The First NASCAR Cup Race in 1949 Wasn't Pretty, But It Was a Start
NASCAR 75: One of a series of 75 stories that helped define the first three quarters of a century of NASCAR, as Autoweek races to the 2023 Daytona 500.
By Al Pearce
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The first NASCAR Cup race covered 200 laps and 150 miles on a ¾-mile dirt track near Charlotte, North Carolina.
The race report shows only the top-20 finishers getting paid from the $5,000 purse.
Among those on the 33-driver grid: future Hall of Fame drivers Red Byron, Curtis Turner, Buck Baker, Lee Petty, Herb Thomas, and Tim Flock.
This was penned after the first NASCAR Cup Series race in June of 1949:
"The principals on that sunny, muggy afternoon in Charlotte were an outlandish cast of characters with a sense for adventure. The meek did not inherit the confines of this small acreage of earth. It was a cast of carefree characters who were neither stylized nor synchronized, but the collection of oddballs at center stage commenced the theatre of Grand National racing, which opened for a long run." -- NASCAR archivist Greg Fielden.
Currently, that run is at 2,714 starts, ranging from a modest total of eight races in 1949 to a record 62 races in 1964. In some ways, all have seemed the same; in other ways, all have seemed different.
The first one covered 200 laps and 150 miles on a ¾-mile dirt track near Charlotte. The race report shows only the top-20 finishers getting paid from the $5,000 purse. Among those on the 33-driver grid: future Hall of Fame drivers Red Byron, Curtis Turner, Buck Baker, Lee Petty, Herb Thomas, and Tim Flock. Attendance was listed as about 13,000.
Jim Roper won just one race in his NASCAR Cup career, but it was a big one in the history of the sport.
Pole winner Bob Flock in a Hudson—brothers Tim and Fonty also raced that day—led laps 1-5 before engine failure ended his day. Bill Blair led 6-150 before his Lincoln overheated. The lead went to Ford driver Glenn Dunaway, who led the final 50 laps. For a while, he stood as winner of NASCAR's historic first Cup Series race.
Alas, his glory was short-lived. Tech inspector Al Crisler found illegal rear truck springs on the Hubert Westmoreland-owned 1947 Ford. The car often hauled moonshine, and "spread springs" were standard on moonshine cars. "Strictly Stock" meant exactly that, so the flagged winner was disqualified; the victory and $2,000 went to Kansas native Jim Roper. Dunaway was credited with 200 laps and 33rd-place; despite being three laps down, Roper got the victory.
Bill France's new organization promoted seven more Strictly Stock races that season: the Daytona Beach highway/beach course (Byron); Hillsborough, N.C. (Bob Flock); Langhorne, Pa. (Turner); Hamburg, N.Y. (Jack White); Martinsville, Va. (Byron); Pittsburgh, Pa. (Petty); and North Wilkesboro, N.C. (Bob Flock). With two victories in six starts, Byron was the first Strictly Stock champion.
Looking back … it wasn't the smoothest or most artistic start to NASCAR's top series, but it was a start. And at the time, that's all that mattered.
More on Jim Roper's First NASCAR Cup Win
How Courts Confirmed NASCAR's First Winner in 1949
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