Blast From The Past: 1950
Monday, September 25th, 2006 2:50pm CDT
By Frank Morrison, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.
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[thumb:385:l:s=1:l=x]The decade of the fifties is known as the decade where the Manufacturers took notice. In World news, the Korean War begins and Communist China invades Tibet. In US news, Puerto Rican Nationalists attempt to assassinate President Truman and Senator McCarthy begins his “Red Scareâ€. In other sports, the New York Yankees win the world series 4-0 over the Philadelphia Phillies and Oklahoma wins the national championship. In entertainment, Saturday morning children programming begins and Charles Schultz begins writing Peanuts. In science and tech, the first Xerox is made. In the obituaries, George Orwell dies. Now comes the days of hot rod Lincoln’s, and Oldsmobile 454 rockets.
January (???):
NASCAR Strictly Stock division is renamed to the Grand National Division.
February 5:
Harold Kite wins at the Daytona Road Course in his Lincoln, 53 seconds in front of Red Byron.
April 16:
Curtis Turner wins at Langhone Speedway while Tim Flock takes the points lead.
May 5:
Bill France and Curtis Turner enter in the Carrera Panamericana race, a 2,172 mile race from Mexico to Guatemala. They crash out of the race.
May 30:
Bill Rexford wins what is known as the “Poor Man’s 500â€, as it is the first time NASCAR runs a race opposite the Indy 500.
June 8:
Tickets go on sale for the inaugural Southern 500.
June 25:
Jimmy Florian wins the first race for the Ford nameplate.
July 18:
NASCAR announces it will co-sanction the Southern 500.
July 23:
Curtis Turner wins for the 4th time, while Lee Petty gets all 809 points stripped for racing in a non NASCAR event.
August 13:
Fireball Roberts wins his first race in his Oldsmobile, making him the youngest driver to ever win a NASCAR event (21) at that time.
August 19:
Curtis Turner wins the Pole for the Southern 500.
September 4:
Johnny Mantz wins the Southern 500 by 9 laps over Fireball Roberts. And you thought 3 seconds was a big lead!
September 30:
Bobby Courtwright wins in Buffalo. This race is to promote the new NASCAR Short Track Division.
October 29:
Lee Petty wins the Finale at Hillsboro and Bill Rexford clinches the Title.
October 30:
Red Byron is stripped of all 1315.5 points for skipping Hillsboro and racing in a non-NASCAR event.
December 18:
NASCAR announces $23,024 of fund money will be split between the different division winners. Bill Rexford gets $1,375.
| DRIVER | POINTS | STARTS | WINS | TOP-5’s | TOP-10’s | WINNINGS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bill Rexford: | 1959.0 | 17 | 1 | 5 | 11 | $6,175 |
| Fireball Roberts: | 1848.5 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 5 | $6,955 |
| Lee Petty: | 1398.0 | 17 | 1 | 9 | 13 | $5,580 |
| Lloyd Moore: | 1398.0 | 16 | 1 | 7 | 10 | $5,580 |
| Curtis Turner: | 1375.0 | 16 | 4 | 7 | 7 | $6,935 |
| Johnny Mantz: | 1282.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | $10,835 |
| Chuck Mahoney: | 1217.5 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 6 | $2,760 |
| Dick Linder: | 1121.0 | 13 | 3 | 5 | 8 | $5,570 |
| Jimmy Florian: | 801.0 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 6 | $2,695 |
| Bill Blair: | 766 | 16 | 1 | 5 | 7 | $4,320 |
Ok there it is, the highlights of 1950 at a glance. See you Wednesday with a look at the bio of Red Byron.
See Y’all Next Week With 1951!
All stats and dates compiled from NASCAR Chronicles by Greg Fielden.
(???) next to a date indicates that the particular day the event occurred is unknown.
Filed Under: Features, Frank Morrison, Guest Authors, Nascar, Nascar History
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