The NASCAR Convertible Division was a division of convertible cars early in

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

's history, from 1956 until 1959, although the signature race for convertibles remained a Convertible Division race until 1962. Two remnants of the Convertible Division are still used in the

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971 ...

today: the

Bluegreen Vacations Duel The Bluegreen Vacations Duel, formerly known as the Twin 125s, is a NASCAR Cup Series preliminary event to the Daytona 500 held annually in February at Daytona International Speedway. It consists of two races, which both serve as a qualifying rac ...

(one Daytona 500 qualifying race was reserved for convertibles) and the Rebel 400 (started as a convertible race until the end of the division).

History

NASCAR purchased SAFE (Society of Auto Sports, Fellowship, and Education)'s all-convertible Circuit of Champions “All Stars” circuit late in 1955. Most drivers did not make the transition to NASCAR's sanction. NASCAR ran the division from 1956 until 1959. Some Convertibles raced against the Grand National hardtop cars in the same race. The

1959 Daytona 500 The 1959 First 500 Mile NASCAR International Sweepstakes at Daytona (now known as the 1959 Inaugural Daytona 500) was the second race of the 1959 NASCAR Grand National Series season. It was held on February 22, 1959, in front of 41,921 spectato ...

had one qualifying race for Convertibles and one for the hardtop Grand National cars. 20 of the 59 cars in the Daytona 500 were convertibles. The split qualifying races of the 1959 race led to the development of the

Budweiser Duel The Bluegreen Vacations Duel, formerly known as the Twin 125s, is a NASCAR Cup Series preliminary event to the Daytona 500 held annually in February at Daytona International Speedway. It consists of two races, which both serve as a qualifying rac ...

qualifying races still used in the Daytona 500.

Rebel 300 at Darlington

The current Rebel 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at

Darlington Raceway Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located in Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is ...

was held as a Convertible Division race from 1957-1962. As NASCAR's only superspeedway in 1957, the inaugural Rebel 300 was held as a Convertible race on May 11, 1957, only to be delayed by rain and raced on the ensuing Sunday (May 12), drawing a fine for promoter Bob Colvin for violating South Carolina

blue law Blue laws, also known as Sunday laws, Sunday trade laws and Sunday closing laws, are laws restricting or banning certain activities on specified days, usually Sundays in the western world. The laws were adopted originally for religious reasons, ...

(the track's signature fall race, the

Southern 500 The Southern 500, officially known as the Cook Out Southern 500 for sponsorship reasons, is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, United States. The race distance is and consists of 367 laps. Fro ...

, was held on Labor Day Monday until 1983, when the state waived the Blue Law for 250-mile (402 km) or longer automobile races). The Rebel 300 would be held as a

Confederate Memorial Day Confederate Memorial Day (called Confederate Heroes Day in Texas and Florida, and Confederate Decoration Day in Tennessee) is a cultural holiday observed in several Southern U.S. states on various dates since the end of the American Civil Wa ...

Convertible race even after the division ended in 1959, with full Grand National points awarded for three more Convertible division races from 1960–62, won by

Joe Weatherly Joseph Herbert Weatherly (May 29, 1922 – January 19, 1964) was an American stock car racing driver. Weatherly was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2009 after winning NASCAR's Grand National Series championships i ...

Fred Lorenzen Frederick Lorenzen Jr. (born December 30, 1934), nicknamed The Golden Boy, Fast Freddie, The Elmhurst Express and Fearless Freddy, is a former NASCAR driver from Elmhurst, Illinois. Active from 1958 to 1972, he won 26 races including 1965 Daytona ...

, and the final Rebel 300 for convertibles on May 12, 1962, won by

Nelson Stacy Nelson Stacy (December 28, 1921 – May 14, 1986) was an American race car driver from Maysville, Kentucky. He won the 1958, 1959, and 1960 MARC Series (now ARCA Menards Series) championships. He also won four NASCAR Grand National Series races i ...

. The Rebel 300 was run as a Grand National race with hardtops for the first time in 1963 as two 150-mile races before adopting a full 300-mile race in 1964, and expanded to 400 miles in 1966, before going to 500 miles in 1974, reverting to 400 miles in 1994. The race was dropped after 2004 in favor of the Southern 500 moving to May beginning in 2005. The Southern 500 returned to Labor Day weekend in 2015, and the Rebel 400 returned in 2020 as part of a schedule realignment due to the COVID–19 pandemic. The race remained on the schedule in subsequent years.

List of champions

*1956

Bob Welborn Robert "Bob" Joe Welborn (May 5, 1928 – August 10, 1997) of Denton was a NASCAR Grand National Series driver. He was named to NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers list in 1998. He won the final three NASCAR Convertible Division championships in 1956, ...

1956 Chevrolet *1957 Bob Welborn 1957 Chevrolet *1958 Bob Welborn 1957 Chevrolet *1959 Joe Lee Johnson 1957 Chevrolet1959 NASCAR Convertible Series Results
Retrieved August 23, 2019

References

{{NASCAR NASCAR series