1968 Beltsville 300

Beltsville Speedway was specially designed with banked turns for stock car racing. Originally known as the "Baltimore-Washington Speedway", this track received its final name in its 19th month of operation.^[3] The track hosted modified stock car racing vehicles alongside the other NASCAR series.^[3] Wednesday nights were the original night for racing but the schedule eventually added Friday night racing.^[3] Ten Grand National races were raced there including the popular Beltsville 300 series of races.^[4]

It took two hours for David Pearson (in his Holman-Moody owned '68 Ford Torino) to defeat Bobby Isaac (in his '67 Dodge Charger) by one lap and five seconds in front of 8,700 people.^[2] The majority of the starting grid would be driving Ford vehicles while Dodge, Chevrolet, Buick, Oldsmobile and Plymouth made up the minority of the racing vehicles.^[5] Notable crew chiefs who participated in the event were Ray Hicks, Jake Elder, Frankie Scott, Dale Inman and Harry Hyde.^[6]

Notable speeds were: 74.844 miles or 120.450 kilometres per hour as the average speed and 83.604 miles or 134.548 kilometres per hour as the pole position speed.^[2] The track was a paved oval track spanning 0.500 miles or 0.805 kilometres.^[2] Three hundred laps were raced on this track for a grand total of 150.0 miles or 241.4 kilometres.^[2] There was one Canadian participant named Frog Fagan; he started in 20th place and finished the race in 22nd place.^[2]

Total winnings for this race were $6,800 ($61,486 when considering inflation); David Pearson would receive $1,400 ($12,659 when considering inflation) while last-place finisher Wendell Scott would receive a meager $100 ($904 when considering inflation).^[7] Tom Pistone was the start and park car for this race; he quit the race for reasons unknown.^[2] Other notable racers who participated included Wendell Scott, Buck Baker, and J.D. McDuffie.^[2]