Today (2-25) in Stock Car Racing History

[mitchum]

By the mid-fifties Bill France was becoming hard pressed to meet all the requests from promoters for race dates for his Grand National division. With convertibles popular with the public he looked towards Indianpolis for an answer to his problem.

But it was not thed AAA that he was watching. S.A.F.E., the Society for Automotive Fellowship and Education, had a divsion for the convertibles already up and running for a season when Big Bill came callling.

All the wheels were put into motion for a new series, but the work or it, the Grand National division and the work on France's new Daytona Speedway took so much that there was no time to compile and publish the annual record book. This is the only time that the recap of the season went without an official record book.

There were 42 events run that first season and the new star of the division was the Old Pro Curtis Turner, winner of 22 of them. Even with a record like that he still missed the championship by a large margin due to the point breakdown. Convertible division star Bob Welborn took the honors that first season and for three out of the four years that the division existed. Here's my representation in 1/25 scale of the DePaolo-Holman weapon of choice that Turner rode roughshod over the new division with in '56

[mrglubaum]

Great build! Or is it a real car? I've always liked '56 Fords!

Lee

[mitchum]

Thanks, it's an old AMT Victoria kit with a little razor saw work. Kinda like a lot of the real convertibles were.

[mrglubaum]

How did you get the driver in there? Is it photo-edited in, or is it a painted figure? That's what had me wondering whether it was real.

Lee

[mitchum]

That's me in there and it's photoshopped. Everything else is 1/25 scale, well, except for the sky and trees. LOL