1979 Coca-Cola 500

Last updated
1979 Coca-Cola 500
Race details [1]
Race 19 of 31 in the 1979 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
1979 Coca-Cola 500 program cover.png
1979 Coca-Cola 500 program cover, featuring Darrell Waltrip, winner of last year's race.
Date July 30, 1979 (1979-July-30)
Official name Coca-Cola 500
Location Pocono International Raceway, Long Pond, Pennsylvania
Course Permanent racing facility
2.500 mi (3.400 km)
Distance 200 laps, 501.0 mi (804 km)
Weather Temperatures of 80.1 °F (26.7 °C); wind speeds of 2.9 miles per hour (4.7 km/h)
Average speed 115.207 miles per hour (185.408 km/h)
Attendance 40,000 [2]
Pole position
Driver Race Hill Farm Team
Most laps led
Driver Darrell Waltrip Al Rudd Auto
Laps 62
Winner
No. 11 Cale Yarborough Junior Johnson & Associates
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none
Radio in the United States
Radio Motor Racing Network
Booth Announcers Jack Arute and Barney Hall
Turn AnnouncersTurn 1: Eli Gold
Turn 2: Dave Sutherland
Turn 3: Mike Joy
Pit Reporter: Ned Jarrett

The 1979 Coca-Cola 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on July 30, 1979, at Pocono International Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.

Contents

By the following season, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power anymore. Only manual transmission vehicles were allowed to participate in this race; a policy that NASCAR has retained to the present day.

During qualifying an unnamed driver dared James Hylton to turn the slowest lap he could while qualifying. Hylton turned in a blistering 45 mph average for the lap, and NASCAR officials promptly fined him $500.

Pocono Raceway, where the race was held. Pocono Raceway.svg
Pocono Raceway, where the race was held.

Background

Pocono Raceway is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races; the others are Daytona International Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. [3] The standard track at Pocono Raceway is a three-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. [4] The track's turns are banked differently; the first is banked at 14°, the second turn at 8° and the final turn with 6°. However, each of the three straightaways are banked at 2°. [4]

Race report

While originally scheduled for July 29, 1979, it was postponed one day due to rain. [5] The race was run on Monday, so most of the NASCAR fans had to go work that day.

Two hundred laps were completed in four hours and twenty minutes. [2] Seven cautions flags slowed the race for 49 laps; Cale Yarborough eventually defeated Richard Petty under the race's final yellow flag. [2] This would result in Yarborough's third win of the year. [6] Forty thousand fans attended a live racing event where the average speed of the vehicles would be 115.207 miles per hour (185.408 km/h). None of the drivers on the starting grid were born in Wisconsin; which is still true in 2016. [2] Harry Gant qualified for the pole position with a speed of 148.711 miles per hour (239.327 km/h). [2] The majority of the vehicles involved in the race had Chevrolet as their manufacturer. [2] Steve Gray would make his NASCAR debut that resulted in a last-place finish. [2] He crashed on the very first lap of the race with Roger Hamby and Al Holbert; taking home only $1,305 in winnings ($5,478 when adjusted for inflation). [2] [7]

Dale Earnhardt fractured both of his clavicles [6] by crashing into a wall on lap 98 of this race. [2] As a result, he had to miss the next four races (re-emerging at the 1979 running of the Capital City 400).

Darrell Waltrip's championship aspirations took a hit by pitting late in the race and losing the lead for good on lap 187 regulating him to a seventh-place finish while top rival for the championship Richard Petty finished in second place. [2] Had Darrell Waltrip finished ahead of rival Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip would have probably won the championship in 1979.

A freight train of cars ended up drafting and swapping positions for a majority of the event. [2] It took 62 starts, but Ricky Rudd finally collects his first lead-lap finish in Winston Cup, nevertheless managing to collect 20 top-10s prior to this event. [8]

Cale Yarborough would take home $21,465 in winnings for finishing first in the race ($90,112 when adjusted for inflation). [2] 56 lead changes were recorded in this race; a rarity outside Talladega Superspeedway and a definite record setter for Pocono Raceway. [9] All of the 39 drivers that qualified for the race were American-born men. [2]

Race results

FinSt#DriverMakeTeam/OwnerSponsorLapsLedStatusPtsWinnings
1211 Cale Yarborough Chevrolet Junior Johnson & Associates Busch20061running180$21465
21043 Richard Petty Chevrolet Petty Enterprises STP20017running175$15465
3928 Buddy Baker Chevrolet Ranier-Lundy Racing W.I.N.2007running170$8490
4527 Benny Parsons Chevrolet M.C. Anderson Racing Harrisburg East Mall2000running160$7765
5690 Ricky Rudd Mercury Donlavey Racing Truxmore2000running155$6215
61572 Joe Millikan Chevrolet L. G. DeWitt Appliance Wheels2000running150$7215
71822 Darrell Waltrip Chevrolet Al Rudd Auto Gatorade20062running156$2715
8721 Neil Bonnett Mercury Wood Brothers Racing Purolator2008running147$2815
9415 Bobby Allison Ford Bud Moore Engineering Hodgdon, Moore1991running143$5915
101630 Tighe Scott Buick Walter Ballard Russ Togs1980running134$4295
112340 D.K. Ulrich Chevrolet D.K. Ulrich Midwestern Farm Lines1970running130$3685
12393 Richard Childress Chevrolet Richard Childress Racing CRC Chemicals1960running127$3525
131370 J. D. McDuffie Chevrolet J. D. McDuffie Bailey Excavating1960running124$3305
141725 Ronnie Thomas Chevrolet Don Robertson Stone's Cafeteria1960running121$4095
15147 Harry Gant Chevrolet Jack Beebe (owner) Race Hill Farm1951running123$2915
162052 Jimmy Means Chevrolet Jimmy Means Racing Mr. Transmission1940running115$2785
172464 Tommy Gale Ford Elmo Langley Sunny King Ford & Honda1900running112$2555
182524 Cecil Gordon Oldsmobile Cecil Gordon 1890running109$2370
192879 Frank Warren Dodge Frank Warren Native Tan1880ignition106$2135
201905 Dick Brooks Chevrolet Nelson Malloch Bearfinder1880running103$1600
213634 Steve Peles Chevrolet Steve Peles 1870running100$1180
222167 Buddy Arrington Dodge Buddy Arrington Reid Trailer Sales1870ignition97$2025
231244 Terry Labonte Chevrolet Hagan Racing Stratagraph1840running94$1980
242963 Jocko Maggiacomo Oldsmobile Jocko Maggiacomo Shaw Motors1720running91$1105
253309 Nelson Oswald Chevrolet Nelson Oswald J & S Truck Service1680engine88$1080
263420 Rick Newsom Oldsmobile Rick Newsom MARS1660running85$1055
273201 Earle Canavan Dodge Earle Canavan Green's Auto Parts1400engine82$1030
282257 Dick May Ford Alfred McClure McClure Motors1030engine79$1005
2932 Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet Osterlund Racing Rod Osterlund9843crash81$4680
303561 Wayne Broome Oldsmobile Jim Norris (owner) Jim Norris920engine73$955
313145 Baxter Price Chevrolet Baxter Price Iron Peddlers880engine70$1430
322755 Wayne Watercutter Chevrolet Ward Racing Enterprises480crash0$905
333848 James Hylton Chevrolet James Hylton Motorsports Palatine Automotive Parts400engine64$1380
341112 Lennie Pond Oldsmobile Kennie Childers Kencoal Mining150steering61$850
351487 Gary Balough Oldsmobile Billie Harvey Fast Lane Ltd.90clutch58$840
363723 Louis Gatto Chevrolet L & J Automotive50ignition55$820
3787 Al Holbert Chevrolet Al Holbert Holbert Porsche-Audi10crash52$1065
382617 Roger Hamby Oldsmobile Roger Hamby Kings Inn10crash49$1310
393019 Steve Gray Chevrolet Henley Gray Belden Asphalt10crash46$1305

Source: [10] [11]

Standings after the race

PosDriverPoints [2] Differential
1 1rightarrow.png Darrell Waltrip 30610
2 Increase2.svg Richard Petty 2852-209
3 Increase2.svg Cale Yarborough 2850-211
4 Decrease2.svg Bobby Allison 2845-216
5 1rightarrow.png Dale Earnhardt 2588-473
6 1rightarrow.png Benny Parsons 2557-504
7 1rightarrow.png Joe Millikan 2471-590
8 1rightarrow.png J.D. McDuffie 2263-798
9 1rightarrow.png Richard Childress 2256-805
10 Increase2.svg D.K. Ulrich 2197-864

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References

  1. "1979 Coca-Cola 500 weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Archived from the original on 2014-04-07. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "1979 Coca-Cola 500 information". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2011-02-08.
  3. "NASCAR Race Tracks". NASCAR. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on January 1, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
  4. 1 2 "Pocono Raceway". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
  5. "1979 Coca-Cola 500 race postponement information". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved 2011-02-08.
  6. 1 2 "Dale Earnhardt's injury evaluation/Yarborough's third win of season". How Stuff Works. Archived from the original on 2011-07-12. Retrieved 2011-02-08.
  7. "1979 Coca-Cola 500 information (third reference)". Motor Racing Network. Archived from the original on 2011-10-08. Retrieved 2011-02-08.
  8. "Driver Ricky Rudd's NASCAR Top-10 Results". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2019-10-18.
  9. "By the Numbers: Pocono". NASCAR. Retrieved 2014-09-09.
  10. "1979 Coca-Cola 500". The Third Turn. Archived from the original on 2020-09-25.
  11. "1979 Coca-Cola 500 race results". Racing-Reference. Archived from the original on 2021-04-28.
Preceded by NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season
1979
Succeeded by
Preceded by Coca-Cola 500 races
1979
Succeeded by