|| *Comments on the 1950 Poor Man's 500:* View the most recent comment <#25> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. IAMME posted: 08.03.2006 - 5:18 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) This was Bill Rexford's only career win. He was the first of four drivers to win the championship with only one win that season. (Ned Jarrett 1961, Benny Parsons 1973, and Matt Kenseth 2003). Rexford was the only champion from 1949 - 1998 not to make the 50 greatest drivers during NASCAR's 50th anniversary. At 21 he is also the youngest driver to ever win the championship. 2. Chevy posted: 11.02.2007 - 1:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bill Rexford won the championship only because Lee Petty was stripped of all points earned in the first half of the season. The reason may be taking part in non-NASCAR sanctioned race or something like that. Lee still ended 2nd in championship despite having lost about a half of his points. 3. Chevy posted: 11.12.2007 - 10:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Another 200 point race. Overall top-20 after 5 of 19 races: 1. Lloyd Moore 572 2. Tim Flock 545.5 -26.5 3. Curtis Turner 493.5 -78.5 4. Lee Petty 469 -103 5. Glenn Dunnaway 432.5 -139.5 6. Jimmy Florian 320 -252 7. Red Byron 315 -257 8. Clyde Minter 300 -272 9. Bob Flock 272.5 -299.5 10. Bill Rexford 249 -323 11. Jim Paschal 180 -392 12. Harold Kite 175 -397 13. Frank Mundy 155.5 -416.5 14. Bill Blair 137 -435 15. Bill Snowden 135 -437 16. Al Gross 124 -448 17. Pappy Hough 110 -462 18. J.C. Van Landingham 105 -467 18. Bob Dickson 105 -467 20. Bill Long 100 -472 4. RaceFanX posted: 02.18.2008 - 11:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Since his DQ in the first NASCAR Grand National race didn't count, this was the best career finish for Glenn Dunnaway 5. Billy Kingsley posted: 12.28.2008 - 3:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Joe Merola's Tucker was #12, and failed to finish due to a broken axle. I finally found a photo of the car! 6. Don posted: 12.29.2008 - 9:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) We discovered a photo of the 29th place finisher Joe Merola, perparing for the race in his #12 Tucker. No car number is listed for him so I thought I would pass this along. 7. RaceFanX posted: 01.07.2010 - 12:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It's not everyday you see a Tucker in a NASCAR race. It's not everyday you see a Tucker period. 8. tomoto123 posted: 07.07.2011 - 9:04 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Thats my Dad who raced the Tucker. Does anyone have any pictures they can send to me? 9. Aldo posted: 01.05.2012 - 9:00 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race was ironically called "Poor's men 500" because helded the same day the Indy 500 was. It was a 200 lapper too! 10. Ed posted: 08.09.2012 - 3:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A guy named Dick Burns finished 7th in this race... I can only imagine the torture he received from his peers as a child... 11. Breaker posted: 09.22.2013 - 11:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The race was called "Poor Man's 500" and they paid $5 per lap led from lap 101 to 200, hence why Curtis Turner in 19th won $100. As far as I know, this was the first race in what is now the Cup series to actually have a name, rather than be called "Race Number 5" 12. VoteGillilandNotDanica2014 posted: 12.16.2013 - 12:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Al Gross's car was a '50 Oldsmobile, and Joe Merola's car was a '48 Tucker that exited the race with a busted axle. The time of race was 02:22:44, the average speed was 42.036 MPH 13. VoteGillilandNotDanica2014 posted: 12.16.2013 - 3:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ALSO: Merola's Tucker was sponsored by Joe Nagel, Jr. Motor Sales. Here is an article about the car, including an explanation of why the axle snapped on the first lap: http://georgiaracinghistory.com/2012/02/10/long-lost-nascar-tucker-lost-no-longer/ And here is a nice big photo of the car: http://images.hemmings.com/wp-content/uploads//2011/07/NASCARTucker_1500.jpg 14. RaceFanX posted: 12.27.2013 - 9:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Tucker in this race was car #4 of the 51 built (47 of which survive today). The NASCAR Tucker is preserved, not in NASCAR colors, at the Toyota Automobile Museum in Japan. 15. James W. McLaughlin posted: 04.16.2014 - 9:47 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hold that tiger! 16. Brad Keselowski & Bubba Wallace Fan posted: 09.16.2014 - 5:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It would be great if the Tucker could somehow find its way to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. I suppose it's too much to ask that the car also be repainted in NASCAR colors. The car owner for the #12 Tucker was Red Harris. The name of this race was Poor Man's 500 (been mentioned several times and by several sources, but has yet to be changed on here). 17. 88&4Fan posted: 07.24.2015 - 10:24 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) 11- actually the first race to have a name was the seventh race of the 1949 season, it was called the Wilkes 200. 18. Maverick19 posted: 12.29.2016 - 8:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Only win for car #60. 19. JoeyLoganoFan22 posted: 05.24.2019 - 10:13 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The first start for a car numbered 99 in the top series and Al Gross was behind the wheel. 20. MSportRev posted: 09.15.2019 - 4:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Margin of Victory: 2 laps + 21. AntonyBlalock posted: 04.25.2020 - 7:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) was this the first ever race to have an actual sponor? was Poor Man actually a sponor? 22. RaceFanX posted: 04.25.2020 - 9:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @21 Not really, Poor Man's 500 was a joke name referring to how this race was being run on the same day as the much more prestigious Indianapolis 500. 23. Onion posted: 04.25.2020 - 11:14 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) I hope 21 was a joke. Any way, the first known sponsored race name was the Arclite 100 in Columbia, 1956. 24. thog posted: 06.06.2020 - 6:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Al Gross flipped in this race 25. Mile501 posted: 12.05.2020 - 6:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Not only was this Bill Rexford's only career win, it was also his only lead lap finish, and it was one of only two races (as far as we know) that he ever led. Simply starting more races than anyone else (aside from Lee Petty, who lost about half of his points) seems to be what helped him win the championship. Fireball Roberts would have likely won this championship if he'd started more races. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: