1959 Southern 500
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1959 Southern 500
The 1959 Southern 500, the 10th running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on September 7, 1959, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. Background Darlington Raceway, nicknamed by many NASCAR fans and drivers as "The Lady in Black" or "The Track Too Tough to Tame" and advertised as a "NASCAR Tradition", is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that will be effective at both ends. The track is a four-turn oval. The track's first two turns are banked at twenty-five degrees, while the final two turns are banked two degrees lower at twenty-three degrees. The front stretch (the l ...
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1959 In NASCAR
The 1959 NASCAR Grand National Series was the 11th season of professional stock car racing in the United States. The season, which began on November 9, 1958 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, was contested over 44 races. The season ended at Concord Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, on October 25, 1959. Lee Petty was the drivers' champion, while his son, Richard won the NASCAR Rookie of the Year award. Chevrolet won the Manufacturers' Championship. It was also the last season without NASCAR legend David Pearson until 1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k .... Results References * NASCAR Cup Series seasons {{NASCAR-stub ...
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Northern United States
The Northern United States, commonly referred to as the American North, the Northern States, or simply the North, is a geographical or historical region of the United States. History Early history Before the 19th century westward expansion, the "Northern United States" corresponded to the present day New England region. By the 1830s it corresponded to the present day Northeastern United States, Northeast and Great Lakes region. Before 1865, the North was distinguished from the Southern United States, South on the issue of Slavery in the United States, slavery. In Southern states, slavery was legal until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, 13th Amendment in 1865. Northern states had all passed some form of legislation to abolish slavery by 1804. However, abolition did not mean freedom for some existing slaves. Due to gradual abolition laws, slaves would still appear in some Northern states as far as the 1840 United States Census. History o ...
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Plymouth (automobile)
Plymouth was a brand of automobiles produced by Chrysler, Chrysler Corporation and its successor Mercedes-Benz Group, DaimlerChrysler. The brand was launched in 1928 to compete in what was then described as the "low-priced" market segment that was dominated by Chevrolet and Ford Motor Company, Ford. It became a high-volume seller for the automaker until the late 1990s. Plymouth cars were marketed primarily in the United States. The brand was withdrawn from the marketplace in 2001. The Plymouth models that were produced up to then were either discontinued or rebranded as Chrysler or Dodge. History Origins The Plymouth automobile was introduced at Madison Square Garden (1925), Madison Square Garden on July 7, 1928. It was Chrysler Corporation's first entry in the low-priced field previously dominated by Chevrolet and Ford. Plymouths were initially priced higher than the competition, but offered standard features such as internal expanding hydraulic brakes that Ford and Chevrol ...
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Ford Thunderbird
The Ford Thunderbird (colloquially called the T-Bird) is a personal luxury car produced by Ford from model years 1955 until 1997 and 2002 until 2005 across 11 distinct generations. Introduced as a two-seat convertible, the Thunderbird was produced in a variety of body configurations. These included a four-seat hardtop coupe, four-seat convertible, five-seat convertible and hardtop, four-door pillared hardtop sedan, six-passenger hardtop coupe, and five-passenger pillared coupe, with the final generation designed again as a two-seat convertible. Ford targeted the two-seat Thunderbird as an upscale model, but the 1958 model year design introduced a rear seat and arguably marked the expansion of a market segment eventually known as personal luxury cars. This class of cars was positioned to emphasize driving comfort and convenience features over handling and high-speed performance. From 1968 through 1998, Lincoln-Mercury marketed rebadged variants of the Thunderbird as the Contin ...
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Rex White
Rex White (born August 17, 1929) is a retired auto racer and NASCAR champion. White was one of the drivers who competed for the original Chevrolet racing team. He began racing in 1956, grabbing fourteen top-ten finishes. After a part-time run in 1957, White won twice in 1958. His most notable year came in 1960, when he won six races, and the NASCAR Grand National Series championship. When he retired in 1964, he had acquired 28 career victories. Throughout most of White's NASCAR career, he drove General Motors brand cars, typically painted gold and white, sporting the number "4" on the side. After he retired, White was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Hall of Fame in 1974, and was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998. Personal life White was born on August 17, 1929, and raised in Taylorsville, North Carolina. White said that at the age of eight, he was working on his family's Model T. "I was unaware the car on which I labored repr ...
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Chevrolet
Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ousted General Motors founder William C. Durant (1861–1947) started the company on November 3, 1911 as the Chevrolet Motor Car Company. Durant used the Chevrolet Motor Car Company to acquire a controlling stake in General Motors with a reverse merger occurring on May 2, 1918, and propelled himself back to the GM presidency. After Durant's second ousting in 1919, Alfred Sloan, with his maxim "a car for every purse and purpose", would pick the Chevrolet brand to become the volume leader in the General Motors family, selling mainstream vehicles to compete with Henry Ford's Model T in 1919 and overtaking Ford as the best-selling car in the United States by 1929 with the Chevrolet International. Chevrolet-branded vehicles are sold in most autom ...
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Ratus Walters
''Ratus Walters'' (pronounced Ray-tus Walters) is a former NASCAR Grand National Series owner whose career spanned from 1958 to 1964. Ratus also goes by goes by the simpler-to-pronounce name Ray Walters. Summary His employees included drivers like Reds Kagle, Elmo Langley, Larry Frank, Ralph Moody, Jim Reed and Johnny Allen. Out of 69 wins, Walters' major speedway victory as an owner came at the 1962 Southern 500, employing Larry Frank as the driver for the event in a 1962 Ford Galaxie. Johnny Allen was provided by Walters with a 1963 Fastback Ford Galaxie; which ran real fast until it got wreck at Atlanta Motor Speedway. During that time there were only four major speedways; Daytona, Charlotte, Atlanta and the grand daddy of them all, Darlington. Walters dedicated himself to being an independent stock car owner by helping independent stock car drivers find the proper rides for them. Ratus Walters also worked as an Aeronautical Engineer for Thieblot Aircraft in Bethesda, Mary ...
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Buick
Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General Motors in 1908. Before the establishment of General Motors, GM founder William C. Durant had served as Buick's general manager and major investor. In the North American market, Buick is a premium automobile brand, selling luxury vehicles positioned above GM's mainstream brands, while priced below the flagship luxury Cadillac division. Buick's current target demographic according to ''The Detroit News'' is "a successful executive with family." After securing its market position in the late 1930s, when junior companion brand Marquette and Cadillac junior brand LaSalle were discontinued, Buick was positioned as an upscale luxury car below the Cadillac. During this same time period, many manufacturers were introducing V8 engines in their ...
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Pontiac (automobile)
Pontiac or formally the Pontiac Motor Division of General Motors, was an American automobile brand owned, manufactured, and commercialized by General Motors. Introduced as a General Motors companion make program, companion make for GM's more expensive line of Oakland Motor Car Company, Oakland automobiles, Pontiac overtook Oakland in popularity and supplanted its parent brand entirely by 1933. Sold in the United States, Canada, and Mexico by GM, in the hierarchy of GM's five divisions, it was slotted above Chevrolet, but below Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac. Starting with the 1959 models, marketing was focused on selling the lifestyle that the car's ownership promised rather than the car itself. By emphasizing its "Wide Track" design, it billed itself as the "performance" division of General Motors, which "built excitement." Facing financial problems and restructuring efforts, GM announced in 2008 financial crash, 2008 that it would follow the same path with Pontiac as it had ...
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Alan Hale, Jr
Alan Hale Jr. (born Alan Hale MacKahan; (March 8, 1921 - January 2, 1990) was an American actor and restaurateur. He was the son of actor Alan Hale Sr. His television career spanned four decades, but he was best known for his secondary lead role as Captain Jonas Grumby, better known as The Skipper, on the 1960s CBS comedy series ''Gilligan's Island'' (1964–1967), a role he reprised in three ''Gilligan's Island'' television films and two spin-off cartoon series. Hale appeared in more than 200 films and television roles from 1941. He appeared primarily in Westerns, portraying the Sundance Kid in ''The Three Outlaws'' (1956) opposite Neville Brand as Butch Cassidy, performing with Kirk Douglas in ''The Big Trees'' (1952), Audie Murphy in '' Destry'' (1954), Ray Milland in '' A Man Alone'' (1955), Robert Wagner in ''The True Story of Jesse James'' (1957), and Hugh Marlowe in '' The Long Rope'' (1961). He also appeared in musical comedies opposite Don DeFore in ''It Happened on Fif ...
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Rory Calhoun
Rory Calhoun (born Francis Timothy McCown, August 8, 1922April 28, 1999) was an American film and television actor. He starred in numerous Westerns in the 1950s and 1960s, and appeared in supporting roles in films such as ''How to Marry a Millionaire'' (1953). Life and career 1922–1943: Troubled early life Francis Timothy McCown was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Elizabeth Cuthbert and Floyd Conley McCown, a professional gambler. He spent his early years in Santa Cruz, California. He was of Irish ancestry. At age 13, he stole a revolver, for which he was sent to the California Youth Authority's Preston School of Industry reformatory at Ione, California. He escaped while in the adjustment center (jail within the jail). He left home at 17 to escape beatings from his stepfather and began hot-wiring cars. After robbing several jewelry stores, he stole a car and drove it across state lines. This made it a federal offense, and, when he was recaptured, he was senten ...
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Thunder In Carolina
''Thunder in Carolina'' is a 1960 stock car racing film directed by Paul Helmick and starring Rory Calhoun, Alan Hale, Jr., and Connie Hines. Written by Alexander Richards, it contains 1959-vintage stock car race footage. Filmed at a number of small dirt ovals in the South, the film is set in the 1959 edition of NASCAR's Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. Plot A stock-car veteran (Rory Calhoun) teaches a grease monkey to race in the Southern 500 in Darlington, S.C. Cast * Rory Calhoun ... Mitch Cooper * Alan Hale, Jr. ... Buddy Schaeffer * Connie Hines ... Rene York * Race Gentry ... Les York (billed as John Gentry) * Ed McGrath ... Reichert * Troyanne Ross ... Kay Hill * Helen Downey ... Eve Mason * Van Casey ... Stoogie * Tripplie Wisecup ... Myrtle Webb * Carey Loftin ... Tommy Webb * Billie Langston ... Peaches * Ann Stevens ... Singer * George Rembert, Jr. ... Junior Thorsen * Olwen Roney ... Motel manager * Richard Taylor ... ...
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