By Matt McLaughlin
Post 31
Editor's note:This article is part of a special reprise of Matt McLaughlin's "50 Yearsof NASCAR Racing", written and published in 1998 in commemoration ofNASCAR's 50th Anniversary celebration that year. Matt has kindly granted mepermission to run the entire series. Please, sit back and enjoy as you take ajourney back through the pages of history and perhaps relive a memory or two. Many thanks to Matt for his generosity in sharing. God blessyou, my friend.
The 1981 Daytona 500 marked the debut of the so called"little" cars, with a 110-inch wheelbase, as opposed to 115 inches onthe old reliable Monte Carlos and Cutlasses most teams had been running foryears. The teams and drivers approached that year's event with no littletrepidation. Early tests on the new shorter cars had not gone well, and the newcars turned out to have an alarming tendency to get twitchy at high speed andget airborne once they were out of shape. One team, Harry Ranier and Bobby Allison, showed up at Daytona with a "secretweapon", a Pontiac LeMans, which was more of atwo door sedan than a coupe like the other teams entries. Most importantly, theLeMans had a sloped rear window, which put more airon the rear spoiler and helped keep the car stable, and on the pavement. Rightout of the box, Allison showed the other teams that he was the man to beat,winning the pole, then running roughshod over thefield in the first qualifier. But evenmore attention was focused on two wrecks that occurred during that event thanon Allison's dominance. John Anderson spun on the 28th lap and the car rose upoff the ground, flipped over backwards and rolled five times. Three laps fromthe end, Connie Saylor's Olds got sideways on the back chute. The rear of thecar lifted straight up in the air, and Saylor wound up on his roof as well.Fortunately, neither driver was seriously injured, but both said the cars gotout of shape and took off with no warning. For the second time that week,NASCAR decided to let the teams increase the size of their rear spoilers,trying to put an end to the aerial acrobatics. Darrell Waltrip won the secondqualifier in his new ride, Junior Johnson's Buick, with a daring last lap passon Benny Parsons. After the race, several drivers were extremely critical of Waltrip's kamikaze driving style during the event and his"take no prisoners" passing, especially in light of how high strungeveryone else was about the instability of the new cars.
Engine problems ruined the debut of the Johnson-Waltrip teamat that year's 500, which would go on to achieve such success. Like Baker,Waltrip seemed to have lousy luck at Daytona. With the only driver who couldkeep him in sight sidelined, Bobby Allison dominated the event and seemedheaded for the win. Geoff Bodine was involved in a scary wreck when he spun hisPontiac in turn four, went up and over an embankment and into the infield onlap 48. Spectators ran for their lives as Bodine's errantrace car hit a car owned by reporters from a local television station there tocover the event. Miraculously no one was hurt and Bodine managed to wind hisway back to the pits and get repairs, winding up 22nd, 22laps off the pace.
With 27 laps to go, Allison ducked into the pits for twotires and fuel, with Buddy Baker and Dale Earnhardt following his cue. DaleInman, crew chief to the King, decided the 43 team had one last shot to win anddecided on a gas and go stop. The strategy put Petty into the lead and hemanaged to hang onto it, despite the badly worn tires. It was Petty's seventhwin at the Daytona 500. Ironically it was also Inman's last race with the Pettyteam that year. A few short days later, he announced he was leaving the King, adriver with whom he had shared incredible success, and going over to becomeDale Earnhardt's crew chief. The top six finishers showed there was a changingof the guard going on in the Winston Cup ranks. Legendary veterans RichardPetty, Bobby Allison and Buddy Baker finished 1-2-4, while newcomers RickyRudd, Dale Earnhardt and Bill Elliott took positions 3-5-6 respectively.
A brash newcomer made quite a splash at the 1982 Daytona500. JD Stacy owned two teams outright, with drivers Joe Ruttmanand Jim Sauter at the wheel, and sponsored five moreteams that fielded entries for Terry Labonte, Benny Parsons, Jody Ridley, Dave Marcis and Ron Bouchard. All the teams carried his name onthe quarter panels. 1982 was also the first time that the Daytona 500 was the firstevent on the Winston Cup calendar. Until that year the road race at Riversidein January had held that honor.
Defending Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip was loudlycriticized by his colleagues after more controversial driving in a qualifierfor the 1982 Daytona 500. DW found himself out of the draft and about to lose alot of positions as rain began pelting the track, threatening to end the event early , so he just cut over back into line shoving DaleEarnhardt out of his way. Judging by Earnhardt's remarks after the event he wasnone too happy. Neil Bonnett, who nearly got caught up in the mess was equallyangry. (Ironically enough he would later wind up as DW's teammate.) Buddy Bakerwon the race with "Buttinski" Waltrip on his tail, followed by Ruttman, Earnhardt and Kyle Petty. While the firstqualifier lacked the second's controversy, it did provide a memorable finish,with Cale Yarborough passing Bobby Allison down the back straight, with helpfrom Terry Labonte who drafted with him, on the last lap. Yarborough won therace, with Labonte second and Allison relegated to third after having beenleading at the white flag.
There was quite a bit of controversy in the Daytona 500 ofthat year as well. Bobby Allison's rear bumper fell off his car, early in theevent after being brushed by Yarborough. It was Allison's first race withDiGard, and many accused DiGard crew chief Gary Nelson of purposely rigging thebumper so it would fall off, including Darrell Waltrip, no fan of the Gardner'safter his stormy tenure there. The rear bumper was known to create a lot ofdrag and Allison's car was a rocket ship after the bumper came off, leadingalmost three quarters of the laps. Ironically, it is that same Gary Nelson thatis now in charge of seeing to it Winston Cup teams don't cheat. Favorites BennyParsons, Richard Petty and Neil Bonnett were all eliminated in a single wreck.Petty got the worst end of the deal, breaking his foot. Waltrip was once againsnake bitten at Daytona, losing an engine on lap 151. Other notables who lostengines included Dale Earnhardt, first time Daytona 500 participant MarkMartin, and Rusty Wallace, who was returning to Winston Cup racing as areigning ASA champion and would go on to become rookie of the year. Allisoncruised on to an easy victory, beating CaleYarborough, Joe Ruttman (yes, the guy who drivestrucks these days) Terry Labonte and Bill Elliott to the line. Once again theveterans had prevailed.
The 1983 Daytona 500 added yet another fairy tale finish tothe Daytona record books, but at the same time was marred yet again by horror.In the first qualifier journeyman driver Bruce Jacobi was involved in aterrible wreck that left him paralyzed and comatose. Four years later he diedof the injuries he sustained that day. Dale Earnhardt managed to win thatevent, with Buddy Baker tailing close behind. Rusty Wallace was injured in afrightening looking wreck that saw him rolling several times down thebackstretch. He was hospitalized overnight with a concussion. The second qualifierprovided one of the closest finishes in Daytona history, with Neil Bonnettpassing Richard Petty on the last lap and holding off the King's determinedcharge to regain the lead by a fender length at the line.
Cale Yarborough had retired from running the entire WinstonCup circuit back at the end of 1980, and only ran the big events. Of coursethey don't come much bigger than the Daytona 500. Earlier in the week, on poleday, Cale had blistered his first lap at an average pace of 200.502 miles per hour.On the second lap the car got sideways, rolled over and slammed the wall.Yarborough was lucky to avoid serious injury but the car was totaled. UnderNASCAR rules if a team goes to a backup car, their qualifying time isdisallowed and they must start the race at the back of the field. The team hadrun Pontiacs in 1982, and didn't have a back up superspeedway Chevrolet likethe one that Cale had wrecked. Thus the team had to resort to a Pontiac back upcar, ironically enough one that had started life as Bobby Allison's dominantcar at the '81 Daytona 500. Yarborough's wreck left a surprise pole winnerclaiming top spot, Ricky Rudd.
The '83 Daytona 500 was slowed for caution flags six times.Darrell Waltrip had an unsuccessful debut of Junior's new Pepsi Challenger whenhe popped the wall racing back to the yellow, trying to make up a lost lap. Acar ahead had slowed down for the flag, DW rear-endedit and hit the pit wall hard. He was hospitalized overnight with a concussion.The caution had flown for Dale Earnhardt's blown engine which oiled down thetrack. Mark Martin was also eliminated in a wreck. There was a long list ofcontenders felled by mechanical problems as well, including Richard Petty,Benny Parsons, Tim Richmond, Harry Gant, Ricky Rudd and Sterling Marlin. Thefinish turned out to be a thrilling one. Buddy Baker was leading on the lastlap, but Cale Yarborough in his back up Pontiac, was in a three car draft withJoe Ruttman, who led the most laps that day, and BillElliott. The trio ran down Baker, and Yarborough blasted into the lead, leavingRuttman, Baker and Elliott to stage a thrilling doorhandle to door handle scrap for second. Bill Elliott got runner up honors,Baker recovered to come home third, and a dejected Joe Ruttman,who had had easily the fastest car on the track that day, had to settle forfourth. It was Yarborough's third Daytona 500 victory, each with a differentteam owner, and each in a different make of car. Aboard for the ride was aprehistoric in-car camera, providing the CBS viewers at home a passenger seatvantage point from the race-winning car.
Cale Yarborough returned to Daytona for the 25th running ofthe event in 1984 with the Ranier team again, but with a Chevy for the event.Cale put everyone on notice that he meant to be a contender, by taking the pole for the event at 201.89 miles per hour. In the firstqualifier, Cale put on an impressive show of speed. Buddy Baker had been passedonce too often by the slingshot move on the last lap and decided that he wantedto be in second, not first when the white flag flew, so he could use the sametrick. He let Cale by and Cale just motored away from Buddy's fleet Ford. Infact, once he lost the draft, Baker fell into the clutches of Bill Elliott whotook second place. "That didn't work too good,did it?" a red faced Baker asked reporters after the event.
1996 and 97 Busch series champ, Randy LaJoie,was entered in the second qualifier. He brought out a red flag that lasted overan hour by rolling his car end over end and tearing down a section of pit wall.Any more questions why Randy doesn't want to move up to the Cup league? BobbyAllison ran away with the race, beating Harry Gant. Terry Labonte, BennyParsons and Tim Richmond were third, fourth and fifth. The newcomers had moretop five finishes in the qualifiers then the veterans. But in the 500,experience prevailed. Baker and Allison went out early with mechanicalproblems. Rusty Wallace was involved in another nasty crash. That left it toCale and Darrell to settle things between them. Waltrip and Yarborough had beenfeuding for years and there was no love lost between them. For most of the racethere were only inches between them as well, as the crowd held its breath.Waltrip had often ridiculed Cale for being too old to handle the heat of arace, but that day, Cale demonstrated a trick he had mastered along the way. Hepatiently waited in second place until the last lap, thenused one of his trademark slingshot moves on the last lap to take the win. Calebecame the second man to win the Daytona 500 two years in a row. Cale broughtDale Earnhardt with him when he blew past Darrell and Dale took second while DWhad to settle for third. Neil Bonnett finished fourth and Bill Elliott scoredhis third straight top five finish in the 500. Chalkup another one for the veterans.
The 1985 Daytona 500 can be summed up in two words;"Bill Elliott." Right from the first practice session that yearElliott had the dominant car, and he stunned everyone by posting a 205.114qualifying lap. The first qualifier wasn't much of a race. Elliott had almostlapped the field by the time that the checkered flag flew to end the otherdrivers' misery. Veterans Darrell Waltrip, manning Junior Johnson's Chevy,Benny Parsons in the Jackson Brothers Olds, and Buddy Baker in his first raceas an owner driver finished a distant second third and fourth. Cale and DavidPearson upheld the long-timers honors, finishing first and second in the secondqualifier. Richard Petty, driving for Mike Curb, finished fourth, right behindhis son Kyle, making his debut in the Wood Brothers 7-eleven Ford. For thefirst time since 65, there was no Petty Enterprises car at the Daytona 500.Yarborough employed his "last lap" slingshot trick yet again, to takethe victory in the qualifier. Daytona rookie Davey Allison, Bobby's boy, didn'tfare as well as Kyle. He finished dead last in the second qualifier, afterblowing a clutch on the first lap, and thus didn't make the field for the bigshow.
Perhaps Davey just spared himself the embarrassment of beinggrist in the mill for Elliott's Coors Thunderbird like the rest of the field.The green flag dropped and Elliott checked out, with only Cale Yarborough ableto run even near him. Cale popped a motor on lap 62 and that was about it.Elliott ran an astounding 192 mile per hour pace for the first 100 miles of theevent, and engines began blowing like popcorn as other drivers twisted thetiger's tail a little too tight, trying to keep up. Bobby Allison, DaleEarnhardt, Benny Parsons, AJ Foyt, David Pearson, Harry Gant, Terry Labonte,and Sterling Marlin all lost engines in plenty of time to watch Bill streakingtowards victory from atop their trailers. NASCAR did add a little drama to theproceedings. Elliott pitted for the final time on lap 145 and made a quickstop. But NASCAR officials noted a headlight block off plate was ajar andordered the crew to call Bill back in to repair it. Ernie Elliott used racerstape to fix the hole, but the stop consumed nearly 42 seconds. Elliott chargedback out onto the track and reclaimed the lead in 11 laps. Neil Bonnett, inanother Junior Johnson Chevy, made one final charge but blew his engine. Secondplace and "best in class" fell to Lake Speed. After the race, areporter found Darrell Waltrip rubbing his chin and staring at the front end ofBill's car. Perhaps thinking DW was onto something illegal about the car, thereporter asked Darrell what was wrong with it. "Nothing" DW muttered."I just wanted to see what the front end of this car looked like…. I ain'tseen it all week." Afterwards, Darrell (who finished third for the thirdyear in a row) launched into one of those "Why NASCAR has to slow theseFords down…" deals that have become the norm for this decade. Bill Elliottclaimed a monster payday of $185,500 for the win. To put that in perspective,Richard Petty claimed almost as much prize money for finishing 34th that day ashis dad Lee did for winning the 1959 Daytona 500. More importantly, that winwas the first leg of the new Winston Cup Million that Elliott went onto claimlater that year in dominating style. And at last the new comers had beat the old timers. The torch was being passed.
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