1953 Southern 500 - NASCAR Race

Name of Race:	1953 Southern 500
Name of Track:	Darlington Raceway
Date:	N/A

Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina.

Looks Like An Egg

It was the first superspeedway built with NASCAR racing in mind and 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.

Largest Field of Racers

Darlington has an interesting history. When the 1.366 mile long track first opened over a half-century ago, it was not uncommon for there to be 80 or more entrants in a race; this was curtailed over the years as NASCAR adopted a more uniform set of guidelines with regard to the number of cars which could qualify for a race.

Flip-Flop

In recent years the track has been reconfigured; what was the front stretch is now the back stretch, and the turns have been renumbered accordingly. Seating has been increased to approximately 60,000; it has been limited by the proximity of a railroad track to the facility, a highway behind the back stretch, and the still-present pond.

Courtesy of Wikipedia.

1953 Southern 500 NASCAR Race Results

Below are the race results for 1953 Southern 500, in order of finishing place.

Fin	Driver	Num	Start	Money	Laps	Status	Sponsor
1	Buck Baker	87	7	$6,285	364	running	Griffin Motors
2	Fonty Flock	14	1	$3,040	361	running	Red Vogt Special
3	Curtis Turner	44	10	$1,500	359	running	Griffin Motors
5	Herb Thomas	92	4	$1,550	354	engine	FABULOUS
6	Jim Paschal	80	16	$800	354	running	George Hutchens
7	Speedy Thompson	46	19	$750	351	running	Bob Pronger
8	Donald Thomas	56	5	$700	350	running	Herb Thomas
9	Dick Passwater	0	22	$630	350	running	Dick Passwater
10	Tim Flock	91	9	$520	349	running	Ted Chester
11	Lee Petty	42	44	$450	344	running	Petty Enterprises
12	Elton Hildreth	67	24	$400	343	running	Hildreth Motors
13	Jimmie Lewallen	6	21	$350	340	running	Pete Mann
14	Buddy Shuman	89	8	$345	338	running	B.A. Pless
17	Lloyd Hulette	7	29	$250	328	running	Lloyd Hulette
18	Gene Comstock	8	30	$225	324	running	Gene Comstock
19	Fred Dove	71	33	$200	324	running	Fred Dove
21	Bub King	55	55	$175	309	running	Bub King
23	Gober Sosebee	51	47	$150	301	running	Cherokee Garage
25	Lacy Jackson	97	37	$130	288	crash	Lacy Jackson
26	Johnny Bridgers	30	48	$120	279	running	Johnny Bridgers
28	Marvin Panch	6	15	$110	275	heating	Marvin Panch
29	Elmer Cooper	0	50	$110	271	running
31	Jim Reed	9	12	$110	260	engine
32	Matt Gowan	99	38	$110	250	running	Gowan's Auto Parts
33	Bill Blair	2	45	$110	250	radiator	Bill Blair
35	Bill Norton	25	54	$110	241	running
38	Junior Johnson	75	26	$110	222	crash	Junior Johnson
39	Weldon Adams	16	44	$110	217	engine	Adams Racing
40	J.L. Justice	74	35	$110	217	heating	J.L. Justice
41	Bob Hunter	0	56	$105	210	running
42	Dick Rathmann	120	3	$155	208	hub	IT'S A HUDSON
44	Dick Allwine	77	31	$105	198	fuel line	Dick Curry
45	Fireball Roberts	11	6	$340	198	a frame	Leland Colvin
46	Emory Lewis	13	19	$105	195	engine	Ernest Woods
48	Ben Dixon	45	49	$105	187	heating
49	Lonnie Bragg	0	57	$105	149	engine
50	Laird Bruner	88	36	$105	142	trans	Laird Bruner
51	Joe Guide	0	58	$100	111	oil press	Sally Guide
54	Ralph Liguori	45	11	$100	68	crash	Al Wheatley
56	Joe Eubanks	82	2	$100	40	spindle	Oates Motor Co.
58	Merritt Brown	0	46	$100	20	trans
59	Ned Jarrett	79	52	$100	8	oil line	Ned Jarrett