1984 Firecracker 400

1984 Firecracker 400
Race details
Race 16 of 30 in the 1984 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
	1984 Firecracker 400 program cover
Date	July 4, 1984
Official name	Firecracker 400
Location	Daytona Speedway. Daytona Beach, Florida
Course	Permanent racing facility; 2.500 mi (4.000 km)
Distance	160 laps, 400 mi (643 km)
Weather	Very hot with temperatures of 87.1 °F (30.6 °C) with 0.47 inches (12 mm) of rain reported within 24 hours of the race; wind speeds of 11.1 miles per hour (17.9 km/h)
Average speed	171.204 miles per hour (275.526 km/h)
Attendance	80,000
Pole position
Driver	Cale Yarborough ;
Most laps led
Driver	Cale Yarborough
Laps	79
Winner
No. 43	Richard Petty
Television in the United States
Network	ABC
Announcers	Jim Lampley ; Sam Posey

Last updated June 11, 2023

The 1984 Firecracker 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on July 4, 1984, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.^[2]

Richard Petty, driving the #43 Pontiac for Curb Racing, won the race. The victory gave Petty his 200th win in NASCAR Winston Cup Series competition, extending his longstanding record. It was also his final race victory before his 1992 retirement. The race was also notable for U.S. President Ronald Reagan's attendance.^[3] The race was held on a Wednesday. The next NASCAR race held on Wednesday would not happen again until 2020.^[4]

Racing summary

The "Start your engines" command was given by President Ronald Reagan from the phone on Air Force One, which later landed at Daytona Beach International Airport. President Reagan then was escorted to one of the main press boxes at the speedway where he was met by a number of reporters, one of them being Ned Jarrett, who offered him to do some play-by-play commentary on MRN.^[3]

Of forty-two drivers on the grid, forty-one were born in the United States of America while Canadian Trevor Boys was the event's lone non-American entrant.^[2]

There were three cautions for fifteen laps and the race ended under caution.^[2] Dean Roper would make his final NASCAR Winston Cup Series start in this event. Dale Earnhardt would take over the championship lead from Darrell Waltrip at the end of the race.^[5]

An audience of 80,000 people attended the race.^[2]

Richard Petty indisputably had the best car in that race until his camshaft broke (which also happened to the DiGard car driven by Bobby Allison, which also had a Robert Yates engine in it). In that race, Petty drove from 34th into the lead in just 50 laps without hardly any help from the caution flag, and by lap 60, Richard was breaking away from the field when the caution flew for Bobby Hillin's blown engine. And then after a series of pit stops dropped him back, Richard passed Cale handily, which virtually no other car on the track at that point in the race could do, and was leading when his camshaft broke on the 93rd lap.^[2] Cale could have passed Richard any time he wanted to, but he wanted to stay in second and draft by on the final lap, just as he had done to win the previous two Daytona 500 races.^[2]

Notable entrants in the race included Geoff Bodine, Ricky Rudd, David Pearson, Dale Jarrett (his first start on a superspeedway), Rusty Wallace, Kyle Petty, Buddy Baker, Sterling Marlin, Tim Richmond, and Darrell Waltrip.

Media coverage

ABC Sports carried the race on American television on a tape-delayed basis on ABC's Wide World of Sports. Jim Lampley provided the lap-by-lap call with Sam Posey as the analyst with Larry Nuber covering the action in the pits.

Radio coverage was provided by MRN with Eli Gold, Ned Jarrett, and Barney Hall in the booth with Mike Joy reporting from the track. After President Reagan's arrival at the track, he joined the MRN crew in the booth for a brief period.

The finish

On lap 158 of 160, Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough, driving the #28 Chevrolet for Ranier-Lundy Racing, were battling for the lead. While this was going on, Doug Heveron wrecked the #01 Chevrolet in turn one. The caution flag came out, and the leaders raced back to the caution. Under NASCAR rules at the time, the caution period did not begin until the leaders received the yellow flag at the start/finish line. Petty and Yarborough battled down the backstretch and through turns three and four. Even though there were still two laps to go, whichever car crossed the start/finish line first would effectively be the race winner. There would not be sufficient time to clean up the crash, and go back to green, so the race was destined to finish under the caution. Petty managed to beat Yarborough to the line by a nose, and after circulating the final two laps behind the pace car, took the race win.

Yarborough did not finish second, however, as he accidentally pulled off track one lap too early. He raced off of pit road to rejoin the field, but not before he was passed by Harry Gant in the #33 Chevrolet. Yarborough admitted after the race "my brain blew up".

After taking a victory lap, Petty got out of his car and began heading up toward the suite level of the track where the President had been watching the race to greet him.

Results

POS	ST	#	DRIVER	SPONSOR / OWNER	CAR	LAPS	MONEY	STATUS	LED	PTS
1	6	43	Richard Petty	STP (Mike Curb)	Pontiac	160	43755	running	53	180
2	13	33	Harry Gant	Skoal Bandit (Hal Needham)	Chevrolet	160	25570	running	4	175
3	1	28	Cale Yarborough	Hardee's (Harry Ranier)	Chevrolet	160	23640	running	79	175
4	10	22	Bobby Allison	Miller High Life (DiGard Racing)	Buick	160	21850	running	5	165
5	9	55	Benny Parsons	Copenhagen (Johnny Hayes)	Chevrolet	160	10450	running	0	155
6	3	9	Bill Elliott	Coors (Harry Melling)	Ford	160	14050	running	0	150
7	4	44	Terry Labonte	Piedmont Airlines (Billy Hagan)	Chevrolet	159	11975	running	11	151
8	2	3	Dale Earnhardt	Wrangler Jeans (Richard Childress)	Chevrolet	159	13600	running	5	147
9	19	12	Neil Bonnett	Budweiser (Junior Johnson)	Chevrolet	159	7665	running	0	138
10	18	98	Joe Ruttman	Levi Garrett (Ron Benfield)	Chevrolet	157	9255	running	0	134
11	41	27	Tim Richmond	Old Milwaukee (Raymond Beadle)	Pontiac	157	11350	running	0	130
12	26	5	Geoffrey Bodine	Northwestern Security Life (Rick Hendrick)	Chevrolet	157	10850	running	0	127
13	15	66	Phil Parsons	Skoal Bandit (Johnny Hayes)	Chevrolet	157	6485	running	0	124
14	7	4	Tommy Ellis	Morgan-McClure (Larry McClure)	Chevrolet	157	3950	running	0	121
15	22	15	Ricky Rudd	Wrangler Jeans (Bud Moore)	Ford	156	11950	running	0	118
16	38	48	Trevor Boys	Hylton-McCaig (James Hylton)	Chevrolet	156	7725	running	0	115
17	5	16	David Pearson	Chattanooga Chew (Bobby Hawkins)	Chevrolet	156	3400	running	1	117
18	23	75	Dave Marcis	Coca-Cola (Rahmoc Enterprises)	Pontiac	156	11250	running	0	109
19	17	84	Jody Ridley	Cumberland Carpet Mills (Robert McEntyre)	Chevrolet	155	2950	running	0	106
20	14	88	Rusty Wallace	Gatorade (Cliff Stewart)	Pontiac	155	6015	running	0	103
21	32	89	Dean Roper	Tiki Tan (Mueller Brothers)	Pontiac	155	2650	running	0	100
22	28	71	Mike Alexander	Action Vans (Dave Marcis)	Oldsmobile	155	5255	running	0	97
23	39	52	Dale Jarrett	Broadway Motors (Jimmy Means)	Pontiac	155	4955	running	0	94
24	35	64	Tommy Gale	Sunny King Ford & Honda (Elmo Langley)	Ford	153	4625	running	0	91
25	20	17	Clark Dwyer	Hesco Exhaust Systems (Roger Hamby)	Chevrolet	152	4615	running	0	88
26	24	77	Ken Ragan	McCord Gaskets (Marvin Ragan)	Chevrolet	152	2250	running	0	85
27	33	6	Connie Saylor	U.S. Racing (D.K. Ulrich)	Chevrolet	150	4330	running	0	82
28	40	01	Doug Heveron	Syracuse Classic (Tom Heveron)	Chevrolet	145	1950	crash	0	79
29	25	41	Ronnie Thomas	Thomas Racing (Ronnie Thomas)	Chevrolet	139	4160	running	0	76
30	16	7	Kyle Petty	7-Eleven (Petty Enterprises)	Ford	130	10250	engine	2	78
31	12	11	Darrell Waltrip	Budweiser (Junior Johnson)	Chevrolet	126	10225	running	0	70
32	34	97	Dean Combs	Best Products (Irv Sanderson)	Chevrolet	115	1700	trail arm	0	67
33	30	95	Sterling Marlin	Sadler Racing (Sadler Brothers)	Chevrolet	76	2675	engine	0	64
34	27	47	Ron Bouchard	Hawaiian Punch (Jack Beebe)	Buick	56	3150	carburetor	0	61
35	37	73	Steve Moore	Reagan in '84 (Steve Moore)	Chevrolet	53	1625	push rod	0	58
36	42	67	Buddy Arrington	Jim Peacock Dodge (Buddy Arrington)	Chrysler	41	3075	engine	0	55
37	29	8	Bobby Hillin, Jr.	Trap Rock Industries (Stavola Brothers)	Chevrolet	40	1550	crash	0	52
38	21	90	Dick Brooks	Chameleon Sunglasses (Junie Donlavey)	Ford	26	3725	transmission	0	49
39	31	51	Greg Sacks	Native Tan (Arnie Sacks)	Chevrolet	15	1550	ignition	0	46
40	36	23	Morgan Shepherd	Cap'n Coty's (Dick Bahre)	Chevrolet	6	1500	engine	0	43
41	8	21	Buddy Baker	Valvoline (Wood Brothers)	Ford	4	1500	engine	0	40
42	11	1	Lake Speed	Bull Frog Knits (Hoss Ellington)	Chevrolet	0	1500	engine	0	37

Post-race

A fight between Pearson and Richmond broke out in the garage after the race. Pearson managed to punch Richmond below the left eye before crew members of both teams and NASCAR officials broke the fight. While it was unclear what triggered the fight, it was reported that Pearson's car leaked oil on the track after blowing a head gasket and Richmond made an obscene gesture at him.^[6]

At 3:00 p.m., President Reagan joined Petty and other drivers for a Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pepsi picnic. During the picnic, country singer Tammy Wynette stood arm-in-arm with the President on stage while singing "Stand by Your Man".^[7]^[6]

Controversies

Rumors later circulated that Petty's engine in the race was illegal, a controversy revived during Speedweeks 1995 when Autoweek magazine published a story alleging certain levels of favoritism by NASCAR officials over the years. The engine was built by DiGard Racing as part of a lease deal with Curb Motorsports, and on race morning there had been a dispute between the two teams over the lateness of payments; Richard Petty himself offered to cover whatever payments had been missed. Though rumors about the legality of the engine had circulated, especially in the ensuing year's Firecracker 400 when another DiGard engine was claimed to be oversized, the claims were later denied by NASCAR and the consensus of evidence is that the engine was legal. In both cases, future NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Robert Yates (Class of 2018) was the engine builder for DiGard.^[7]

Also, because of the 1971 Myers Brothers 250, there is a technical dispute whether this is Petty's 200th or 201st win. The 1971 race at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina was a combination race with Grand American and Grand National cars, Petty had finished second in a Grand National car to a Grand American car (Bobby Allison, driving a Mustang) that won the race; under current NASCAR rules for combination races, and in motorsport for races involving multiple divisions of cars racing at the same time, both division winners would be credited a win for their division. No win was credited in the Grand National division, and if guidelines for combination races were used then, Petty would be credited with a win.^[7]

Conspiracy theories

Rival driver Cale Yarborough's premature retirement to the pit road has prompted conspiracy theorists to allege that organizers fixed the race in order to receive good publicity for the event.^[8] Yarborough was a part-time driver, and Harry Gant (who inherited second) was a full-time Cup driver.

Nearly ten years later, a similar incident with Yarborough's occurred. On April 9, 1994, during the second-tier series (currently the Xfinity Series) Goody's 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway, Mark Martin was leading when a late-race safety car on Lap 246 of 250 meant the race would end under the safety car. After leading 195 of the 249 laps, Martin prematurely turned to pit lane exiting Turn 4 on the final lap, allowing David Green (a full-time second-tier driver) to take the chequered flag and win the race for his only win in that year's second-tier series.^[9]

Standings after the race

Pos	Driver	Points^[2]	Differential
1	Dale Earnhardt	2359	0
2	Darrell Waltrip	2307	-52
3	Bill Elliott	2304	-55
4	Terry Labonte	2293	-66
5	Harry Gant	2229	-130
6	Bobby Allison	2210	-149
7	Ricky Rudd	2138	-221
8	Neil Bonnett	2100	-259
9	Richard Petty	2076	-283
10	Geoffrey Bodine	2019	-340

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References

↑ "1984 Firecracker 400 weather information". The Old Farmer's Almanac. Retrieved 2012-07-01.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "1984 Firecracker 400 racing results". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
1 2 Perkins, Lauren (July 6, 2013). "The King, The President, and a July 4th in Daytona to Remember". Motor Racing Digest. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
↑ "Primetime: NASCAR set for first Wednesday start since 1984". sports.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on 2020-07-11. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
↑ Dale Earnhardt's championship lead at Race Database
1 2 "Untold Stories of the '84 Firecracker 400". Racing-Reference. July 2, 2015. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
1 2 3 "Throwback Thursday: 1984 Firecracker 400". Auto Racing Daily. Retrieved April 21, 2018.
↑ "The 13 most stunning sports conspiracy theories, ranked". Yahoo Sporting News. 12 May 2016. Archived from the original on 27 September 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
↑ Harris, Mike. "Early Exit Turns to Loss". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing. Retrieved 2022-11-21.

External links

An Oral History of the '84 Firecracker 400 by NASCAR.com ^{[ permanent dead link ]}

Preceded by 1984 Miller High Life 400	NASCAR Winston Cup Season 1984	Succeeded by 1984 Pepsi 420
Preceded by 1984 Budweiser 500	Richard Petty's Career Wins 1960-1984	Succeeded by Last win of his career (retired after the end of the 1992 Hooters 500 race)

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
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[1] "1984 Firecracker 400 weather information". The Old Farmer's Almanac. Retrieved 2012-07-01.

[1984f400-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "1984 Firecracker 400 racing results". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2010-11-20.

[Motor_Racing_Digest-3] 1 2 Perkins, Lauren (July 6, 2013). "The King, The President, and a July 4th in Daytona to Remember". Motor Racing Digest. Retrieved April 21, 2018.

[4] "Primetime: NASCAR set for first Wednesday start since 1984". sports.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on 2020-07-11. Retrieved 2020-05-21.

[5] Dale Earnhardt's championship lead at Race Database

[Untold-6] 1 2 "Untold Stories of the '84 Firecracker 400". Racing-Reference. July 2, 2015. Retrieved April 21, 2018.

[Auto_Racing_Daily-7] 1 2 3 "Throwback Thursday: 1984 Firecracker 400". Auto Racing Daily. Retrieved April 21, 2018.

[8] "The 13 most stunning sports conspiracy theories, ranked". Yahoo Sporting News. 12 May 2016. Archived from the original on 27 September 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2017.

[9] Harris, Mike. "Early Exit Turns to Loss". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing. Retrieved 2022-11-21.

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