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The1954 NASCAR Grand National season consisted of 37 races from February 1, 1954, and to November 1.Lee Petty, driving forPetty Enterprises, won the championship, his first of three in the series.[1]
The 1954 season consisted of 37 events from February 7 through October 24 of the year; opening inWest Palm Beach, Florida, with aHerb Thomas victory, and concluding inNorth Wilkesboro, North Carolina, at theNorth Wilkesboro Speedway with a Hershel McGriff win. While Thomas captured the opening event in aHudson, the year was witness to the increased power of GM,Ford andChrysler as Hudson slipped in its domination of the sport from previous years.[2] Petty came back to win the second race of the year atDaytona Beach, Florida, in his Chrysler.[2] Petty completed the season with 32 top-10 finishes of the 34 events that he competed in. Through 1953, and up until theSouthern 500 in 1954, Petty strung together a streak of 56 consecutive races where he was still running at the end of the race.[3]
While Petty won fewer races (7) than Herb Thomas (12), his consistency in finishing in the top 10 a total of seven times more than Thomas proved to be the deciding factor in winning the championship with a 283-point margin. Rising star Buck Baker captured the winner's purse a total of four times in 1954, and finished third after a 12th-place effort in 1953. Although several of the top stars of the sport had disagreements, and even walked away from NASCAR for a time, the sport showed itself to be larger than any of the individual stars. When Tim Flock was disqualified at Daytona, he quit the sport for a time. Fonty Flock, Al Keller and Hershel McGriff also resigned at various times throughout the year. Also in 1954, drivers Petty, Thomas, Baker, Dick Rathman, McGriff, Keller, Jim Paschal, Curtis Turner, Gober Sosbee, John Soares, and Dan Letner all captured at least one victory during the year.[4]
Two-time champion Herb Thomas' season opening victory in February earned him $1,600, which included prize monies from both thePure Oil Company andChampion Spark Plugs. On February 20 Cotton Owens captured a modified-sportsman victory in an event that featured 136 starting entries; the largest ever starting field in a NASCAR event. A day later, Tim Flock reached the checkered flag first, but was disqualified for using a two-way radio, and Lee Petty was awarded the victory. It was the first time that radios were used in a NASCAR event, and Flock quit after the disqualification.[3]
On February 20, 136 cars took the green flag at a 100-mile event in Daytona; making the event the largest ever starting field in a NASCAR sanctioned event. The following day NASCAR ruled that Tim Flock was disqualified due to the use of a two-way radio. On March 28 Dick Rathmann won a 125-mile race atOakland Speedway after starting the event in last place. The track was unusual in its configuration in that it consisted of dirt corners and paved straightaways.
On June 13, NASCAR held its first ever road course event, at the airport in Linden, New Jersey, with driver Al Keller coming away with the win in aJaguar, as 20 of the 43 starting entries were foreign made vehicles. The victory was the only win for a foreign-manufactured vehicle untilToyota captured its first victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March 2008 and as of the 2022 season, it is the only win scored by bothJaguar and a European manufacturer in theNASCAR Cup Series.[4][5]
The first race of the season was run at Palm Beach Raceway inWest Palm Beach, Florida.Dick Rathman won the pole.
The second race of the season was run at Beach & Road Course inDaytona Beach, Florida.Lee Petty won the pole.
The third race of the season was run atSpeedway Park inJacksonville, Florida.Curtis Turner won the pole.
The International 100 was the first NASCAR Grand National Series held on a road course in series history, occurring on June 13, 1954.[6] Held on a 2-mile (3.2 km) temporary five-turn road course built of the runways and taxi lanes ofLinden Airport inUnion County, New Jersey, the race featured a battle of American-built stock cars versus European built sports cars. 43 cars entered, with speculation that the American cars would be stronger on the straights and the European cars stronger in the turns.[7]
After starting on pole position,Buck Baker led the early part of the race, leading the first 19 laps until being passed byHerb Thomas. Seven laps later,Al Keller, driving aJaguar XK120 Competition Coupe, grabbed the lead from Thomas, a position he would not relinquish the rest of the event. Baker had begun to catch up to Keller but his brakes began to fail, resulting in him holding back and giving second place toJoe Eubanks. 5,000 spectators witnessed the race at Linden Airport.[8] It would mark the second and final NASCAR Grand National Series win for Keller, having won atOglethorpe Speedway in March 1954. It would also be the only race held at Linden Airport.[6]
It was the first race to be won by a foreign manufacturer car and as of 2026, it remains as the only win scored byJaguar in NASCAR.
The 1954Southern 500 was aNASCARGrand National Series race that took place on September 6, 1954, atDarlington Raceway in theAmerican community ofDarlington, South Carolina.
There were 364 laps done on a paved oval track that spanned 1.375 miles (2.213 km).Van Van Wey made his NASCAR debut in this race; starting in 43rd place and ending in 20th place due to a crash on the 260th lap.[9]
Overall, the race took five hours, sixteen minutes, and one second from the first green flag to the checkered flag. The average speed was 95.026 miles per hour (152.930 km/h) and the pole speed was 108.261 miles per hour (174.229 km/h). There were two cautions for four laps and the margin of victory was twenty-six seconds. Attendance of the race was confirmed at 28,000 people during the start of the race. Notable racers that appeared and did not finish in the top ten includedLee Petty (whose streak of 36 top-ten finishes ended at this race),Cotton Owens,Jimmie Lewallen,Ralph Liguori,Arden Mounts,Elmo Langley (in his NASCAR debut) andBuck Baker (pole winner).[9]
The 1954 Mid-South 250 was aNASCARGrand National race that took place on October 10, 1954, atMemphis-Arkansas Speedway in the community ofLeHi, Arkansas.
One hundred and sixty-seven laps were raced on a dirt track spanning 1.500 miles (2.414 km). Twelve-thousand people attended this untelevised race whereBuck Baker won in his 1954Oldsmobile. Other notable competitors includedLee Petty (who led 150 laps which was considered to be the most laps),Marvin Panch,Jimmie Lewallen,Arden Mounts, andJunior Johnson. The average speed of the race was 89.013 miles per hour (143.253 km/h) and the race took two hours, forty-eight minutes, and fifty-one seconds to complete.
| Position | Driver | Points | Behind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lee Petty | 8,649 | – |
| 2 | Herb Thomas | 8,366 | –283 |
| 3 | Buck Baker | 6,893 | –1,756 |
| 4 | Dick Rathman | 6,760 | – 1,889 |
| 5 | Joe Eubanks | 5,467 | –3,182 |
| 6 | Hershel McGriff | 5,137 | – 3,512 |
| 7 | Jim Paschal | 3,903 | – 4,746 |
| 8 | Jimmie Lewallen | 3,233 | – 5,416 |
| 9 | Curtis Turner | 2,994 | – 5,655 |
| 10 | Ralph Liguori | 2,905 | – 5,744 |
| Source:[10] | |||
