1968 American 500

Auto race held at North Carolina Motor Speedway in 1968 February 2025 CUST Race 48 of 49 in the 1968 NASCAR Grand National Series season American 500 Weather information for the 1968 American 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac 1968 10 27 1968 48 49 Rockingham Speedway.svg Layout of Rockingham Speedway American 500 North Carolina Motor Speedway, Rockingham, North Carolina 1.017 1.636 492 500 804 Chilly with temperatures of 67.3 F C; wind speeds of 9.9 mph km/h 105.06 mi/h 32,000 Cale Yarborough Wood Brothers Racing Richard Petty Petty Enterprises 216 43 Richard Petty Petty Enterprises untelevised none The 1968 American 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on October 27, 1968, at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina. 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. Background North Carolina Motor Speedway was opened as a flat, one-mile oval on October 31, 1965. In 1969, the track was extensively reconfigured to a high-banked, D-shaped oval just over one mile in length. In 1997, North Carolina Motor Speedway merged with Penske Motorsports, and was renamed North Carolina Speedway. Shortly thereafter, the infield was reconfigured, and competition on the infield road course, mostly by the SCCA, was discontinued. Currently, the track is home to the Fast Track High Performance Driving School,http://www.fasttrackracing.com/ Fast Track High Performance Driving School, Inc Fasttrackracing.com 2012-07-16 Race report There were 44 drivers who managed to qualify for this event. Only one foreigner was present – Australian-born driver Frank Gardner – would become the last-place driver due to an incident requiring a black flag on the first lap. He would become the "prototype" for Cup Series driver Marcos Ambrose even though Garnder would never run another Cup Series race after this one. Gardner's last-place finish within the confines of the American stock car world was eventually overshadowed by his championship victory at the 1968 British Saloon Car Championship while driving a European version of the Ford Escort Twin Cam.Official list of BTCC champions https://web.archive.org/web/20110716070626/http://www.btcc.net/html/history_stats.php?statstype_id=1 2011-07-16 at British Touring Car Championship American-born driver Dexter Gainey would be black-flagged exactly forty laps later and would be disqualified as well. Wendell Scott would become the lowest-finishing driver to complete the event; albeit 191 laps behind the lead lap drivers.Racing information for the 1968 American 500 at Racing Reference Five hundred laps was raced at this event for a duration for four hours and forty-five minutes. Speeds on the track would reach around 105.06 mph km/h or for the entire course of this race. Thirty-two thousand spectators would witness another Richard Petty victory with him out-racing David Pearson by a time of fifteen seconds. LeeRoy Yarbrough would finish in third place, and two laps behind the top two finishers. Petty was running an older chassis with current sheet metal because he could not get his 1968 vehicle to run on a super-speedway. Shortly after this race, his switch to Ford for 1969 was announced. Cale Yarborough's solo qualifying performance of 118.677 mph km/h would help him clinch the pole position for the event. While Yarborough and Bobby Isaac would dominate the opening laps of this event, the event ended up being a "Petty and Pearson" show for the final 100 laps. Glotzbach quit after he turned Bud Moore into the wall separating pit road from the racetrack on lap 59. Moore swerved to avoid a loose wheel on pit road and swerved into Glotzbach's path. Glotzbach was penalized a lap for the crash, so he parked the car. Individual race winnings for the drivers ranged from the winner's share of $17,075 ($ when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's share of $515 ($ when adjusted for inflation). The entire prize purse that was handed out to all the qualifying participants was $69,800 ($ when adjusted for inflation).Racing information for the 1968 American 500 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet Twelve notable crew chiefs were reported as participating in the race; including Jake Elder, Bud Moore, Glen Wood, Banjo Matthews, Dale Inman, Harry Hyde and Junior Johnson.1968 American 500 crew chief information at Racing Reference Qualifying Grid No. Car number Driver Manufacturer 1 21 Cale Yarborough '68 Mercury 2 17 David Pearson '68 Dodge 3 71 Bobby Isaac '68 Dodge 4 43 Richard Petty '68 Plymouth 5 99 Paul Goldsmith '68 Dodge 6 98 LeeRoy Yarbrough '68 Ford 7 6 Charlie Glotzbach '68 Dodge 8 14 Bobby Allison '68 Plymouth 9 16 Tiny Lund '68 Mercury 10 3 Buddy Baker '68 Dodge 11 22 Darell Dieringer '68 Plymouth 12 1 Pete Hamilton '68 Dodge 13 27 Donnie Allison '68 Ford 14 91 Don White '68 Dodge 15 29 Bud Moore '68 Ford 16 84 G.C. Spencer '68 Ford 17 48 James Hylton '68 Dodge 18 75 Butch Hartman '68 Dodge 19 4 John Sears '67 Ford 20 03 Richard Brickhouse '67 Plymouth Finishing order Section reference: 30em Richard Petty David Pearson LeeRoy Yarbrough Tiny Lund Bobby Allison Don White James Hylton G.C. Spencer Richard Brickhouse Butch Hartman John Sears Friday Hassler Bobby Johns Bill Seifert Clyde Lynn Donnie Allison Bobby Isaac Earl Brooks Roy Tyner Walson Gardner Henley Gray Dick Johnson Jabe Thomas Dave Marcis Buddy Baker Cale Yarborough Wendell Scott Bill Champion Paul Goldsmith Tommy Gale Red Farmer Neil Castles Darrell Dieringer Pete Hamilton J.D. McDuffie James Sears Don Tarr Ervin Pruett E.J. Trivette Elmo Langley Charlie Glotzbach Bud Moore Dexter Gainey Frank Gardner References 1968 National 500 1968 Peach State 200 NASCAR Grand National Season 1968 1967 1969 American 500 races 1968 1968 Wilkes 400 November 1969 Georgia 500 Richard Petty's Career Wins 1960-1984 American 500 American 500 Category:NASCAR races at Rockingham Speedway