Official name Greenville 200 | ||
Date April 17, 1965; 51 years ago (1965-04-17) Location Greenville-Pickens Speedway (Greenville, South Carolina) Course Permanent racing facility
0.500 mi (0.804 km) Distance 200 laps, 100 mi (160 km) Weather Mild with temperatures approaching 69.1 °F (20.6 °C); wind speeds up to 15 miles per hour (24 km/h) | ||
The 1965 Greenville 200 was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) event that was held on April 17, 1965, at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Greenville, South Carolina.
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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.
Summary
The track used would not be paved until the 1970 Greenville 200 race (which took place on June 27, 1970). No record was ever released about the exact attendance numbers and it was the tenth race out of the fifty-five races during that year. Two hundred laps were done on a dirt oval track spanning 0.500 miles (0.805 km). The race took one hour and forty-five minutes to successfully complete with three cautions given out by NASCAR. Notable speeds were: 56.899 miles per hour (91.570 km/h) for the average and 67.695 miles per hour (108.945 km/h) for the pole position speed (accomplished by Bud Moore).
The winning vehicle was a 1965 Ford Galaxie driven by Dick Hutcherson. Other notable drivers included: Ned Jarrett, Buddy Baker, Wendell Scott, Neil Castles, Elmo Langley, Roy Tyner, and Cale Yarborough. A significant part of the field were individually owned vehicles with no formal sponsorship whatsoever. Both Clyde Lynn and Cale Yarborough shared a single crew member for pit lane. Many drivers would run an entire race at slow speeds back then if they had no chance of winning. Usually, they get lapped before the sixth lap of the race, and eventually withdraw from the race for some reason.
The total prize purse for this racing event was $5,040 ($38,302.94 when adjusted for inflation). Hutcherson received $1,000 ($7,599.79 when adjusted for inflation) while the bottom 13 finishers split $100 apiece ($759.98 when adjusted for inflation).
Timeline
Finishing order
Note: Twenty-five American drivers competed in this race without any foreign-born competitors in the race.
† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased
* Driver failed to finish race