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  *Comments on the 1959 Virginia 500:*
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  1.   Chris A posted:
  11.20.2007 - 5:30 pm
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5-lap margin of victory. I can't imagine all 14,000 people stuck around
for that.


  2.   Jeremy Siple posted:
  12.25.2009 - 9:59 pm
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Last race for car owner Sam Rice.


  3.   nascar_vd / racing-reference.info posted:
  03.31.2017 - 10:27 am
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W1959-13
Driver standings after this race: (top20)
1) Lee Petty = 4372 points
2) Cotton Owens = 3764
3) Tom Pistone = 2960
4) Speedy Thompson = 2828
5) Johnny Beauchamp = 2816
6) Junior Johnson = 2732
7) Joe Weatherly = 2508
8) Curtis Turner = 2080
9) Jack Smith = 2072
10) Jim Reed = 1848
11) Bob Welborn = 1668
12) Herman Beam = 1616
13) Johnny Allen = 1472
14) Tim Flock = 1464
15) Tiny Lund = 1444
16) Dick Freeman = 1352
17) L.D. Austin = 1336
18) Buck Baker = 1332
19) Rex White = 1324
20) Raul Cilloniz = 1272


  4.   Rob posted:
  12.28.2020 - 8:50 am
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@1.Fans that stayed would hang around to see if the lead car would make
it to the finish. Reliability was a major concern back in the day.


  5.   Rob posted:
  12.28.2020 - 10:01 am
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Anyone know why Larry Frank missed this race ? This was the only start
for the 76 where Frank was not the driver.


  6.   Corey posted:
  12.28.2020 - 10:40 am
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@6 I think this 76 was a different car that happened to use the same
number.


  7.   Mile501 posted:
  12.28.2020 - 11:55 am
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Just look at that Dover race that Jody Ridley won for evidence of how
much more unpredictable things were in the past, in the area of
reliability. Nowadays, if a driver has a massive lead late in a race,
you know he'll win unless NASCAR throws a caution. But that was far less
certain back in the day, which created more intrigue even when one
driver had a huge lead.

And, of course, it was a very different time with much less available
entertainment than we have today.


  8.   possum posted:
  12.28.2020 - 6:58 pm
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@7 - exactly so - back when I started watching races, you always had to
watch to the end, because you never knew if the leader would blow up and
give your guy a shot at the win (or, conversely, your guy blow up and
lose a sure win). That kind of mechanical uncertainity continued into
the early 80's, and then we had a few years where a "bad set of tires"
could suddenly slow the leader (bias ply tires being notoriously
unpredictable). Losing that element of chance is one reason why NASCAR
races today are much less interesting than they once were.


  9.   Corey posted:
  12.28.2020 - 7:25 pm
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@8 That's racing in general. I've watched many an Indycar and F1 race,
where it seems like nothing spontaneous and unpredictable happens.


  10.   possum posted:
  12.29.2020 - 8:07 pm
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@9 - too true. That's why rain races are so entertaining - it brings
back some level of unpredictability as the course keeps changing (same
goes for dirt racing, as long as the track doesn't become black slick).


  11.   Diego posted:
  01.04.2021 - 7:21 pm
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If you think about it, a 5-lap lead at this race is just a 1% lead. The
same as winning any 100-lap race by a lap or a 200-lapper by 2. I'm sure
I can find several 400km/250-mile endurance races with a winning margin
of about 2,5 miles or more.


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