June 7, 1953 - Lee Petty wins in Shreveport

June 7, 1953: Lee Petty wins a 200-lap, 100-mile race on the half-mile, dirt track at Louisiana State Fairgrounds in Shreveport. Accurate records were not kept by NASCAR for qualifying or laps led. It is believed, however, the 1953 Shreveport race is the only NASCAR-sanctioned Grand National  / Cup race held to date in the state of Louisiana.

A couple of trivia nuggets from the finishing order:

• Three of the top 5 finishers are now in the NASCAR Hall of Fame: Petty (1st), Herb Thomas (3rd), and Buck Baker (5th).
• The ageless Hershel McGriff finished 14th. McGriff raced in the first Southern 500 at Darlington in 1950 and still makes occasional starts in his mid 80s - including as recently as July 2012.
• Finishing 13th was a driver from Shreveport whose name sounded more like a disco than a racer: Roxy Dancy. The race was Dancy's one and only career NASCAR Grand National start.

Source: Daytona Beach Morning Journal via Google News Archive

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