1954 Southern 500

1954 Southern 500
Race details[1]
Race 31 of 37 in the 1954 NASCAR Grand National Series season
1954 Southern 500 program cover
1954 Southern 500 program cover
Date September 6, 1954 (1954-September-06)
Official name Southern 500
Location Darlington Raceway, Darlington, South Carolina
Course Permanent racing facility
1.375 mi (2.221 km)
Distance 400 laps, 500 mi (800 km)
Weather Extremely hot with temperatures of 100 °F (38 °C); wind speeds of 10.1 miles per hour (16.3 km/h)
Average speed 95.206 miles per hour (153.219 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Bob Griffin
Time 18.289 seconds
Most laps led
Driver Curtis Turner Elmer Brooks
Laps 266
Winner
No. 92 Herb Thomas Herb Thomas
Television in the United States
Network WJMX (local AM radio)
Announcers Local radio announcers

The 1954 Southern 500, the fifth running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on September 6, 1954, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina.

The race car drivers still had to commute to the races using the same stock cars that competed in a typical weekend's race through a policy of homologation (and under their own power). This policy was in effect until roughly 1975. By 1980, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power anymore.

  1. ^ Weather information for the 1954 Southern 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac