FORD PERFORMANCE: NASCAR DARLINGTON NOTES
The Bojangles’ Southern 500 returns to its traditional Labor Day Weekend date at Darlington Raceway on Sunday and Ford will be looking for its 29th all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory at the egg-shaped oval. Here are some other notes about Ford and its history with “The Lady in Black.”
THE FIRST TIME…Ford won a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway was when Curtis Turner won the Southern 500 on Sept. 3, 1956. Unlike today, where the field is set at no more than 43 cars, there were 70 vehicles in the race that saw Turner lead 224 of the 400 laps. He beat Speedy Thompson to the finish line by more than two laps, and did in record fashion with an average race speed of 95.167 mph.
THE LAST TIME…Ford went to victory lane was on May 13, 2006 when Greg Biffle won at Darlington for the second straight year. Biffle held off Jeff Gordon over the closing laps for his 10th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory, and he did it in dominating fashion as he led 170 of the 367 laps. The race marked the fourth time Biffle led the most laps in the first 11 races, but it was his first victory.
IN BETWEEN…Ford has had its share of success at Darlington Raceway. Four Ford drivers have won back-to-back races, including Nelson Stacy (1961-62), Bill Elliott (1985), Jeff Burton (1999) and Greg Biffle (2005-06) with Elliott winning the inaugural Winston Million the year of his sweep.
Ned Jarrett won the 1965 Southern 500 by a NASCAR-record 14 laps and clinched Ford’s first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver championship in the process.
The first of Dale Earnhardt’s three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins with Ford and car owner Bud Moore came on April 4, 1982 when he won the CRC Chemicals Rebel 500 at Darlington Raceway. His other two wins with the Blue Oval came in 1983 at Nashville and Talladega.
David Pearson holds the record for most NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins at Darlington Raceway with 10 and eight of those came in Ford Motor Co. products. He won six times driving the famed No. 21 Wood Brothers Mercury (1972,’74,’76-2,’77) and twice in a Holman-Moody Ford (1968 and ’70).
FORD NSCS RACE WINNERS AT DARLINGTON
1956 – Curtis Turner
1960 – Joe Weatherly (1)
1961 – Fred Lorenzen and Nelson Stacy
1962 – Nelson Stacy and Larry Frank
1963 – Fireball Roberts (2)
1964 – Fred Lorenzen (1)
1965 – Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett
1968 – David Pearson (1)
1969 – Lee Roy Yarbrough (2)
1970 – David Pearson (1)
1981 – Neil Bonnett (2)
1982 – Dale Earnhardt (1)
1985 – Bill Elliott (Sweep)
1988 – Bill Elliott (2)
1992 – Bill Elliott (1)
1993 – Mark Martin (2)
1994 – Bill Elliott (2)
1997 – Dale Jarrett (1)
1998 – Dale Jarrett (1)
1999 – Jeff Burton (Sweep)
2001 – Dale Jarrett (1)
2005 – Greg Biffle
2006 – Greg Biffle
