November 3rd, 1963 NASCAR Golden State 400 at Riverside - Dave MacDonald pilots the famous Wood Brothers #21 Ford.
Dave MacDonald comes to Riverside having won his last two major races - the LA Times Grand Prix & Monterey Pacific Grand Prix
Race goes green! Fireball Roberts, Freddy Lorenzen & Dave MacDonald occupy the outside of rows 1,2,3. (Courtesy Cars magazine).
Marvin Panch grabs the hole shot with, Lorenzen, Roberts, Dieringer & MacDonald next. Richard Petty is 11th. Photo Hot Rod magazine
Trouble on lap 2 as Rex White smacks the hill in turn 4. It's not easy driving a heavy stocker at Riverside. White spun off the track so no
yellow was required. MacDonald started 6th, is now 4th and is preparing a move on the lead cars. Photo of Cars magazine
On lap 3 MacDonald gets by Dieringer & Panch and makes his move on Roberts
By the next tour through turn 6 you can see Dave MacDonald has taken over 2nd. Dave went by three NASCAR legends, Darel Dieringer,
Marvin Panch & Fireball Roberts in a single lap! He trails only Freddy Lorenzen. Photo Dave Friedman
Unfortunately King Richard encounters transmission problems and makes an early exit from the race. Photo courtesy of Cars magazine.
Lap 22 - MacDonald gets by Lorenzen to take the lead and laps Dick Mitchell in the process. Mitchell started 31st. Photo Friedman
Lap 23 and MacDonald laps a struggling Billy Wade who retired with transmission problems before finishing the lap. Photo Friedman
Lorenzen goes out next as he limps around the track on his final tour. Transmission problems put Fred out on lap 26. Photo, Cars magazine
Bob Bondurant (R) climbs out of his car after he and Paul Goldsmith ram the turn 6 guardrail on lap 44. Both drivers were ok
Midway through the race MacDonald has powered the Wood Bros #21 car to a huge lead over 2nd place driver Darel Dieringer.
80 laps in the books and Darel Dieringer still running in 2nd but a half lap behind Dave MacDonald.
Dave MacDonald still running strong and putting a lap on Marvin Porter (77) and another car. Photo Dave Friedman
On lap 91 however, MacDonald's transmission fails and he loses both 2nd & 4th gears - Dieringer begins to slowly reel him in. (Friedman)
100 lap mark and Dave still leas but is struggling to keep his wounded Ford ahead of Dieringer. Photo Dave Friedman
On lap 105 despite running with only 1st & 3rd gears MacDonald puts a lap on Jack Smith who's running a strong 9th. (Dave Friedman)
Dieringer charging hard ultimately catches and passes MacDonald on lap 115. Darel and Dave battle for the next few laps exchanging the
lead before he goes by Dave for good on lap 119.
Darel Dieringer rumbles across the line to win the 1963 Golden State 400. Dave MacDonald finished 2nd while NASCAR legends Fireball
Roberts, Freddy Lorenzen & Richard Petty finished 4th, 32nd & 36th respectively.Photo courtesy Hot Rod magazine
1963 Golden State 400 results. Dave finished 2nd & teammate Marvin Panch 3rd giving the Wood Bros their best showing of the year
After a grueling 4 1/2 hours of racing, Dave places 2nd and gets a well deserved congratulatory hug from daughter Vicki.
Dave debriefs with the Wood team. Glen Wood later praised Dave for finishing 2nd despite racing the final 50 laps in only two gears.
News articles recapping the 1963 NASCAR Golden State 400. Video of the race is in Dave's Racing Videos section
Memorabilia from the 1963 NASCAR Golden State 400
