1963 Grand National Series

1963 Grand National Series
Duration	November 4, 1962 through November 3, 1963
Season statistics
No. of races	55
First race	1963-01
Last race	1963 Golden State 400
Drivers' champion	Joe Weatherly
Manufacturers' champion
Rookie of the Year	Billy Wade
Most popular driver	Fred Lorenzen
Previous	1962
Next	1964

The 1963 Grand National Series was the 15th season of the NASCAR Grand National Series. The season began with a race at Fairgrounds Raceway on November 4, 1962 and ended with the Golden State 400 at Riverside International Raceway.

Joe Weatherly won his second straight championship in his second full-time season with three wins. One of his wins occurred in the Rebel 300 at Darlington, which had one of the highest payouts of the season at $11,500. He also drove for nine different owners in the season.

The season was notable for being the first season where a driver (Fred Lorenzen) earned more than $100,000 in prize money during a single season.

Schedule

Round	Date	Race Name	Track
1	November 4, 1962	1963-01	Fairgrounds Raceway
2	November 11, 1962	1963-02	Golden Gate Speedway
3	November 22, 1962	Turkey Day 200	Tar Heel Speedway
4	January 20, 1963	Riverside 500	Riverside International Raceway
5	February 22, 1963	Daytona 500 Qualifier #1	Daytona International Speedway
6	February 22, 1963	Daytona 500 Qualifier #2	Daytona International Speedway
7	February 24, 1963	Daytona 500	Daytona International Speedway
8	March 2, 1963	1963-08	Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds
9	March 3, 1963	1963-09	Asheville-Weaverville Speedway
10	March 10, 1963	1963-10	Orange Speedway
11	March 17, 1963	Atlanta 500	Atlanta International Raceway
12	March 24, 1963	Hickory 250	Hickory Speedway
13	March 31, 1963	Southeastern 500	Bristol International Speedway
14	April 4, 1963	1963-14	Augusta Speedway
15	April 7, 1963	Richmond 250	Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds
16	April 13, 1963	Greenville 200	Greenville-Pickens Speedway
17	April 14, 1963	South Boston 400	South Boston Speedway
18	April 15, 1963	1963-18	Bowman Gray Stadium
19	April 21, 1963	Virginia 500	Martinsville Speedway
20	April 28, 1963	Gwyn Staley 400	North Wilkesboro Speedway
21	May 2, 1963	Columbia 200	Columbia Speedway
22	May 5, 1963	1963-22	Tar Heel Speedway
23	May 11, 1963	Rebel 300	Darlington Raceway
24	May 18, 1963	1963-24	Old Dominion Speedway
25	May 19, 1963	1963-25	Southside Speedway
26	June 2, 1963	World 600	Charlotte Motor Speedway
27	June 9, 1963	1963-27	Fairgrounds Raceway
28	June 30, 1963	Dixie 400	Atlanta International Raceway
29	July 4, 1963	Firecracker 400	Daytona International Speedway
30	July 7, 1963	Speedorama 200	Rambi Raceway
31	July 10, 1963	Geechee 200	Savannah Speedway
32	July 11, 1963	1963-32	Dog Track Speedway
33	July 13, 1963	1963-33	Bowman Gray Stadium
34	July 14, 1963	1963-34	New Asheville Speedway
35	July 19, 1963	1963-35	Old Bridge Stadium
36	July 21, 1963	1963-36	Bridgehampton Raceway
37	July 28, 1963	Volunteer 500	Bristol International Speedway
38	July 30, 1963	Pickens 200	Greenville-Pickens Speedway
39	August 4, 1963	Nashville 400	Nashville Speedway
40	August 8, 1963	Sandlapper 200	Columbia Speedway
41	August 11, 1963	Western North Carolina 500	Asheville-Weaverville Speedway
42	August 14, 1963	1963-42	Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds
43	August 16, 1963	International 200	Bowman Gray Stadium
44	August 18, 1963	Mountaineer 300	West Virginia International Speedway
45	September 2, 1963	Southern 500	Darlington Raceway
46	September 6, 1963	Buddy Shuman 250	Hickory Speedway
47	September 8, 1963	Capital City 300	Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds
48	September 22, 1963	Old Dominion 500	Martinsville Speedway
49	September 24, 1963	1963-49	Dog Track Speedway
50	September 29, 1963	Wilkes 400	North Wilkesboro Speedway
51	October 5, 1963	1963-51	Tar Heel Speedway
52	October 13, 1963	National 400	Charlotte Motor Speedway
53	October 20, 1963	South Boston 400	South Boston Speedway
54	October 27, 1963	1963-54	Orange Speedway
55	November 3, 1963	Golden State 400	Riverside International Raceway

Results

Round	Race	Pole Winner	Winner	Make	Cautions	Caution Laps	Average Speed	Number of Lead Changes
1	1963-01	Jim Paschal	Jim Paschal		1	4	68.350	2
2	1963-02	Rex White	Richard Petty		2		57.167	3
3	1963 Turkey Day 200	Glen Wood	Jim Paschal		0	0	47.544	1
4	1963 Riverside 500	Paul Goldsmith	Dan Gurney		6		84.965	9
5	1963 Daytona 500 Qualifier #1	Fireball Roberts	Junior Johnson				164.083
6	1963 Daytona 500 Qualifier #2	Fred Lorenzen	Johnny Rutherford				162.969	4
7	1963 Daytona 500	Fireball Roberts	Tiny Lund		1	10	151.556	29
8	1963-08	Junior Johnson	Richard Petty		2		55.598	2
9	1963-09	Junior Johnson	Richard Petty				76.664
10	1963-10	Joe Weatherly	Junior Johnson		3		83.129	5
11	1963 Atlanta 500	Junior Johnson	Fred Lorenzen				130.582	12
12	1963 Hickory 250	Junior Johnson	Junior Johnson		2		67.950	2
13	1963 Southeastern 500	Fred Lorenzen	Fireball Roberts		1	9	76.910	8
14	1963-14	LeeRoy Yarbrough	Ned Jarrett				60.089	1
15	1963 Richmond 250	Rex White	Joe Weatherly		6	37	58.624	11
16	1963 Greenville 200	Jimmy Pardue	Buck Baker		7		54.853	6
17	1963 South Boston 400	Ned Jarrett	Richard Petty		0	0	75.229	1
18	1963-18	Richard Petty	Jim Paschal				46.814
19	1963 Virginia 500	Rex White	Richard Petty		5		64.823	3
20	1963 Gwyn Staley 400	Fred Lorenzen	Richard Petty				83.301	4
21	1963 Columbia 200	Richard Petty	Richard Petty		13		51.650
22	1963-22	Ned Jarrett	Jim Paschal		0	0	48.605	1
23	1963 Rebel 300	Fred Lorenzen	Joe Weatherly		3	14	122.745
24	1963-24	Richard Petty	Richard Petty		0	0	70.275
25	1963-25	Ned Jarrett	Ned Jarrett		1	6	65.052	4
26	1963 World 600	Junior Johnson	Fred Lorenzen		2	14	132.417	15
27	1963-27	Jack Smith	Richard Petty		1	3	68.195	1
28	1963 Dixie 400	Marvin Panch	Junior Johnson		2	32	121.139	18
29	1963 Firecracker 400	Junior Johnson	Fireball Roberts		3	19	150.927	39
30	1963 Speedorama 200	Richard Petty	Ned Jarrett				60.996	3
31	1963 Geechee 200	Richard Petty	Ned Jarrett				59.622	1
32	1963-32	Junior Johnson	Jimmy Pardue		1		45.464	2
33	1963-33	Glen Wood	Glen Wood		3		44.390	3
34	1963-34	David Pearson	Ned Jarrett				63.384	5
35	1963-35	Joe Weatherly	Fireball Roberts		4		73.022	1
36	1963-36	Richard Petty	Richard Petty				86.047	2
37	1963 Volunteer 500	Fred Lorenzen	Fred Lorenzen		7	36	74.844	6
38	1963 Pickens 200	Ned Jarrett	Richard Petty		2		62.456	3
39	1963 Nashville 400	Richard Petty	Jim Paschal			98	60.126
40	1963 Sandlapper 200	Richard Petty	Richard Petty				55.598	2
41	1963 Western North Carolina 500	Ned Jarrett	Fred Lorenzen		2		77.673	2
42	1963-42	Joe Weatherly	Ned Jarrett				52.424
43	1963 International 200	Junior Johnson	Junior Johnson		1	4	46.320	0
44	1963 Mountaineer 300	Fred Lorenzen	Fred Lorenzen		7	30	59.340	4
45	1963 Southern 500	Fred Lorenzen	Fireball Roberts		0	0	129.784	9
46	1963 Buddy Shuman 250	David Pearson	Junior Johnson		3	16	62.926	8
47	1963 Capital City 300	Joe Weatherly	Ned Jarrett				66.339	4
48	1963 Old Dominion 500	Junior Johnson	Fred Lorenzen		5	18	67.486	3
49	1963-49	Joe Weatherly	Ned Jarrett				43.000
50	1963 Wilkes 400	Fred Lorenzen	Marvin Panch		2	17	89.428	9
51	1963-51	Fred Lorenzen	Richard Petty				46.001	1
52	1963 National 400	Marvin Panch	Junior Johnson		3	17	132.105	14
53	1963 South Boston 400	Jack Smith	Richard Petty		0	0	76.325	4
54	1963-54	Joe Weatherly	Joe Weatherly		2	14	85.559	3
55	1963 Golden State 400	Dan Gurney	Darel Dieringer		1		91.465	7

Final Points Standings

Pos.	Driver	Races	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s	Poles	Points	Difference
1	Joe Weatherly	53	3	20	35	6	33398
2	Richard Petty	54	14	30	39	8	31170	-2,228
3	Fred Lorenzen	29	6	21	23	8	29684	-3,714
4	Ned Jarrett	53	8	32	39	4	27214	-6,184
5	Fireball Roberts	20	4	11	14	1	22642	-10,756
6	Jimmy Pardue	52	1	7	20	1	22228	-11,170
7	Darel Dieringer	20	1	7	15	0	21418	-11,980
8	David Pearson	41	0	13	19	2	21156	-12,242
9	Rex White	25	0	5	14	3	20976	-12,422
10	Tiny Lund	22	1	5	12	0	19624	-13,774
11	Buck Baker	47	1	17	30	0	18114	-15,284
12	Junior Johnson	33	7	13	14	9	17720	-15,678
13	Marvin Panch	12	1	9	12	2	17156	-16,242
14	Nelson Stacy	12	0	4	9	0	14974	-18,424
15	Wendell Scott	47	0	1	15	0	14814	-18,584
16	Billy Wade	31	0	4	14	0	14646	-18,752
17	Curtis Crider	49	0	2	15	0	13996	-19,402
18	G.C. Spencer	31	0	4	12	0	13744	-19,654
19	Jim Paschal	32	5	15	18	1	13456	-19,942
20	Bobby Isaac	27	0	3	7	0	12858	-20,540
21	Bobby Johns	12	0	3	6	0	12652	-20,746
22	Larry Thomas	32	0	6	13	0	11010	-22,388
23	Stick Elliott	28	0	0	7	0	9582	-23,816
24	Jack Smith	29	0	4	11	2	8218	-25,180
25	Cale Yarborough	18	0	3	7	0	8062	-25,336
26	LeeRoy Yarbrough	14	0	1	5	1	7872	-25,526
27	Herman Beam	25	0	0	6	0	7742	-25,656
28	Larry Frank	11	0	2	2	0	7582	-25,816
29	Larry Manning	23	0	1	9	0	6952	-26,446
30	Ed Livingston	20	0	0	1	0	6818	-26,580
31	Neil Castles	28	0	2	8	0	5928	-27,470
32	Tommy Irwin	7	0	2	5	0	5176	-28,222
33	Reb Wickersham	14	0	0	1	0	4812	-28,586
34	Worth McMillion	15	0	0	4	0	4614	-28,784
35	Bob James	10	0	0	0	0	4316	-29,082
36	Roy Mayne	20	0	1	4	0	4188	-29,210
37	Bob Cooper	9	0	0	1	0	4164	-29,234
38	Jimmy Massey	15	0	1	8	0	4016	-29,382
39	Elmo Langley	11	0	1	2	0	3982	-29,416
40	Bob Welborn	11	0	4	4	0	3484	-29,914

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

Rookie of the Year

With 4 Top 5s and 14 Top 10s in 31 starts, Billy Wade was the 1963 Rookie of the Year.

Position	Driver	Race Wins
1	Billy Wade	0
2	Bobby Isaac	0
3	Larry Manning	0
4	J.D. McDuffie	0

Manufacturer's Championship

With 23 wins, Ford won the 1963 Manufacturer's Championship.

Position	Make	Race Wins
1		23
2		4
3		19
4		8
5		0
6		1