Official name Wilkes 400 | ||
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Date October 11, 1964 (1964-October-11) Course Permanent racing facility0.625 mi (1.005 km) Distance 400 laps, 250 mi (402 km) Weather Cold with temperatures approaching 60.1 °F (15.6 °C); wind speeds up to 8.9 miles per hour (14.3 km/h) | ||
The 1964 Wilkes 400 was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) event that was held on October 11, 1964, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
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Summary
This race took two hours and forty-four minutes to successfully complete with stock cars reaching speeds of 91.398 miles per hour (147.091 km/h). Marvin Panch managed to defeat Fred Lorenzen by a time of 5.8 seconds; Fred Lorenzen was leading until he had to pit for gas 25 laps from the end of the race and Marvin Panch took the lead for good. Two cautions were given for 28 laps in front of twelve thousand live spectators. Junior Johnson qualified for the pole position for this race with a solo speed of 100.761 miles per hour (162.159 km/h). Buddy Arrington and Doug Cooper failed to make any prize winnings for their respective 31st and 32nd-place finishes. They crashed into each other at lap 2 of the 400-lap race.
Mark Hurley would retire from the NASCAR Grand National Series after the conclusion of this event; taking his 1963 Ford Galaxie to its final 400 miles of racing action. The winner would walk away with a grand total of $3,225 in winnings ($24,903.78 when adjusted for inflation) while the bottom two finishers walked away with nothing.
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.