• NASCAR merges with the Society of Autosports and Fellowship Education (SAFE), a Midwestern sanctioning body.

• The merger between NASCAR and SAFE produces a NASCAR Convertible division for the 1956 season.

• Forty-seven Convertible races are run during the course of the year, with three-time winner Bob Welborn beating 22-time winner Curtis Turner in the final point standings.

• Carl Kiekhaefer enters six cars in the Grand National race at Daytona Beach, Fla., one of which is driven by Charlie Scott of College Park, Ga.-- the first African-American to compete in a Grand National event. Seventy-six cars take the green flag, with Tim Flock earning his second straight trip to Victory Lane.

• Kiekhaefer teams reel off 16 consecutive Grand National victories, a mark that will likely remain in the NASCAR record books forever. From March 25 through June 3, Kiekhaefer cars went undefeated with drivers Buck Baker, Herb Thomas, Speedy Thompson and Tim Flock.

• A 258.3-mile Grand National race is conducted on the 4-mile Road America road course in Elkhart Lake, Wis. Rain greets the 26-car field. Despite the inclement weather, the race goes on as scheduled and it remains the only Grand National race to be run in the rain (Tim Flock drives a Mercury to victory).

• Buck Baker wins 14 races and captures the 1956 Grand National championship. Team owner Carl Kiekhaefer wins 30 races with six different drivers.