1963 Sandlapper 200
Race details[1][2]
Race 40 of 55 in the 1963 NASCAR Grand National Series season
Date August 8, 1963; 60 years ago (1963-08-08)
Official name Sandlapper 200
Location Columbia Speedway, Columbia, South Carolina
Course Permanent racing facility
0.500 mi (0.804 km)
Distance 200 laps, 100 mi (160 km)
Weather Extremely hot with temperatures of 95.0 °F (35.0 °C); wind speeds of 11.10 miles per hour (17.86 km/h)
Average speed 83.360 miles per hour (134.155 km/h)
Pole position
Driver
Petty Enterprises
Most laps led
Driver Richard Petty Petty Enterprises
Laps 138
Winner
No. 43 Richard Petty Petty Enterprises

The 1963 Sandlapper 200 was the site of Richard Petty's 25th NASCAR Grand National win for Petty Enterprises (now Richard Petty Motorsports).

Taking place on August 8, 1963, at Columbia Speedway in Columbia, South Carolina.[2] Two hundred laps were done on a dirt track spanning 0.500 miles (0.805 km). 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.

Background

Columbia Speedway was an oval racetrack located in Cayce, a suburb of Columbia, South Carolina. It was the site of auto races for NASCAR's top series from 1951 through 1971.[3] For most of its history, the racing surface was dirt. The races in April and August 1970 were two of the final three Grand National races ever held on a dirt track.[4]

The track was paved before hosting its last two Grand National races in 1971.

While Columbia Speedway was shut down to cars in 1979, noise complaints, it reopened as a velodrome in 2001.

Race report

This race was the last time that the letter "X" could be legally used as a race number. An amendment to one of NASCAR's rules made by Bill France, Sr. forced all drivers to use only single-digit and double-digit race car numbers started in the 1963 Western North Carolina 500 event. As a result, cars could no longer use letters and/or numbers higher than "99" at any NASCAR Cup Series racing event.

It took one hour, forty-seven minutes, and fifty-five seconds for Richard Petty to defeat David Pearson with a margin of nine seconds.[2] Pearson and Petty would start a bitter rivalry during the course of the race that would ultimately influence all future rivalries in the NASCAR Cup Series.[5] The notable speeds were: 55.598 miles per hour (89.476 km/h) as the average speed and 69.014 miles per hour (111.067 km/h) as the pole position speed.[2] 8,500 people attended this untelevised race.[2] Other notable participants included: J.D. McDuffie, Wendell Scott, Cale Yarborough and Buck Baker.[2] Possum Jones scored last place in the race after only finishing five laps due to tire issues.[2]

Frank Warren finished the race 13th in his unsponsored 1961 Pontiac Catalina vehicle (with the X designation for his driver number) after starting in 18th place. He received $100 ($956 when considering inflation) as a part of his winnings.[2] Total winnings for this race were $4,825 ($46,121 when considering inflation) with Petty receiving most of it with $1,140 ($10,897 when considering inflation).[2]

Billy Oswald would retire from professional stock car racing after the completion of this event.[6] Ray Fox, Herman Beam and Crawford Clements were the most notable crew chiefs that participated in the race.[7]

This was the first of more than 60 "first-place/second-place" finishes for NASCAR's two most prolific winners Richard Petty and David Pearson. Both Petty and Pearson were considered to be equals to each other in the 1960s because of their similar methodology of professional stock car racing.

Qualifying

Grid[2] No. Driver Manufacturer Owner
1 43 Richard Petty '63 Plymouth Petty Enterprises
2 8 Joe Weatherly '63 Pontiac Bud Moore
3 99 Bobby Isaac '63 Ford Bondy Long
4 3 Junior Johnson '63 Chevrolet Ray Fox
5 11 Ned Jarrett '63 Ford Charles Robinson
6 76 J.D. McDuffie '61 Ford J.D. McDuffie
7 87 Buck Baker '63 Pontiac Buck Baker
8 03 G.C. Spencer '62 Chevrolet G.C. Spencer
9 5 Billy Wade '63 Dodge Cotton Owens
10 19 Cale Yarborough '62 Ford Herman Beam
11 54 Jimmy Pardue '62 Pontiac Pete Stewart
12 6 David Pearson '63 Dodge Cotton Owens
13 48 Jack Smith '63 Plymouth Jack Smith
14 62 Curtis Crider '63 Mercury Curtis Crider
15 05 Possum Jones '61 Pontiac Possum Jones
16 34 Wendell Scott '62 Chevrolet Wendell Scott
17 2 Fred Harb '62 Pontiac Cliff Stewart
18 X Frank Warren '61 Pontiac unknown
19 68 Ed Livingston '61 Ford Ed Livingston
20 89 Joel Davis '62 Pontiac Joel Davis
21 57 Bobby Keck '63 Ford Pete Stewart
22 31 Billy Oswald '61 Mercury James Kelly

Finishing order

Section reference:[2]

  1. Richard Petty (No. 43)
  2. David Pearson (No. 6)
  3. Bobby Isaac (No. 99)
  4. Ned Jarrett (No. 11)
  5. G.C. Spencer (No. 03)
  6. Billy Wade (No. 5)
  7. Jack Smith (No. 48)
  8. Cale Yarborough (No. 19)
  9. Wendell Scott (No. 34)
  10. Bobby Keck (No. 57)
  11. Joe Weatherly* (No. 8)
  12. Curtis Crider (No. 62)
  13. Frank Warren (No. X)
  14. J.D. McDuffie* (No. 76)
  15. Buck Baker* (No. 87)
  16. Joel Davis* (No. 89)
  17. Junior Johnson* (No. 3)
  18. Billy Oswald* (No. 31)
  19. Fred Harb* (No. 2)
  20. Jimmy Pardue* (No. 54)
  21. Ed Livingston* (No. 68)
  22. Possum Jones* (No. 05)

* DNF

Timeline

Section reference:[2]

References

  1. ^ "1963 Sandlapper 200 weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "1963 Sandlapper 200 information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2010-11-30.
  3. ^ Columbia Speedway page of Racing-Reference website [1], retrieved 8 May 2007.
  4. ^ Fielden, Greg, "NASCAR Cleans Up", Speedway Illustrated, September 2004.
  5. ^ "August 8, 1963: Columbia Speedway". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2014-11-23.
  6. ^ "Billy Oswald's Swan Song". Race Database. Retrieved 2017-01-22.
  7. ^ "1963 Sandlapper 200 crew chief information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2017-06-11.
Preceded by1963 Pickens 200 Richard Petty's Career Wins 1960-1984 Succeeded by1963 untitled race at Old Dominion Speedway
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