#31 - Daytona - Little Cars and Big Bucks
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04/18/2018 Matt McLaughlin |
(Editor’s Note) In 1997
- 1998, Matt McLaughlin penned a special Anthology of historical pieces in
honor of the 50th Anniversary of NASCAR entitled "50 Years of NASCAR
Racing." Matt has entrusted the entire collection, minus one or two that
were misfiled back then and cannot be salvaged, to my tender, loving care.
As NASCAR turns 70, the
Anthology itself will celebrate a 20th anniversary through 2018, and will run
again here on Race Fans Forever. As before, there is no record of which pieces
came first, so it will appear in the sequence presented earlier. Please, sit
back and enjoy as you take a journey back through the pages of history and
perhaps relive a memory or two.
As always, many thanks
to Matt, and God bless you my friend. ~PattyKay
The 1981 Daytona 500 marked the debut of the so called
"little" cars, with a 110-inch wheelbase, as opposed to 115 inches on
the old reliable Monte Carlos and Cutlasses most teams had been running for
years. The teams and drivers approached that year's event with no little
trepidation. Early tests on the new shorter cars had not gone well, and the new
cars turned out to have an alarming tendency to get twitchy at high speed and
get airborne once they were out of shape. One team, Harry Ranier and Bobby
Allison, showed up at Daytona with a "secret weapon", a Pontiac Le Mans,
which was more of a two door sedan than a coupe like the other teams entries.
Most importantly, the Le Mans had a sloped rear window, which put more air on
the rear spoiler and helped keep the car stable, and on the pavement. Right out
of the box, Allison showed the other teams that he was the man to beat, winning
the pole, then running roughshod over the field in the first qualifier. But even more attention was focused on two
wrecks that occurred during that event than on Allison's dominance. John
Anderson spun on the 28th lap and the car rose up off the ground, flipped over
backwards and rolled five times. Three laps from the end, Connie Saylor's Olds
got sideways on the back chute. The rear of the car 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 got out 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 second qualifier in his new ride, Junior Johnson's
Buick, with a daring last lap pass on 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 strung everyone else was about the instability
of the new cars.
Engine problems ruined the debut of the
Johnson-Waltrip team at 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 could keep him in sight sidelined, Bobby Allison dominated the
event and seemed headed for the win. Geoff Bodine was involved in a scary wreck
when he spun his Pontiac in turn four, went up and over an embankment and into
the infield on lap 48. Spectators ran for their lives as Bodine's errant race
car hit a car owned by reporters from a local television station there to cover
the event. Miraculously no one was hurt and Bodine managed to wind his way back
to the pits and get repairs, winding up 22nd, and 22 laps off the pace.
With 27 laps to go, Allison ducked into the pits for
two tires and fuel, with Buddy Baker and Dale Earnhardt following his cue. Dale
Inman, crew chief to the King, decided the 43 team had one last shot to win and
decided on a gas and go stop. The strategy put Petty into the lead and he
managed to hang onto it, despite the badly worn tires. It was Petty's seventh
win at the Daytona 500. Ironically it was also Inman's last race with the Petty
team that year. A few short days later, he announced he was leaving the King, a
driver with whom he had shared incredible success, and going over to become
Dale Earnhardt's crew chief. The top six finishers showed there was a changing
of the guard going on in the Winston Cup ranks. Legendary veterans Richard
Petty, Bobby Allison and Buddy Baker finished 1-2-4, while newcomers Ricky
Rudd, Dale Earnhardt and Bill Elliott took positions 3-5-6 respectively.
A brash newcomer made quite a splash at the 1982
Daytona 500. JD Stacy owned two teams outright, with drivers Joe Ruttman and Jim Sauter at the
wheel, and sponsored five more teams that fielded entries for Terry Labonte,
Benny Parsons, Jody Ridley, Dave Marcis and Ron
Bouchard. All the teams carried his name on the quarter panels. 1982 was also
the first time that the Daytona 500 was the first event on the Winston Cup
calendar. Until that year the road race at Riverside in January had held that
honor.
Defending Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip was
loudly criticized by his colleagues after more controversial driving in a
qualifier for the 1982 Daytona 500. DW found himself out of the draft and about
to lose a lot of positions as rain began pelting the track, threatening to end
the event early, so he just cut over back into line shoving Dale Earnhardt out
of his way. Judging by Earnhardt's remarks after the event he was none too
happy. Neil Bonnett, who nearly got caught up in the mess was equally angry.
(Ironically enough he would later wind up as DW's teammate.) Buddy Baker won
the race with "Buttinski" Waltrip on his tail, followed by Ruttman, Earnhardt and Kyle Petty. While the first
qualifier lacked the second's controversy, it did provide a memorable finish,
with Cale Yarborough passing Bobby Allison down the back straight, with help
from Terry Labonte who drafted with him, on the last lap. Yarborough won the
race, with Labonte second and Allison relegated to third after having been
leading at the white flag.
There was quite a bit of controversy in the Daytona
500 of that year as well. Bobby Allison's rear bumper fell off his car, early
in the event after being brushed by Yarborough. It was Allison's first race
with DiGard, and many accused DiGard crew chief Gary Nelson of purposely
rigging the bumper so it would fall off, including Darrell Waltrip, no fan of
the Gardner's after his stormy tenure there. The rear bumper was known to
create a lot of drag and Allison's car was a rocket ship after the bumper came
off, leading almost three quarters of the laps. Ironically, it is that same
Gary Nelson that is now in charge of seeing to it Winston Cup teams don't
cheat. Favorites Benny Parsons, 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 again snake bitten at Daytona, losing an engine on lap
151. Other notables who lost engines included Dale Earnhardt, first time
Daytona 500 participant Mark Martin, and Rusty Wallace, who was returning to
Winston Cup racing as a reigning ASA champion and would go on to become rookie
of the year. Allison cruised on to an easy victory, beating Cale Yarborough,
Joe Ruttman (yes, the guy who drives trucks these
days) Terry Labonte and Bill Elliott to the line. Once again the veterans had
prevailed.
The 1983 Daytona 500 added yet another fairy tale
finish to the 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 a terrible wreck that left him paralyzed and comatose. Four years later he
died of the injuries he sustained that day. Dale Earnhardt managed to win that
event, with Buddy Baker tailing close behind. Rusty Wallace was injured in a
frightening looking wreck that saw him rolling several times down the
backstretch. He was hospitalized overnight with a concussion. The second
qualifier provided one of the closest finishes in Daytona history, with Neil
Bonnett passing Richard Petty on the last lap and holding off the King's
determined charge to regain the lead by a fender length at the line.
Cale Yarborough had retired from running the entire
Winston Cup circuit back at the end of 1980, and only ran the big events. Of
course they don't come much bigger than the Daytona 500. Earlier in the week,
on pole day, 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.
Under NASCAR rules if a team goes to a backup car, their qualifying time is
disallowed and they must start the race at the back of the field. The team had
run Pontiacs in 1982, and didn't have a backup superspeedway Chevrolet like the
one that Cale had wrecked. Thus the team had to resort to a Pontiac back up
car, ironically enough one that had started life as Bobby Allison's dominant
car at the '81 Daytona 500. Yarborough's wreck left a surprise pole winner
claiming 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 when he popped the wall racing back to the yellow, trying to make up
a lost lap. A car ahead had slowed down for the flag, DW rear-ended it 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 the track. Mark
Martin was also eliminated in a wreck. There was a long list of contenders
felled by mechanical problems as well, including Richard Petty, Benny Parsons,
Tim Richmond, Harry Gant, Ricky Rudd and Sterling Marlin. The finish turned out
to be a thrilling one. Buddy Baker was leading on the last lap, but Cale
Yarborough in his back up Pontiac, was in a three car draft with Joe Ruttman, who led the most laps that day, and Bill Elliott.
The trio ran down Baker, and Yarborough blasted into the lead, leaving Ruttman, Baker and Elliott to stage a thrilling door handle
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 for
fourth. It was Yarborough's third Daytona 500 victory, each with a different
team owner, and each in a different make of car. Aboard for the ride was a
prehistoric in-car camera, providing the CBS viewers at home a passenger seat
vantage point from the race-winning car.
Cale Yarborough returned to Daytona for the 25th
running of the 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 first qualifier,
Cale put on an impressive show of speed. Buddy Baker had been passed once too
often by the slingshot move on the last lap and decided that he wanted to be in
second, not first when the white flag flew, so he could use the same trick. He
let Cale by and Cale just motored away from Buddy's fleet Ford. In fact, once
he lost the draft, Baker fell into the clutches of Bill Elliott who took 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 over an 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? Bobby Allison ran away with the race, beating Harry Gant.
Terry Labonte, Benny Parsons and Tim Richmond were third, fourth and fifth. The
newcomers had more top five finishes in the qualifiers then the veterans. But
in the 500, experience prevailed. Baker and Allison went out early with
mechanical problems. Rusty Wallace was involved in another nasty crash. That
left it to Cale and Darrell to settle things between them. Waltrip and
Yarborough had been feuding for years and there was no love lost between them.
For most of the race there 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 a race, but that day, Cale demonstrated a trick he had mastered
along the way. He patiently waited in second place until the last lap, then
used one of his trademark slingshot moves on the last lap to take the win. Cale
became the second man to win the Daytona 500 two years in a row. Cale brought
Dale Earnhardt with him when he blew past Darrell and Dale took second while DW
had to settle for third. Neil Bonnett finished fourth and Bill Elliott scored
his third straight top five finish in the 500. Chalk up 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 year
Elliott had the dominant car, and he stunned everyone by posting a 205.114
qualifying lap. The first qualifier wasn't much of a race. Elliott had almost
lapped the field by the time that the checkered flag flew to end the other
drivers' misery. Veterans Darrell Waltrip, manning Junior Johnson's Chevy,
Benny Parsons in the Jackson Brothers Olds, and Buddy Baker in his first race
as an owner driver finished a distant second third and fourth. Cale and David
Pearson upheld the long-timers honors, finishing first and second in the second
qualifier. Richard Petty, driving for Mike Curb, finished fourth, right behind
his son Kyle, making his debut in the Wood Brothers 7-eleven Ford. For the
first time since 65, there was no Petty Enterprises car at the Daytona 500.
Yarborough employed his "last lap" slingshot trick yet again, to take
the victory in the qualifier. Daytona rookie Davey Allison, Bobby's boy, didn't
fare as well as Kyle. He finished dead last in the second qualifier, after
blowing a clutch on the first lap, and thus didn't make the field for the big
show.
Perhaps Davey just spared himself the embarrassment of
being grist 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
able to 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 the
event, and engines began blowing like popcorn as other drivers twisted the
tiger's tail a little too tight, trying to keep up. Bobby Allison, Dale
Earnhardt, Benny Parsons, AJ Foyt, David Pearson, Harry Gant, Terry Labonte,
and Sterling Marlin all lost engines in plenty of time to watch Bill streaking
towards victory from atop their trailers. NASCAR did add a little drama to the
proceedings. Elliott pitted for the final time on lap 145 and made a quick
stop. But NASCAR officials noted a headlight block off plate was ajar and
ordered the crew to call Bill back in to repair it. Ernie Elliott used racers
tape to fix the hole, but the stop consumed nearly 42 seconds. Elliott charged
back out onto the track and reclaimed the lead in 11 laps. Neil Bonnett, in
another Junior Johnson Chevy, made one final charge but blew his engine. Second
place and "best in class" fell to Lake Speed. After the race, a
reporter found Darrell Waltrip rubbing his chin and staring at the front end of
Bill's car. Perhaps thinking DW was onto something illegal about the car, the
reporter 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't
seen it all week." Afterwards, Darrell (who finished third for the third
year in a row) launched into one of those "Why NASCAR has to slow these
Fords down…" deals that have become the norm for this decade. Bill Elliott
claimed 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 as
his dad Lee did for winning the 1959 Daytona 500. More importantly, that win
was the first leg of the new Winston Cup Million that Elliott went onto claim
later that year in dominating style. And at last the new comers had beat the
old timers. The torch was being passed.
*Matt can no longer
field comments or email at Race Fans Forever. If you have comments or
questions, please leave them below and I’ll do my best to supply answers.
~PattyKay Lilley, Senior Editor.