The 1979 Southeastern 500 was a NASCARWinston 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.
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 (0.858km) 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 (146.503km/h) for the average speed[4] and 111.668 miles per hour (179.712km/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 ($83,121.87 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.
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