The 1964 Atlanta 500 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 ...
event that was held on April 5, 1964, at
Atlanta International Raceway
Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly known Atlanta International Raceway from 1960 to 1990) is a 1.54-mile entertainment facility in Hampton, Georgia, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It has annually hosted NASCAR Cup Series s ...
in
Hampton, Georgia
Hampton is a city in southwestern Henry County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 6,987, up from 3,857 at the 2000 census. By 2018 the estimated population was 7,922. "Hampton" mailing addresses outside t ...
, the fifth annual race in the history of the
Atlanta 500
The Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race that was run annually each March at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia from 1960 to 2010 and as a July race since 2021. The race was the first of two races ...
series of races.
This race had only ten vehicles surviving to the finish. Many of top NASCAR teams suffered from engine failure along with the non-contenders. Five race-ending crashes were recorded in this event; with some footage of the race being used for the drive-in movie ''
Speed Lovers''.
Background
Atlanta International Raceway
Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly known Atlanta International Raceway from 1960 to 1990) is a 1.54-mile entertainment facility in Hampton, Georgia, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It has annually hosted NASCAR Cup Series s ...
(now Atlanta Motor Speedway) is one of ten current
intermediate track to hold
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 ...
races; the others are
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Charlotte Motor Speedway (previously known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009) is a motorsport complex located in Concord, North Carolina, outside Charlotte. The complex features a quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including th ...
,
Chicagoland Speedway
Chicagoland Speedway is a tri-oval speedway in Joliet, Illinois, southwest of Chicago. The speedway opened in 2001 and actively hosted NASCAR racing including the NASCAR Cup Series until 2019. Until 2010, the speedway has also hosted the IndyC ...
,
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 ...
,
Homestead Miami Speedway
Homestead may refer to:
*Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses
*Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres
*Homestead principle, a legal concept th ...
,
Kansas Speedway
Kansas Speedway is a tri-oval race track in the Village West area near Kansas City, Kansas, United States. It was built in 2001 and it currently hosts two annual NASCAR race weekends. The IndyCar Series also held races at the venue until 2011 ...
,
Kentucky Speedway
Kentucky Speedway is a tri-oval speedway in Sparta, Kentucky, which has hosted ARCA, NASCAR and Indy Racing League racing annually since it opened in 2000. The track is currently owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Before 2008 J ...
,
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada about 15 miles northeast of the Las Vegas Strip, is a complex of multiple tracks for motorsports racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is ...
,
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a Oval track racing, oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1990, as well as the longest-running motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nickna ...
, and
Texas Motor Speedway
Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The reconfigured track measures with banked 20° in turns 1 and 2 and banked 24° ...
.
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
All 39 drivers on the grid were
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 ...
-born.
Notable drivers who finished outside the top ten included
Darel Dieringer
Darel Dieringer (June 1, 1926 – October 28, 1989) was an American professional stock car racing driver. He ran 181 NASCAR Grand National Series races during his career, notably racing for Bud Moore Engineering and Junior Johnson & Associates. ...
,
Paul Goldsmith
Paul Goldsmith (born October 2, 1925) is a former USAC and NASCAR driver. He is an inductee of the Motorcycle Hall of Fame, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, and the USAC Hall of Fame. Later in life Goldsmith became a pilot and, flying ...
,
Roy Tyner
William Leroy "Roy" Tyner (January 3, 1934 – February 23, 1989) was a Native American ''NASCAR Grand National'' driver from Red Springs, North Carolina, United States.
NASCAR career
Driver
Tyner participated in the 1968 Fireball 300 in addi ...
,
Cale Yarborough
William Caleb "Cale" Yarborough (born March 27, 1939) is an American former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner, businessman, and farmer. He is one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships, winning in 1 ...
,
LeeRoy Yarbrough
Lonnie "LeeRoy" Yarbrough (September 17, 1938 – December 7, 1984) was an American stock car racer. His best season was 1969 when he won seven races, tallied 21 finishes in the top-ten and earned $193,211 ($ when inflation is taken into accoun ...
,
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 ...
, and
A. J. Foyt
Anthony Joseph Foyt Jr. (born January 16, 1935) is an American retired auto racing driver who has raced in numerous genres of motorsports. His open wheel racing includes United States Automobile Club Champ cars, sprint cars, and midget cars. H ...
.
Fred Lorenzen
Frederick Lorenzen Jr. (born December 30, 1934), nicknamed The Golden Boy, Fast Freddie, The Elmhurst Express and Fearless Freddy, is a former NASCAR driver from Elmhurst, Illinois. Active from 1958 to 1972, he won 26 races including 1965 Daytona ...
defeated
Bobby Isaac
Robert Vance Isaac (August 1, 1932 – August 14, 1977) was an American stock car racing driver. Isaac made his first NASCAR appearance in 1961, and quickly forged a reputation of one of the toughest competitors of the 1960s and 1970s. He was most ...
by two laps after almost four hours to extend the era of "Fearless Freddie's Fast Ford".
Fifty thousand spectators would see four caution periods lasting for 19 laps and 11 lead changes.
Goldsmith would flip his car after leading the first 55 laps but would get out of the wreckage unharmed.
Jimmy Helms
James D. Helms (born September 27, 1941) is an American soul singer, known as a member of Londonbeat but who also had solo hits such as " Gonna Make You an Offer You Can't Refuse".
Early years
James D. Helms was born in Florida, United States. ...
and Ken Spikes made their first NASCAR Cup starts while
Dave MacDonald
David George MacDonald (July 23, 1936 – May 30, 1964) was an American road racing champion noted for his successes driving Corvettes and Shelby Cobras in the early 1960s. At the age of 27, he was killed in the 1964 Indianapolis 500, alon ...
raced his final NASCAR race here.
Neil Castles
Henry Neil Castles (October 1, 1934 – August 4, 2022) was an American NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series driver. He raced from 1957 to 1976, and won the NASCAR Grand National East Series in 1972.
Early life
Castles was born in Ma ...
ended in last place due to a handling problem on the second lap of this 334-lap race.
The total purse of the race was $57,655 ($ when adjusted for inflation); Lorenzen would walk away with $18,000 ($ when adjusted for inflation). Notable crew chiefs in this event include
Jimmy Helms
James D. Helms (born September 27, 1941) is an American soul singer, known as a member of Londonbeat but who also had solo hits such as " Gonna Make You an Offer You Can't Refuse".
Early years
James D. Helms was born in Florida, United States. ...
,
Dale Inman
Dale Inman (born August 19, 1936) is a retired NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup Series crew chief from Level Cross, Randolph County, North Carolina. He is best known for being the crew chief of Richard Petty at Petty Enterprises during three de ...
,
Herb Nab
In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...
,
Bud Allman
In botany, a bud is an undeveloped or embryonic shoot and normally occurs in the axil of a leaf or at the tip of a stem. Once formed, a bud may remain for some time in a dormant condition, or it may form a shoot immediately. Buds may be spec ...
,
Glen Wood
Glenn Alexandria Wood (July 18, 1925 – January 18, 2019) was an American NASCAR driver from Stuart, Virginia.
Early life
He and brother Leonard Wood co-founded the legendary Wood Brothers Racing team in 1953, and won four races over an elev ...
,
Shorty Johns
Shorty is a nickname, usually for a short person. See Shorty (nickname).
Shorty may also refer to:
Music Artists
* Ras Shorty I, Trinidadian artist and founder of soca music.
* Shorty (band), an American rock band formed in 1991
* Shorty (Ameri ...
,
Bud Moore and
Banjo Matthews
Edwin Keith "Banjo" Matthews (February 14, 1932 – October 2, 1996) was an American NASCAR driver, car owner, and builder. As a driver, he had 13 top ten finishes in 51 starts. He was the car builder for the 1976 to 1978 NASCAR Cup Series ch ...
.
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.
Qualifying
Top 10 finishers
Timeline
Section reference:
* Start of race: Fred Lorenzen started out with the pole position but Paul Goldsmith quickly overtook him.
* Lap 2: Neil Castles just could not handle his vehicle properly; forcing him to exit the race due to safety reasons.
* Lap 3: A frame came off Joe Clark's vehicle; ending his day on the track.
* Lap 19: Jimmy Pardue had a terminal crash; forcing him to leave the event prematurely.
* Lap 22: The rear end managed to come off Jimmy Helms' vehicle; causing him to get a 34th-place finish.
* Lap 26: Ignition problems managed to sideline Jack Anderson.
* Lap 31: Larry Thomas' day on the track came to a rough end due to a faulty ignition in his vehicle.
* Lap 41: Darel Dieringer had a terminal crash; making him accept a rather lousy 31st-place finish.
* Lap 42: Roy Mayne just could not handle his vehicle properly; ending his day on the track.
* Lap 55: Paul Goldsmith had a terminal crash; forcing him to retire from the race.
* Lap 56: Fireball Roberts took over the lead from Fred Lorenzen.
* Lap 59: Jim Hurtubise took over the lead from Fireball Roberts.
* Lap 60: Curtis Crider had to bring an overheating vehicle out of the race prematurely.
* Lap 61: Marvin Panch took over the lead from Jim Hurtubuise.
* Lap 74: Cale Yarborough noticed that some of his gasoline was leaking out of his vehicle.
* Lap 77: Jim Hurtubise managed to lose the rear end of his vehicle; causing him to accept a 23rd-place finish.
* Lap 78: Engine problems managed to take LeeRoy Yarbrough out of the race.
* Lap 92: Fred Lorenzen took over the lead from Marvin Panch.
* Lap 106: David Pearson had a terminal crash.
* Lap 107: Fireball Roberts had a terminal crash.
* Lap 110: A frame managed to come off Larry Frank's vehicle.
* Lap 113: Bobby Isaac took over the lead from Fred Lorenzen.
* Lap 114: Fred Lorenzen took over the lead from Bobby Isaac.
* Lap 119: Rex White had to nurse his troublesome engine away from the race.
* Lap 130: Bobby Isaac took over the lead from Fred Lorenzen.
* Lap 149: The head gasket managed to come off Bobby Johns' vehicle; making it too dangerous for him to continue racing at high speeds.
* Lap 150: Fred Lorenzen took over the lead from Bobby Isaac; Dave MacDonald's engine started to blow causing his 16th-place finish.
* Lap 151: Bobby Isaac took over the lead from Fred Lorenzen.
* Lap 167: Fred Lorenzen took over the lead from Bobby Isaac.
* Lap 173: Jim McElreath's vehicle would develop engine problems severe enough to force him out of the race.
* Lap 190: Marvin Panch's vehicle developed problems with its engine.
* Lap 225: Billy Wade's engine stopped working on this lap.
* Lap 246: A.J. Foyt had to accept an 11th-place finish due to his malfunctioning engine.
* Finish: Fred Lorenzen was officially declared the winner of the event.
References
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Atlanta 500
The Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race that was run annually each March at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia from 1960 to 2010 and as a July race since 2021. The race was the first of two races ...
Atlanta 500
The Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race that was run annually each March at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia from 1960 to 2010 and as a July race since 2021. The race was the first of two races ...
NASCAR races at Atlanta Motor Speedway