1978 World 600

Last updated
1978 World 600
Race details [1]
Race 12 of 30 in the 1978 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Lowe's Motor Speedway.svg
Layout of Charlotte Motor Speedway
Date May 28, 1978 (1978-May-28)
Official name World 600
Location Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina
Course Permanent racing facility
1.500 mi (2.414 km)
Distance 400 laps, 600 mi (965 km)
Weather Temperatures of 84.9 °F (29.4 °C); wind speeds of 8 miles per hour (13 km/h)
Average speed 138.355 miles per hour (222.661 km/h)
Attendance 125,000 [2]
Pole position
Driver
 Wood Brothers Racing
Most laps led
Driver Darrell Waltrip DiGard Motorsports
Laps 144
Winner
No. 88Darrell WaltripDiGard Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network CBS
Announcers Ken Squier

The 1978 World 600, the 19th running of the event, was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that was held on May 28, 1978, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.

Contents

Race report

Zsa Zsa Gabor served as the celebrity grand marshall. There were 40 drivers on the starting grid. An audience of 125,000 fans would see 43 lead changes along with 32 laps under a caution flag. The entire race from green flag to checkered flag lasted for four hours and twenty minutes.

During the first 100 laps, David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip, and Donnie Allison were fighting for the lead. The final laps would become a battle between Donnie Allison, Darrell Waltrip, and Benny Parsons. Waltrip would eventually defeat Donnie Allison by two seconds in his 1978 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Joining him on victory lane would be his wife Stevie. Jerry Jolly would be the last-place finisher due to problems with his suspension on lap 20. The lowest driver to actually finish the race was D.K. Ulrich. [2]

After the race, Cale Yarborough would only be 30 points behind Benny Parsons in the overall championship standings. The number of points for Dale Earnhardt and Ron Hutcherson were never recorded. Earnhardt was given the #98 car ride when Willy T. Ribbs was arrested for reckless driving and fired. Ribbs had qualified the vehicle in 28th place but Earnhardt would finish the race in 17th place. [2]

The entire prize purse for this race was $310,491 ($1,450,437 when adjusted for inflation); Waltrip received $48,608 ($227,069 when adjusted for inflation) while Jerry Jolly took home $1,090 ($5,092 when adjusted for inflation). [3]

Roland Wlodyka would end his professional driving career with the NASCAR Cup Series after the end of this racing event. [4]

Racial controversy

Willy T. Ribbs was expected to be at this NASCAR Cup Series event, being a popular African-American race car driver of the time. After failing to appear at two special practice sessions, he was sacked and replaced with then-obscure driver Dale Earnhardt; who back then specialized in short track racing and was not yet a serious championship contender. [5] Many traditionalists chided the opportunities that Ribbs received, such as entering higher levels of NASCAR simply because he was black. [6]

Qualifying

GridNo.DriverManufacturerSpeed [7] Owner
121David PearsonMercury160.551 Wood Brothers
211Cale YarboroughOldsmobile159.736 Junior Johnson
32Dave MarcisChevrolet159.432 Rod Osterlund
412Harry GantChevrolet159.040 Kennie Childers
590Dick BrooksFord158.936 Junie Donlavey
615Bobby AllisonFord158.801 Bud Moore
714Sterling MarlinChevrolet158.548 H.B. Cunningham
848Al HolbertOldsmobile158.431 James Hylton
954Lennie PondOldsmobile158.306 Harry Ranier
1027Buddy BakerChevrolet158.058 M.C. Anderson

Finishing order

Section reference: [2]

  1. Darrell Waltrip
  2. Donnie Allison
  3. Bobby Allison
  4. Cale Yarborough
  5. David Pearson
  6. Benny Parsons
  7. Buddy Baker
  8. Richard Petty
  9. Sterling Marlin
  10. Bruce Hill
  11. Grant Adcox
  12. Morgan Shepherd
  13. Dick May
  14. Bill Elliott
  15. Buddy Arrington
  16. John Utsman
  17. Dale Earnhardt
  18. Gary Myers
  19. Dick Brooks
  20. Richard Childress
  21. Roland Wlodyka
  22. J.D. McDuffie
  23. Frank Warren
  24. Tommy Gale
  25. Baxter Price
  26. Skip Manning
  27. Jim Vandiver*
  28. Ricky Rudd
  29. D.K. Ulrich
  30. Ronnie Thomas*
  31. Tighe Scott*
  32. Dave Marcis*
  33. Lennie Pond*
  34. Connie Saylor*
  35. Neil Bonnett*
  36. Harry Gant*
  37. Jimmy Means*
  38. Al Holbert*
  39. Ron Hutcherson*
  40. Jerry Jolly*
Darrell Waltrip at the 1978 World 600. He won the race. Darrell Waltrip 1978.jpg
Darrell Waltrip at the 1978 World 600. He won the race.

* Driver failed to finish race

Timeline

Section reference: [2]

Standings after the race

PosDriverPoints [2] Differential
1 1rightarrow.png Benny Parsons 18620
2 Increase2.svg Cale Yarborough 1832-30
3 Decrease2.svg Dave Marcis 1738-124
4 1rightarrow.png Darrell Waltrip 1683-179
5 Increase2.svg Bobby Allison 1665-197
6 Decrease2.svg Lennie Pond 1562-300
7 Increase2.svg Richard Petty 1537-325
8 Decrease2.svg Buddy Arrington 1527-335
9 1rightarrow.png Skip Manning 1455-407
10 1rightarrow.png Richard Childress 1444-418

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References

  1. ↑ Weather information for the 1978 World 600 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 1978 World 600 racing information at Racing Reference
  3. ↑ 1978 World 600 racing information at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet
  4. ↑ 1978 World 600 racing information at Race Database
  5. ↑ The Decision That Would Change the 1978 World 600 Archived 2012-12-26 at the Wayback Machine at How Stuff Works
  6. ↑ Racing While Black at Google Books
  7. ↑ Qualifying information at Racing Reference
Preceded by NASCAR Winston Cup Season
1978		Succeeded by
Preceded by World 600 races
1978		Succeeded by
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