| 1950 National Stock Car Series Season | |
|---|---|
| |
| Season | |
| Races | 10 |
| Start Date | March 19 |
| End Date | November 12 |
| Awards | |
| Driver's Champion: |  Cameron Yost
|
| Special Event Winners | |
| Icebreaker Sweepstakes: | Ben Rogers
|
| The Turkey Bowl: | Howard Joyce
|
| Next: 1951 → | |
The 1950 National Stock Car season was the inaugural season of professional stock car racing in the United States. The season consisted of ten races, beginning at Thompson International Speedway and ending at Riverside Park Speedway. Ted Hansen won the Owners' Championship, while Cameron Yost won the Driver's title with a third-place finish at the Turkey Bowl.
Background[edit | edit source]
In late 1948, Elliott Crawford, a former racer turned promoter, arranged a meeting of a group of drivers, promoters, and mechanics from around the Northeastern United States to organize the first sanctioning body for professional stock car racing. Crawford saw the need for a sanctioning body after witnessing firsthand multiple incidences of unscrupulous promoters refusing to pay drivers their money for arbitrary reasons (or just leaving before the conclusion of the race). Crawford, understanding the sport would not survive unless there was a common set of rules and a sanctioning body to guarantee promoters paid their drivers, worked with the group to organize the National Stock-Car Championship Series, which would hold its first season in 1950.
Schedule[edit | edit source]
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| # | Paved Oval |
| # | Dirt Oval |
| # | Road/Street Course |
Race Summaries[edit | edit source]
1950-01[edit | edit source]
Main article: 1950 Icebreaker Sweepstakes
The first National Stock Car Series race was the fifth running of The Icebreaker Sweepstakes, a stock car race held at Thompson Speedway, a 5/8-mile paved oval in Thompson, Connecticut. Cameron Yost won the pole and lead 259 of the 500 laps. Ben Rogers won the race following an intense duel with Will Gordon during the closing laps.
Top Ten Results
| Position | No. | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 140 | Ben Rogers |
| 2 | 15 | Will Gordon |
| 3 | 72 | Scott Duran |
| 4 | 7 | Howard Joyce |
| 5 | 4 | Jimmy Stafford |
| 6 | 33 | Donna Buckley |
| 7 | 0 | Alton Walker |
| 8 | 96 | Cameron Yost |
| 9 | 13 | John Haynes |
| 10 | 62 | Amos Thompson |
1950-02[edit | edit source]
The second race of the season was held at the 1/3 mile Seekonk Speedway in Massachusetts. Peter Stafford won the pole. Cameron Yost had another dominating race fall short due to mechanical failures. Will Gordon won the race by a full lap, with Donna Buckley finishing second and becoming the first woman to finish on the podium in professional motorsports. Lee Newman was involved in a severe crash just before the halfway point of the race; though he would survive the initial wreck, his injuries required a lengthy hospital stay, and he would later succumb to an infection while hospitalized.
Top Ten Results
| Position | No. | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 | Will Gordon |
| 2 | 33 | Donna Buckley |
| 3 | 72 | Scott Duran |
| 4 | 0 | Alton Walker |
| 5 | 7 | Howard Joyce |
| 6 | 12 | Roy Stephenson |
| 7 | 29 | James August |
| 8 | 10A | Rodney Sweeney |
| 9 | 10 | Joe Bartlett |
| 10 | 777 | Emmett Newton |
1950-03[edit | edit source]
The third race of the season was held on an unseasonably warm day in Flemington, New Jersey at the Flemington Fair Speedway, a 5/8 dirt track. Cameron Yost sat on the pole and led 246 of 400 laps but, due to the engine in his Studebaker overheating, he retired from the race. James August lapped the field to take the win, while points leader Will Gordon retired early due to crash damage.
Top Ten Results
| Position | No. | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 29 | James August |
| 2 | 5 | Chuck Wilder |
| 3 | 23 | Ralph Stanton |
| 4 | 44 | Peter Stafford |
| 5 | 33 | Donna Buckley |
| 6 | 12 | Roy Stephenson |
| 7 | 40 | Henry French |
| 8 | 72 | Scott Duran |
| 9 | 42 | Eddie Durham |
| 10 | 76 | Bernard Morse |
1950 - 04[edit | edit source]
The fourth race of the 1950 season was held at the one-mile dirt circle in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. A massive crash on the second lap of the race eliminated one-third of the field, including points leader Will Gordon and local favorite Henry French, who was substituting for the injured Lee Newman in this race. Leroy Farmer won the pole and lead 25 laps, while Cameron Yost lead the majority of the race but was passed with eight laps remaining by Peter Stafford, who went on to score the victory.
Top Ten Results
| Position | No. | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Peter Stafford |
| 2 | 96 | Cameron Yost |
| 3 | 62 | Amos Thompson |
| 4 | 29 | James August |
| 5 | 8 | Ben Rogers |
| 6 | 23 | Ralph Stanton |
| 7 | 5 | Chuck Wilder |
| 8 | 9 | Melvin Jones |
| 9 | 12 | Roy Stephenson |
| 10 | 72 | Scott Duran |
1950 - 05[edit | edit source]
The fifth race of the 1950 season was held at the Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In contrast to the previous race, this race was relatively clean, with only a few cars involved in any incidents. Local driver Charlie Hart, substituting for an injured Lee Newman, won the pole and led for the first 15 laps. Despite an early race charge by Chuck Wilder, Peter Stafford dominated the race, leading 243 of the 300 laps en route to his second victory in a row.
Top Ten Results
| Position | No. | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Peter Stafford |
| 2 | 5 | Chuck Wilder |
| 3 | 40 | Leland Caldwell |
| 4 | 7 | Howard Joyce |
| 5 | 15 | Will Gordon |
| 6 | 62 | Amos Thompson |
| 7 | 21 | Charlie Hart |
| 8 | 41 | Billy Wheeler |
| 9 | 17 | Leroy Grimes |
| 10 | 14 | Charles Floyd |
1950 - 06[edit | edit source]
The sixth race of the 1950 season was held on the streets and beachfront of Daytona Beach, Florida. The site of many high-speed record attempts, Daytona Beach proved to be a challenge for multiple drivers. Georgia's Willard Summers, who had attempted numerous speed records in the past, won the pole but was swept up in a four-car wreck with eleven laps remaining in the race. Glenn Barker would lead 23 of the 39 scheduled laps en route to his first career victory.
Top Ten Results
| Position | No. | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 38 | Glenn Barker |
| 2 | 50 | Leon Lara |
| 3 | 96 | Cameron Yost |
| 4 | 62 | Amos Thompson |
| 5 | 19 | Michael Atkinson |
| 6 | 10 | Joe Bartlett |
| 7 | 44 | Peter Stafford |
| 8 | 14 | Gordon Jacobson |
| 9 | 26 | Vernon Hood |
| 10 | 31 | Darrell Rhodes |
1950-07[edit | edit source]
The seventh race of the 1950 National Stock Car Series took place on August 11, 1950 at the dirt track on the grounds of the Monroe County Fair in Rochester, New York. The race comprised 250 laps around a half-mile dirt oval. Jimmy Stafford won the pole; Cameron Yost was finally able to capitalize on a dominant performance, capturing the victory after leading 228 of 250 laps.
Top Ten Results
| Position | No. | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 96 | Cameron Yost |
| 2 | 44 | Peter Stafford |
| 3 | 4 | Jimmy Stafford |
| 4 | 15 | Will Gordon |
| 5 | 65 | Fred Davenport |
| 6 | 12 | Roy Stephenson |
| 7 | 24 | Ivan Nixon |
| 8 | 0 | Alton Walker |
| 9 | 30 | Sidney Griffin |
| 10 | 33 | Donna Buckley |
1950-08[edit | edit source]
The eighth race of the 1950 National Stock Car Series took place on September 10, 1950 at the Columbus Motor Speedway in Obetz, Ohio. The race comprised 300 laps around a one-third-mile oval. Peter Stafford won his second pole of the season; Jay Woodward led 131 laps en route to the victory.
Top Ten Results
| Position | No. | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | Jay Woodward |
| 2 | 96 | Cameron Yost |
| 3 | 0 | Alton Walker |
| 4 | 428 | Keith Clayton |
| 5 | 15 | Will Gordon |
| 6 | 12 | Roy Stephenson |
| 7 | 29 | James August |
| 8 | 35 | Arthur Hale |
| 9 | 84 | Doug Sanford |
| 10 | 38 | Glenn Barker |
1950-09[edit | edit source]
The ninth race of the 1950 National Stock Car Series took place on October 15, 1950 at the Warwick Fairgrounds, a converted horse racing facility in Warwick, Rhode Island. The race comprised 300 laps around a fourth-tenths-mile dirt oval. Donna Buckley won her first career pole, becoming the first woman to qualify first in any motorsport event in America; Amos Thompson led 82 of the final 108 laps en route to the victory after Emmett Newton led nearly the first two-thirds of the race.
Top Ten Results
| Position | No. | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 62 | Amos Thompson |
| 2 | 38 | Glenn Barker |
| 3 | 96 | Cameron Yost |
| 4 | 44 | Peter Stafford |
| 5 | 15 | Will Gordon |
| 6 | 4 | Jimmy Stafford |
| 7 | 7 | Warren Clark |
| 8 | 777 | Emmett Newton |
| 9 | 428 | Keith Clayton |
| 10 | 10 | Joe Bartlett |
1950-10[edit | edit source]
The tenth and final race of the 1950 National Stock Car Series season was the second running of the Turkey Bowl at Riverside Park Speedway in Agawam, Massachusetts. Three drivers - Peter Stafford, Cameron Yost, and Will Gordon - entered the race in championship contention. Stafford and Yost swept the front row, and Gordon began the race in sixth. Gordon dropped out after twenty laps due to a transmission failure, and Stafford would exit the race at the two-thirds mark; their early exits allowed Yost to secure the championship with a finish of seventh or greater, which he did with another third place finish. Howard Joyce and Hudson won the race, leading 273 of 400 laps.
Top Ten Results
| Position | No. | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | Howard Joyce |
| 2 | 62 | Amos Thompson |
| 3 | 96 | Cameron Yost |
| 4 | 777 | Emmett Newton |
| 5 | 4 | Jimmy Stafford |
| 6 | 73 | Ollie Duncan |
| 7 | 428 | Keith Clayton |
| 8 | 29 | James August |
| 9 | 12 | Roy Stephenson |
| 10 | 19 | Elmer Lyons |
Drivers[edit | edit source]
Fourteen drivers attempted to run the full ten race schedule in 1950. They were:
| No. | Driver | Car | Hometown | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Alton Walker | 1950 Packard 250 | Crofton, MD | Carl Henry |
| 4 | Jimmy Stafford | 1950 Oldsmobile 88 | New York, NY | Stafford Garage |
| 5 | Chuck Wilder | 1950 Chevrolet Bel Air | Corinna, ME | Kent Decker |
| 7 | Howard Joyce | 1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan | Tolland, CT | Warren Clark |
| 9 | 1951 Hudson Hornet | Howard Joyce | ||
| 10 | Joe Bartlett | 1950 Chevrolet Bel Air | Johnstown, PA | Joe Bartlett |
| 12 | Roy Stephenson | 1950 Ford Victoria | Standish, MA | Roy Stephenson |
| 15 | Will Gordon | 1949 Chevrolet Bel Air | Woonsocket, RI | Alfred Rose |
| 29 | James August | 1949 Mercury Coupe | Southfield, MI | Floyd Logan |
| 33 | Donna Buckley | 1950 Lincoln Cosmopolitan | Danville, OH | Homer Brennan |
| 38 | Glenn Barker | 1950 Mercury Coupe | Rochester, NY | Victor Sellers |
| 44 | Peter Stafford | 1950 Oldsmobile 88 | New York, NY | Stafford Garage |
| 62 | Amos Thompson | 1950 Plymouth Belvedere | Dorchester, MA | Thompson Brothers Racing |
| 84 | Doug Sanford | 1950 Lincoln Cosmopolitan | Sampson, FL | Ralph Mays |
| 777 | Emmett Newton | 1950 Oldsmobile 88 | Pelham, TN | Lucky Hornick |
| 1951 Hudson Hornet |
Notes:
- Howard Joyce ran his own 1951 Hudson Hornet for the last two races of the season after a dispute with car owner Warren Clark over race winnings. A few competitors - most notably the Stafford Brothers - lobbied the series to exclude the Hudson until the 1951 season; Lucky Hornick (who, unbeknownst to many, was in talks with Hudson to gain factory backing) successfully convinced Elliott Crawford to allow the car as long as it passed inspection.
- Lee Newman registered entries for all ten races, but died due to complications from an accident during the series' second race at Seekonk Speedway.
- Lucky Hornick switched the #777 car he prepared for Emmett Newton to Hudson for the season finale race at Riverside Park following Crawford's approval, which allowed Howard Joyce to run the car at Warwick.
Final Points Standings[edit | edit source]
Driver's Championship[edit | edit source]
- Note: only drivers who scored at least one point are displayed.
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