1968 American 500

Background

North Carolina Motor Speedway was opened as a flat, one-mile oval on October 31, 1965. In 1969, the track was extensively reconfigured to a high-banked, D-shaped oval just over one mile in length. In 1997, North Carolina Motor Speedway merged with Penske Motorsports, and was renamed North Carolina Speedway. Shortly thereafter, the infield was reconfigured, and competition on the infield road course, mostly by the SCCA, was discontinued. Currently, the track is home to the Fast Track High Performance Driving School,

Race report

There were 44 drivers who managed to qualify for this event. Only one foreigner was present – Australian-born driver Frank Gardner – would become the last-place driver due to an incident requiring a black flag on the first lap. He would become the "prototype" for Cup Series driver Marcos Ambrose even though Garnder would never run another Cup Series race after this one. Gardner's last-place finish within the confines of the American stock car world was eventually overshadowed by his championship victory at the 1968 British Saloon Car Championship while driving a European version of the Ford Escort Twin Cam.

American-born driver Dexter Gainey would be black-flagged exactly forty laps later and would be disqualified as well. Wendell Scott would become the lowest-finishing driver to complete the event; albeit 191 laps behind the lead lap drivers. Five hundred laps was raced at this event for a duration for four hours and forty-five minutes. Speeds on the track would reach around 105.06 mph for the entire course of this race. Thirty-two thousand spectators would witness another Richard Petty victory with him out-racing David Pearson by a time of fifteen seconds. LeeRoy Yarbrough would finish in third place, and two laps behind the top two finishers. Petty was running an older chassis with current sheet metal because he could not get his 1968 vehicle to run on a super-speedway. Shortly after this race, his switch to Ford for 1969 was announced.

Cale Yarborough's solo qualifying performance of 118.677 mph would help him clinch the pole position for the event. While Yarborough and Bobby Isaac would dominate the opening laps of this event, the event ended up being a "Petty and Pearson" show for the final 100 laps. Glotzbach quit after he turned Bud Moore into the wall separating pit road from the racetrack on lap 59. Moore swerved to avoid a loose wheel on pit road and swerved into Glotzbach's path. Glotzbach was penalized a lap for the crash, so he parked the car.

Individual race winnings for the drivers ranged from the winner's share of $17,075 ($ when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's share of $515 ($ when adjusted for inflation). The entire prize purse that was handed out to all the qualifying participants was $69,800 ($ when adjusted for inflation). Twelve notable crew chiefs were reported as participating in the race; including Jake Elder, Bud Moore, Glen Wood, Banjo Matthews, Dale Inman, Harry Hyde and Junior Johnson.

Qualifying

Finishing order

Section reference:

1. Richard Petty
2. David Pearson
3. LeeRoy Yarbrough
4. Tiny Lund
5. Bobby Allison
6. Don White
7. James Hylton
8. G.C. Spencer
9. Richard Brickhouse
10. Butch Hartman
11. John Sears
12. Friday Hassler
13. Bobby Johns
14. Bill Seifert
15. Clyde Lynn
16. Donnie Allison
17. Bobby Isaac
18. Earl Brooks
19. Roy Tyner
20. Walson Gardner
21. Henley Gray
22. Dick Johnson
23. Jabe Thomas
24. Dave Marcis
25. Buddy Baker
26. Cale Yarborough
27. Wendell Scott
28. Bill Champion
29. Paul Goldsmith
30. Tommy Gale
31. Red Farmer
32. Neil Castles
33. Darrell Dieringer
34. Pete Hamilton
35. J.D. McDuffie
36. James Sears
37. Don Tarr
38. Ervin Pruett
39. E.J. Trivette
40. Elmo Langley
41. Charlie Glotzbach
42. Bud Moore
43. Dexter Gainey
44. Frank Gardner

References

before = 1968 National 500 | after = 1968 Peach State 200| title = NASCAR Grand National Season| years = 1968 |

References

1. [http://www.almanac.com/weather/history/NC/Rockingham/1968-10-27 Weather information for the ''1968 American 500''] at The Old Farmers' Almanac
2. "Fast Track High Performance Driving School, Inc". Fasttrackracing.com.
3. link. (2011-07-16 at British Touring Car Championship)
4. [http://www.racing-reference.info/race/1968_American_500/W Racing information for the ''1968 American 500''] at Racing Reference
5. [http://fantasyracingcheatsheet.com/nascar/races/results/1968/north-carolina-speedway/american-500/1106 Racing information for the ''1968 American 500''] at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet
6. [http://www.racing-reference.info/entrylist/1968-48/W/C ''1968 American 500''] crew chief information at Racing Reference