> In a message dated 3/12/2003 6:37:26 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> WSpohn4@aol.com writes:
>
> > have it on good authority that only one imported sedan ever won a Nascar
> > race.
> >
> > Can anyone name the year and the car?
> >
> > Bill
> >
> I assume you are talking in the past here, as NASCAR now has a roundy-round
> (for those who have not yet learned right turns) series for "imports".
>
> Rick Morrison
> MGB 34 (still recovering from the left turn into the wall at Road Atlanta
> turn 5)
Expanding on this, I presume you're talking about NASCAR Winston Cup and
its predescessors. As Rick Morrison has pointed out, NASCAR has had a
touring division for 4 cylinder cars where Datsun/Nissan, and more
recently Toyota, have won races.
So, going back to the apparent intent of the original question, Al Keller
won the NASCAR Grand National race held at Linden (NJ) Airport in 1954.
He was driving a Jaguar XK120/140 Fixed Head Coupe (which most people
would probably classify as a sports car, not a sedan). Grand National was
a what Winston Cup was called in the long ago days. Furthermore, that same
year Herschell McGriff won a NASCAR Grand National Short Track Division
oval race -- I don't have my notes handy but I think it was at a 1/4 mile
oval, brain fade says it was either in Maryland or New Jersey, also in
Jaguar 120/140 coupe. The car was co-owned by Big Bill France and another
NASCAR founder named Ed Otto.
The
GN/Short Track was seperate division, also for late model cars of the day.
Comparably it was the third of the triumvirate of Grand
National/Convertible/GN-ShortTrack, which I suppose today would equate
to Winston Cup/Busch/Craftsman Truck in the NASCAR hierarchy.
NASCAR ran a number of races back in this era that were called
"International Sweepstakes" events, mixing foreign and domestically
produced cars on dirt & asphalt ovals.
Then of course there was SCODA -- Sports Car Owners and Drivers
Association -- which ran sports cars on ovals, for money, from the
mid 50s to the early 60s in the northeast.......
All of this by the way, is from research that I did for a couple of
stories I wrote for TRACKSIDE Magazine.
I'll bet that's more than you ever wanted to know on the subject :-)
Best Regards
Greg Rickes
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