1979 Southeastern 500

Last updated
1979 Southeastern 500
Race details [1] [2]
Race 7 of 31 in the 1979 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Bristol Motor Speedway map.png
Map of the Bristol Motor Speedway
Date April 1, 1979 (1979-April-01)
Official name Southeastern 500
Location Bristol International Raceway, Bristol, Tennessee
Course Permanent racing facility
0.533 mi (0.857 km)
Distance 500 laps, 266.5 mi (428.8 km)
Weather Mild with temperatures reaching a maximum of 71.1 °F (21.7 °C); wind speeds approaching 7 miles per hour (11 km/h)
Average speed 91.033 miles per hour (146.503 km/h)
Attendance 26,000
Pole position
Driver
 Ranier Racing
Most laps led
Driver Dale Earnhardt Osterlund Motorsports
Laps 163
Winner
No. 2Dale EarnhardtOsterlund Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none
Radio in the United States
Radio Motor Racing Network

The 1979 Southeastern 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on April 1, 1979, at Bristol Motor Speedway in the American community of Bristol, Tennessee. The race was notable as then-rookie driver Dale Earnhardt got the first win of his career, he would later go on to win 76 races and 7 championships.

Contents

This race was not televised or recorded in any format, watching it live or listening to it on local radio were the only methods of watching this race.

Summary

Five hundred laps were completed on a paved oval track spanning 0.533 miles (0.858 km) in only two hours and fifty-five minutes. [2] Six cautions slowed the race for 44 laps. [2] Twenty-six thousand people attended this live event to see Dale Earnhardt defeat Bobby Allison by a time of three seconds. [2] [3] Jake Elder was Earnhardt's crew chief at that time; his nickname was "Suitcase" because he would help a NASCAR driver achieve glory and then leave him for another driver the following season. The notable speeds were: 91.033 miles per hour (146.503 km/h) for the average speed [4] and 111.668 miles per hour (179.712 km/h) for the pole position speed achieved by Buddy Baker. [2]

Chevrolet vehicles made up the majority of the 30-car racing grid. [2] Millikan would catch something in his eye and would have to report to hospital; J.D. McDuffie ended up being the substitute driver for him.

The winner of the race would receive a purse of $19,800 ($79,835.49 when adjusted for inflation). [5] Earnhardt took the lead on lap 474 from Darrell Waltrip and lead until the finish. If he wrecked Waltrip, it must not have been too bad because he still finished on the lead lap. [6]

Ralph Jones (a driver-owner) was the last-place finisher of this race; he was forced to end his participation in the race due to brake issues on lap 31. There were three terminal crashes in the race along with three engine failures, one quitter along with a driver with a water pump issues in his vehicle and a driver with a defective rear end on his vehicle. [2]

Mike Potter's career of sporadic starts in Cup and start-and-parks in Busch began in this race. [2] Elmo Langley would enjoy his last real competitive race at this venue. [2] He'd have a few start and parks after this but this was the last time he really tried to finish a race.

Qualifying

Grid [2] No.DriverManufacturerOwner
128Buddy BakerChevrolet Harry Ranier
288Darrell WaltripChevrolet DiGard Motorsports
31Donnie AllisonChevrolet Hoss Ellington
415Bobby AllisonFord Bud Moore
511Cale YarboroughOldsmobile Junior Johnson
627Benny ParsonsOldsmobile M.C. Anderson
770J.D. McDuffieChevroletJ.D. McDuffie
802Dave MarcisChevroletDave Marcis
92Dale EarnhardtChevrolet Rod Osterlund
1044Terry LabonteChevrolet Billy Hagan
1140D.K. UlrichChevroletD.K. Ulrich
1272Joe MillikanChevrolet L.G. DeWitt
1343Richard PettyOldsmobile Petty Enterprises
143Richard ChildressChevroletRichard Childress
1590Ricky RuddFord Junie Donlavey
1648James HyltonChevroletJames Hylton
1747Harry GantOldsmobile Jack Beebe
1825Ronnie ThomasChevrolet Don Robertson
1979Frank WarrenDodgeFrank Warren
2017Roger HambyOldsmobileRoger Hamby

Results

  1. Dale Earnhardt (No. 2)
  2. Bobby Allison (No. 15)
  3. Darrell Waltrip (No. 88)
  4. Richard Petty (No. 43), 2 laps down
  5. Benny Parsons (No. 27), 3 laps down
  6. Donnie Allison (No. 1), 5 laps down
  7. Terry Labonte (No. 44), 10 laps down
  8. Joe Millikan (No. 72), 14 laps down
  9. James Hylton (No. 78), 14 laps down
  10. Ricky Rudd (No. 90), 15 laps down
  11. Richard Childress (No. 3), 16 laps down
  12. D.K. Ulrich (No. 40), 19 laps down
  13. Buddy Arrington (No. 67), 20 laps down
  14. Roger Hamby (No. 17), 27 laps down
  15. Cecil Gordon (No. 24), 30 laps down
  16. Mike Potter (No. 76), 37 laps down
  17. Dave Marcis (No. 02), 38 laps down
  18. Tommy Gale (No. 64), 40 laps down
  19. Baxter Price (No. 45), 44 laps down
  20. Frank Warren (No. 79), 71 laps down
  21. Harry Gant (No. 47), Dropped out after 385 laps with blown engine
  22. Dick Brooks (No. 85), Dropped out after 366 laps due to a faulty water pump
  23. Ronnie Thomas (No. 25), Crashed out after 335 laps
  24. Cale Yarborough (No. 11), Crashed out after 216 laps
  25. Buddy Baker (No. 28), Crashed out after 211 laps
  26. J.D McDuffie (No. 70), Dropped out after 197 laps with rear end failure
  27. Dick May (No. 19), Dropped out after 141 laps with blown engine
  28. Jimmy Means (No. 52), Dropped out after 100 laps with blown engine
  29. Bobby Wawak (No. 74) Quit after 33 laps
  30. Ralph Jones (No. 98), had brake failure after 31 laps

Timeline

Section reference: [2]

Standings after the race

PosDriverPoints [2] Differential
1 1rightarrow.png Bobby Allison 1146-0
2 1rightarrow.png Darrell Waltrip 1132-14
3 1rightarrow.png Cale Yarborough 1028-118
4 1rightarrow.png Benny Parsons 978-168
5 Increase2.svg Dale Earnhardt 975-171
6 Decrease2.svg Donnie Allison 972-174
7 Decrease2.svg Joe Millikan 953-193
8 1rightarrow.png Richard Petty 939-207
9 1rightarrow.png D.K. Ulrich 886-260
10 1rightarrow.png Richard Childress 854-292

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References

  1. ↑ "Weather at the 1979 Southeastern 500 race". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "1979 Southeastern 500 racing results". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2011-01-11.
  3. ↑ "Dale Earnhardt's 1st Win Statistics". Decades of Racing. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
  4. ↑ "Average Speed (1979 Southeastern 500)". Ultimate Racing History. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
  5. ↑ "Dale Earnhardt's First Victory Purse". Hardcore Fans. Archived from the original on 2011-08-17. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  6. ↑ "The Earnhardt-Waltrip Fiasco". How Stuff Works. Archived from the original on 2011-07-12. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
Preceded by NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season
1979 		Succeeded by
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