October 2, 1960
“Wilkes 320”
Top 5 finishers.....
A number of things got bigger and faster at North Wilkesboro when the fall race of 1960 came around. The usual race length of 160 laps/100 miles was lengthened to 320 laps/200 miles. The race purse nearly doubled from around $4,000 to almost $8,000 and the winning driver took home $2,200 compared to anywhere between $850 and $1,100. However, the size of the field didn’t increase. 24 cars entered the race. The speeds increased immensely from the previous record of 86.806 to 93.399mph, roughly 1.83 seconds quicker than any previous qualifying lap.
The driver to post the quickest qualifying lap, and the driver to dethrone Lee Petty from his 3 race NWS win streak, was Rex White. White went on to become the 1960 Grand National Champion. It was White’s 6th NWS race, and in each race he either matched or bettered his previous best at the track. His six finishes, in order, were 19-8-3-2-2 and now 1st. He obviously can’t beat that finish, but can he at least match his best finish in his next race at the speedway?
The driver finishing second was Junior Johnson . He recorded his third straight top 5 finish on the 5/8 mile oval. At the end of his racing career, Johnson was quite used to finishing in the top 5 at NWS. He did it 11 times. Johnson finished approximately a half a lap behind White.
Lewis “Possum” Jones started from the sixth spot. It was Jones’ only Grand National race at North Wilkesboro. Jones finished on the lead lap. Jones was the relief driver for Bob Welborn at Martinsville in 1957. The two of them took Welborn’s car to victory lane for Welborn’s first career victory.
“The Clown Prince of Racing,” Joe Weatherly finished in 4th, two laps of the pace. It was one of his seven career top 10 finishes at NWS—in just a total of 8 tries. Plain and simple, Weatherly believed in having a good time no matter what he did, even if it meant going overboard. At Daytona one year, both Weatherly and Curtis Turner rented cars and were racing each other down the highway. The winner would be the one who reached their motel first. The two beat and banged on each other the entire way, scattering glass and car parts all over the road. As they approached the motel, Turner slowed. But Weatherly, who was racing for a bottle of Canadian Club, kept his foot to the floor boards, and drove right into the deep end of the motel swimming pool. Weatherly got out of his car, collected his “trophy,” opened it and toasted his win while standing in the motel parking lot, dripping wet. “Guess we're gonna have to call a tow truck, huh Pops?” Nobody would ever rent a car to those two men ever again.
Buck Baker made his 18th Grand National start at NWS. He still had 16 more starts before his NWS racing days would be over. He finished 6 laps behind the leader in his 1960 Chevrolet. The former Charlotte, NC bus driver and two time champion had recorded his 11th top ten NWS finish to date.
16 cars were running at the finish. The race was slowed a total of 5 times for cautions. It took 2 hours, 34 minutes, 57 seconds from the time the first green flag waved until the checkered flag came out.