1960 Atlanta 500
The 1960 Atlanta 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on October 30, 1960, at Atlanta International Raceway in Hampton, Georgia. Background. Atlanta International Raceway (now Atlanta Motor Speedway) is one of ten current intermediate tracks to hold NASCAR races; the others are Charlotte Motor Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Homestead Miami Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Texas Motor Speedway. However, at the time, only Charlotte and Darlington were built. The layout at Atlanta International Speedway at the time was a four-turn traditional  oval track that is long. The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, and the back stretch are banked at five. Race report. The transition to purpose-built racecars began in the early 1960s and occurred gradually over that decade. Changes made to the sport by the late 1960s brought an end to the "strictly stock" vehicles of the 1950s. Thirty thousand spectators would attend this live spectacle where Bobby Johns (in his 1960 Pontiac Catalina) would defeat Johnny Allen (in his 1960 Chevrolet Bel Air) by a  distance of one lap. The late-season combination of Speedy Thompson and the Wood Brothers racing organization paid off as they managed to win their first two races. Thompson tried to win his third race in a row, but came up short as he finished in fourth-place; with Bobby Johns out-lapping him four times over. Johns would acquire his only victory on a superspeedway in this race. This would also serve as his only victory in the 1960 NASCAR Grand National Series season. In the 1960 NASCAR Grand National Series points standings, Rex White would beat Richard Petty  by a whopping 3,936 points. It would completely shatter the record set by Lee Petty in 1959, but still wouldn't come close to the all-time record. The race itself took four hours and thirty-six minutes to fully resolve 334 laps; with speeds averaging . Fireball Roberts would qualify for the pole position with a speed of . The other top ten finishers were: Jim Paschal, Speedy Thompson, Rex White (officially declared the Grand National Champion that year), Lee Petty, Richard Petty, Joe Weatherly, Bob Welborn and Fred Lorenzen. Bill Gazaway would receive the last-place finish for his collision  involving the rear end of his 1960 Oldsmobile vehicle on the first lap of the race; giving him the shortest NASCAR Grand National Series career alongside Paul Norris and Rich Vogler. LeeRoy Yarbrough would make his first NASCAR career start here; finishing in 33rd due to a crash on lap 60. Eight notable crew chiefs participated in the event; including Bud Moore, Ray Fox, Leonard Wood and Cotton Owens. The record for the shortest NASCAR career would be broken in 1990 by Rich Vogler. He qualified for a 1990 race at Pocono, but he died the night before the race . He was given a 40th-place finish and a "Did Not Start", which means he completed zero laps. The fewest lead changes were committed here; this record would be officially tied with the 1961 Dixie 400 the following year.