The 1961 Dixie 400, race 46 of the 52‑event NASCAR Grand National Series, was contested on September 17th at the Atlanta International Raceway. The 1.5‑mile paved oval hosted 267 laps for a race distance of 400 miles in front of a crowd of around 30,000 spectators. Fireball Roberts captured the pole position with qualifying speed of 136.924 mph for Smokey Yunick’s team.
Throughout the race, several lead changes occurred among the frontrunners, with laps led by Roberts, Nelson Stacy, Banjo Matthews, and others. Matthews led 167 laps but dropped back late and finished 11th. In the closing laps, Fireball Roberts briefly led before David Pearson took command on lap 266 and went on to win the $9,330 first prize. Pearson averaged 125.384 mph in the caution free race and finished roughly five seconds ahead of Junior Johnson. Pearson was in the #3 Pontiac owned by John Masoni. Rounding out the top five were Fireball Roberts, Jack Smith, and Richard Petty.
