1967 Atlanta 500

1967 Atlanta 500

Race details[1]
Race 10 of 49 in the 1967 NASCAR Grand National Series season
Layout of Atlanta International Speedway, used until 1996
Date	April 2, 1967
Official name	Atlanta 500
Location	Atlanta International Raceway, Hampton, Georgia
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.500 mi (2.400 km)
Distance	334 laps, 501.0 mi (804 km)
Weather	Warm with temperatures approaching 80.1 °F (26.7 °C); wind speeds up to 8 miles per hour (13 km/h)
Average speed	131.238 miles per hour (211.207 km/h)
Attendance	70,000[2]
Pole position
Driver	Cale Yarborough	Wood Brothers
Most laps led
Driver	Cale Yarborough	Wood Brothers
Laps	301
Winner
No. 21	Cale Yarborough	Wood Brothers
Television in the United States
Network	untelevised
Announcers	none

The 1967 Atlanta 500 was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Sprint Cup Series) event that was held on April 2, 1967, at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia.^[2]

The transition to purposely-built racers 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; most of the cars were trailered to events or hauled in by trucks.

Background

Atlanta International Raceway (now Atlanta Motor Speedway) is one of ten current intermediate track to hold NASCAR races; the others are Charlotte Motor Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Homestead Miami Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Texas Motor Speedway.^[3] However, at the time, only Charlotte and Darlington were built.

The layout at Atlanta International Speedway at the time was a four-turn traditional oval track that is 1.54 miles (2.48 km) long.^[4] The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, and the back stretch are banked at five.^[4]

Summary

There were 44 American-born drivers on the grid; Cale Yarborough managed to defeat Dick Hutcherson by just more than one lap in front of 70000 live audience members.^[2][5] The race lasted nearly four hours with the average speed being 131.288 miles per hour (211.288 km/h).^[2][5] Yarborough's qualifying speed was 148.996 miles per hour (239.786 km/h); bringing his speed close to the 150 miles per hour (240 km/h) threshold.^[2][5] Veteran NASCAR owner Nord Krauskopf would employ drivers Charlie Glotzbach and Bobby Isaac during the race.^[2] Blackie Watt would finish in last-place on lap 2 due to a difficulty in the engine department.^[2][5] Meanwhile, windshield problems would knock Don White out of the race at lap 193 of 334.^[2][5] Six cautions were handed out by NASCAR officials for a distance of 39 laps.^[2][5]

Fred Lorenzen would race for the final time in his legendary #28 white and blue 1967 Ford Fairlane machine that would make him popular in NASCAR. Curtis Turner, who was driving a Chevrolet owned by Smokey Yunick, would escape being injured in a practice session that managed to become a wild crash session.^[6]

The entire racing purse for this racing event was $64,995 ($462,035.31 when adjusted for inflation); the winner's share of this amount was $21,035 ($149,533.24 when adjusted for inflation) while the last-place winner received a meager $540 ($3,838.74 when adjusted for inflation).^[5]

Finishing order

1. Cale Yarborough
2. Dick Hutcherson
3. Buddy Baker
4. Charlie Glotzbach
5. Bobby Isaac
6. James Hylton
7. Friday Hassler
8. John Sears
9. Donnie Allison
10. G.C. Spencer
11. J.T. Putney
12. Donnie Allison
13. Sonny Hutchins
14. Buddy Arrington
15. Jim Paschal
16. Bill Champion
17. Paul Lewis
18. Sam McQuagg
19. Mario Andretti
20. Tiny Lund
21. David Pearson
22. Richard Petty
23. Darel Dieringer
24. Don White
25. Wayne Smith
26. Elmo Langley
27. A.J. Foyt
28. Fred Lorenzen
29. Roy Mayne
30. LeeRoy Yarbrough
31. Paul Goldsmith
32. Bay Darnell
33. Jack Harden
34. Neil Castles
35. Bobby Johns
36. Frank Warren
37. Eldon Yarborough
38. John Martin
39. Clyde Lynn
40. Wendell Scott
41. Gordon Johncock
42. Dick Johnson
43. Bill Seifert
44. Blackie Watt

Timeline

• Start of race: Cale Yarborough was leading the pack when the green flag was waved
• Lap 2: Blackie Watt had some engine issues which forced him out of the race
• Lap 4: Bill Seifert had some engine issues which forced him out of the race
• Lap 5: Dick Johnson had some engine issues which forced him out of the race
• Lap 9: Gordon Johncock had a terminal crash
• Lap 10: Wendell Scott had some engine issues which forced him out of the race
• Lap 44: An oil leak in his vehicle took John Martin out of the race
• Lap 46: Eldon Yarbrough managed to overheat his vehicle
• Lap 54: Frank Warren just couldn't handle the vehicle's faulty transmission and left the race
• Lap 61: Darel Dieringer took over the lead from Cale Yarborough
• Lap 68: Fred Lorenzen took over the lead from Darel Dieringer
• Lap 70: Cale Yarborough took over the lead from Fred Lorenzen
• Lap 80: Bobby Johns had some engine issues which forced him out of the race
• Lap 100: Fred Lorenzen took over the lead from Cale Yarborough
• Lap 101: Cale Yarborough took over the lead from Fred Lorenzen
• Lap 120: Jack Harden had a terminal crash
• Lap 152: Mario Andretti took over the lead from Cale Yarborough
• Lap 153: Paul Goldsmith managed to overheat his vehicle
• Lap 158: Cale Yarborough took over the lead from Mario Andretti
• Lap 162: LeeRoy Yarbrough had some engine issues which forced him out of the race
• Lap 173: Fred Lorenzen had a terminal crash
• Lap 174: A.J. Foyt had some engine issues which forced him out of the race
• Lap 175: Elmo Langley had some engine issues which forced him out of the race
• Lap 180: Buddy Baker took over the lead from Cale Yarborough
• Lap 184: Wayne Smith had some engine issues which forced him out of the race
• Lap 193: Don White's vehicle suffered from a troublesome windshield
• Lap 195: Darel Dieringer had some engine issues which forced him out of the race
• Lap 197: Cale Yarborough took over the lead from Buddy Baker
• Lap 215: Richard Petty had some engine issues which forced him out of the race
• Lap 224: A faulty ignition ended David Pearson's hopes of winning the race
• Lap 246: Tiny Lund had some engine issues which forced him out of the race
• Lap 261: Mario Andretti had a terminal crash
• Finish: Cale Yarborough was officially declared the winner of the event

References

1. Weather information for the 1967 Atlanta 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
2. 1967 Atlanta 500 at Racing Reference
3. "NASCAR Race Tracks". NASCAR. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
4. "NASCAR Tracks—The Atlanta Motor Speedway". Atlanta Motor Speedway. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
5. 1967 Atlanta 500 racing information at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet
6. Wild practice session - 1967 Atlanta 500 at HowStuffWorks.com