Strange but true: There was a NASCAR series for the Detroit compacts and it raced at Daytona in 1960 and 1961. Here’s some rare footage of the ’61 event.
An awful lot has been said and written about NASCAR founder Big Bill France over the years, but we don’t think anyone ever said he was afraid to try something new. Constantly on the hunt for any fresh wrinkle to engage the fans, in 1960 he organized a series for the new compact cars then emerging from Detroit, and he dubbed it the Cannonball Compacts series. The venue was his giant speed palace, Daytona International Speedway, then almost brand new, and the entries included Falcons, Corvairs, Valiants, Larks, Ramblers, and some Volvos and a Morris, too.
The inaugural ’60 race was held in two heats: a 10-lap run on the 3.31-mile infield road course, and 20 laps on the big 2.5-mile oval. Marvin Panch won both events in a Valiant, and in fact the Valiants were basically the ringers in this lineup. They pretty much had the field covered, taking the top seven spots on the road course and the top three on the oval.
For ’61, the Cannonball Compacts show was reduced to a single 40-lap race staged on the road course, and that’s the event featured in our video below. You’ll notice a couple of things right away: First, they’re running the road course backward from the customary direction, i.e. clockwise. Next, for early ’60s Detroit compacts with dinky engines and minimal preparation, these cars are clipping right along on the Daytona infield circuit. (While it wasn’t captured by the movie cameras, Joe Weatherly went for a memorable tumble in his Falcon, landing upside down.) The winner’s average speed over 150 miles was nearly 84 mph—impressive. Now watch this.
…and the series was ended because the slant six Mopars “consistently” walked away from every other car competing.
Were the slant sixes running hyper paks? Did the Tempest have the 4bbl slant four?
The flathead Studebaker and flat six Corvair were outmatched in 1960 (later multi carb, independent suspended Corvairs may have altered the outcome, had the series lasted).
There were certainly a variety of powerplants in those early ’60s compacts, offering a buyer many choices, but that they were not equally matched is also certain. In spite of the “slanted” outcome, it was a noble endeavor, and yet so much unlike NASCAR today where everything is intended to put the cars on equal footing…and it’s not fun to watch any more.
I wish they bring back the compact stock cars