The 1951 Southern 500, the second running of the event, was a NASCARGrand National Series event that was held on September 3, 1951, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. The winner of the race was Herb Thomas. The event had the most starters in NASCAR history with 82 cars starting the race, of which 58 cars would not finish the race and only one car (driven by Herb Thomas) finished on the lead lap.
Background
Darlington Raceway, nicknamed by many NASCAR fans and drivers as "The Lady in Black" or "The Track Too Tough to Tame" and advertised as a "NASCAR Tradition", is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that will be effective at both ends.
The track is a four-turn 1.366 miles (2.198 km) oval.[3] The track's first two turns are banked at twenty-five degrees, while the final two turns are banked two degrees lower at twenty-three degrees.[3] The front stretch (the location of the finish line) and the back stretch is banked at six degrees.[3] Darlington Raceway can seat up to 60,000 people.[3]
Darlington has something of a legendary quality among drivers and older fans; this is probably due to its long track length relative to other NASCAR speedways of its era and hence the first venue where many of them became cognizant of the truly high speeds that stock cars could achieve on a long track. The track allegedly earned the moniker The Lady in Black because the night before the race the track maintenance crew would cover the entire track with fresh asphalt sealant, in the early years of the speedway, thus making the racing surface dark black. Darlington is also known as "The Track Too Tough to Tame" because drivers can run lap after lap without a problem and then bounce off of the wall the following lap. Racers will frequently explain that they have to race the racetrack, not their competition. Drivers hitting the wall are considered to have received their "Darlington Stripe" thanks to the missing paint on the right side of the car.
Summary
In qualifying, Frank Mundy would win the pole with a speed of 84.173 miles per hour (135.463 km/h).[2] He was followed by Herb Thomas, Jesse James Taylor, Fonty Flock, and Hershel McGriff. 82 cars would start the race, a NASCAR record to this day. [4]
Four hundred laps were done on a paved oval track spanning 1.250 miles (2.012 km) for a grand total of 500.0 miles (804.7 km).[2] The race lasted for six hours and thirty minutes. [2] Herb Thomas led the first six laps, before Jesse James Taylor took the lead, holding it for the next 7 laps. [5] Pole-sitter Frank Mundy dropped out with oil pressure problems 12 laps in, finishing dead last. Marshall Teague, who passed 46 cars in 13 laps, inherited the lead on lap 13. [2] After Curtis Turner took the lead on lap 52, Herb Thomas would grab the lead back from Turner on lap 95, [5] leading the rest of the race to defeat Jesse James Taylor by more than one lap, in front of forty thousand people.[2]Buddy Shuman would finish third, eight laps down, while Hershel McGriff and Fireball Roberts made up the top five. Turner would drop out of the race with a blown engine 272 laps in.
This race demonstrates how the NASCAR Cup Series has changed over the years. If a driver started in 36th place during the early-1950s, they were 46 spots ahead of last place.[2] If a driver started in 36th place in a 21st century NASCAR race, they become probably a backmarker and are profoundly unlikely to win the race or even finish in a respectable top-ten finish.
Oliver Dial, Frank Gise, Rudy Hires, Sandy Lynch, Fred Moore, Bob Pronger, Gwyn Staley, Billy Tibbett, and Herb Trimble would make their respective professional stock car racing starts in this event.[6] Notable crew chiefs for this race were Smokey Yunick, Buckshot Morris, and Doug Meeks.[7]
This race would be Red Byron's final race in NASCAR. Total winnings for this race were $23,740 ($267,653 when adjusted for inflation). As it was with all races during this era, there was no televised coverage of this racing event.
Qualifying
Note: Qualifying was an eight-lap run;[8] the fastest lap time was actually 53.4 seconds while the slowest lap time was 54.6 seconds.
