1968 Peach State 200

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1968 Peach State 200
Race details[1][2]
Race 49 of 49 in the 1968 NASCAR Grand National Series season
Jefco Speedway (Now Gresham Motorsports Park)
Jefco Speedway (Now Gresham Motorsports Park)
Date November 3, 1968; 55 years ago (1968-11-03)
Official name Peach State 200
Location Jefco Speedway, Jefferson, Georgia
Course Permanent racing facility
0.500 mi (0.800 km)
Distance 200 laps, 100 mi (150 km)
Weather Mild with temperatures approaching 75 °F (24 °C); wind speeds of up to 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h)
Average speed 77.737 miles per hour (125.106 km/h)
Attendance 5,200[2]
Pole position
Driver
Holman Moody
Most laps led
Driver Bobby Isaac K&K Insurance Racing
Laps 144
Winner
No. 21 Cale Yarborough Wood Brothers Racing
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1968 Peach State 200 was a NASCAR Grand National Series (now Sprint Cup Series) event that was held on November 3, 1968 at Jefco Speedway in Jefferson, Georgia.

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.

Summary

Two hundred laps were completed on an oval track spanning 0.500 miles (0.805 km).[2] The race took one hour, seventeen minutes, and eleven seconds to completely finish.[2] Notable speeds were: 77.737 miles per hour (125.106 km/h) for the average speed and 90.694 miles per hour (145.958 km/h) for the pole position speed.[2] Five thousand and two hundred fans attended this race live.

Cale Yarborough defeated Richard Petty by half a lap in his 1968 Mercury Cyclone.[2] Bobby Isaac had a crash that made him commit a DNF in 9th place while Stan Meserve was the lowest finishing driver to actually complete the entire race (in 22nd place out of 29 competitors).[2] All the competitors involved in this race were American citizens with no foreign-born participants.[2] Crashes and problems with the stock car racing engine helped to play a part in knocking unwary drivers out of the race.[3] The winner of the race would enjoy his race winnings of $1,000 ($6,804.78 when considering inflation) USD while the bottom seven finishers were unpaid for racing up to 142 laps.[2][3] Bobby Isaac would lead the most number of laps in the entire race (144 out of 200) in his 1968 Dodge Charger vehicle.[2]

NASCAR's family-oriented heritage would shine at this race with the vast number of vehicles that were either owned by the driver himself or by a close relative of the driver. Ford vehicles would make up the majority of the racing grid while Chevrolet and Dodge made up a sizeable amount of the field.[4] Legendary racing team Holman Moody would enjoy a level of success at this event that would eventually be equalled at the other events throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s.[5] Bill Ervin would be black flagged on the fourth lap of this race due to his vehicle being unable to comply with the minimum racing speeds necessary for NASCAR racing.[4] Don Tomberlin made his NASCAR debut here while Dexter Gainey and Stan Meserve would end their respective NASCAR careers after this event.[6]

Finishing order

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  1. 21-Cale Yarborough
  2. 43-Richard Petty
  3. 17-David Pearson
  4. 48-James Hylton
  5. 56-LeeRoy Yarbrough†
  6. 4-John Sears†
  7. 39-Friday Hassler†
  8. 64-Elmo Langley†
  9. 71-Bobby Isaac*†
  10. 06-Neil Castles
  11. 20-Clyde Lynn†
  12. 25-Jabe Thomas
  13. 70-J.D. McDuffie†
  14. 34-Wendell Scott†
  15. 96-Don Tomberlin
  16. 19-Henley Grey
  17. 80-E.J. Trivette
  18. 47-Bill Seifert
  19. 45-Cecil Gordon†
  20. 8-Ed Negre
  21. 57-Ervin Pruitt
  22. 09-Stan Meserve
  23. 01-Paul Dean Holt*
  24. 52-Dexter Gainey*
  25. 5-Earl Brooks*†
  26. 9-Roy Tyner*†
  27. 14-Bobby Allison*
  28. 84-G.C. Spencer*†
  29. 31-Bill Ervin*

† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased
* Driver failed to finish race

Timeline

  • Lap 4: Bill Ervin's vehicle was black flagged for disobeying the rules
  • Lap 28: Oil pressure problems ultimately forced G.C. Spencer out of the race
  • Lap 64: Bobby Allison's vehicle developed a problematic engine
  • Lap 71: Engine problems forced Roy Tyner to exit the race
  • Lap 74: Earl Brooks had a terminal crash, forcing him to exit the race
  • Lap 101: Dexter Gainey had a terminal crash, causing his premature exit from the race
  • Lap 142: Ignition problems forced Paul Dean Holt to end his race day
  • Lap 191: Bobby Isaac had a terminal crash, ending his NASCAR race day a bit too soon

References

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  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Preceded by NASCAR Grand National Season
1968-69		 Succeeded by
1969 Georgia 500
Preceded by NASCAR season-ending races
1949-present		 Succeeded by
1969 Texas 500
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