November 20, 1960: In a 200-lap, 100-mile race on the half-mile dirt track at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, FL, Lee Petty wins what turns out to be his 54th and final career NASCAR Grand National race. His son Richard finished fourth and within a few years would surpass his dad's records to become the King of NASCAR racing.
Though the race was in November 1960, it was actually the second race of the 1961 season. Junior Johnson won the pole but lost a distributor and finished dead last in the 22-car field. Though Lee won the race, he started in the 'unlucky' 13th spot.
Virginian Tommy Irwin had a career day. Irwin only started 99 GN races in his career, but he had 23 top 5's (though no wins). He qualified third for the Jax race, dominated the race by leading 166 laps, but finished second to Lee - tying his career best.
Though Irwin didn't have an extensive GN driving career, his racing affected at least one driver: Tiger Tom Pistone. Nine months earlier in a qualifying race for the 1960 Daytona 500, Irwin spun off the track and ended up in Lake Lloyd.
Though he escaped, the car sunk into the lake where it remained until Speedweeks concluded. Pistone - admittedly not a great swimmer - rigged up an oxygen mask for the 500 in the event he should wind up in the same situation as Irwin.
Photo courtesy of Chrissy Pistone
But I digress...
I'm uncertain as to how or why Irwin surrendered the lead - perhaps through a pit miscue. Regardless, Lee took over the top spot with 18 laps to go and led the rest of the way to take the checkers.
NSSN headline and ISN article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire
As referenced in the beginning, Lee's win at Speedway Park was his final GN one. Just a few months later in February 1961, he was critically injured in a qualifying race for the Daytona 500.
While the 1960 win at Jacksonville was Lee's final GRAND NATIONAL victory, it wasn't his final win overall. On February 19, 1961, a few days before the Daytona qualifying race wreck that effectively ended his career, Lee won a compact car race at Daytona.
1955 - Starting second, Lee Petty leads 168 of 200 laps, and wins at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, FL in a #42 Petty Engineering Chrysler. Dick Rathman won the pole but flipped spots with Lee when the checkers fell and finished second.
In his book, Forty Years of Stock Car Racing - Vol. 1, Greg Fielden recapped the race as follows:
Lee Petty grabbed his second win in three starts by shoving his Chrysler across the finish line first to win the 100-miler at Speedway Park. Rathman, who had led on four occasions for 30 laps, appeared head for his first win of the season until he pitted for fuel while leading with ten laps to go. Petty hustled into the lead and led the rest of the way... Petty led four times for a total of 168 laps as the lead changed hands eight times among three drivers. Prevailing cold weather kept the crowd down to 3,000, but the sparse crowd was treated to a spine-tingling affair. Petty averaged of 69.031 MPH, a speed that was nearly six MPH faster than Rathman's pole winning effort. of 63.514 MPH. ~ p. 172
Unfortunately, I was unable to find any victory lane photos from the 1955 race. I also couldn't find any victory lane photos of the race winner of the 1963 race at Jacksonville - Wendell Scott. Buck Baker was flagged as the winner and got the trophy. After a scoring re-check, it was determined Scott won. But it was too late for a victory lane re-set as everyone had gone home. Most agree the mix-up was deliberate. Why? Simply because of the color of Wendell's skin.
