1953 Southern 500
The 1953 Southern 500, the fourth running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on September 7, 1953, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 30 of 37 in the 1953 NASCAR Grand National Series season | |||
|
1953 Southern 500 program and logo | |||
| Date | September 7, 1953 | ||
| Official name | Southern 500 | ||
| Location | Darlington Raceway, Darlington, South Carolina | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.375 mi (2.213 km) | ||
| Distance | 364 laps, 500.0 mi (804.6 km) | ||
| Weather | Very hot with temperatures of 82.9 °F (28.3 °C); wind speeds of 8.9 miles per hour (14.3 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 92.881 miles per hour (149.477 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 37,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Frank Christian | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Buck Baker | Bob Griffin | |
| Laps | 151 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 87 | Buck Baker | Bob Griffin | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | untelevised | ||
| Announcers | none | ||
Junior Johnson would make his NASCAR Cup Series debut in this event; amongst a long list of other rookie drivers. Bob Weatherly, Lonnie Bragg, and Elmer Cooper would race their only NASCAR event here along with several others. " Just months prior to the 1953 running of the Southern 500, the shape of the track made passing opportunities very few. A reconstruction helped to mold the racetrack into a fast venue for stock car racing prior to the completion of Daytona International Speedway.
Along with this track, almost every track in the Southeastern United States had a weekly racing series. During the 1950s, regular passenger cars were not so different from the cars that the NASCAR drivers used at the races. The gulf between everyday passenger vehicles and NASCAR vehicles started to widen in the mid-1970s due to environmental concerns; becoming pronounced by the late-1970s.