SEASON IN REVIEW
Gastonia, North Carolina driver Glenn Dunaway is a significant figure in LASTCAR history.
On June 19, 1949 at the Charlotte Speedway, a tiny dirt track in Charlotte, North Carolina, Dunaway was flagged the winner of NASCAR’s first-ever race after his 1947 Ford beat second-place Jim Roper by three laps. But Dunaway’s car #25 was disqualified hours later for running with altered rear springs, thus violating NASCAR’s rule that every car in the field remain “strictly stock.” Despite a legal challenge, Roper was credited with the victory, and Dunaway was kicked to the 33rd and final spot, becoming NASCAR’s first-ever last-place finisher.
Three weeks later at the first NASCAR event on the Daytona Beach-Road Course in Daytona Beach, Florida, Dunaway finished last once more, this time driving a 1949 Lincoln. This made Dunaway the first NASCAR driver to finish last in consecutive races and the first to trail the field at Daytona. The remaining six races of the brief 1949 season featured different last-place finishers, so Dunaway ended up with the first-ever LASTCAR Cup Championship, having competed in six of the season’s eight races.
Dunaway would compete another two seasons on the NASCAR tour, scoring a best career finish of 2nd at Canfield, Ohio in 1950. But NASCAR’s first two last-place finishes were the only ones of his 18-race career. He passed away on March 8, 1964.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
On October 2, Al Bonnell became the first NASCAR polesitter to finish last in the same race. His #19 1949 Oldsmobile was unable to complete a lap at the Heidelberg Raceway in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Glenn Dunaway (2)
2nd) Al Bonnell, Fonty Flock, Sterling Long, Chuck Mahoney, Otis Martin, Frank Mundy (1)
