not their competition. Drivers hitting the wall are considered to have received their "Darlington Stripe" thanks to the missing paint on the right side of the car. Race report The event took five hours and one second to complete on a paved oval track spanning for a distance of . Seventy-five thousand fans attended. Billy Carden qualified for this event in 45th place and finished in 6th place. The most notable crew chiefs for this race were Jess Potter, Bud Moore, Shorty Johns and Ray Fox. Speedy Thompson defeated Cotton Owens by three laps at an average speed of . Thompson drove the iconic 1957 Chevrolet during that race; that vehicle went on to win the 1958 and the 1959 runnings of the Southern 500. Owens won the pole position with a speed of during qualifying. Speedy Thompson would record his only Southern 500 victory here even though he would win on other paved superspeedways. T.A. Toomes received the last-place finish due to a problem with his brakes on lap 3 out of 364. Runt Harris returned to NASCAR after a 7-year absence, driving his way to a 39th-place finish after his vehicle developed problems with its clutch. Former Cup series race winner Bill Blair made his only start of the 1957 NASCAR Grand National Series season; finishing in 38th place after inflicting terminal damage to his vehicle. Brownie King was 59 laps down; he started in 31st and managed to improve his position to 21st place. However, he was unable to properly compete for a win or even a finish in the top-15. Bobby Myers lost his life as a result of a race-related crash; Fonty Flock and Paul Goldsmith were also involved in this accident. The technology found in the modern NASCAR Cup Series vehicles could have saved Myers' life, and it's a shame because Myers had a promising career in NASCAR racing. George Parrish made a notable appearance in this race using a 1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk; he witnessed the fatal crash of Bobby Myers at close range. Parrish retired after the 1958 NASCAR Cup Series season. As a rookie, Cale Yarborough made his NASCAR debut here and finished in 42nd place (out of 50 drivers). Fonty Flock retired after this race. Qualifying Failed to qualify: Eddie Skinner (#28), Ted Chamberlain (#93), Joe Eubanks (#82), Fred Knapp (#37), Duke DeBrizzi (#81), Dave Terrell (#9), Larry Frank (#76),