1961 Grand National Series

1961 Grand National Series
Duration	November 6, 1960 through October 29, 1961
Season statistics
No. of races	52
First race	1961-01
Last race	1961-52
Drivers' champion	Ned Jarrett
Manufacturers' champion
Rookie of the Year	Woodie Wilson
Most popular driver	Joe Weatherly
Previous	1960
Next	1962

The 1961 Grand National Series was the 13th season of the NASCAR Grand National Series. The season began with a race at Charlotte Fairgrounds on November 6, 1960 and ended with a race at Orange Speedway on October 29, 1961.

Ned Jarrett won his first championship in his second full-time season, earning only one win in the season. He won the championship over Rex White due to his consistency, with 27 top-10 finishes in his final 32 starts.

This season was notable for being the debut season for Bobby Allison, as well as marking the end of Lee Petty’s full-time career due to a spectacular accident at Daytona. It was also notable for the debut of Bristol International Raceway on the schedule.

An effort led by Fireball Roberts, Curtis Turner and Tim Flock to get NASCAR drivers into the Teamsters Union was opposed by NASCAR President Bill France, who threatened any driver who joined the Union. Turner and Flock remained loyal to the effort, and earned lifetime bans from NASCAR as a result.

Schedule

Round	Date	Race Name	Track
1	November 6, 1960	1961-01	Charlotte Fairgrounds
2	November 20, 1960	1961-02	Speedway Park
3	February 24, 1961	Daytona 500 Qualifier #1	Daytona International Speedway
4	February 24, 1961	Daytona 500 Qualifier #2	Daytona International Speedway
5	February 26, 1961	Daytona 500	Daytona International Speedway
6	March 4, 1961	1961-06	Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds
7	March 5, 1961	1961-07	Asheville-Weaverville Speedway
8	March 12, 1961	1961-08	Marchbanks Speedway
9	March 26, 1961	Atlanta 500	Atlanta International Raceway
10	April 1, 1961	Greenville 200	Greenville-Pickens Speedway
11	April 2, 1961	1961-11	Orange Speedway
12	April 3, 1961	1961-12	Bowman Gray Stadium
13	April 9, 1961	Virginia 500	Martinsville Speedway
14	April 16, 1961	Gwyn Staley 400	North Wilkesboro Speedway
15	April 20, 1961	1961-15	Columbia Speedway
16	April 22, 1961	Hickory 250	Hickory Speedway
17	April 23, 1961	Richmond 200	Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds
18	April 30, 1961	Virginia 500 Sweepstakes	Martinsville Speedway
19	May 6, 1961	Rebel 300	Darlington Raceway
20	May 21, 1961	World 600 Qualifier #1	Charlotte Motor Speedway
21	May 21, 1961	World 600 Qualifier #2	Charlotte Motor Speedway
22	May 21, 1961	1961-22	Riverside International Raceway
23	May 27, 1961	1961-23	Ascot Stadium
24	May 28, 1961	World 600	Charlotte Motor Speedway
25	June 2, 1961	1961-25	Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds
26	June 4, 1961	Southland 200	Fairgrounds Raceway
27	June 8, 1961	Pickens 200	Greenville-Pickens Speedway
28	June 10, 1961	Myers Brothers 200	Bowman Gray Stadium
29	June 17, 1961	Yankee 500	Norwood Arena
30	June 23, 1961	1961-30	Hartsville Speedway
31	June 24, 1961	1961-31	Starkey Speedway
32	July 4, 1961	Firecracker 250	Daytona International Speedway
33	July 9, 1961	Festival 250	Atlanta International Raceway
34	July 20, 1961	1961-34	Columbia Speedway
35	July 22, 1961	1961-35	Rambi Raceway
36	July 30, 1961	Volunteer 500	Bristol International Speedway
37	August 6, 1961	Nashville 500	Nashville Speedway
38	August 9, 1961	1961-38	Bowman Gray Stadium
39	August 13, 1961	Western North Carolina 500	Asheville-Weaverville Speedway
40	August 18, 1961	1961-40	Southside Speedway
41	August 27, 1961	1961-41	South Boston Speedway
42	September 4, 1961	Southern 500	Darlington Raceway
43	September 8, 1961	Buddy Shuman 250	Hickory Speedway
44	September 10, 1961	Capital City 200	Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds
45	September 10, 1961	1961-45	California State Fairgrounds
46	September 17, 1961	Dixie 400	Atlanta International Raceway
47	September 24, 1961	Old Dominion 500	Martinsville Speedway
48	October 1, 1961	Wilkes 200	North Wilkesboro Speedway
49	October 15, 1961	National 400	Charlotte Motor Speedway
50	October 22, 1961	Southeastern 500	Bristol International Speedway
51	October 28, 1961	1961-51	Greenville-Pickens Speedway
52	October 29, 1961	1961-52	Orange Speedway

Results

Round	Race	Pole Winner	Winner	Make	Cautions	Caution Laps	Average Speed	Number of Lead Changes
1	1961-01	Lee Petty	Joe Weatherly		4		59.435	4
2	1961-02	Junior Johnson	Lee Petty				64.400	4
3	1961 Daytona 500 Qualifier #1	Fireball Roberts	Fireball Roberts		5	10	129.711
4	1961 Daytona 500 Qualifier #2	Joe Weatherly	Joe Weatherly				152.671	8
5	1961 Daytona 500	Fireball Roberts	Marvin Panch		0	0	149.601	9
6	1961-06	Ned Jarrett	Cotton Owens		3		59.152	4
7	1961-07	Rex White	Rex White		2		72.492	0
8	1961-08	Bob Ross	Fireball Roberts				95.621	1
9	1961 Atlanta 500	Marvin Panch	Bob Burdick		2		123.920	9
10	1961 Greenville 200	Junior Johnson	Emanuel Zervakis		4	20	52.189	2
11	1961-11	Ned Jarrett	Cotton Owens				84.695	3
12	1961-12	Glen Wood	Rex White		1	4	45.500
13	1961 Virginia 500	Rex White	Fred Lorenzen		2	4	68.366	1
14	1961 Gwyn Staley 400	Junior Johnson	Rex White		6	33	83.248	4
15	1961-15	Ned Jarrett	Cotton Owens				51.940	1
16	1961 Hickory 250	Junior Johnson	Junior Johnson		4	19	66.654	4
17	1961 Richmond 200	Richard Petty	Richard Petty				62.456	2
18	1961 Virginia 500 Sweepstakes	Rex White	Junior Johnson		1	6	66.278	2
19	1961 Rebel 300	Fred Lorenzen	Fred Lorenzen		1		119.520	16
20	1961 World 600 Qualifier #1	Fred Lorenzen	Richard Petty		0	0	133.554	2
21	1961 World 600 Qualifier #2	Junior Johnson	Joe Weatherly		2	14	115.591	3
22	1961-22	Eddie Gray	Lloyd Dane		0	0	82.512
23	1961-23	Danny Weinberg	Eddie Gray				68.833
24	1961 World 600	Richard Petty	David Pearson		7	57	111.633	17
25	1961-25	Joe Weatherly	Jim Paschal				55.495
26	1961 Southland 200	Johnny Allen	Ned Jarrett				61.068
27	1961 Pickens 200	Ned Jarrett	Jack Smith				58.441	1
28	1961 Myers Brothers 200	Junior Johnson	Rex White		1	5	42.714
29	1961 Yankee 500	Rex White	Emanuel Zervakis		1		53.827	3
30	1961-30	Emanuel Zervakis	Buck Baker				46.234
31	1961-31	Rex White	Junior Johnson				49.907
32	1961 Firecracker 250	Fireball Roberts	David Pearson		0	0	154.294	12
33	1961 Festival 250	Fireball Roberts	Fred Lorenzen		1	12	118.067
34	1961-34	Cotton Owens	Cotton Owens				62.198	3
35	1961-35	Joe Weatherly	Joe Weatherly				57.655
36	1961 Volunteer 500	Fred Lorenzen	Jack Smith		8		68.373	7
37	1961 Nashville 500	Rex White	Jim Paschal		3	172	56.455	2
38	1961-38	Junior Johnson	Rex White				42.452	2
39	1961 Western North Carolina 500	Jim Paschal	Junior Johnson				65.704	1
40	1961-40	Junior Johnson	Junior Johnson		1	8	51.605	0
41	1961-41	Cotton Owens	Junior Johnson				48.348	2
42	1961 Southern 500	Fireball Roberts	Nelson Stacy		6	21	117.787	19
43	1961 Buddy Shuman 250	Rex White	Rex White		2		67.529	6
44	1961 Capital City 200	Junior Johnson	Joe Weatherly				61.677
45	1961-45	Bill Amick	Eddie Gray					1
46	1961 Dixie 400	Fireball Roberts	David Pearson				125.384	7
47	1961 Old Dominion 500	Fred Lorenzen	Joe Weatherly		7		62.586	9
48	1961 Wilkes 200	Junior Johnson	Rex White		4	23	84.675	3
49	1961 National 400	David Pearson	Joe Weatherly		3	18	119.950	13
50	1961 Southeastern 500	Bobby Johns	Joe Weatherly		3		72.452	6
51	1961-51	Buck Baker	Junior Johnson				63.346	3
52	1961-52	Joe Weatherly	Joe Weatherly				85.249	2

Final Points Standings

Pos.	Driver	Races	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s	Poles	Points	Difference
1	Ned Jarrett	46	1	23	34	4	27272
2	Rex White	47	7	29	38	7	26442	-830
3	Emanuel Zervakis	38	2	19	28	1	22312	-4,960
4	Joe Weatherly	25	9	14	18	3	17894	-9,378
5	Fireball Roberts	22	2	13	14	5	17600	-9,672
6	Junior Johnson	41	7	16	22	10	17178	-10,094
7	Jack Smith	25	2	10	14	0	15186	-12,086
8	Richard Petty	42	2	18	23	2	14984	-12,288
9	Jim Paschal	23	2	12	16	1	13922	-13,350
10	Buck Baker	42	1	11	15	1	13746	-13,526
11	Jimmy Pardue	44	0	3	16	0	13408	-13,864
12	Johnny Allen	22	0	3	11	1	13114	-14,158
13	David Pearson	19	3	7	8	1	13088	-14,184
14	Bob Welborn	14	0	3	7	0	12570	-14,702
15	Herman Beam	41	0	1	14	0	11382	-15,890
16	Nelson Stacy	15	1	4	8	0	10436	-16,836
17	Ralph Earnhardt	8	0	2	5	0	10182	-17,090
18	Marvin Panch	9	1	3	6	1	9392	-17,880
19	Fred Lorenzen	15	3	6	6	4	9316	-17,956
20	G.C. Spencer	31	0	3	18	0	9128	-18,144
21	Curtis Crider	41	0	1	2	0	8414	-18,858
22	Cotton Owens	17	4	11	11	2	8032	-19,240
23	Tiny Lund	10	0	0	2	0	7740	-19,532
24	Bobby Johns	14	0	1	3	1	7590	-19,682
25	L.D. Austin	20	0	0	8	0	7306	-19,966
26	Tommy Irwin	26	0	3	8	0	7300	-19,972
27	Doug Yates	32	0	2	10	0	5878	-21,394
28	Paul Lewis	21	0	0	5	0	5712	-21,560
29	Bob Barron	31	0	0	5	0	5412	-21,860
30	Elmo Langley	15	0	1	5	0	5376	-21,896
31	Banjo Matthews	14	0	1	3	0	4924	-22,348
32	Wendell Scott	23	0	0	5	0	4726	-22,546
33	Jim Reed	8	0	3	4	0	4705	-22,567
34	Fred Harb	27	0	1	8	0	4526	-22,746
35	Darel Dieringer	7	0	1	2	0	4416	-22,856
36	Bob Burdick	5	1	2	3	0	4382	-22,890
37	Lee Reitzel	17	0	0	3	0	4380	-22,892
38	Tom Pistone	4	0	0	3	0	3766	-23,506
39	Buddy Baker	14	0	1	3	0	3668	-23,604
40	Roscoe Thompson	6	0	0	2	0	3602	-23,670

Complete statistics can be found at Racing-Reference.info.

Rookie of the Year

With 1 Top 10 in 5 starts, Woodie Wilson was the 1961 Rookie of the Year.

Position	Driver	Race Wins
1	Woodie Wilson	0
2	Wendell Scott	0
3	Lee Reitzel	0

Manufacturer's Championship

Despite only winning 11 races to Pontiac's 30, Chevrolet won the 1961 Manufacturer's Championship.

Position	Make	Race Wins
1		11
2		30
3		7
4		3
5		1