August 7, 1964 - Rambi Raceway in Myrtle Beach

Myrtle Beach's Rambi Raceway opened in 1958, and track hosted nine Grand National races from 1958 through 1965. As a car owner, Julian Petty experienced early success at Rambi with Bob Welborn as his driver. Welborn won the track's first two marquis events - a NASCAR convertible division race in July 1958 and the Grand National race a month later.

The GN drivers arrived in Myrtle Beach in August 1964 for a 200-lap race. What many likely couldn't have anticipated is that the race was to be the next to last GN race at the track. Ned Jarrett was looking for his third consecutive win at Rambi having won in 1962 and 1963.

Records show only twelve drivers qualified for the race. The limited number is tied with six other GN/Cup races for the smallest starting line-up. The others are:

• August 1953 - Hickory NC
• August 1956 - Oklahoma City
• May 1959 - Nashville Fairgrounds
• April 1961 - Richmond (won by Richard Petty)
• May 1964 - Savannah
• October 1964 - Savannah

Factory Mopars swept the top two starting spots. David Pearson won the pole in Cotton Owens' Dodge, and Petty qualified second in the Petty Enterprises Plymouth. Lee Roy Yarbrough, Jimmy Pardue and Jarrett rounded out the top five starters.

Pearson mashed the gas at the drop of the green and seized the lead. He pulled the field around the half-mile dirt track for the first 78 laps. The lead then changed hands - presumably because of a series of pit stops. Jarrett took over the top spot, set sail for 80+ laps, and likely smiled as neared his third straight win at the track.

With just under 40 laps to go, however, Pearson took his Dodge around a fading Jarrett. Pearson was unchallenged the rest of the way, and he won by a full lap over second place Petty. Jarrett completed the race, but he finished fourth - eight laps down to the winner.

Though the finish wasn't very close, the race was the eighth of 63 times for a Petty-Pearson, 1-2 finish.

TMC

August 26, 1957 - Gwyn Staley Wins Myrtle Beach

From the late 1980s through 2000, NASCAR's Busch Series (now Xfinity) raced at Myrtle Beach Speedway in South Carolina. Prior to its branding as Myrtle Beach Speedway, the track was known as Rambi Speedway. Rambi hosted Grand National (later Cup) races from 1958 through 1965.

Rambi replaced another Myrtle Beach track - Coastal Speedway. Coastal was just a couple of blocks from the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean and hosted two GN races. Fireball Roberts won the first one in 1956, and the drivers were back for the second and final 200-lap race at Coastal on Saturday night, August 24, 1957. Because of South Carolina's blue laws, the race was moved to Monday evening vs. running it on Sunday.

Source: The Robesonian via Google News Archive

Johnny Allen surprised the other drivers and the fans by putting his Plymouth on the pole on the half-mile dirt track. His top spot was the first of only three career poles for Allen. Fireball started second in a Ford. Gwyn Staley qualified third in Julian Petty's Chevrolet. Lee Petty and Jack Smith rounded out the top 5 starters.

Allen's fast lap in qualifying did nothing for him in the race. He didn't lead so much as one lap, and he was the first to depart the race when the fan assembly on the Plymouth failed after ten laps. His DNF relegated him to 15th and last in the field - a true case of going from the penthouse to the outhouse.

Fireball got the jump on the field and began his domination of the race. His plan was to go the distance without making a pit stop. One thing about Fireball though. His M.O. was pretty straightforward: go fast. It's likely he used more gas than was needed simply because he was leading - and likely trying to pull away.

Roberts' strategy almost worked, but almost doesn't get it in racing. With 15 laps to go, Fireball ran dry. He coasted into the pits, got him a splash to go, and returned to the track. Instead of a trophy, Roberts went home with a third place finish and two laps down to the winner.

Staley took advantage of Fireball's miscue. He put his Julian Petty-owned Chevy out front, led the remaining laps, and scored the win. The win was Staley's first of three career GN victories. All three were won in 1957 and in Julian's '57 Chevrolet.

Staley did not, however, receive any GN points for the race. Julian had bolted a hardtop on the Chevy following Staley's second-place finish in a convertible race at Charlotte Fairgrounds three days earlier. The car had no rear window, however, which made him ineligible for points. Because Staley was a full-time convertible division driver and raced only part-time in a few GN races, the points loss was of little concern to him or Julian.

Eddie Pagan finished second, one lap down to Staley. Pagan had traveled across the country to race in the Southern 500 at Darlington. He also entered the Myrtle Beach race while he was in the neighborhood. As was often the case back in the day, a win generally didn't happen without a corresponding protest. Someone (it's unknown who) filed a protest saying Staley made a pass under caution. The protest was either withdrawn or rejected by NASCAR officials because Staley was allowed to keep his win.

Source: Greensboro Record

Thanks to fellow Petty fan Tim Leeming (web | Twitter) for the assist with this post. 

TMC

August 23, 1958 - Bob Welborn Wins Myrtle Beach

Myrtle Beach Speedway hosted several Busch Series races from the late 1980s through 2000. Drivers including the Green brothers - Jeff and David, Randy LaJoie, Jeff Burton and late Rob Moroso won races at the track.

The half-mile speedway also hosted annual Grand National / Cup races from 1958 through 1965 when it was a dirt track known as Rambi Raceway. Soon after the track opened in 1958, NASCAR ran a convertible division event on July 23rd. The race was won by Bob Welborn in Julian Petty's ragtop Chevy.

Welborn and Petty returned on August 23, 1958 with a hard top bolted to the convertible to run Rambi's inaugural Grand National race. Twenty-one cars qualified for the 200-lap, 100-mile race.

Speedy Thompson in a Chevy won the pole. Rookie Shorty Rollins timed second. Junior Johnson and Joe Weatherly made up the second row, and Buck Baker and Lee Petty started fifth and sixth, respectively. Welborn was eighth quickest in Julian's Chevrolet, and Julian's nephew Richard Petty lined up ninth for his sixth career racing start.

Weatherly got tangled up with traffic on the start, was credited for completing just one lap and finished dead stinkin' last. Richard Petty was running in the top ten when his #2 Oldsmobile sailed off turn three and into one of the ponds off the turn.  Richard was thoroughly soaked, and he had to settle for a 16th place DNF as his Olds was fished from the pond. That turn would later become known as "alligator alley", but the future King did not report an encounter with a gator in that particular race.

Thompson broke an axle and parked his Chevy on lap 166. Welborn, in contention as was generally the case in 1958, took the lead. He held off a hard-charging Baker and Rollins for the win and a sweep of NASCAR's two big races held in Rambi's first year.

Source: Greenwood SC Index-Journal

Welborn's fifth Grand National win of the season came in only his fourteenth start of 1958. The GN win was also the first for Welborn and Julian Petty since May 24th at Bowman Gray Stadium.

Thanks to fellow Petty fan Tim Leeming for the assist in noting information about Rambi and this race.

TMC

July 26, 1958 - Bob Welborn Wins Myrtle Beach

In 1961, Bill France, Sr. banned driver and fan favorite Curtis Turner from NASCAR "for life". Turner had been kicked to the curb by the board of Charlotte Motor Speedway after he'd worked to build it. CMS was completed only after Turner joined forces with businessman Bruton Smith (a France competitor) after Smith's own plans to build a superspeedway fell on hard times. After his ouster, Pop met with leadership of the Teamsters Union to help secure a financing arrangement so he could buy his way back in to the track. In exchange, Turner was alleged to have agreed to help organize a drivers' union.

Which sin was biggest in the eyes of France - the deal with Bruton, the Teamsters financing plan, or a proposed drivers' union - isn't truly known. Either way, the lifetime ban went into effect though it lasted only until 1965.

Turner was more, however, than just a driver in NASCAR-sanctioned races or a thorn in France's side. He was also a businessman away from the track - as well as within the sport. In 1958 for instance, he and France worked together to promote races at Starkey Speedway in Roanoke, VA. However, as Greg Fielden notes in his book, Rumblin' Ragtops: The History of NASCAR's Fabulous Convertible Division:

The event at Roanoke was scrapped when Curtis Turner, who was co-promoting the event with Bill France and Alvin Hawkins, was seriously injured in a crash at the Charlotte Fairgrounds. While attempting to qualify for a July 6 Modified-Sportsman race, the throttle on Turner's Ford coupe hung open and he crashed through the guard rail. The popular driver suffered seven broken ribs in the mishap. While he was confined to his bed, Turner felt it would be best to cancel the Roanoke race. ~ p. 103

Source: Spartanburg Herald via Google News Archive

The cancellation at Starkey became an opportunity for the owners of a new track in Myrtle Beach, SC. Rambi Speedway was built in 1958 as a replacement for Coastal Speedway. The owners gleefully seized the opportunity to have Rambi's debut be a NASCAR convertible event to replace Turner's cancelled one.

A 200-lap race was slated for Saturday night, July 26th.

Source: Wilmington Morning Star via Google News Archive

Tootle Estes from Knoxville, TN started from the pole in his second of four career NASCAR convertible races - all in 1958.

View image | gettyimages.com

Tiny Lund started on the front row with Estes. Larry Frank and Bob Welborn in Julian Petty's #49 Chevy comprised the second row. Ken Rush started 16th in the 19-car field in a second #44 Julian Petty Chevrolet. Starting shotgun on the field was a driver with one of the most unfortunate names not just in racing but life in general: Richard Spittle.

As was so often the case in 1958, Welborn was first to receive the checkered flag. The victory was Welborn's sixth convertible division win of the season and third in a row - all in Julian Petty's cars. Rush rallied from his poor starting spot to finish 4th in Julian's second car behind Lund and Frank. And poor Mr. Spittle? He finished where he started: 19th and dead last in car #0.

Most records indicate the date of the race as July 27, 1958. Because of its blue laws, NASCAR didn't race on Sundays in South Carolina. The race was held on Saturday night. It's likely the race ended a bit after midnight. NASCAR's scoring officials likely dated the race based on its conclusion rather than its beginning.

Rambi's debut set itself up for a successful run. Though the convertible division did not return after its one and only race, the track was host to many NASCAR-sanctioned races in the decades to follow - including nine Grand National races from 1958-1965. The track was sold to a new owner in 1968, converted from dirt to asphalt in 1974 and re-branded as Myrtle Beach Speedway.

TMC