After reading several of the reports and opinions about Saturday’s Nationwide series race in Montreal, which was run as a steady rain fell, one supposed “fact” was stated several times.
The offending item was the notion that Saturday’s event was the first ever NASCAR race run in the rain.
That’s because it’s a glaring error.
The first NASCAR event run in the rain, as far as I can find in my records, occurred on August 12, 1956, when Tim Flock won a 258-mile event on the Road America road course at Elkhart Lake, WI.
For many reasons, this is not a race that should be glossed over by the PR machine that always seems to be working on a “revisionist history” of NASCAR.
The story starts in 1955.
After a year’s absence from NASCAR, Tim Flock returned to the track driving a lightning fast Chrysler 300 owned by Wisconsin millionaire Carl Kiekhaefer.
Kiekhaefer made his money with an outboard motor company, and felt a winning race team would help promote his product. He poured thousands into his team to make it the best.
With Flock behind the wheel, the Kiekhaefer team won its first race at Daytona, and eventually won 18 out of 39 races that year, along with the 1955 points championship. Eleven of those wins came from the pole, and 11 times Flock led every lap en route to the win.
The team looked equally unstoppable in 1956. With Buck Baker onboard as a teammate, Flock started out with wins at Hickory and his second straight win at Daytona.
But behind the scenes, Flock was miserable.
Kiekhaefer was a stern taskmaster, and a man used to getting his own way. If the team didn’t perform to his expectations, there was absolute hell to pay.
This took its toll on Flock. He battled stomach ulcers. He couldn’t sleep at night. He lost weight.
Following a big win in April at North Wilkesboro, Flock finally had enough and quit the team.
Flock became persona non-gratis to Kiekhaefer, who hired Herb Thomas to fill Flock’s seat.
Flock, meanwhile, began moving from ride to ride, eventually taking a one-shot ride for Bill Stroppe’s Mercury team for the event at Road America.
Kiekhaefer unloaded his team cars at Elkhart Lake with pride. He intended to show his home state how accomplished his team was. Two of his cars, piloted by Baker and Speedy Thompson, started in the top five.
Rain plagued the start of the event. With windshield wipers flapping, NASCAR’s top division took their first laps around the 4-mile road course as the rain continued to fall.
After starting sixth, Flock dropped back in the pack to see how the cars and drivers would acclimate themselves to the new track and wet conditions. Meanwhile, Baker and Thompson set the pace up front.
As the race wound on, Flock worked his way back to the front, and trailed only Thompson with ten laps to go.
That was when Flock got his revenge. Thompson’s engine came apart, handing Flock the lead and the victory.
It was the 39th win of his career. More importantly, he beat Carl Kiekhaefer’s best to do it.
“To come up here in Kiekhaefer’s back yard and win this race is special to me,” Tim said. “This was one he wanted badly, and I won it!”
It marked the beginning of the end of racing for both men. For Flock, he only ran 19 more Grand National events in his career before hanging up his helmet in 1961.
Kiekhaefer won seven more races and the championship that year after the embarrassment at Elkhart Lake. But the crowds booed his cars for winning so much, and he left the sport for good at the end of 1956.
Saturday was indeed an extraordinary moment in NASCAR, with drivers facing torrential downpours on the Montreal road course.
But despite what any PR person might tell you, it was not the first time it had happened.
That distinction belongs to 1956 at Road America, and that win, with the sweet revenge it brought, belongs to Tim Flock.
That’s something that nobody should be allowed to gloss over.
Brandon Reed is a reporter for MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Contact him at brandon@mainstreetnews.com.
