March 27, 1960
“Gwyn Staley 160”
Top 5 finishers.....
Starting from the 8th position, Lee Petty led 14 laps and won his 3rd straight race at North Wilkesboro. It is the only time a Grand National driver won from the 8th starting position at NWS. Coming off his second straight and third career Grand National championship, it was Petty’s first win of the 1960 season. Petty went on to finish the season 6th in the points—his lowest finish of his career. It was Petty’s last top 5 finish at the speedway. He raced once more in October of this same year but crashed out early. Lee Petty almost lost his life in a crash in a qualifying race at the start of the 1961 season at Daytona. There were months of recovery and rehabilitation that followed. There were several more race attempts made by Petty in the years that followed, but the 1960 season was pretty much his last season. At the time of his retirement, his 54 career victories were the most by any driver in Grand National history. His career stats were 427 starts, 54 wins (12.6%), 231 top fives (54.1%), 332 top tens (77.8%). It must have been some ride for the patriarch.
The driver finishing second was Rex White. It was White’s second straight second place finish. In the race previous to his two second place finishes, White came third. Petty was knocking on victory’s front door for some time before winning at NWS, and now White was starting to do the same thing. I wonder how long it might take for White to get the chance to celebrate in victory lane at NWS..........
Running 3rd, Glen Wood recorded his second top 5 finish at the speedway. He was credited with leading the first lap in the race. Wood competed in nine Grand National races in 1960, winning 3 times—all at Bowman Gray Stadium. The race was his last race at NWS.....as a driver. The Wood Brothers, Glen and Leonard, enjoyed success as owners at the track. The team had two wins, both coming with Marvin Panch as the driver, and in the 46 races entered, their cars finish in the top ten 23 times. When talking about NASCAR history, it wouldn’t be fitting if the Wood Brothers weren’t mentioned in the conversation along the way.
Following three unsuccessful attempts at NWS, the driver recording his first top five, a fourth place finish was John Lentz—or was it? Here’s the story....."I had saved a little money from my job at the sawmill and I used it to buy half interest in a '39 Ford coupe from John Lentz. It was decided that I'd drive the car, and I finished 10th in my first race. My dad disapproved. He didn't want me to race, even as a hobby. I followed his wishes for several months, during which time John Lentz drove our car. Then, one weekend, John showed up at the track very sick. We didn't look too hard for another driver. I went out in the infield and put on John's helmet. We looked quite a bit alike, so once I was in the race car, no one could tell the difference." The driver finished second that night, the team's best-ever showing. "After the race, John and I agreed that I was the better driver, so I stayed in the car after that, running under an alias as John Lentz. Then, one night, we lucked up and won. I had to go through the Victory Lane ritual. Folks saw immediately that I was the driver, not John. Naturally, word got back to my dad. He came to me and said, 'if you're going to race, you might as well be the one getting credit for it.'” From that point on, the driver used his real name—Ned Jarrett.
Junior Johnson started from the pole position for the second time in his career at NWS. Johnson would do so six more times in his racing career at the track. His speed of 83.860 mph was the best of the 22 cars in the field. Johnson hadthe race under control most of the day. He led 145 laps. With 14 laps to go, Johnson and Petty got together and Johnson ended up spinning and hitting the guard rail. The crowd of 9,200 didn’t take kindly to their local hero being treated this was and as a result, Lee Petty was the target of bottles, rocks and other debris after he won the 100-mile race. When Petty took the track microphone to explain his side, he again was bombarded by the jeering crowd. History hasn’t changed much. Fans today still throw debris on the track when they get angry over drivers winning races.
Several drivers made their first appearance in a Grand National race at NWS. Among them were Buddy Baker (9th place finish), “The Silver Fox”—David Pearson (19th), Neil “Soapy” Castles (21st)—his nickname from all the soap box derby’s he ran as a kid, and two time Grand National winner, Joe Lee Johnson (22nd). The race was slowed six times for cautions and lasted 1 hour, 30 minutes, 26 seconds. The fans would be treated to much longer races from this point on.