1983 Warner W. Hodgdon Carolina 500

1983 Warner W. Hodgdon Carolina 500
Race details [1]
	Race 3 of 30 in the 1983 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
	Layout of Rockingham Speedway
Date	March 13, 1983
Official name	Carolina 500
Location	North Carolina Motor Speedway, Rockingham, North Carolina
Course	Permanent racing facility; 1.017 mi (1.636 km)
Distance	492 laps, 500 mi (804 km)
Weather	Mild with temperatures of 70 °F (21 °C); wind speeds of 11.8 miles per hour (19.0 km/h)
Average speed	113.055 miles per hour (181.944 km/h)
Attendance	37,000 [2]
Pole position
Most laps led
Laps	161
Winner
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins ; Larry Nuber

Last updated March 09, 2020

The 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon Carolina 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that was scheduled to be held on Sunday, March 6, 1983, at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina. The race started on its scheduled date but the overcast skies opened up with steady rain soon after 100 laps were completed, forcing the race to be stopped for the day. The race concluded one week later on March 13, a pleasant sunny day with no clouds in sight.

Several hard crashes during the race sidelined drivers; Joe Ruttman crashed his #98 Buick going into turn three, sending the windshield flying out of his car and over the outer wall. Geoff Bodine in Pontiac #50 had a fast car and led many laps, but crashed out while attempting to lap Cale Yarborough's #28 Chevy. With 42 laps to go Yarborough and Neil Bonnett in the #75 Chevy, who had been swapping the lead between them, tangled and crashed entering turn one when Bonnett ducked below Yarborough. Both cars spun and Yarborough slid back into the outside wall. The 28 car was heavily damaged in the rear and shortened by nearly five feet but limped home for a 9th-place finish, 6 laps down. Bonnett dropped out with damage from the wreck with 9 laps to go and finished 12th. Richard Petty barely held off a hard-charging Bill Elliott in a close side by side fight to the checkered flag.

Race report

This 492-lap event lasted for four hours and twenty-five minutes; drivers at this event managed to average speeds up to 113.055 miles per hour (181.944 km/h).^[2] Only manual transmission vehicles were allowed to participate in this race; a policy that NASCAR has retained to the present day. At the start of the race were 35 American-born drivers; Ernie Cline was the last-place finisher due to a crash on lap 2. Crashes and engine problems would take out more than a dozen drivers; with Neil Bonnett being the highest-finishing driver not to complete the race. Ruttman slammed the outside wall after spinning in oil. He spun backward and his left rear slammed the wall and Ruttman bounced off nearly getting airborne, almost flipping. His day would ultimately end on lap 176.^[2]

Richard Petty would end up beating Bill Elliott by half a car length in one of the closest finishes at the speedway. Petty would acquire his only win in a race televised by ESPN.^[2] Had the race been scheduled for 493 laps or more, Bill Elliott could have easily extended Richard Petty's winless streak (which had already reached 43 races by this event). This event resulted in Richard Petty's 196th win in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series instead in addition to his 900th Winston Cup Series start. The event was marred by 1.1 inches (28 mm) of rainfall forcing the race to be postponed for a week.^[3]^[4]

The leaders for the first 100 laps of the race would be Ricky Rudd, Dale Earnhardt, Cale Yarborough, Neil Bonnett, and Dick Brooks while the leaders during the last 100 laps would be Neil Bonnett, Darrell Waltrip, Richard Petty, and Bill Elliott. With about 10 or 15 laps to go, Neil Bonnett and Cale Yarborough crashed in Turn 1 while racing for the lead.^[2]

Ricky Rudd won the pole position by qualifying with a top speed of 143.413 miles per hour or 230.801 kilometres per hour.^[2] Out of Ricky Rudd's three poles to start 1983 this was the only one that netted him a good finish, he did not finish at Daytona or Richmond but brought the #3 Chevrolet home with a top-10 finish here.^[2] A crowd of 37,000 die-hard NASCAR fans would show up to cheer on their favorite drivers even though 94 of 492 laps were run under caution.^[2]

Joe Ruttman would lose his championship lead to Bill Elliott after this event was over.^[5] Two years later, Elliott would become the top winner in NASCAR.

Individual winnings for this event ranged from the winner's cut of $24,150 ($61,993 when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's purse of $910 ($2,336 when adjusted for inflation). The total prize purse offered at this event was $199,065 ($510,998 when adjusted for inflation).^[6]

Timeline

Section reference: ^[2]

Start: The race started with a green/yellow flag and Ricky Rudd having the pole position.
Lap 39: First caution due to Dave Marcis' engine failure; ended on lap 48.
Lap 73: Second caution due to Dale Earnhardt's accident; ended on lap 77.
Lap 111: Third caution due to Buddy Baker spinning his tires; ended on lap 118.
Lap 139: Fourth caution due to rain; ended on lap 149.
Lap 179: Fifth caution due to a 3-car accident; ended on lap 190.
Lap 271: Sixth caution due to debris; caution ended on lap 274.
Lap 403: Seventh caution due to Geoffrey Bodine's accident; ended on lap 413.
Lap 452: Eighth caution due to a 2-car accident; ended on lap 459.
Lap 477: Ninth caution due to Tommy Gale's accident; ended on lap 479.
Finish: Richard Petty was officially declared the winner of the race.

Top ten finishers

Pos^[2]	Grid	No.	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Laps led	Points	Time/Status
1	12	43	Richard Petty	Pontiac	492	48	180	4:25:30
2	6	9	Bill Elliott	Ford	492	10	175	+0.5 car lengths
3	11	11	Darrell Waltrip	Chevrolet	492	3	170	Lead lap under green flag
4	17	1	Lake Speed	Chevrolet	489	0	160	+3 laps
5	7	33	Harry Gant	Buick	489	0	155	+3 laps
6	1	3	Ricky Rudd	Chevrolet	489	30	155	+3 laps
7	13	27	Tim Richmond	Pontiac	488	2	151	+4 laps
8	19	60	Dick Brooks	Ford	486	1	147	+6 laps
9	5	28	Cale Yarborough	Chevrolet	486	161	148	+6 laps
10	3	22	Bobby Allison	Chevrolet	484	21	139	+8 laps

Standings after the race

Pos	Driver	Points^[2]	Differential
1	Bill Elliott	500	0
2	Bobby Allison	457	-43
3	Dick Brooks	431	-69
4	Neil Bonnett	404	-96
5	Joe Ruttman	402	-98
6	Richard Petty	376	-124
7	Buddy Baker	371	-129
8	Harry Gant	367	-133
9	Lake Speed	366	-134
10	Jimmy Means	357	-143

Related Research Articles

The 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Season was the 41st season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 18th modern-era Cup season. It began February 12 and ended November 19. Rusty Wallace of Blue Max Racing won the championship. This was the first year that every Winston Cup race had flag-to-flag coverage, with almost all of them being televised live.

The 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Season was the 40th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 17th modern-era Cup series. The season began on February 7 at Daytona International Speedway and ended on November 20 at the Atlanta International Speedway. Bill Elliott of Melling Racing won the championship.

The 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season was the 39th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 16th modern-era cup series. The season began on February 8 and ended on November 22. Dale Earnhardt of Richard Childress Racing won the championship for the third time.

The 1986 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season was the 38th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 15th modern-era Cup series season. The season began February 16 and ended November 16. Dale Earnhardt of RCR Enterprises won his second championship this year.

1985 NASCAR Winston Cup Series 37th season of NASCAR stock-car racing

The 1985 NASCAR Winston Cup Season was the 37th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 14th modern-era Cup series season. The season began on Sunday, February 10 and ended on Sunday, November 17. Darrell Waltrip, driving for Junior Johnson, was crowned champion at the end of the season. Bill Elliott, driving for Harry Melling, had won 11 races in 1985, but lost the title by 101 points to three-time race winner Waltrip. This was the first season where all races were televised in some form.

The 1984 NASCAR Winston Cup Season was the 36th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 13th modern-era Cup series season. It began on Sunday February 19 and ended on Sunday November 18. Terry Labonte was crowned champion at the end of the season. This was the final year for Chrysler until Dodge returned in 2001.

The 1983 Daytona 500, the 25th running of the event, was held February 20 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida as the first race of the 1983 NASCAR Winston Cup season. A crowd of 115,000 people watched the lead change 58 times among 11 drivers. A total of six cautions were handed out by NASCAR officials for a duration of 36 laps.

The 1979 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 31st season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 8th modern-era Cup series. It began on Sunday, January 14 and ended on Sunday, November 18. Richard Petty won his seventh and final Winston Cup championship, winning by 11 points over Darrell Waltrip. Dale Earnhardt was crowned NASCAR Rookie of the Year.

The 1982 NASCAR Winston Cup season was the 34th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 11th modern-era Cup series. The season began on February 14 At the Daytona International Speedway and concluded on November 21 at Riverside International Raceway. Darrell Waltrip took his second straight championship driving for Junior Johnson by 72 points over Bobby Allison.

The 1979 Southern 500, the 30th running of the event, was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on September 3, 1979, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina.

The 1983 World 600, the 24th running of the event, was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on May 29, 1983, at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The 1980 Firecracker 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on July 4, 1980, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The 1981 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the thirty-third season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 10th modern-era Cup Season. The season began at Riverside International Raceway with the first Winston Western 500 on January 11, 1981 and ended with the same event on November 22. Darrell Waltrip won his first championship with point margin of fifty-three points over Bobby Allison. Ron Bouchard was named Rookie of the Year.

1986 Goodwrench 500 Auto race held at Rockingham Speedway in 1986

The 1986 Goodwrench 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on March 2, 1986, at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, North Carolina.

The 1981 Mason-Dixon 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on May 17, 1981, at Dover Downs International Speedway in Dover, Delaware.

The 1986 Firecracker 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on July 4, 1986, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.

1978 Talladega 500 Auto race held at Talladega Superspeedway in 1978

The 1978 Talladega 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on August 6, 1978, at Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega, Alabama.

The 1981 Talladega 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on August 2, 1981, at Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega, Alabama.

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.

The 1986 Miller High Life 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that was held on February 23, 1986, at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway in Richmond, Virginia.

References

↑ Weather information for the 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon Carolina 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon Carolina 500 racing information at Racing Reference
↑ Richard Petty's 196th Cup Series Win Archived 2014-10-06 at the Wayback Machine at University of North Carolina at Asheville
↑ Rain information for the 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon Carolina 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
↑ 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon Carolina 500 racing information at Race Database
↑ 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon Carolina 500 racing information at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet

Preceded by 1983 Richmond 400	NASCAR Winston Cup Season 1983	Succeeded by 1983 Coca-Cola 500
Preceded by 1981 Champion Spark Plug 400	Richard Petty's Career Wins 1960-1984	Succeeded by 1983 Winston 500

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[weather-information-1] Weather information for the 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon Carolina 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac

[rr-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon Carolina 500 racing information at Racing Reference

[3] Richard Petty's 196th Cup Series Win Archived 2014-10-06 at the Wayback Machine at University of North Carolina at Asheville

[4] Rain information for the 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon Carolina 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac

[5] 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon Carolina 500 racing information at Race Database

[6] 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon Carolina 500 racing information at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet