1982 Champion Spark Plug 400

1982 Champion Spark Plug 400
Race details
Race 20 of 30 in the 1982 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
	1982 Champion Spark Plug 400 program cover
Date	August 22, 1982
Official name	Champion Spark Plug 400
Location	Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Michigan
Course	Permanent racing facility; 2.000 mi (3.218 km)
Distance	200 laps, 400 mi (643 km)
Weather	Temperatures approaching 72 °F (22 °C); wind speeds up to 11.8 miles per hour (19.0 km/h)
Average speed	136.454 miles per hour (219.601 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Bill Elliott ;
Time	44.173
Most laps led
Driver	Bobby Allison
Laps	120
Winner
No. 88	Bobby Allison
Television in the United States
Network	untelevised
Announcers	none

Last updated August 11, 2023

The 1982 Champion Spark Plug 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race held on August 22, 1982, at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan.

Background

Michigan International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2 miles (3.2 km) long.^[2] Groundbreaking took place on September 28, 1967. Over 2.5 million cubic yards (1.9×10^⁶ m³) of dirt were moved to form the D-shaped oval. The track opened in 1968 with a total capacity of 25,000 seats.

The track was originally built and owned by Lawrence H. LoPatin, a Detroit-area land developer who built the speedway at an estimated cost of $4–6 million.^[3] Financing was arranged by Thomas W Itin. Its first race took place on Sunday, October 13, 1968, with the running of the USAC 250 mile Championship Car Race won by Ronnie Bucknum.

Summary

It took two hours and forty-five minutes to complete this event. 38 American-born drivers competed on this 200-lap event; Joe Ruttman would become the last-place finisher due to a problem with his vehicle's oil pump on the second lap. Bill Elliott would end up finishing the race 96 laps behind the leaders while Tim Richmond would see the conclusion of his racing weekend by inflicting some damage to the back of his car on lap 161. This was the debut race for the Chrysler Imperial car of Buddy Arrington.^[4]

Thirty thousand people watched Bobby Allison best Richard Petty by two car lengths. Bill Elliott brought won position with a speed of 162.995 miles per hour (262.315 km/h). The final 50 laps would be monopolized by three different drivers (Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison).

Terry Labonte would lead in championship points after this race; trailing by 50 points to Bobby Allison. The race average speed was 136.545 miles per hour (219.748 km/h).^[4] Ronnie Thomas and Al Loquasto did not qualify on time but were added to the field through what would come to be known as provisionals.^[4]

Tony Bettenhausen Jr. and Robin McCall would make their respective departures from the NASCAR Winston Cup Series after the conclusion of this event.^[5]

Notable crew chiefs to participate in the race were Buddy Parrott, Junie Donlavey, Joey Arrington, Elmo Langley, Darrell Bryant, Jake Elder, Travis Carter, Waddell Wilson, Tim Brewer, Bud Moore, Jeff Hammond, and Larry McReynolds.^[6]

Individual race earnings ranged from the winner's share of $26,900 ($81,571.93 when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's share of $1,850 ($5,609.97 when adjusted for inflation). $222,875 went to all the drivers of this event ($675,849.22 when adjusted for inflation).^[7]

Qualifying

Grid	No.	Driver	Manufacturer	Qualifying time^[8]	Speed^[8]
1	9	Bill Elliott	Ford	44.173	162.995
2	11	Darrell Waltrip	Buick	44.210	162.859
3	3	Ricky Rudd	Pontiac	44.444	162.002
4	28	Buddy Baker	Pontiac	44.513	161.750
5	67	Buddy Arrington	Chrysler	44.598	161.442
6	44	Terry Labonte	Buick	44.632	161.319
7	27	Cale Yarborough	Buick	44.657	161.229
8	1	Kyle Petty	Pontiac	44.731	160.962
9	2	Tim Richmond	Buick	44.753	160.883
10	88	Bobby Allison	Buick	44.768	160.829

Results

POS^[9]	ST	#	DRIVER	SPONSOR / OWNER	CAR	LAPS	MONEY	STATUS	LED	PTS
1	10	88	Bobby Allison	Gatorade (DiGard Racing)	Buick	200	26900	running	120	185
2	11	43	Richard Petty	STP (Petty Enterprises)	Pontiac	200	20505	running	13	175
3	15	33	Harry Gant	7-Eleven / Skoal Bandit (Hal Needham)	Buick	200	13255	running	0	165
4	13	50	Geoffrey Bodine	Performance Connection (Cliff Stewart)	Pontiac	200	15200	running	2	165
5	14	55	Benny Parsons	Weyman & Bruton (Johnny Hayes)	Buick	200	6725	running	2	160
6	5	67	Buddy Arrington	Tom Prange Leasing (Buddy Arrington)	Chrysler	199	8845	running	2	155
7	2	11	Darrell Waltrip	Mountain Dew (Junior Johnson)	Buick	198	16300	running	20	151
8	28	71	Dave Marcis	Throttle's Food & Fuel (Dave Marcis)	Buick	197	6725	running	3	147
9	17	21	Neil Bonnett	Warner Hodgdon / National Eng. (Wood Brothers)	Ford	197	3150	running	1	143
10	20	47	Ron Bouchard	J.D. Stacy (Jack Beebe)	Buick	197	10050	running	0	134
11	24	52	Jimmy Means	Broadway Motors (Jimmy Means)	Buick	197	5715	running	0	130
12	19	17	Lake Speed	Yazoo Mowers (Roger Hamby)	Buick	197	5405	running	0	127
13	27	77	Dean Combs	Sports Specs / R.L. Monroe (Irv Sanderson)	Buick	196	2250	running	0	124
14	3	3	Ricky Rudd	Piedmont Airlines (Richard Childress)	Pontiac	195	5160	running	0	121
15	8	1	Kyle Petty	UNO / STP (Hoss Ellington)	Pontiac	195	2100	running	0	118
16	21	70	J.D. McDuffie	Bailey Excavating (J.D. McDuffie)	Pontiac	193	5175	running	0	115
17	38	42	Ronnie Thomas	Thomas Racing (Ronnie Thomas)	Pontiac	193	1850	running	0	112
18	32	40	Joe Booher	Booher Farms (D.K. Ulrich)	Buick	192	1750	running	0	109
19	31	19	Charlie Baker	H.M. Kelly Trucking (Henley Gray)	Buick	192	1700	running	0	106
20	30	64	Tommy Gale	Sunny King Ford & Honda (Elmo Langley)	Ford	191	4165	running	0	103
21	6	44	Terry Labonte	Texas Jeans / Stratagraph (Billy Hagan)	Buick	187	3850	running	0	100
22	36	48	James Hylton	Palatine Auto Parts (James Hylton)	Chevrolet	179	3595	running	0	97
23	9	2	Tim Richmond	Stacy-Pak (Jim Stacy)	Buick	161	3275	rear end	1	99
24	33	24	Tony Bettenhausen Jr	Provimi Veal (Cecil Gordon)	Buick	139	3215	engine	0	91
25	4	28	Buddy Baker	J.D. Stacy (Harry Ranier)	Pontiac	109	9525	radiator	0	88
26	25	90	Jody Ridley	J.D. Stacy (Junie Donlavey)	Ford	108	8750	engine	0	85
27	1	9	Bill Elliott	Melling Tool (Harry Melling)	Ford	104	3500	running	6	87
28	7	27	Cale Yarborough	Valvoline (M.C. Anderson)	Buick	103	1250	transmission	28	84
29	35	54	David Simko	GNF Prototype Casting (Elmer Simko)	Buick	96	1200	engine	0	76
30	18	15	Dale Earnhardt	Wrangler Jeans (Bud Moore)	Ford	76	8750	brakes	0	73
31	22	03	David Pearson	Carolina Tool (Bobby Hawkins)	Buick	75	1100	oil pump	0	70
32	12	98	Morgan Shepherd	Levi Garrett (Ron Benfield)	Buick	68	2805	sway bar	2	72
33	29	5	Robin McCall	Stacy-Pak (Jim Stacy)	Buick	47	1000	crash	0	64
34	23	02	Mark Martin	Briarwood Hilton (Bud Reeder)	Pontiac	45	2685	rear end	0	61
35	26	36	H.B. Bailey	Almeda Auto Parts (H.B. Bailey)	Pontiac	42	900	handling	0	58
36	37	6	Al Loquasto	Pentax Cameras (D.K. Ulrich)	Buick	18	1850	crash	0	55
37	34	13	Earle Canavan	JOB / Wyandotte Vapocure / Wynns (Earle Canavan)	Oldsmobile	7	850	engine	0	52
38	16	75	Joe Ruttman	Pet Dairy (Rahmoc Enterprises)	Buick	2	1850	oil pump	0	49
Failed to qualify
POS	NAME	NBR	SPONSOR	OWNER	CAR
	Marty Robbins
	Gil Roth
	Bill Scott
	Bob Slawinski
	Bobby Wawak

Timeline

Section reference: ^[4]

Start of race: Bill Elliott has the pole position to begin the race with.
Lap 2: Joe Ruttman's oil pump became problematic, forcing him to become the last-place finisher.
Lap 3: Caution for spun tire on turn three, green flag racing resumed on lap 6.
Lap 7: Earle Canavan's engine stopped working properly.
Lap 18: Al Loquasto had a terminal crash.
Lap 21: Caution due to a five-car accident, green flag racing resumed on lap 26.
Lap 42: H.B. Bailey could not handle his vehicle properly, forcing him to exit the race.
Lap 45: Mark Martin lost the rear end of his vehicle.
Lap 47: Robin McCall had a terminal crash.
Lap 51: Caution due to Robin McCall's accident, green flag racing resumed on lap 26.
Lap 68: The sway bar from Morgan Shepherd's vehicle came off, ending his race weekend early.
Lap 75: David Pearson's oil pump stopped working properly.
Lap 76: Dale Earnhardt's vehicle developed serious brake issues.
Lap 84: Caution due to rain, green flag racing resumed on lap 92.
Lap 96: Dave Simko's engine became more than a nuisance for him, causing him to leave the race.
Lap 103: Cale Yarborough's transmission problems ended his hopes of finishing the race.
Lap 108: Jody Ridley managed to blow the engine of his vehicle.
Lap 109: Buddy Baker's radiator stopped working properly.
Lap 115: Caution due to debris; green flag racing resumed on lap 118.
Lap 139: Tony Bettenhausen Jr.'s engine caused him to end his race weekend prematurely.
Lap 161: Tim Richmond managed to lose the rear end of his vehicle.
Finish: Bobby Allison was officially declared the winner of the event.

Standings after the race

Pos	Driver	Points^[4]	Differential
1	Bobby Allison	2962	0
2	Terry Labonte	2912	-50
3	Darrell Waltrip	2842	-120
4	Richard Petty	2537	-425
5	Buddy Arrington	2524	-438
6	Dave Marcis	2493	-469
7	Harry Gant	2460	-502
8	Ron Bouchard	2389	-573
9	Dale Earnhardt	2385	-577
10	Morgan Shepherd	2312	-650

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References

↑ Weather information for the 1982 Champion Spark Plug 400 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
↑ "Michigan International Speedway". CBS Sports. Retrieved 2013-06-11.
↑ "Track History". Michigan International Speedway. Archived from the original on March 2, 2009.
1 2 3 4 5 Racing information for the 1982 Champion Spark Plug 400 at Racing Reference
↑ After-events of the 1982 Champion Spark Plug 400 at Race-Database
↑ 1982 Champion Spark Plug 400 crew chiefs information at Racing Reference
↑ Winnings information for the 1982 Champion Spark Plug 400 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet
1 2 Qualifying information at Racing Reference
↑ "Race Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved 2021-05-28.

Preceded by 1982 Talladega 500	NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season 1982	Succeeded by 1982 Busch 500

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
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[weather-information-1] Weather information for the 1982 Champion Spark Plug 400 at The Old Farmers' Almanac

[cbsmichiganfacts-2] "Michigan International Speedway". CBS Sports. Retrieved 2013-06-11.

[michiganspeedway-3] "Track History". Michigan International Speedway. Archived from the original on March 2, 2009.

[rr-4] 1 2 3 4 5 Racing information for the 1982 Champion Spark Plug 400 at Racing Reference

[5] After-events of the 1982 Champion Spark Plug 400 at Race-Database

[6] 1982 Champion Spark Plug 400 crew chiefs information at Racing Reference

[7] Winnings information for the 1982 Champion Spark Plug 400 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet

[getqualify-8] 1 2 Qualifying information at Racing Reference

[9] "Race Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved 2021-05-28.

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