The 1963 Western North Carolina 500 was a NASCAR

NASCAR

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...

 Grand National Series (now Sprint Cup Series) race that took place on August 11, 1963 at Asheville-Weaverville Speedway

Asheville-Weaverville Speedway

The Asheville-Weaverville Speedway near Weaverville, North Carolina, USA was considered to be site for the old-school NASCAR races in both the Grand National and the Winston Cup eras . None of the active drivers that are in the Sprint Cup Series today have ever raced at Asheville-Weaverville Speedway...

 in the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 community of Weaverville

Weaverville, North Carolina

Weaverville is a town in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 2,646 in 2007. It is part of the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Weaverville is located at ....

, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

.

The race took three hours and thirteen minutes to successfully complete. Fred Lorenzen

Fred Lorenzen

Fred Lorenzen , nicknamed The Golden Boy, Fast Freddie, The Elmhurst Express and Flyin Freddy, is a former NASCAR driver active between 1958 and 1972. He won the 1965 Daytona 500. Lorenzen was born in Elmurst, Illinois.-Early career:Lorenzen first caught the car bug young, and had built his first...

 won the race with an average speed of 77.673 mi/h and defeated Richard Petty

Richard Petty

Richard Lee Petty is a former NASCAR driver who raced in the Strictly Stock/Grand National Era and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series...

 by outlapping him once. Five hundred laps were done on an oval track spanning 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) in front of 14500 live spectators. Total winnings for this race were $13,765 ($ in today's money) while Lorenzen walked away with the lion's share

Lion's Share

The lion's share is an idiomatic expression which develops from a number of fables ascribed to Aesop and is now used as their generic title, although they exist in several different versions...

 of $2,550 ($ in today's money). Possum Jones

Possum Jones

Possum Jones is a retired NASCAR Grand National driver.From 1952 to 1965, Jones managed to lead 28 out of the 8234 laps that he committed in his career. This would add up to raced in total. Total earnings for Possum Jones was $13,680 . On average, Jones started in 21st place and finished in 20th...

 (the last place finisher) came home from the race with a meager $150 ($ in today's money) as a result of only completely eight laps of the race due to a fuel leak.

Finishing order

1. Fred Lorenzen
2. Richard Petty
3. Jim Paschal
   Jim Paschal
   James Roy "Jim" Paschal, Jr. was a NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup driver. He won twenty-five races and twelve poles over his career. Elected to the "Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame" in 1977, he won the World 600 in 1964 and the 1967 Charlotte Motor Speedway...
   
   
4. David Pearson
5. Billy Wade
6. Jack Smith
   Jack Smith
   -In sport:*Jack Smith , 19th century footballer in 1892–1895*Jack Smith , English player with Wolverhampton Wanderers and others* Jack Smith , English international footballer...
   
   
7. Buck Baker
   Buck Baker
   Elzie Wylie Baker Sr. , better known as Buck Baker, was an American race car driver.-Racing career:...
   
   
8. Joe Weatherly
   Joe Weatherly
   Joseph "Joe" Weatherly was a two-time NASCAR championship driver. Weatherly was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2009 after winning NASCAR's Grand National championships in 1962 and 1963, three A.M.A...
   
   
9. Ned Jarrett
   Ned Jarrett
   Ned Jarrett is a retired race car driver and two-time NASCAR champion.Jarrett was best known for his calm demeanor, and he became known as "Gentleman Ned Jarrett", yet he was an intense competitor when he put his two hands on the steering wheel of a NASCAR Grand National stock car...
   
   
10. Buddy Baker
    Buddy Baker
    Elzie Wylie Baker, Jr. , nicknamed "Leadfoot" or more famously Buddy, is a former American NASCAR racecar driver.-Early life:...
    
    
11. Wendell Scott
    Wendell Scott
    Wendell Oliver Scott was an American stock car racing driver from Danville, Virginia. He is the only black driver to win a race in what is now the Sprint Cup Series. According to a 2008 biography of Scott, he broke the color barrier in Southern stock car racing on May 23, 1952, at the Danville...
    
    
12. Red Wickersham
13. Worth McMillion
    Worth McMillion
    Worth McMillion is a NASCAR Grand National driver who participated from 1962 to 1969 for 62 races. His first event was the 1962 untitled race at South Boston Speedway while his final event was the 1969 Richmond 500. McMillion has finished in the once in the top-five and eighteen times in the top-ten...
    
    
14. Cale Yarborough
    Cale Yarborough
    William Caleb "Cale" Yarborough , is a farmer, businessman and former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner. He is one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships...
    
    
15. Elmo Langley
    Elmo Langley
    Elmo Langley was a NASCAR driver and owner. Langley primarily used the number "64" on his race cars during his NASCAR career.-Racing career:...
    
    *
16. Roy Mayne
17. Major Melton*
18. Bobby Isaac
    Bobby Isaac
    Bobby Isaac is a former NASCAR Grand National champion.-Early life:Isaac grew up on a farm near Catawba, North Carolina, the second youngest of nine children...
    
    *
19. Tommy Irwin
    Tommy Irwin
    Thomas Andrew Irwin was a Major League Baseball player. An alumnus of the University of North Carolina, Irwin was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in and played three games for them in October...
    
    *
20. Curtis Crider
    Curtis Crider
    Curtis Crider was a pioneer in NASCAR's early years.He was one of the hardest working and underfinanced racers to ever drive the stock car circuit. Landing in a lake eventually earned him the nickname "Crawfish." Like most early NASCAR racers, Crider was a bootlegger and delievered moonshine to...
    
    *
21. G.C. Spencer
    G.C. Spencer
    G. C. Spencer July 9, 1925 in Owensboro, Kentucky – September 20, 2007 in Johnson City, Tennessee was a NASCAR driver who competed in 415 Grand National/Winston Cup races from 1958 to 1977...
    
    *
22. Lee Reitzel*
23. Junior Johnson
    Junior Johnson
    Robert Glenn Johnson, Jr. , better known as Junior Johnson, is a retired moonshiner in the rural South who became one of the early superstars of NASCAR in the 1950s and 1960s. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career before retiring in 1966...
    
    *
24. Bobby Keck*
25. Jimmy Pardue
    Jimmy Pardue
    Jimmy Pardue is a former race car driver who lived in North Wilkesboro, North America, USA.-Summary:He made his debut in 1955 at Martinsville, where he finished 28th after suffering hub problems in his Chevrolet Bel Air vehicle. He made his first full-time attempt in 1960 where he had eleven top-tens...
    
    *
26. Stick Elliott*
27. Possum Jones
    Possum Jones
    Possum Jones is a retired NASCAR Grand National driver.From 1952 to 1965, Jones managed to lead 28 out of the 8234 laps that he committed in his career. This would add up to raced in total. Total earnings for Possum Jones was $13,680 . On average, Jones started in 21st place and finished in 20th...
    
    *

* Driver failed to finish race