1960 International 200

The 1960 International 200 was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Sprint Cup Series) event that was held on June 26, 1960, at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

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.

Background

Bowman Gray Stadium is a NASCAR sanctioned ¹⁄₄-mile (0.40 km) asphalt flat oval short track and longstanding football stadium located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It is one of stock car racing's most legendary venues, and is referred to as "NASCAR's longest-running weekly race track". Bowman Gray Stadium is part of the Winston-Salem Sports and Entertainment Complex and is home of the Winston-Salem State University Rams football team.^[3] It was also the home of the Wake Forest University football team from 1956 until Groves Stadium (later BB&T Field) opened in 1968.

Summary

It took one hour and five minutes to resolve two hundred laps of racing.^[2] The average speed of the race was 45.872 miles per hour (73.824 km/h) while Lee Petty would qualify for the pole position with a speed of 47.850 miles per hour (77.007 km/h).^[2] These speeds would be relatively slow on today's highway systems for passenger automobiles. Glen Wood managed to defeat Petty by half a lap in the actual race.^[2]

The foreign makes that participated in this race were the MG (as a part of Great Britain's now-defunct MG Cars) and the Triumph (as a part of Great Britain's now-defunct Triumph Motor Company).^[2] Smokey Cook would end up as the last-place finisher in a 1952 MG T-type.^[2]

Lowe's appeared as an official NASCAR sponsor for the first time in its history.^[2] Ten thousand and five hundred people appeared in person to watch this live untelevised race.^[2] This would be the 22nd race out of the 44 raced that year; making this race the official halfway point of the 1960 Grand National Series season.^[2]

Individual race winnings ranged from the winner's share of $1,125 ($9,013.92 when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's share of $140 ($1,121.73 when adjusted for inflation). NASCAR allowed the organizers of this event to give out a grand total of $4,755 for all the qualifying drivers ($38,098.84 when adjusted for inflation).^[4]

Finishing order

* Driver failed to finish race
† Driver is deceased

Timeline

• Start of race: Glen Wood started the race with the pole position; Smokey Cook's steering problem caused him to become the last-place finisher
• Lap 2: Jimmie Lewallen's engine became problematic; causing him to withdraw from the race
• Lap 6: Bill Whitley's vehicle overheated; ending his day on the track
• Lap 71: The axle on Bill Massey's vehicle became problematic; forcing him to end the race
• End of the race: Glen Wood won the race

References