April 7, 1957
“Wilkes County 160”
Top 5 finishers…..
There would be a new high and a new low in this race. The new high was the qualifying speed of 81.5 mph by Fireball Roberts to put his car on the pole. It was the first time the pole sitter had a speed over 80. The new low was and remains the smallest amount of cars entered in a Grand National/Winston Cup race at North Wilkesboro—20. A crowd of 8,000 watched the race. There were just 2 cautions for 5 laps. Ralph Earnhardt made his only Grand National appearance at the speedway. He finished 19th in a Petty Enterprises Oldsmobile. The car’s rear end gave out after just 36 laps.
Car owner Pete DePaolo entered five 1957 Fords in the race. His cars finished 1,2,3,4,6—almost perfect. The winner was also the pole sitter and the only driver to lead the race. Edward Glenn Roberts led all 160 laps. Robert’s was known as “Fireball.” He actually got that nickname because of his fastball as a baseball pitcher. The other drivers often referred to him simply as “Balls” because of his driving style. After three ill-fated attempts, Roberts finally had a car that would last the distance of the race. It would be his only Grand National win at NWS, but Roberts would earn top 5 honors in several races to come.
Paul Goldsmith was the driver who finished second. This was Goldsmith’s first of five Grand National races at NWS. Unfortunately, it was the only race in which he would be running at the finish. Goldsmith was a very successful motorcycle racer prior to racing cars. Before retiring from motorcycle racing, Goldsmith won five American Motorcyclist Association Nationals from 1952-1955, as well as the winning the '53 Daytona 200. He is one of the few men to ever compete in the Daytona 200, the Daytona 500, and the Indy 500 and the only racer who had ever won on the famed Daytona Beach course on a motorcycle and in a car. His Daytona win on four wheels came in 1958, the last year the beach course was run.
Finishing third in his second and last Grand National race at NWS was Ralph Moody. Both races rewarded him with top 5 finishes. The following year, he set out as a car owner with Curtis Turner as his driver. It wouldn’t be long before Joe Weatherly came on board as Turner’s teammate. And the two would drive Moody insane at times. Both drivers liked to drive in a rough manner. Not only did they beat and bang on competitors, but they did it to each other also. They got under Moody’s skin many times. On one occasion, at Darlington, an angry Ralph Moody warned Turner that if he beat and banged on Weatherly again, the pit crew wouldn’t work on the car during the next pit stop. Turner continued with his antics and sure enough on the next pit stop, the crew sat down and didn’t bother to work on Turner’s car. The angry Turner returned to the track and bounced the car off the wall, taking the car out of contention. But that wasn’t to be the end of Turner’s retaliation. The following day Turner showed up at the race shop in a new Cadillac and rammed the car though the rollup garage doors, backed out and drove away. I’d say it’s a safe bet that Moody had a bottle of aspirins within reach at almost any given time. The Holman-Moody team went on to win two championships with David Pearson as the driver in 1968 and 1969, along with a 2nd place finish with Dick Hutcherson as the driver in 1965.
Marvin Panch was the 4th place finisher in the race. There will be more talk about Panch in upcoming races, but at this time folks need to add Panch, along with his family, in their prayers. Bettie Gong Panch, his wife of 53 years, passed away unexpectedly one week ago today.
The “spoiler” for Pete DePaolo’s day was Buck Baker and his 5th place finish. Buck Baker won the 1956 championship pretty much due to the fact that the points leader, Herb Thomas, missed the last few races due to a near fatal crash in a race near the end of that year. At first Baker chose not to race out of respect for Thomas. He didn’t want to win this way. But after being convinced by many to race, Baker went on to win the championship. And to prove that he truly was a champion, Baker came back to win the championship in 1957, making him the first driver to win back to back championships. Baker is a member of six halls of fame, including the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame, National Auto Racing Hall of Fame, International Motorsports Hall of Fame, and the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame plus he is listed as one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers.
Allen Adkins was the 5th DePaolo driver in the race.