The 1966 American 500 was a

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Grand National Series event that was held on October 30, 1966, at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina. 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.

Background

North Carolina Motor Speedway was opened as a flat, one-mile

oval An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas of mathematics (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.), it is given a more precise definition, which may inc ...

on October 31, 1965. In 1969, the track was extensively reconfigured to a high-banked, D-shaped oval just over one mile in length. In 1997, North Carolina Motor Speedway merged with Penske Motorsports, and was renamed North Carolina Speedway. Shortly thereafter, the infield was reconfigured, and competition on the infield road course, mostly by the SCCA, was discontinued. Currently, the track is home to the Fast Track High Performance Driving School.

Summary

There were 43 American-born drivers on the grid along with

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-born driver Don Biederman. Tiny Lund would finish in last place due to a clutch issue on lap 2 out of the 500 laps that were raced that day. The race took nearly five hours to finish with

Fred Lorenzen Frederick Lorenzen Jr. (December 30, 1934 – December 18, 2024), nicknamed "the Golden Boy", "Fast Freddie", "the Elmhurst Express" and "Fearless Freddy", was an American NASCAR driver from Elmhurst, Illinois. Active from 1958 to 1972, he won ...

defeating Don White by more than four laps in front of a crowd of 35000 spectators. Lorenzen would clinch the pole position with qualifying speeds reaching ; with the average speed of the racing only being slower. There were 20 different lead changes and NASCAR had to wave the caution flag four times for a total distance of 35 laps. The other drivers in the top ten were:

Ned Jarrett Ned Jarrett (born October 12, 1932) is an American former race car driver and broadcaster. He is a two-time NASCAR Grand National Series champion. Because of his calm demeanor, he became known as "Gentleman Ned Jarrett". He is the father of form ...

Cale Yarborough William Caleb Yarborough (March 27, 1939 – December 31, 2023) was an American NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner, businessman, farmer, and rancher. He was the first driver in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships, winn ...

Junior Johnson Robert Glenn Johnson Jr. (June 28, 1931 – December 20, 2019), better known as Junior Johnson, was an American professional stock car racing driver, engineer, and team owner as well as an entrepreneur. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career befor ...

Buddy Baker Elzie Wylie "Buddy" Baker Jr. (January 25, 1941 – August 10, 2015) was an American professional stock car racing driver and commentator. Over the course of his 33-year racing career, he won 19 races in the NASCAR Cup Series, including the 19 ...

, David Pearson,

Jim Paschal James Roy Paschal, Jr. (December 5, 1926 – July 5, 2004) was a NASCAR Grand National Series and Winston Cup Series driver. Career summary Paschal won twenty-five races and twelve poles over his career. Elected to the "Stock Car Racing Hal ...

Donnie Allison Donnie Allison (born September 7, 1939) is an American former driver on the NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup circuit, who won ten times during his racing career, which spanned from 1966 to 1988. He is part of the " Alabama Gang", and is the br ...

, and

James Hylton James Harvey Hylton (August 26, 1934 – April 28, 2018) was an American stock car racing driver. He was a two-time winner in NASCAR Winston Cup Series competition and was a long-time competitor in the ARCA Racing Series. Hylton finished secon ...

. Notable crew chiefs who were in attendance for this race were

Harry Hyde Harry Hyde (January 17, 1925 – May 13, 1996) was a leading crew chief in NASCAR stock car racing in the 1960s through the 1980s, winning 56 races and 88 pole positions. He was the 1970 championship crew chief for Bobby Isaac. He inspired t ...

Dale Inman Dale Inman (born August 19, 1936) is a retired NASCAR Grand National/ Winston Cup Series crew chief. He is best known for being the crew chief of Richard Petty at Petty Enterprises during three decades. They won 188 races and seven championsh ...

Shorty Johns Shorty may refer to: People * Shorty (nickname) * Shorty G and Shorty Gable, ring names of Chad Gable (born 1986), American professional wrestler Music Artists * Ras Shorty I, Trinidadian artist and founder of soca music * Shorty (band), an A ...

, and

Ray Fox Raymond Lee Fox, Sr. (May 28, 1916 – June 15, 2014) was an American engine builder, NASCAR car owner and NASCAR engine inspector. His cars won fourteen NASCAR Grand National Series events and sixteen pole positions. He was the patriarch ...

. While NASCAR promoters kept luring Junior Johnson back to the Grand National Series for the betterment of the fans, he promptly declared his retirement after this race. Ned Jarrett retired because he and Junior Johnson were involved in the crash that killed Fireball Roberts at the

1964 World 600 The ''1964 World 600'', the fifth running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that took place on May 24, 1964, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. There was a 30-mile consolation race the day before t ...

. They both received severe burns pulling Roberts out of the wreckage. The risk was greater than the reward at the time; given the relatively unregulated nature of NASCAR racing during the late 1960s.

Bobby Johns Robert James Johns (May 22, 1932 – March 7, 2016) was an American race car driver and pit road reporter. Johns raced in the NASCAR series in the 1956–1969 seasons, with 141 career starts. He had two wins among his 36 top ten finishes and fin ...

finished in 38th place due to a

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problem; a practice discontinued since NASCAR adopted

fuel injection Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of a fuel injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines. All c ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. Tommy Bostick would make his only NASCAR appearance during this race.''1966 American 500''
racing information at Race Database. Accessed 2012-03-04.
Archived
2012-03-06. The winner of the race would receive $14,550 of the total prize purse ($ when adjusted for inflation) while the last-place finisher went home with a mere $500 ($ when adjusted for inflation).Prize information for the ''1966 American 500''
at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet. Accessed 2012-03-04. 2012-03-06.

Qualifying

References

{{s-end American 500 American 500 NASCAR races at Rockingham Speedway American 500