1963 South Boston 400 (April)

1963 South Boston 400

Race details[1]
Race 17 of 55 in the 1963 NASCAR Grand National Series season
Date	April 14, 1963
Official name	South Boston 400
Location	South Boston Speedway, South Boston, Virginia
Course	Permanent racing facility 0.375 mi (0.816 km)
Distance	400 laps, 150.0 mi (229.7 km)
Weather	Cold with temperatures approaching 60.1 °F (15.6 °C); wind speeds up to 12 miles per hour (19 km/h)
Average speed	75.229 miles per hour (121.069 km/h)
Attendance	5,000[2]
Pole position
Driver	Ned Jarrett	Charles Robinson
Most laps led
Driver	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises
Laps	325
Winner
No. 43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises
Television in the United States
Network	untelevised
Announcers	none

The 1963 South Boston 400 was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Sprint Cup Series) event that was held on April 14, 1963, at South Boston Speedway in South Boston, Virginia.

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.

Summary

Ned Jarrett and Richard Petty would be the only lap leaders for this race; with Petty leading the most laps. There were 400 laps in this one-hour-and-fifty-nine-minute race. Last-place finisher Joe Weatherly had to withdraw from the race on lap 48 due to troubles with his vehicle's rear end. Only him, Jimmy Pardue, Neil Castles, Billy Wade and Larry Thomas failed to finish the race out of this grid of 16 American-born drivers.^[2]

Jim Paschal was defeated by his Petty Enterprises teammate Richard Petty by two laps in front a live audience of five thousand people. Ned Jarrett qualified for the pole position while driving speeds up to 78.72 miles per hour (126.69 km/h). The average speed of the actual racing event was 75.229 miles per hour (121.069 km/h). Most of the drivers on the starting grid used Chevrolet as their manufacturer while Plymouth and Dodge took up a sizeable amount of the grid; model years for the vehicles varied from 1961 to 1963, as allowances were made for older vehicles before NASCAR become modernized.^[2]

Winnings for this race varied from $1,500 for the winner ($11,613.59 when considering inflation) and $380 for the last-place driver ($2,942.11 when considering inflation); with the total prize purse consisting of $6,095 ($47,189.87 when considering inflation).^[2][3] Earl Brooks would make first "top five" finish here out of the three that he performed during his professional stock car racing career.^[4]

Finishing order

1. Richard Petty (No. 43)
2. Jim Paschal (No. 41)
3. Ned Jarrett (No. 11)
4. Larry Manning (No. 09)
5. Earl Brooks (No. 134)
6. Herman Beam (No. 19)
7. Wendell Scott (No. 34)
8. David Pearson (No. 6)
9. Buck Baker (No. 87)
10. E.J. Trivette (No. 0)
11. Curtis Crider (No. 62)
12. Larry Thomas* (No. 49)
13. Billy Wade* (No. 5)
14. Neil Castles* (No. 86)
15. Jimmy Pardue* (No. 54)
16. Joe Weatherly* (No. 83)

* Driver failed to finish race

Timeline

• Start of race: Ned Jarrett started the race with the pole position
• Lap 48: Joe Weatherly had problems with his vehicle's rear end, forcing him to withdraw from the race
• Lap 64: Jimmy Pardue's would see his vehicle's rear end become problematic, forcing him to exit from the event
• Lap 145: Neil Castles would end up having a defective engine, causing him to leave the race prematurely
• Lap 210: Billy Wade's vehicle would develop engine problems, sparking his early exodus from the event
• Lap 254: Larry Thomas would have problems with his vehicle's rear end, forcing him to leave the race early
• Finish: Richard Petty won the race

References

1. Weather information for the 1963 South Boston 400 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
2. 1963 South Boston 400 racing information at Racing Reference
3. NASCAR Race Results for the 1963 South Boston 400 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet
4. 1963 South Boston 400 racing information at Race Database