April 5, 1964 NASCAR Atlanta 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Dave MacDonald drove Mercury #17 for the Bill Stroppe Racing Team.

Track layout in 1964

Despite only competing in 4 NASCAR races prior to the Atlanta 500, Dave MacDonald still held 8th place in the NASCAR driver standings.
Dave was still under contract with Shelby and running a full USRRC / FIA schedule in Cobra Roadsters, King Cobras & the Cobra Daytona

Start of the race with Lorenzen & Foyt in row 1 and Goldsmith & Roberts in row 2

Paul Goldsmith grabbed the hole shot and led the first 55 laps until crashing. Lorenzen goes low and takes the lead. Goldsmith was OK

Dave MacDonald and Ned Jarrett enter the pits on lap 91

On lap 108 David Pearson & Fireball Roberts get into it and both are forced from the race. Photo Kirk Wooster & Don Hunter

Hard charging Dave MacDonald had his Mercury running 5th when the engine blew on lap 151, he finished 16th. Teammates Jim McElreath, Darel
Dieringer and Parnelli Jones finished 15th, 31st and 37th respectively.

Photo shows Bobby Isaac ahead of Freddy Lorenzen late in the race but Lorenzen would overtake Isaac and go on to win. Issac finished 2nd

Winner Freddy Lorenzen pocketed the $18,000 winners check

Race results for the 1964 Atlanta 500

News articles recapping the 1964 NASCAR Atlanta 500

Motor Trend Magazine July 64 issue with a recap of the 1964 Atlana 500

Beautiful artwork by Bill Rankin shows Dave's remarkable versility. Middle left is rendition of the car Dave drove in the Atlanta 500 & Daytona 500.