The 1954 NASCAR Grand National season consisted of 37 races from February 1, 1954, and to November 1.

Lee Petty Lee Arnold Petty (March 14, 1914 – April 5, 2000) was an American stock car racing driver who competed during the 1950s and 1960s. He was one of the pioneers of NASCAR and one of its first superstars. He was NASCAR's first three-time Cup ch ...

, driving for

Petty Enterprises Petty Enterprises (formerly Lee Petty Engineering) was a NASCAR racing team based in Level Cross, North Carolina, USA. It was founded by Lee Petty with his two sons Richard Petty and Maurice Petty. The team was later owned by Richard Petty, hi ...

, won the championship, his first of three in the series.

Season recap

The 1954 season consisted of 37 events from February 7 through October 24 of the year; opening in

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populati ...

, with a

Herb Thomas Herbert Watson Thomas (April 6, 1923 – August 9, 2000) was a stock car racer who was one of NASCAR's most successful drivers in the 1950s. Thomas was NASCAR's first multi-time Cup Champion. Background Born in the small town of Olivi ...

victory, and concluding in

North Wilkesboro, North Carolina North Wilkesboro is a town in Wilkes County, North Carolina, United States, approximately 80 miles north of Charlotte. The population was 4,131 at the 2020 US Census. North Wilkesboro is the birthplace and original home of Lowe's Home Improveme ...

, at the

North Wilkesboro Speedway North Wilkesboro Speedway is a short oval racetrack located on U.S. Route 421, about east of the town of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, or 80 miles north of Charlotte. It measures and features a unique uphill backstretch and downhill fr ...

with a Hershel McGriff win. While Thomas captured the opening event in a

Hudson Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Henry Hudson, English explorer * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudso ...

, the year was witness to the increased power of GM,

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

and

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

as Hudson slipped in its domination of the sport from previous years. Petty came back to win the second race of the year at

Daytona Beach, Florida Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal Resort town, resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County, Florida, Volusia County near the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic coastline, its population ...

, in his Chrysler. Petty completed the season with 32 top-10 finishes of the 34 events that he competed in. Through 1953, and up until the

Southern 500 The Southern 500, officially known as the Cook Out Southern 500 for sponsorship reasons, is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, United States. The race distance is and consists of 367 laps. Fro ...

in 1954, Petty strung together a streak of 56 consecutive races where he was still running at the end of the race. While Petty won fewer races (7) than Herb Thomas (12), his consistency in finishing in the top 10 a total of seven times more than Thomas proved to be the deciding factor in winning the championship with a 283-point margin. Rising star Buck Baker captured the winner's purse a total of four times in 1954, and finished third after a 12th-place effort in 1953. Although several of the top stars of the sport had disagreements, and even walked away from NASCAR for a time, the sport showed itself to be larger than any of the individual stars. When Tim Flock was disqualified at Daytona, he quit the sport for a time. Fonty Flock, Al Keller and Hershel McGriff also resigned at various times throughout the year. Also in 1954, drivers Petty, Thomas, Baker, Dick Rathman, McGriff, Keller, Jim Paschal, Curtis Turner, Gober Sosbee, John Soares, and Dan Letner all captured at least one victory during the year.

Season highlights

Two-time champion Herb Thomas' season opening victory in February earned him $1,600, which included prize monies from both the

Pure Oil Company Pure Oil Company was an American petroleum company founded in 1914 and sold to what is now Union Oil Company of California in 1965. The Pure Oil name returned in 1993 as a cooperative (based in Rock Hill, South Carolina since 2008) which has grow ...

and Champion Spark Plugs. On February 20 Cotton Owens captured a modified-sportsman victory in an event that featured 136 starting entries; the largest ever starting field in a NASCAR event. A day later, Tim Flock reached the checkered flag first, but was disqualified for using a two-way radio, and Lee Petty was awarded the victory. It was the first time that radios were used in a NASCAR event, and Flock quit after the disqualification. On February 20, 136 cars took the green flag at a 100-mile event in Daytona; making the event the largest ever starting field in a NASCAR sanctioned event. The following day NASCAR ruled that Tim Flock was disqualified due to the use of a two-way radio. On March 28 Dick Rathmann won a 125-mile race at

Oakland Speedway The Oakland Speedway was the first motor racing track near Oakland, California, a one-mile, banked dirt oval track built in 1931, which operated throughout the Great Depression and postwar years. The track featured AAA National Championship races ...

after starting the event in last place. The track was unusual in its configuration in that it consisted of dirt corners and paved straightaways. On June 13, NASCAR held its first ever road course event, at the airport in Linden, New Jersey, with driver Al Keller coming away with the win in a

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

, as 20 of the 43 starting entries were foreign made vehicles. The victory was the only win for a foreign-manufactured vehicle until

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

captured its first victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March 2008 and as of the 2022 season, it is the only win scored by both

and a European manufacturer in the

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...

Race summaries

1954-01

The first race of the season was run at Palm Beach Raceway in

Dick Rathman Dick Rathmann (born James Rathmann; January 6, 1924February 1, 2000) was an American race car driver. He drove in the AAA Championship Car series in the 1949 and 1950 seasons with 4 starts, including the 1950 Indianapolis 500. He finished in ...

won the pole.

Top 10 results

#92 -

#87 -

Buck Baker Elzie Wylie Baker Sr. (March 4, 1919 – April 14, 2002), better known as Buck Baker, was an American stock car racer. Born in Richburg, South Carolina, Baker began his NASCAR career in 1949 and won his first race three years later at Columbia ...

#42 -

#80 -

Jim Paschal James Roy Paschal, Jr. (December 5, 1926 – July 5, 2004) was a Grand National and Winston Cup Series driver. Career summary Paschal won twenty-five races and twelve poles over his career. Elected to the "Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame" in 1 ...

#24 -

Ray Ruhigg Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gra ...

#6 -

Ralph Liguori Ralph Liguori (October 10, 1926 – July 21, 2020) was an American racing driver from New York City. Indycar career He competed in the USAC Championship Car series from 1957 to 1971 making 61 starts. His best finish was 2nd place at the Indi ...

#86 -

Don Oldenberg Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...

#126 -

Dave Terrell Dave Terrell (born February 21, 1931 in Newtown, Pennsylvania, USA) is a retired NASCAR Grand National driver/owner who participated from 1952 to 1957.

#82 -

Joe Eubanks ''Joseph "Joe" Eubanks'' (August 9, 1925 – June 21, 1971) was a ''NASCAR Grand National'' driver from Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA.

#181 -

Tommie Elliott Tommie is a masculine given name of English origin, occasionally a nickname or shortened form of Thomas, and is sometimes used as a feminine form of Thomas. Notable people with the name include: *Tommie Aaron (1939–1984), first baseman and left f ...

1954-02

The second race of the season was run at

Beach & Road Course A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shells ...

won the pole.

Top ten results

#42 -

#87 -

#14 -

Curtis Turner Curtis Morton Turner (April 12, 1924 – October 4, 1970) was an American stock car racer. Throughout his life, he developed a reputation for drinking and partying. In 1999, he was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. History He was ...

#3 -

#2 - Bill Blair #122 - Jack Smith #13 - Emory Lewis #25 -

Fireball Roberts Edward Glenn "Fireball" Roberts Jr. (January 20, 1929July 2, 1964) was an American stock car racer. Background Roberts was born in Tavares, Florida, and raised in Apopka, Florida, where he was interested in both auto racing and baseball. He was ...

#51 -

Gober Sosebee Gober C. Sosebee (October 15, 1915 – November 11, 1996) was an American racecar driver. He won on the Daytona Beach Road Course in 1949, 1950, and 1951. He was born in Dawson County, Georgia, and began his career in 1940 at Atlanta's Lake ...

#77 - Stan Kross

1954-03

The third race of the season was run at

Speedway Park Speedway Park was a dirt, oval, auto racing track, located in Jacksonville, Florida. It was built in 1946 by Eddie Bland on land belonging to the family farm and later came to be known as Jacksonville Speedway after it was sold in 1954. Open ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

won the pole.

Top ten results

#92 -

#14 -

Fonty Flock Truman Fontell "Fonty" Flock (March 21, 1920 – July 15, 1972) was an American stock car racer. Flock family He was the brother of NASCAR pioneers Tim Flock and Bob Flock, and the second female NASCAR driver Ethel Mobley. The four rac ...

#42 -

#82 -

Joe Eubanks ''Joseph "Joe" Eubanks'' (August 9, 1925 – June 21, 1971) was a ''NASCAR Grand National'' driver from Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA.

#87 -

#86 -

#23 -

Al Keller Alvah August “Al” Keller (April 11, 1920 in Alexander, New York – November 19, 1961 in Phoenix, Arizona) was an American racecar driver. NASCAR Keller participated in the NASCAR Strictly Stock/Grand National series from 1949 to 1956 w ...

#181 -

#6 -

#4 -

Tommy Moon The following are characters who first appeared, or returned, in the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders'' during 2010 listed by order of first appearance. Executive producer Diederick Santer left ''EastEnders'' on 26 February 2010, handing over to Br ...

International 100

The 1954 International 100 was a

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

Grand National Series The name NASCAR Grand National Series refers to former names of the following NASCAR series: *National-level stock car series: **NASCAR Cup Series (known as NASCAR Grand National Series between 1950 to 1970, then the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand Nation ...

race that took place on June 13, 1954, on a temporary road course at

Linden Airport Linden Airport is a mile southeast of downtown Linden, in Union County, New Jersey. Also known as Linden Municipal Airport, it is next to U.S. Route 1&9. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a gene ...

Linden, New Jersey Linden is a city in southeastern Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area, located about southwest of Manhattan and bordering Staten Island, a borough of New York City, across the Arthur Kill ...

. It was the first ever road course event in NASCAR competition.

won the pole, with a speed of 80.536 miles per hour.

, racing a

Jaguar XK120 The Jaguar XK120 is a sports car manufactured by Jaguar between 1948 and 1954. It was Jaguar's first sports car since SS 100 production ended in 1939. The XK120 is a highly desirable model. In 2016, Bonhams sold a matching numbers left-hand-d ...

, won the race to score his second and final victory in the NASCAR Cup Series. It was the first race to be won by a foreign manufacturer car and as of 2022, it remains as the only win scored by

in NASCAR. #4 -

#82 -

Joe Eubanks ''Joseph "Joe" Eubanks'' (August 9, 1925 – June 21, 1971) was a ''NASCAR Grand National'' driver from Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA.

#88 -

#2 - Bill Claren #32 -

Bob Grossman Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname) ...

#7-A - Harry LaVois #92 -

#3 -

#21 - Laird Bruner #42 -

Southern 500

The 1954

was a

race that took place on September 6, 1954, at

Darlington Raceway Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located in Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is ...

in the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

community of

Darlington, South Carolina Darlington is a city located in Darlington County, South Carolina, United States. In 2010, its population was 6,289. It is the county seat of Darlington County. It is part of the Florence, South Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area. Darlington ...

. There were 364 laps done on a paved oval track that spanned .

Van Van Wey Van Van Wey (July 9, 1924 – July 14, 1991) was a NASCAR Grand National Series driver from West Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S.A. Career He occasionally drove in the 1954 and 1955 seasons predominantly in his #10 Ford vehicle that was owned by Ra ...

made his NASCAR debut in this race; starting in 43rd place and ending in 20th place due to a crash on the 260th lap.''1954 Southern 500'' racing information
at Racing Reference Overall, the race took five hours, sixteen minutes, and one second from the first green flag to the checkered flag. The average speed was and the pole speed was . There were two cautions for four laps and the margin of victory was twenty-six seconds. Attendance of the race was confirmed at 28,000 people during the start of the race. Notable racers that appeared and did not finish in the top ten included

(whose streak of 36 top-ten finishes ended at this race),

Cotton Owens Everett "Cotton" Owens (May 21, 1924 – June 7, 2012) was a NASCAR driver. For five straight years (1957–61), Owens captured at least one Grand National Series win. Owens was known as the "King of the Modifieds" for his successes in modified ...

Jimmie Lewallen Jimmie Lewallen (August 22, 1919 – October 16, 1995) was an American stock car racing driver from High Point, North Carolina, USA. He competed in NASCAR's Strictly Stock/Grand National division (now called the NASCAR Cup Series) from its f ...

Arden Mounts Enoch Arden Mounts (July 9, 1917 – March 4, 2003) was an American NASCAR Grand National Series driver from Gilbert, Mingo County, West Virginia. His primary vehicle was the #18 self-owned Pontiac machine; although he would occasionally drive a ...

Elmo Langley Elmo Harold Langley (August 21, 1928 – November 21, 1996) was a NASCAR driver and owner. Langley primarily used the number 64 on his race cars during his NASCAR career. Racing career Langley began his racing career racing modified cars in Vir ...

(in his NASCAR debut) and

(pole winner). #92 -

#44 -

#98 -

Marvin Panch Marvin Panch (May 28, 1926December 31, 2015) was an American stock car racing driver. Winner of the 1961 Daytona 500 and 1966 World 600, he won seventeen NASCAR Grand National Series events during a 17-year career. Early career Born in Menomon ...

#58 - Johnny Patterson #88 -

#40 -

John Soares John Soares is an American film director, actor, editor, and fight choreographer. He is best known for his martial arts fight choreography in ''Sockbaby'', ''Go Sukashi!'', and ''The Danger Element''. Early life Soares was born in Turlock, Cali ...

#25 -

#7 - Gwyn Staley #13 - Joel Million #12 -

Speedy Thompson Alfred Bruce "Speedy" Thompson (April 3, 1926, in Monroe, North Carolina – April 2, 1972, in Charlotte, North Carolina) was an American stock car racer in the NASCAR Grand National series from 1950 to 1971, capturing 20 wins along the way. R ...

Mid-South 250

The 1954 Mid-South 250 was a

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap ...

race that took place on October 10, 1954, at

Memphis-Arkansas Speedway The Memphis-Arkansas Speedway was a dirt oval track located just west of West Memphis, Arkansas, United States, in the community of Lehi. This speedway had a total distance spanning . Its elevation is 200 feet above sea level and all races used ...

in the community of

LeHi, Arkansas Lehi (also stylized as LeHi) is an unincorporated community in Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States, located at the intersection of I-40/ US-79/ US-63 and AR 147. It is the location of a former NASCAR The National Association for Sto ...

. One hundred and sixty-seven laps were raced on a dirt track spanning . Twelve-thousand people attended this untelevised race where

won in his 1954

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it produ ...

. Other notable competitors included

(who led 150 laps which was considered to be the most laps),

, and

Junior Johnson Robert Glenn Johnson Jr. (June 28, 1931 – December 20, 2019), better known as Junior Johnson, was an American NASCAR driver of the 1950s and 1960s. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career before retiring in 1966. In the 1970s and 1980s, he became ...

. The average speed of the race was and the race took two hours, forty-eight minutes, and fifty-one seconds to complete. #87 -

#3 -

#42 -

#92 -

#4 -

Herschel Buchanan Herschel or Herschell may refer to: People * Herschel (name), various people Places * Herschel, Eastern Cape, South Africa * Herschel, Saskatchewan * Herschel, Yukon * Herschel Bay, Canada * Herschel Heights, Alexander Island, Antarctica * Her ...

#114 - Slick Smith #98 -

#189 - Lou Figaro #14 -

Hershel McGriff Hershel Eldridge McGriff Sr. (born December 14, 1927) is an American professional stock car racing driver. A long-time competitor in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, formerly known as the Winston West Series, he won the series' 1986 championship, a ...

#44 -

Final championship standings

References

{{NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship, state=collapsed NASCAR Cup Series seasons