1966 Southern 500
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 42 of 59 in the 1966 NASCAR Grand National Series season | |||
Layout of Darlington Raceway
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| Date | September 5, 1966 | ||
| Official name | Southern 500 | ||
| Location | Darlington Raceway, Darlington, South Carolina | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 1.375 mi (2.212 km) |
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| Distance | 364 laps, 500.5 mi (805.4 km) | ||
| Weather | Hot with temperatures reaching up to 89.1 °F (31.7 °C); wind speeds up to 10.1 miles per hour (16.3 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 114.830 miles per hour (184.801 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 28,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Jon Thorne | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Richard Petty | Petty Enterprises | |
| Laps | 131 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 16 | Darel Dieringer | Bud Moore | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | untelevised | ||
| Announcers | none | ||
Coordinates: 34°17′50.5″N 79°54′18.4″W / 34.297361°N 79.905111°W
The 1966 Southern 500, the 17th running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on September 5, 1966, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina.
The transition to purpose-built racecars 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.
Darlington Raceway, nicknamed by many NASCAR fans and drivers as "The Lady in Black" or "The Track Too Tough to Tame" and advertised as a "NASCAR Tradition", is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that will be effective at both ends.
The track is a four-turn 1.366 miles (2.198 km) oval. The track's first two turns are banked at twenty-five degrees, while the final two turns are banked two degrees lower at twenty-three degrees. The front stretch (the location of the finish line) and the back stretch is banked at six degrees. Darlington Raceway can seat up to 60,000 people.
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