1958 Southern 500

1958 Southern 500
Race details
Race 41 of 51 in the 1958 NASCAR Grand National Series season
	1958 Southern 500 program cover
Date	September 1, 1958
Location	Darlington Raceway, Darlington, South Carolina
Course	Permanent racing facility; 1.375 mi (2.221 km)
Distance	364 laps, 500.5 mi (805.476 km)
Weather	Extremely hot with temperatures reaching up to 91.9 °F (33.3 °C); wind speeds reaching up to 11.62 miles per hour (18.70 km/h)
Average speed	102.585 miles per hour (165.095 km/h)
Attendance	80,000
Pole position
Driver	Eddie Pagan;
Time	16.930 seconds
Most laps led
Driver	Fireball Roberts
Laps	196
Winner
No. 22	Fireball Roberts

The 1958 Southern 500, the 9th running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on September 1, 1958 at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. Contested over 364 laps on the 1.375 mile (2.221 km) speedway, it was the 41st race of the 1958 NASCAR Grand National Series season. Fireball Roberts won the race.

Ken Rush failed to qualify for the event; qualifying times were typically between 16.9 seconds and 21.2 seconds.^[2]

Eddie Pagan had a very scary crash in this race on lap 136, he hit the end of a steel guardrail and tumbled down the track embankment. Pagan escaped though with very minor injuries.^[3] Jimmy Thompson finished in 4th place while Speedy Thompson finished in 14th place.^[4]

Race results

Pos	No.	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps
1	22	Fireball Roberts	1957 Chevrolet	364
2	87	Buck Baker	1958 Chevrolet	359
3	99	Shorty Rollins	58 Ford	359
4	46	Jimmy Thompson	1957 Chevrolet	358
5	98	Marvin Panch	58 Ford	357
6	49	Bob Welborn	1957 Chevrolet	355
7	40	Rex White	1958 Chevrolet	348
8	30	Doug Cox	57 Ford	348
9	95	Bob Duell	57 Ford	346
10	36	Tootle Estes	57 Ford	346

Timeline

Section reference: ^[3]

Start: Joe Weatherly was leading the starting grid as the green flag was waved in the air.
Lap 1: Bob Perry fell out with engine failure.
Lap 2: Eddie Pagan took over the lead from Joe Weatherly.
Lap 5: Jimmy Massey's vehicle suffered from transmission problems.
Lap 7: Don Kimberling had a terminal crash.
Lap 8: Harvey Hege could not get the throttle in his racing vehicle to work properly.
Lap 15: Bob Bolheimer managed to overheat his vehicle, Cotton Owens had issues with his vehicle's pistons.
Lap 13: Joe Eubanks took over the lead from Eddie Pagan.
Lap 39: Curtis Turner took over the lead from Joe Eubanks.
Lap 47: Emuanel Zervakis managed to overheat his vehicle.
Lap 49: A troublesome piston managed to relegate Reds Kagle to the sidelines.
Lap 61: George Dunn's vehicle developed some terminal engine problems.
Lap 71: Larry Frank had a terminal crash.
Lap 86: Eddie Pagan took over the lead from Curtis Turner.
Lap 88: Speedy Thompson took over the lead from Eddie Pagan.
Lap 92: Marvin Porter had a terminal crash.
Lap 94: Curtis Turner took over the lead from Speedy Thompson.
Lap 95: Jesse James Taylor had a terminal crash.
Lap 136: Eddie Pagan had a terminal crash by hitting the end of a steel guardrail and tumbling down the track embankment.
Lap 146: Issues with the vehicle's clutch forced Joe Eubanks to accept a miserable 35th-place finish.
Lap 160: Eddie Gray had a terminal crash by crashing through the guardrail.
Lap 169: Fireball Roberts took over the lead from Curtis Turner.
Lap 210: Jack Smith had a terminal crash by flipping over the guardrail.
Lap 226: Joe Weatherly's engine stopped working properly.
Lap 304: Bobby Johns' engine stopped working properly.
Lap 321: Jim Paschal's engine stopped working properly.
Finish: Fireball Roberts was officially declared the winner of the race up 5 laps.