SAD NEWS: Kyle Larson has announced leaving NASCAR Few minutes ago……
The first Cup race outside of the United States took place on July 1st, 1952.
The Ontario half-mile dirt track had been around since 1923, but closed one year after the Cup Series visited.
Known as a ‘car killer,’ it lived up to its name against the early pioneers of NASCAR.
Paying an admission of one dollar for adults and 50 cents for children, spectators watched on as only three of the 17 starters made it to the finish line in the 200-lap race.
Buddy Sherman made his ’52 Hudson last, averaging a speed of 45.610mph and winning by two laps over NASCAR Hall of Famer Herb Thomas.
It was Sherman’s only victory in the Cup Series.
On July 18th, 1958, NASCAR returned to Canada to race inside the now-demolished Canadian National Exhibition Stadium, competing on a 0.333-mile asphalt oval that had a striking resemblance to Bowman Gray Stadium.
Lee Petty would take victory, leading 29 of 100 laps in a race that only lasted 46 minutes.
However, the most important story of this race may not be who won, but who made their debut.
The 21-year-old son of Lee Petty — Richard Petty — made his first of 1,184 starts in NASCAR’s last points-paying Cup race outside of the United States.
The future ‘King’ of NASCAR was wrecked out of the event when he got in the way of the fastest man in the field — his father.
30 years after the last Cup race on international soil, the sport made the bold step to host a non-points race on the other side of the planet. On February 28th, 1988, NASCAR ventured far beyond the continent of North America to race in Australia. The 280-lap race took place on the oval at Calder Park Raceway with 24-degree banked corners.
The 32 starters featured several stars from the Australia/New Zealand motorsport world, including Bathurst 1000 champions Dick Johnson, Jim Richards, and Allan Grice.
But it was the NASCAR regulars who dominated the event with Neil Bonnett capturing the checkered flag just ahead of Bobby Allison in a 1-2 finish for the Alabama Gang. The event led to the creation of a NASCAR Australia racing division, which operated from 1989 to 2002.
Needless to say, Heim was upset with how Riggs raced him and confronted him about it once everyone was back on pit road. Heim called Riggs’ decision on the final lap “scum racing.”
“Just why? More than anything. He tried to do it to the 7 (Carson Hocevar) last week for the win, and mission accomplished for him,” Heim said, via NASCAR.com.
“I guess, this week – and it cost him one, too. I don’t know. We’ve given up so many of them this year after dominating the race. The 38 (Smith) was the only other guy that was rightfully good.
