THE DON HUNTER COLLECTION

A SAD DAY

Lining up three abreast, the 50-car field gets set for the start of the 1957 Southern 500 at Darlington. Starting on the front row are pole-sitter Cotton Owens (6), Bobby Myers and Curtis Turner.

Sadly, Myers lost his life in a vicious wreck on lap 27 in which he and Paul Goldsmith hit Fonty Flock headlong on what was then the backstretch. Myers' white Oldsmobile, which was fielded by Petty Engineering, flipped a number of times before stopping in turn three.

Myers is the father of Danny "Chocolate" Myers, the longtime gasman for Dale Earnhardt who currently oversees the Richard Childress Racing museum.