Auto race held at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1961
Motor car race
The 1961 Dixie 400 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on September 17, 1961, at Atlanta International Raceway in Hampton, Georgia.
A filming of a full-length feature Hollywood film entitled Thundering Wheels was a part of the festivities planned for this race in addition to a 210-minute performance by some of the legendary performers from the Grand Ole Opry.[3]
Local beauty pageant personality Linda Vaughn was chosen to be the queen of the 1961 running of the Dixie 400.[4]
Background
Atlanta International Raceway (now Atlanta Motor Speedway) is one of ten current intermediate track to hold NASCAR races; the others are Charlotte Motor Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Homestead Miami Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Texas Motor Speedway.[5] However, at the time, only Charlotte and Darlington were built.
The layout at Atlanta International Speedway at the time was a four-turn traditional oval track that is 1.54 miles (2.48 km) long.[6] The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, and the back stretch are banked at five.[6]
Race report
Fireball Roberts would qualify at a speed of 136.924 miles per hour (220.358 km/h) to clinch the pole position. The average speed of the race was 125.384 miles per hour (201.786 km/h). While Fireball Roberts, Nelson Stacy and Banjo Matthews would dominate the earliest parts of this event, the closing moments were a contest between Junior Johnson and David Pearson.[2] These drivers had the monopoly on the first-place position throughout the race; tying with the 1960 Atlanta 500 with the fewest lead changes.
The 267-lap race lasted three hours and eleven minutes. There were 42 American-born drivers on the grid out of the 46 who originally qualified for this event.[3] Tommy Irwin would suffer from a bad piston in his vehicle that prevented him from starting the race; he was credited as the last-place finisher.[2] Lee Reitzel would be the lowest-finishing driver to complete the entire event while Banjo Matthew's faulty engine prevented him from finishing in the top ten.[2] Lap deficits were noticed between the top cars once Banjo dropped out; forcing the flagman to throw the white flag multiple times.[2] Thirty thousand people would see David Pearson defeat Junior Johnson by five seconds.[2] Fred Lorenzen's engine blew, spewing oil on the track. Lorenzen's car spun into a concrete retaining wall and Fireball Roberts narrowly missed him. Dave Mader spun into a guardrail, knocking him unconscious.[2]
This would be the last start for Jesse James Taylor, the same one that finished 2nd in the 1951 Southern 500, and then was critically injured at Lakewood that year.[2]
NASCAR originally made a bad judgment call and declared Bunkie Blackburn the winner. The reason behind this bad call was that one of David Pearson's laps were never officially counted; they decided to re-mark it as official. Most of the spectators had left by the time that Pearson was given the actual win.[4]
The transition to purpose-built racecars 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.
Individual earnings for each driver ranged from the winner's share of $9,330 ($95,129 when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's share of $200 ($2,039 when adjusted for inflation). The total prize purse for this event was $39,960 ($407,432 when adjusted for inflation).[7] Six notable crew chiefs would take part in this race, including Ray Fox, Bud Allman and Shorty Johns.[8]
Qualifying
Failed to qualify: Tony Lavati (#66)[9]
Retirements
Dave Mader and Jesse James Taylor would retire from NASCAR Cup Series competition after the conclusion of this event.[10]
Finishing order
Section reference:[2]
* Driver failed to finish race
