Most of the fans in the early years of the sport saw the track as notorious for being a great venue to watch races between the legendary racers of the time.

Twenty-one-year-old Fireball Roberts qualified with a lap speed of 73.266 mph on the dirt track for his first ever Grand National pole, but engine problems dropped him out of the running.

Ultimately, Leon Sales led eight of the 200 laps to become the victor, the fourth NASCAR driver to win an event in his debut race.

Herb Thomas, driving his 1952 "Fabulous" Hudson Hornet, won the pole, led 192 of the 200 laps, and grabbed the victory.

It took one hour and twenty-four minutes to race 160 laps on a dirt oval track spanning 0.625 miles (1.006 km).

The mysterious events surrounding Herb Thomas' first finish outside the top six involved a routine pit stop to put gasoline.

[2] Not all the driver numbers have been preserved through the years due to the habit of early NASCAR scorers to throw non-essential statistics into the garbage after each race.

King, Boyce Hagler and Smokey Yunick were the most notable crew chiefs that played a role in the race.