There were 33 American-born drivers on the official grid.[2]Fred Lorenzen (employed by Holman Moody) secured his last-place finish during the parade laps because he refused to start the race.[2]Paul Goldsmith also elected not to start the race; making Doug Moore the "legitimate" last-place finisher due to a distributor issue on lap 1. Reb Wickersham spun on the first lap and very nearly took out Foyt.[2][3] It took just more than two and a half hours for A. J. Foyt to defeat Bobby Isaac by a single car length in front of more than 30000 spectators.[2] There were 19 lead changes and five caution periods for 25 laps.[2][3]
Rodney Williams would make his NASCAR debut in this race.[3] A.J. Foyt would appear in various races from the 1960s through the 1990s. His most notable future wins would come at the 1972 Daytona 500 and the 1972 Miller High Life 500.[4]Larry Frank would carry two movie cameras in his car to record all the action being taken place. Attempts to record NASCAR history had already been attempted for the 1955 Southern 500 and the 1956 Southern 500.[5]
For the final 56 laps, Isaac and Foyt dueled for the win, exchanging the lead 15 times between the two.[2] Despite a blown engine African-American racer Wendell Scott brought his self-owned Ford home with a top-20.[2] This race was run two days after President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.
Ken Spikes didn't return to racing until the 1967 Daytona 500.[6] He was also hurt in the lap 88 wreck; going sideways on the outside of turn 4, slammed the inside wall broadside thankfully on the rightside of the car.[2][3] He would probably have been killed if it had hit on the other side.[2][3]
