In the late fifties and early sixties there was a scourge of the tracks and the party venues refered to as the "Gold Dust Twins". While Joe Weatherly was every bit the racer (and party animal) that his friend Curtis Turner was, it just seemed that ol' Pops overshadowed him most of the time.
Winner of well over 350 stock car races, and countless highway contests with the local and federal officials while plying his "delivery" trade, Curtis became a Southern legend both on and off the track.
Here's my build of his ride in the first 100% "Hacksaw Rebel 300". While the "zippertop" cars had done double duty in both the Convertible and Grand National divisions in the preceding seasons, 1960 marked the first year that cutting the roof off a GN car for Darlington's Spring event would be the rule and not the exception.
Darlington promotor Bob Colvin loved the "ragtops" and kept his Spring race a convertible event long after Nascar dropped the cars as a seperate division. Only someone as well liked as Colvin could have persuaded the racers to go to that much trouble for as long (3 years) as he did but finally the increased speeds and extra cost brought an end to the unique nature of one of racing's most colorful and zany events.