1955 LeHi 300
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 40 of 45 in the 1955 NASCAR Grand National Series season | |||
| Date | October 9, 1955 | ||
| Official name | LeHi 300 | ||
| Location | Memphis-Arkansas Speedway (LeHi, Arkansas) | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 1.500 mi (3.000 km) |
||
| Distance | 200 laps, 300.1 mi (452.8 km) | ||
| Weather | Mild with temperatures reaching up to 77 °F (25 °C); wind speeds up to 10.1 miles per hour (16.3 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 83.948 miles per hour (135.101 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 8,500 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Carl Keikhaefer | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Speedy Thompson | Pete DePaolo | |
| Laps | 158 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 297 | Speedy Thompson | Pete DePaolo | |
Coordinates: 35°8.31486′N 90°18.9617′W / 35.13858100°N 90.3160283°W
The 1955 LeHi 300 (known officially in NASCAR as 1955-40) was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) event that was held on October 9, 1955, at Memphis-Arkansas Speedway in LeHi, Arkansas.
The race car drivers still had to commute to the races using the same stock cars that competed in a typical weekend's race through a policy of homologation (and under their own power). This policy was in effect until roughly 1975. By 1980, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power any more.
The Memphis-Arkansas Speedway was a dirt oval track located just west of West Memphis, Arkansas, United States, in the community of LeHi.
This speedway had a total distance spanning 1.500 miles (2.414 km). Its elevation is 200 feet above sea level and all races used the Central Time Zone. While the track opened on October 7, 1954, it soon ran out of money.Paving the track cost $100,000 ($852,725.12 when adjusted for inflation) and the dirt surface was unmanageable after a certain number of years. As a result, the track was closed permanently in 1957 when it was sold to a local farmer named Clayton Eubanks Sr., who used the abandoned race track for catfish, rice, and soybeans for a number of years. The proposed Interstate highway that was being built near the abandoned rack track was not finished in time to save it.
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