1963 Daytona 500
| Race details | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Race 7 of 55 in the 1963 NASCAR Grand National Series season | |||||
 1963 Daytona 500 program cover | |||||
| Date | February 24, 1963 | ||||
| Location |
Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S. | ||||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.023 km) | ||||
| Distance | 200 laps, 500 mi (800 km) | ||||
| Average speed | 151.556 mph (243.906 km/h) | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Banjo Matthews | ||||
| Qualifying race winners | |||||
| Duel 1 Winner | Junior Johnson | Ray Fox | |||
| Duel 2 Winner | Johnny Rutherford | Smokey Yunick | |||
| Most laps led | |||||
| Driver | Fred Lorenzen | Holman-Moody | |||
| Laps | 77 | ||||
| Winner | |||||
| No. 21 Ford | Tiny Lund |
Network |
ABC's WWOS | ||
| Announcers | Bill Flemming and Chris Economaki | ||||
The 1963 Daytona 500, the 5th running of the event held on February 24, 1963, was won by Tiny Lund driving a 1963 Ford. Lund drove his number 21 to victory in three hours and 17 minutes. There were 2 cautions flags which slowed the race for 10 laps.[1]
Weather played a critical role in Tiny Lund winning this race; with temperatures reaching up to 75 °F (24 °C) and wind speeds up to 20 miles per hour (32 km/h).[2] Lund won by making only four pit stops, but he would not have been able to make the distance on four pit stops had the first ten laps not been run under caution to dry the track from earlier rains. Had the race not started under caution, Lund would have had to make five pit stops, just as Fred Lorenzen and Ned Jarrett did. He was able to win on four pit stops alone because of the slow start time.
Race report
Lund filled in for an injured Marvin Panch, who suffered injuries after a crash in a Maserati. Panch was to drive a Wood Brothers car in the 500.[3] The win was Lund's first victory of the season.[4]
Jim Cushman, Bubba Farr, Dick Good, Ted Hairfield, and John Rogers retired from professional stock car racing after this event.[5] Drivers who failed to qualify for the race were: Bobby Isaac (#99), Buck Baker (#87), Pete Stewart (#57), Cale Yarborough (#52), Larry Thomas (#36), Roy Mayne (#33), Chuck Daigh (#25), Rodger Ward (#16), Al Terrell (#9) and Bill Foster (#2).[6]
First Daytona 500 starts for LeeRoy Yarbrough, H. B. Bailey, Stick Elliott, Wendell Scott, A. J. Foyt, Jim Hurtubise, and Bob Cooper. Only Daytona 500 starts for Troy Ruttman, Bob James, Red Foote, Len Sutton, Floyd Powell, Frank Graham, John Rogers, Dick Good, Bubba Farr, and Ted Hairfield. Last Daytona 500 starts for Nelson Stacy, Joe Weatherly, Tommy Irwin, Rex White, Ed Livingston, Jim Cushman, Herman Beam, Jim McGuirk, and Jack Smith.[1]
Parnelli Jones, at the wheel of Bill Stroppe's factory-backed Mercury, comes home 15th in the second of his three Daytona 500 appearances.[1] While a great finish wasn't in the cards here about three months later Jones would go on to win the Indianapolis 500.
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.
This race marked the first time that
Top 10 finishers
| Pos[1] | Grid | No. | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Winnings | Laps led | Time/Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | 21 | Tiny Lund | 1963 Ford | 200 | $24,550 | 17 | 3:17:56 |
| 2 | 2 | 28 | Fred Lorenzen | 1963 Ford | 200 | $15,540 | 77 | +24 seconds |
| 3 | 8 | 11 | Ned Jarrett | 1963 Ford | 200 | $8,700 | 26 | Lead lap under green flag |
| 4 | 10 | 29 | Nelson Stacy | 1963 Ford | 199 | $8,275 | 0 | +1 lap |
| 5 | 11 | 0 | Dan Gurney | 1963 Ford | 199 | $3,550 | 0 | +1 lap |
| 6 | 23 | 43 | Richard Petty | 1963 Plymouth | 198 | $2,500 | 0 | +2 laps |
| 7 | 14 | 7A | Bobby Johns | 1963 Pontiac | 198 | $2,600 | 10 | +2 laps |
| 8 | 26 | 8 | Joe Weatherly | 1963 Pontiac | 197 | $1,500 | 0 | +3 laps |
| 9 | 4 | 13 | Johnny Rutherford | 1963 Chevrolet | 196 | $1,250 | 0 | +4 laps |
| 10 | 13 | 44 | Tommy Irwin | 1963 Ford | 195 | $1,000 | 0 | +5 laps |
References
- ^ a b c d "1963 Daytona 500". racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ^ "Weather History for the 1963 Daytona 500 race". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2015-03-15.
- ^ "1963 NASCAR Grand National Recap". HowStuffWorks, Inc ; Publications International, Ltd. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ISBN 0-681-27587-1.
- ^ Retirements from NASCAR at Race Database
- ^ Qualifying information for the 1963 Daytona 500 at Racing Reference