Originally posted by Drew, II # 4211:
triumphleroy, You're right on.Mantz did indeed win the first race at Darlington driving a light weight 50 Plymouth business coupe as did Lee Petty. Mantz started dead last but had the advantage of a light car on racing Firestones since he was already an Indy competitor.He had the only true racing tires in the race and averaged over 75mph for 6 hours never changing tires!
*Note...Those "racing Firestones" were actually OEM truck tires. Race cars in that class were not allowed to use race parts...tires included!!
