The 1955 Wilkes 160, the 44th race of the 45-race 1955 NASCAR Grand National Series season, was held on Sunday, October 23 at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
A crowd of 10,000 watched the 28-car field compete on the rough 0.625-mile dirt oval for 160 laps (100 miles). Buck Baker, driving the #87 DePaolo Engineering Ford, captured the pole with a qualifying speed of 79.815 mph and led every single lap of the race in a dominant performance.
Baker held off Lee Petty by five seconds to take the victory. Gwyn Staley finished third, followed by Joe Weatherly (driving Charlie Schwam’s colorful “Purple Pig” Ford, known for its vivid purple paint and wild boar caricatures) in fourth, and Tim Flock in fifth. Baker’s win came at an average speed of 72.347 mph with three cautions. He earned $1,100 for his third victory of the season.
Tim Flock clinched the 1955 Grand National Championship with his fifth-place finish. The race highlighted the gritty, attrition-filled nature of dirt-track racing in NASCAR’s early years, while Weatherly’s eye-catching “Purple Pig” added a memorable visual flair to the field.
