This 1958 color film features the highlights of the Ninth Annual Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, South Carolina. This race was a NASCAR Grand National Series event on September 1, 1958. The film was sponsored by The Pure Oil Company and produced by Dynamic Films. Stock car Chevrolets and Fords zip around the track. Footage is shown from the driver’s perspective (:06-1:07). Footage is shown of the cars lined up before the 1953 race. A car spins and flips over multiple times. A car hits the guardrail and flips over onto its hood (1:08-1:55). The 1955 race highlights show multiple cars spinning off the guardrails (1:56-2:35). The 1956 race highlights show spinning cars and cars pushing each other off the track (2:36-3:36). The 1957 race highlights include some footage inside a racing car. A car is hit and flips multiple times on the track. Speedy Thompson passes the finish line to win. A crowd gathers around his #46 car (3:37-4:41). A parade is held before the 1958 race in downtown Darlington, which includes clowns on motorcycles and trick cars. They are followed by a marching band, the Queen and her court in poufy white dresses and elbow-length gloves riding on a float, a swimsuit model on the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co. float, a children’s float, and more clowns (4:42-6:33). Last minutes adjustments are made to the stock passenger automobiles the day before the 1958 race. NASCAR inspectors verify all cars meet specifications. A close-up shot shows an AMMCO container and a Grey-Rock part (6:34-7:32). Miss Southern 500 beauty pageant contestants model 1958 one-piece swimsuits while wearing spike heels. Actor Jim Arness is one of the judges. The winner receives a crown, bouquet, and a kiss from Jim Arness. The newly-crowned queen passes on a float. The grandstands are full. A line of cars wait to enter. Bands march. The crowd is scanned and individuals shown (7:33-11:23). Eddie Pagan has the pole position. Fireball Roberts, Joe Weatherly, Curtis Turner, and Buck Baker fasten their helmets. The convertible pace car leads the first lap (11:24-13:39). The race begins. Don Kimberling’s car smashes into the guardrail on Lap 7. The fire truck crew hoses out the track fire billowing black smoke (13:40-16:15). The race continues. Eddie Pagan hits the guardrail and tumbles down the embankment on lap 136. Pagan is unhurt but his car and the guardrail are heavily damaged (16:16-17:49). Weatherly and Roberts make pit stops. Lap 160, Eddie Gray crashes through the guardrail. Weatherly and Turner make pit stops (17:50-19:55). Lap 210. Jack Smith’s car flips over the guardrail. The car is heavily damaged (19:56-20:30). Turner and Weatherly have engine trouble. The white flag waves at Lap 363. A car skids backwards into the pit area (20:31-23:46). Fireball Roberts and his Chevrolet win. The crew climbs on the car for the victory lap. Roberts gets a kiss from the race queen and the trophy (23:47-26:10).

We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com