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The 1957 NASCAR Grand National Series saw driver Buck Baker win his second consecutive NASCAR Grand National Series championship. Baker won the championship with 10,716 points over second place driver Marvin Panch (9,956), and Speedy Thompson (8,560). Baker was the first driver to win back-to-back NASCAR championships. Baker accumulated $30,764 for his efforts in the 1957 NASCAR season. Ken Rush was Rookie of the Year, and Fireball Roberts took home the Most Popular Driver Award.

This was the last season until the 1993 season without Richard Petty.

Overview

In February 1957 the first '57 Chevy, affectionately known as the 'Black Widow' made its debut in NASCAR at the Daytona Beach and Road Course. Throughout the year drivers Buck Baker, Marvin Panch, Fireball Roberts, Larry Frank, Speedy Thompson, and Bob Welborn would pilot these now classic vehicles.^[1]

Early in the 1957 season the Automobile Manufacturers Association (AMA) stated that its members should become less involved in motor sports. After an incident in the May 20 Virginia 500 at Martinsville Speedway that injured five spectators, including a young boy, ended the race with 59 laps remaining, Ford, General Motors and Chrysler became less passionate about providing financial and administrative support for the teams.^[2] On June 6 the auto manufactures withdrew their backing from the sport.^[3] Late in the season at the North Wilkesboro Speedway, a wheel from driver Tiny Lund's car was thrown into stands, and a spectator was killed. (There were no wheel tethers installed in NASCAR until a series of open wheel racing fatalities in the late 1990s at Michigan and Charlotte from wheels hurled into stands from crashes.)^[2]

On November 27, 1957, construction began on a new race track now known as Daytona International Speedway after five years of negotiations. The ground-breaking ceremony takes place one month to the day after Buck Baker wins the final event of the season at Central Carolina Fairgrounds in Greensboro, N.C;^[3] thus securing his second consecutive championship.^[2]

Season recap

The 1957 season opened at the Willow Springs Speedway in Lancaster, California. Marvin Panch won the event, and followed that with a second consecutive win at the following event at the Concord Speedway late in 1956. Fireball Roberts, Cotton Owens, Jack Smith, and Ralph Moody all notched wins during the next four events before Buck Baker took his first trip to victory lane at Hillsboro, North Carolina in March 1957.^[4]

On February 17 Pontiac gathered its first-ever NASCAR win at Daytona Beach with Cotton Owens at the wheel.^[4] In May, a scheduled 500 lap race at Martinsville Speedway was halted after 441 circuits due to a crash. On June 6 all factory supported teams disbanded as American auto manufactures withdrew their support from NASCAR.^[4]

During the Eighth Annual Southern 500 on September 2, driver Bobby Myers was killed in a crash on lap 28 at Darlington Raceway. Speedy Thompson went on to win that first race to average over 100 mph at the track. On October 12, 1957 Fireball Roberts won a 100-mile race at Newberry Speedway; and the event holds the dubious distinction of having the smallest crowd in NASCAR history as only 900 spectators looked on.^[4]

When the season had ended, 18 drivers had won at least one Grand National event.^[5]

The AMA: All in, and all out.

The 50s can be seen as the building blocks of NASCAR. Automobile speeds increased at a rapid rate, and an example of that can be seen in the events at the Daytona Beach road course. The inaugural 1952 event had a pole speed of 64.7 mph,^[6] and by the final event 4 years later in 1956, the speed had risen to a blazing 81 mph.^[7] The horsepower race was in full swing, but the leaders of the AMA had concerns. Rising speeds on the track meant higher speeds on the nation's highways; and the fatality rate of America's public was on the rise. NASCAR attempted to appease the AMA, and disallowed the use of superchargers and fuel injection in their sanctioned events. NASCAR also refused to allow the Detroit manufactures to use their race results with media advertisements. Still, the major auto manufactures continued to invest time and money in NASCAR.
Detroit auto manufactures saw NASCAR as a big business opportunity, and by the beginning of the 1957 season, GM, Ford, Mercury, and Plymouth were all backing one team or another. Press agents were hired, and people worked to increase publicity through newspapers, radio, tv and other media venues. It all came to a halt on May 19, 1957, when a race accident injured not just drivers, but spectators as well. Included in the injuries was an 8 year old boy, Alvia Helsabeck.^[8] Driver Billy Myers crashed his Mercury through the Martinsville Speedway fence during the Virginia 500, and landed in an area marked "off limits" to spectators, and young Helsabeck lost his life.^[9] Myers had been trying to lap Tom Pistone when the two cars tangled on lap 441. Four other fans in the "No Spectators Allowed" area ages 19 to 44 were also injured. The race was red flagged, and Buck Baker was called the winner. As ambulances transported the injured to local hospitals, the weather turned to rain.^[8]
On June 6 the AMA leadership voted unanimously to withdraw all auto manufacture support, not just from the NASCAR Grand National series, but from all forms of auto racing. Factory sponsored teams were eliminated, and the equipment given to the individual owners and drivers.^[10]

1957 final standings

references^[11]^[12]

Finish	Driver	Races	Wins	Poles	Points	Earnings
1	Buck Baker	40	10	6	10,716	$30,763
2	Marvin Panch	42	6	4	9956	$24,307
3	Speedy Thompson	38	2	4	8580	$26,841
4	Lee Petty	38	2	4	8528	$18,325
5	Jack Smith	40	4	2	8464	$14,561
6	Fireball Roberts	42	8	4	8268	$19,828
7	Johnny Allen	42	0	1	7068	$9,814
8	L. D. Austin	40	0	0	6532	$6,485
9	Brownie King	36	0	0	5740	$5,589
10	Jim Paschal	35	0	0	5136	$4,999

Race results

No.	Date	Site	Winner
1	11/11/1956	Willow Springs Raceway	Marvin Panch
2	12/2/1956	Concord Motor Speedway	Marvin Panch
3	12/30/1956	Titusville-Cocoa Airport	Fireball Roberts
4	2/17/1957	Daytona Beach Road Course	Cotton Owens
5	3/3/1957	Concord Motor Speedway	Jack Smith
6	3/17/1957	Wilson Speedway	Ralph Moody
7	3/24/1957	Occoneechee Speedway	Buck Baker
8	3/31/1957	Asheville-Weaverville Speedway	Buck Baker
9	4/7/1957	North Wilkesboro Speedway	Fireball Roberts
10	4/14/1957	Langhorne Speedway	Fireball Roberts
11	4/19/1957	Southern States Fairgrounds	Fireball Roberts
12	4/27/1957	Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds	Marvin Panch
13	4/28/1957	Greensboro Agricultural Fairgrounds	Paul Goldsmith
14	4/28/1957	Portland Speedway	Art Watts
15	5/4/1957	Cleveland County Fairgrounds	Fireball Roberts
16	5/5/1957	Richmond International Raceway	Paul Goldsmith
17	5/19/1957	Martinsville Speedway	Buck Baker
18	5/26/1957	Portland Speedway	Eddie Pagan
19	5/30/1957	Eureka Speedway	Lloyd Dane
20	5/30/1957	Oxford Plains Speedway	Buck Baker
21	6/1/1957	Lancaster Speedway	Paul Goldsmith
22	6/8/1957	Ascot Park	Eddie Pagan
23	6/15/1957	Tennessee-Carolina Speedway	Fireball Roberts
24	6/20/1957	Columbia	Jack Smith
25	6/22/1957	Sacramento	Bill Amick
26	6/29/1957	Spartanburg	Lee Petty
27	6/30/1957	Jacksonville	Buck Baker
28	7/4/1957	Raleigh	Paul Goldsmith
29	7/12/1957	Southern States Fairgrounds	Marvin Panch
30	7/14/1957	LeHi	Marvin Panch
31	7/14/1957	Portland	Eddie Pagan
32	7/20/1957	Hickory	Jack Smith
33	7/24/1957	Norfolk	Buck Baker
34	7/30/1957	Lancaster	Speedy Thompson
35	8/4/1957	Watkins Glen	Buck Baker
36	8/4/1957	Bremerton	Parnelli Jones
37	8/10/1957	New Oxford	Marvin Panch
38	8/16/1957	Old Bridge	Lee Petty
39	8/26/1957	Myrtle Beach	Gwyn Staley
40	9/2/1957	Darlington	Speedy Thompson
41	9/5/1957	Syracuse	Gwyn Staley
42	9/8/1957	Weaverville	Lee Petty
43	9/8/1957	Sacramento	Danny Graves
44	9/15/1957	San Jose	Marvin Porter
45	9/15/1957	Langhorne	Gwyn Staley
46	9/19/1957	Columbia	Buck Baker
47	9/21/1957	Shelby	Buck Baker
48	10/5/1957	Southern States Fairgrounds	Lee Petty
49	10/6/1957	Martinsville Speedway	Bob Welborn
50	10/12/1957	Newberry Speedway	Fireball Roberts
51	10/13/1957	Concord Motor Speedway	Fireball Roberts
52	10/20/1957	North Wilkesboro Speedway	Jack Smith
53	10/27/1957	Greensboro Agricultural Fairgrounds	Buck Baker

References

^ "Welcome to the 57 Chevy Black Widow". 57chevyblackwidow.com. p. facts. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c Fleischman, Bill; Pearce, Al (2004). "11. At A Glance; 1957". The Unauthorized NASCAR Fan Guide; 2004 (10 ed.). Canton, MI: Checkered Flag Press; Visible Ink Press. pp. 145, 146 of 576. ISBN 0-681-27587-1.
^ ^a ^b Auto Editors of Consumer Guide. "1957 NASCAR Grand National Recap". HowStuffWorks, Inc. © 2006-2009 Publications International, Ltd. Retrieved 2009-08-04.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Auto Editors of Consumer Guide. "1957 NASCAR Grand National Results". HowStuffWorks; Publications International. Archived from the original on 2011-04-23. Retrieved 2009-08-04.
^ Sowers 2000, p. 78.
^ staff. "1952 - 01". Racing Reference Info. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
^ staff. "1956 - 07". Racing Reference Info. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
^ ^a ^b Fielden 1993, p. 255-258.
^ Sowers 2000, p. 76.
^ Fielden 2015, p. 102.
^ Fleischman, Bill; Pearce, Al (2004). "15. Race Results 1949-2004". The Unauthorized NASCAR Fan Guide; 2004 (10 ed.). Canton, MI: Checkered Flag Press; Visible Ink Press. p. 223. ISBN 0-681-27587-1.
^ "1957 Season Recap". nascar.com: Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. February 6, 2002. p. 1. Retrieved 17 April 2011.

Bibliography

Fleischman, Bill; Pearce, Al (2004). "12. At A Glance; 1957". The Unauthorized NASCAR Fan Guide 2004 (10 ed.). Canton, MI: Checkered Flag Press; Visible Ink Press. ISBN 0-681-27587-1.
Fielden, Greg (2015). Bryan Hallman (ed.). NASCAR the complete history (7th ed.). Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International Ltd. p. 97. ISBN 978-1-4508-9994-9.
Fielden, Greg (1993). "All". Forty Years of Stock Car Racing The Beginning 1949-1958 (Revised 3rd ed.). USA: Garfield Press. p. 336. ISBN 0-9621580-2-X.
Sowers, Richard (2000). The Complete Statistical History of Stock-Car Racing. Phoenix, AZ: David Bull Publishing. p. 426. ISBN 1-893618-06-4.