1967 Fireball 300
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| Race details[1][2] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 6 of 49 in the 1967 NASCAR Grand National Series season | |||
| Date | March 5, 1967 | ||
| Official name | Fireball 300 | ||
| Location | Asheville-Weaverville Speedway, Weaverville, North Carolina | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 0.804 km (0.500 miles) | ||
| Distance | 300 laps, 150 mi (241 km) | ||
| Weather | Chilly with temperatures of 71.1 °F (21.7 °C); wind speeds of 15 miles per hour (24 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 83.360 miles per hour (134.155 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 9,500[2] | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Junior Johnson & Associates | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Richard Petty | Petty Enterprises | |
| Laps | 150 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 43 | Richard Petty | Petty Enterprises | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | untelevised | ||
| Announcers | none | ||
The 1967 Fireball 300 was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on March 5, 1967, at Asheville-Weaverville Speedway in Weaverville, North Carolina.
The name of the race was named after NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Fireball Roberts, who died in 1964 following an accident in that year's World 600 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Qualifying
This was the historic site of Richard Petty's 50th career win in front of 9,500 people in what is now known as the Cup Series.[2] The average speed of the race was 83.360 miles per hour (134.155 km/h) on a paved oval track spanning 0.500 miles (0.805 km) for three hundred laps.[2] It took one hour and forty-seven minutes for the race to reach its conclusion; Petty defeating Darel Dieringer by outlapping him twice.[2] All twenty-two racers were from the United States of America.[2]
Total winnings for this race were $7,150 ($67,425 when adjusted for inflation). Individual earnings for each driver ranged from the winner's share of $1,800 ($16,974 when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's portion of $100 ($943 when adjusted for inflation).[3]
Jim Conway would retire from NASCAR Cup Series competition after this event.[4] 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.
| Grid[2] | No. | Driver | Manufacturer | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 | Darel Dieringer | '67 Ford | Junior Johnson |
| 2 | 43 | Richard Petty | '67 Plymouth | Petty Enterprises |
| 3 | 14 | Jim Paschal | '65 Plymouth | Tom Friedkin |
| 4 | 2 | Bobby Allison | '66 Chevrolet | Donald Brackins |
| 5 | 4 | John Sears | '66 Ford | L.G. DeWitt |
| 6 | 6 | David Pearson | '66 Dodge | Cotton Owens |
| 7 | 88 | Buck Baker | '66 Oldsmobile | Buck Baker |
| 8 | 64 | Elmo Langley | '66 Ford | Elmo Langley / Henry Woodfield |
| 9 | 19 | J.T. Putney | '66 Chevrolet | J.T. Putney |
| 10 | 75 | Earl Brooks | '66 Ford | Gene Black |
| 11 | 34 | Wendell Scott | '65 Ford | Wendell Scott |
| 12 | 09 | Neil Castles | '66 Chevrolet | Garland Miller |
| 13 | 31 | Paul Dean Holt | '66 Ford | Ralph Murphy |
| 14 | 91 | Jim Conway | '65 Plymouth | Neil Castles |
| 15 | 48 | James Hylton | '65 Dodge | Bud Hartje |
| 16 | 00 | Paul Lewis | '65 Dodge | Emory Gilliam |
| 17 | 20 | Clyde Lynn | '66 Ford | Clyde Lynn |
| 18 | 97 | Henley Gray | '66 Ford | Henley Gray |
| 19 | 46 | Roy Mayne | '66 Chevrolet | Tom Hunter |
| 20 | 45 | Bill Seifert | '65 Ford | Bill Seifert |
| 21 | 38 | Wayne Smith | '66 Chevrolet | Archie Smith |
| 22 | 9 | Roy Tyner | '66 Chevrolet | Truett Rogers |