1961 World 600
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 24 of 52 in the 1961 NASCAR Grand National Series season | |||
Layout of Charlotte Motor Speedway
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| Date | May 28, 1961 | ||
| Official name | World 600 | ||
| Location | Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 1.500 mi (2.414 km) |
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| Distance | 400 laps, 600 mi (965 km) | ||
| Weather | Mild with temperatures reaching up to 73 °F (23 °C); wind speeds up to 10.1 miles per hour (16.3 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 111.633 miles per hour (179.656 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 46,538 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Petty Enterprises | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | David Pearson | John Masoni | |
| Laps | 225 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 3 | David Pearson | John Masoni | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ABC | ||
| Announcers | Chris Economaki | ||
The 1961 World 600, the second running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that took place on May 28, 1961, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. Chris Economaki called the race in one of the few televised NASCAR races of the 1960s. A series of two qualifying events took place on May 21 to determine the starting grid for this prestigious racing event.
This race began a streak of 1856 consecutive races where at least one of the drivers in the race was from North Carolina. The streak would come to an end after Dale Earnhardt, Jr. did not race in the 2012 Bank of America 500 at Charlotte after getting a concussion after the previous race at Talladega; Scott Riggs failed to qualify for that same race, and Mark Martin raced in Michael Waltrip's #55 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota instead of Brian Vickers for that same race.
Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) quad-oval track located in Concord, North Carolina, was the location for the race. The track's turns were banked at twenty-four degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, was five degrees. The back stretch, opposite of the front, also had a five degree banking. Charlotte Motor Speedway hosted the NASCAR Grand National Series twice during the season, with the other race being the National 400. The track opened for the inaugural World 600 one year earlier, and was built by Bruton Smith and Curtis Turner. Around 46,538 spectators attended the race.
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