Herb Thomas would make his first finish outside the top six in 25 races in this event. Three cautions were given for 16 laps in front of 2000 loyal spectators. Thirteen lead changes were given amongst four different drivers. It took one hour and twenty-four minutes to race 160 laps on a dirt oval track spanning 0.625 miles (1.006 km). Six of the top nine positions were driving Hudson Hornets. Eleven of the 27 cars entered in the race finished. Donald Thomas, also in a 1952 "Fabulous" Hudson Hornet, finished third, and Tim Flock finished fourth. Fonty Flock led the first eight laps and finished the race second. Herb Thomas, driving his 1952 "Fabulous" Hudson Hornet, won the pole, led 192 of the 200 laps, and grabbed the victory. ![]() The Flock Brothers ( Fonty Flock and Tim Flock) were strong, but the Thomas brothers ( Herb Thomas and Donald Thomas) had the better outcome. Two sets of brothers competed in the race, and they took the top four spots at the finish. The Wilkes 200 in 1952 turned into a battle between brothers. In 1957, owner Enoch Stanley had the 5/8-mile track paved. One race was held in the spring, normally in late March or early April, and another was held in the fall, normally in late September or early October. Jack Smith finished second after leading 55 laps in the race.Īfter hosting only one NASCAR event in 1949 and one in 1950, the track began running two Grand National Series events per year in 1951 (with the exception of 1956, when only one race was held the track was being prepared for pavement). Ultimately, Leon Sales led eight of the 200 laps to become the victor, the fourth NASCAR driver to win an event in his debut race. Fonty Flock started in the third position and led the most laps in the race with 104, but engine troubles also ended his day. Twenty-one-year-old Fireball Roberts qualified with a lap speed of 73.266 mph on the dirt track for his first ever Grand National pole, but engine problems dropped him out of the running. The 1950 Wilkes 200 was the second Grand National Series race held at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Racing at North Wilkesboro was intense and physical. Most of the fans in the early years of the sport saw the track as notorious for being a great venue to watch races between the legendary racers of the time. In 1950, speeds reached 73 mph at the track, compared to the next fastest short-track, Charlotte Speedway, where top speeds only reached 66 mph. ![]() North Wilkesboro carried a reputation as one of the fastest short-tracks in auto racing in the late 1940s and 1950s. ![]() By 1980, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power anymore. This policy was in effect until roughly 1975. The race car drivers still had to commute to the races using the same stock cars that competed in a typical weekend's race through a policy of homologation (and under their own power). The 1953 Wilkes 160 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on October 11, 1953, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
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