway is a banked 1.5-mile (2.4 km) quad-oval that opened a few months earlier for the inaugural World 600. Construction for the track began in 1959 with Bruton Smith and Curtis Turner as architects for the speedway.
Summary
Bob Barron and Friday Hassler would make their NASCAR Grand National debut appearances here. Charlie Glotzbach would also make his NASCAR big league debut at this race but to a much smaller fanfare.
It took three hours and thirty-two minutes to complete 267 laps on a paved oval track spanning 1.500 miles (2.414 km). Seven cautions were waved by NASCAR officials for 34 laps. Speedy Thompson defeated Richard Petty by one lap and twelve seconds in front of nearly 30,000 spectators while going 112.905 miles per hour (181.703 km/h); helping the Wood Brothers' racing team earn their one of their first NASCAR wins as owners. Fireball Roberts was the qualifier for the pole position with a speed of 133.465 miles per hour (214.791 km/h). He would eventually blow a tire on lap 232; causing him to crash and lose the lead. There were fifty drivers who would ultimately participate in this event; all of them were American-born males.
Fred Lorenzen would earn the event's last-place finish for a vibration problem that he developed on lap 4; earning only $200 for that day ($1,377.42 when adjusted for inflation). Lowe's was one of the corporate sponsors of this racing event; they still sponsor NASCAR to this very day through frequent Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson.