Road racing has a long history in NASCAR. Here the stock cars battle on the 2.85 road circuit at Bridgehampton, New York.
In the 1960s, NASCAR was a rather different sport than the one we know today. The premier Grand National series typically ran 50 or more races per year, barnstorming throughout the USA and racing on all kinds of tracks, from obscure quarter-mile dirt ovals to world-famous road courses. For example: the Bridgehampton Race Circuit on the far end of Long Island around 100 miles east of Manhattan. While the 2.85-mile road course might be better known for its Can-Am and Trans-Am events, NASCAR ran there too, on four occasions between 1958 and 1966.
This three-minute newsreel of the July 21, 1963 race includes some interesting and entertaining moments. At the open, a Firestone technician is shown bubble-balancing a racing tire using the correct four-weight method. Stock-car racing must not be the announcer’s regular beat, as he manages to get the two front-row starters and their cars mixed up. Correction: Polesitter Richard Petty is driving the number 43 Plymouth, obviously, while Fred Lorenzen is in the Holman Moody Ford.
Still, a number of notables are correctly identified, including Fireball Roberts, Joe Weatherly, David Pearson, and Ned Jarrett. We took special notice of Lee Petty, here making a rare appearance after the terrible 1961 Daytona crash that all but ended his career—he ran only five more races before hanging it up for good in 1964. At Bridgehampton he made a competitive run to finish sixth, while son Richard ran away with the race, leading 33 of 35 laps and finishing 25 seconds ahead of Lorenzen in second. The winner’s purse was $1,000. Richard won 14 of the 55 Grand National events that year but finished second in the championship to Joe Weatherly. Video below.
That was great, notwithstanding the confusing narration. But dig the California Spyder and 300 SL roadster parked near the track! Looks like a pretty prosperous crowd out there in Southampton.
That was Richard’s first road racing win. The 1969 Motor Trend 500 at Riverside has often been incorrectly identified as his first one.
Stock. Car. Racing. As in, “go to the dealer, buy a car, strip it out for the track”. Long forgotten. Why do they call it NASCAR anymore?
King Richard famously used Mopar’s pushbutton 727 automatic “typewriter” transmission earlier at the 1963 Riverside nascar cup race. He was very fast but it supposedly only lasted 1/3 of the race. Papa Lee also came out of retirement to drive a typewriter Plymouth in 5 races during the ’63 nascar season.
Trivia question: what transmission was in King Richard’s Plymouth for his ’63 Bridgehampton win?