WILSON SPEEDWAY - WILSON NC
Wilson Speedway was a 1/2 mile dirt track that hosted 100 mile races for the Cup Series. NASCAR Cup Series raced here from 1951-1960. The first race, Fonty Flock would beat out brother Bob Flock for the win. 1952 saw Herb Thomas avoid all the carnage to get the win, as he bested Lee Petty and Bill Blair by a lap. The 35.3 average speed for the race is the slowest in Cup history. The following year the track held two events. Fonty Flock would win the spring race while Thomas would claim the fall victory. Buck Baker would win the race in 1954 beating Al Keller by a lap. NASCAR didn't race here in 1955, then 1956 saw Herb Thomas win for the third time wheeling a 1956 Chevy wrenched by Smokey Yunick.
1956-1958 would see NASCAR stars Buck Baker, Ralph Moody, and Lee Petty claim wins. But in 1959 the spring race had an unusual prior to the start of the race. Less than an hour before the green flag, the wooden grandstand caught on fire and burned to the ground. No one is injured, but the 8,000 spectators had to watch the race while standing along the catch fence. After all the excitement Junior Johnson would win the race by three second over Curtis Turner; and also win the second race at the speedway that season as he beat Tom Pistone to
the flag. The final Cup race here ended with a disqualification. Emanuel Zervakis was originally flagged the winner. Second place finisher Joe Weatherly ordered the officials to inspect Zerkavis' fuel tank after the race. Zerkavis' tank was found to have a higher-than-normal fuel capacity. When asked sometime later how Weatherly knew that Zerkavis' tank was illegal, he grinned and said ... "Because I was running the same tank he was,". The disqualification and the fact that NASCAR took away the
race win would not happen again until 2022; when Denny Hamlin won at Pocono and failed post-race tech. He would also lose his race win. During the time between these two events NASCAR typically just fined the winner if the failed post-race tech, but they got to keep the win. The Convertibles also raced five events from 1956-1958. In the 1956 race, Curtis Turner would get the victory by a lap over Joe Weatherly; and in 1957 he looked to be on his way to victory again. But a broken rear axle handed the win to Joe Weatherly. Billy Myers would visit victory circle in 1957, beating Possum Jones by five seconds. Curtis Turner again won in 1958
as he beat Bob Welborn and Joe Weatherly who were all on the lead lap. The Final race also came in 1958, and when it was done Bob Welborn sat in victory lane. Tootle Estes would finish second, Brownie King was third, followed by George Dunn and Richard Petty. During the 60's the track was one of the venues Dale Earnhardt raced at very early in his career.
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