1956 NASCAR Short Track Championship Entry List and Time Trial Sheet

Courtesy of Lee Ackerman and the Nebraska Auto Racing Hall of Fame

Check out the entries and time trial results! No time- probably no show or broke, anyone know?

Racers from North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Texas, New York, Washington, South Carolina, Iowa, Nebraska converged at Playland Speedway in Council Bluffs! 

Among the entrants,  a who's who of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers according to NASCAR.com!

Rex White #5 on the list of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers. The 1960 NASCAR Winston Cup champion, White won six of his 28 career victories that year. White finished in the top-10 in the point standings six of the nine years he competed on NASCAR's elite circuit. 

Herb Thomas #10 on the list of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers. NASCAR Winston Cup Career: 1949-57, 1962 Thomas, a former truck driver, was the NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion in 1951 and 1953. He won 48 races in 230 starts, picking up 38 pole positions along the way, which is still 10th on the all-time list. Thomas won the Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in 1951, 1954 and 1955; his '55 Southern 500 victory came despite being badly injured in racing accident three-and-a-half months earlier. 

Lee Petty #15 on the list of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers.was a hard charger in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series division, claiming 54 wins -- ranking him seventh on NASCAR's all-time wins list.  In 1954, Petty won the first of three championships in a Dodge. He won his second championship in 1958, also in a Dodge and his third, in '59, on the strength of 11 wins, powered by a Chrysler. 

Marvin Panch #17 on the list of NASCAR's  50 greatest drivers,  competed against both Lee and Richard Petty in the 1950s and 1960s. Panch's first win came in 1956 from the pole position at a track in Montgomery, Ala. His most successful season was in 1957. 

Tiny Lund #21 on the list of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers. Career: 1955-75  He would go on to save Marvin Panch's life after a fiery road race crash in 1963!  The injured Panch asked Lund to take his place in the Wood Brothers' Ford. In the crowning achievement of his career, Lund won the Daytona 500. A big man with an ironic nickname, Lund won five NASCAR Winston Cup races through a 21-year career. 

Bill Amick- 1 NASCAR Winston Cup Win 1957 Capital Speedway Sacramento CA 

Jim Paschall- Car #75 finished 5th in the 1956 NASCAR final points standings.

Jim Reed -dominated the short track division of NASCAR in the 1950's. He claimed the championship in the division from 1953 to 1957, a record that still stands as the longest consecutive championship by any driver.

Jack Smith -had 21 Winston Cup wins, was voted most popular driver in 1958, and is a member of the Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame.  In 1960, when asked about increasing race speeds, Fireball Roberts remarked, "At Daytona Beach we started at 140 miles an hour. Now we are up to 150. Pretty soon we will be hitting 155. At 140 anyone could drive. At 150 there are just ten drivers who can handle it. And at 155 there will be just four who can stand the pace." Fireball named Jack Smith as one of the four. From Eddie Samples www.lloar.com

Joe Eubanks finished 15th in the 1956 NASCAR final points standings. One Winston Cup Win 9/28/1958 Orange Speedway 

1956 NASCAR final points standings:

FINISH         DRIVER                             STARTS                 WINS                 POINTS 

03                 Herb Thomas                         48                             5                         8710 

04                 Lee Petty                                47                             2                         8324 

05                 Jim Paschal                            42                              1                         7878 

10                 Marvin Panch                         20                              1                         4680 

11                 Rex White                             24                               0                         4642 

15                 Joe Eubanks                          26                               0                         3284 

19                 Tiny Lund                             0                                 0                         2754 

21                 Jack Smith                            15                                1                         2320 

26                 Blackie Pitt                            27                                0                         1760 

28                 Al Watkins                            14                                0                         1710