1976 Daytona 500

1976 Daytona 500
Race details[1]
Race 2 of 30 in the 1976 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
1976 Daytona 500 program cover
1976 Daytona 500 program cover
Date February 15, 1976 (1976-02-15)
Location Daytona International Speedway
Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S.
Course Permanent racing facility
2.5 mi (4.023 km)
Distance 200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km)
Weather Temperatures reaching up to 77 °F (25 °C); wind speeds approaching 14 miles per hour (23 km/h)
Average speed 152.181 miles per hour (244.912 km/h)
Pole position
Driver
Norris Reed
Qualifying race winners
Duel 1 Winner Dave Marcis Nord Krauskopf
Duel 2 Winner Darrell Waltrip DiGard Motorsports
Most laps led
Driver A. J. Foyt Ellington Racing
Laps 66
Winner
No. 21 David Pearson Wood Brothers Racing
Television in the United States
Network ABC's WWOS
Announcers Bill Flemming
Jackie Stewart
Chris Economaki
Nielsen Ratings 12.8/37
(18.3 million viewers)

The 1976 Daytona 500, the 18th running of the event,[2][3][4][5][6] happened on Feb. 15th, 1976 at Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Fl. It is remembered for the late-race duel and accident between David Pearson and Richard Petty. Many fans consider this finish to be the greatest in the history of NASCAR.[7] The end of the race was televised live on American network ABC.[8]

These were the first Daytona 500 starts for Neil Bonnett, Terry Ryan, Salt Walther, D. K. Ulrich, Roy Smith, Jimmy Lee Capps, Skip Manning, Tighe Scott, Dick May, and Jimmy Means.[6] For Terry Bivins, Johnny Ray, Dr. Dick Skillen, David Hobbs, and Tom Williams, this would be their only Daytona 500 start.[6] Joe Frasson, Jackie Rogers, David Sisco, and Earl Ross would make their last Daytona 500s this year.[6]

Qualifying

USAC stock car racer Ramo Stott won his only career NASCAR pole position.[8] There was a major speed discrepancy between cars in their qualification runs. Top teams were qualifying in the 178 miles per hour (286 km/h) to 179 miles per hour (288 km/h) range and a few teams qualified in the 186 miles per hour (299 km/h) range. Two of the teams who qualified in the 186 miles per hour (299 km/h) range were disqualified after NASCAR inspectors found suspicious extra fuel lines. Some teams attributed these lines to performance-enhancing nitrous oxide.[8] One driver later admitted that he deliberately qualified slower to let the time from "offending" teams stick out.[8]

In the 125-mile qualifying races, Dave Marcis won race 1, while Darrell Waltrip claimed race 2.

Race

The opening laps were a battle for the lead between Buddy Baker, Waltrip, and David Pearson. A. J. Foyt rocketed from the rear to lead 68 laps before falling out with engine failure. An accident on lap 112 involving Johnny Ray and Skip Manning ended Ray's racing career.[9]

Late in the race, Richard Petty and David Pearson were nose-to-tail, two laps ahead of all other competitors. On the final lap, Pearson passed Petty on the backstretch, and Petty attempted to re-pass in turn 3. Petty did not completely clear Pearson and the two cars made contact with each other and the wall, sending them spinning into the infield grass, just yards from the finish line. Petty's car stalled and would not re-fire. Pearson re-started his stricken car and crossed the finish line to win. Petty, with the help of a push-start from his crew, crossed the line for 2nd.

Box Score

Margin of victory: 50 yards

Fin Grid Car # Driver Car
Make 		Laps Status Laps
Led 		Points
1 7 21 David Pearson Mercury 200 3:17:08 37 180 (5)
2 6 43 Richard Petty Dodge 199 Crash 40 175
3 32 72 Benny Parsons Chevrolet 199 Running 16 170 (5)
4 11 54 Lennie Pond Chevrolet 198 Running 0 160
5 13 12 Neil Bonnett Chevrolet 197 Running 0 155
6 2 81 Terry Ryan Chevrolet 196 Running 1 155 (5)
7 41 70 J.D. McDuffie Chevrolet 193 Running 0 146
8 19 63 Terry Bivins Chevrolet 193 Running 6 147 (5)
9 36 3 Richard Childress Chevrolet 191 Running 0 138
10 34 79 Frank Warren Dodge 190 Running 0 134
11 37 67 Buddy Arrington Dodge 190 Running 0 130
12 26 4 Salt Walther Chevrolet 187 running 0 0
13 42 8 Ed Negre Dodge 185 running 0 124
14 22 18 Joe Frasson Chevrolet 183 running 0 121
15 23 60 Jackie Rogers Chevrolet 183 running 1 123 (5)
16 15 95 Jim Hurtubise Chevrolet 180 engine 0 115
17 21 61 Joe Mihalic Chevrolet 159 running 0 112
18 17 24 Cecil Gordon Chevrolet 158 running 0 109
19 27 40 D.K. Ulrich Chevrolet 151 axle 0 106
20 39 29 Roy Smith Chevrolet 148 clutch 0 103
21 10 14 Coo Coo Marlin Chevrolet 147 engine 0 100
22 31 28 A.J. Foyt Chevrolet 143 engine 66 0
23 29 48 James Hylton Chevrolet 138 running 0 94
24 24 26 Jimmy Lee Capps Chevrolet 133 engine 0 91
25 8 2 Bobby Allison Mercury 123 engine 2 93 (5)
26 1 83 Ramo Stott Chevrolet 113 engine 0
27 3 71 Dave Marcis Dodge 112 running 0 82
28 35 10 Johnny Ray Chevrolet 111 crash 0 79
29 40 05 David Sisco Chevrolet 110 running 0 76
30 30 82 Skip Manning Dodge 107 crash 0 73
31 28 78 Dick Skillen Chevrolet 99 overheating 0 70
32 4 88 Darrell Waltrip Chevrolet 87 engine 0 67
33 5 15 Buddy Baker Ford 83 engine 28 69 (5)
34 16 73 David Hobbs Chevrolet 68 crash 2 66 (5)
35 18 30 Tighe Scott Chevrolet 58 crash 0 58
36 33 47 Bruce Hill Chevrolet 43 engine 0 55
37 25 38 Tom Williams Chevrolet 41 engine 0 52
38 38 33 Dick May Chevrolet 36 engine 0 49
39 12 52 Earl Ross Chevrolet 28 engine 0 46
40 20 5 Jimmy Means Chevrolet 20 engine 1 48 (5)
41 9 90 Dick Brooks Ford 5 engine 0 40
42 14 11 Cale Yarborough Chevrolet 1 engine 0 37

(5) Indicates 5 bonus points added to normal race points scored for leading 1 lap
(10) Indicates 10 bonus points added to normal race points scored for leading 1 lap & leading the most laps
Note: A.J. Foyt led the most laps but was not eligible for NASCAR points.

Failed to qualify, withdrew, or driver changes

Driver # Car Make
Earle Canavan 01 Dodge
Gary Myers 04 Chevrolet
Doc Faustina 5 Dodge
Elliott Forbes-Robinson 6 Chevrolet
Bob Burcham 19 Chevrolet
Ricky Rudd 22 Chevrolet
Jabe Thomas 25 Chevrolet
Dave Decker 32 Chevrolet
Bill Seifert 34 Chevrolet
Darel Dieringer 35 Ford
Bruce Jacobi 37 Chevrolet
Blackie Wangerin 39 Ford
Grant Adcox 41 Chevrolet
Baxter Price 45 Chevrolet
Travis Tiller 46 Dodge
John Utsman 49 Dodge
Darrell Bryant 50 Chevrolet
John Banks 55 Dodge
Tommy Gale 64 Ford
Terry Link 66 Pontiac
Bill Polich 69 Chevrolet
Bill Champion 77 Chevrolet
Harold Miller 91 Chevrolet
Skip Manning 92 Chevrolet
Jim Fleming 99 Chevrolet
Ferrel Harris (Driver Change) 82 Dodge

Caution flags

7 for 35 laps

From
Lap 		To
Lap 		# Of
Laps 		Reason
11 16 6 Car # 05 engine
35 39 5 Car # 52 engine
62 65 4 Car # 30 engine
68 71 4 Car # 73 accident
85 90 6 Car #’s 83,82,10 accident
175 178 4 Car # 63 accident
200 200 1 Car #’s 43 & #21 accident

Percent of race run under caution: 14.5%
Average green flag run: 24.4 laps

Lap leader breakdown

Lead changes: 36

Leader From
Lap 		To
Lap 		# Of
Laps
Buddy Baker 1 4 4
David Pearson 5 6 2
Buddy Baker 7 11 5
Terry Ryan 12 12 1
Jimmy Means 13 13 1
Terry Bivins 14 15 2
Jackie Rogers 16 16 1
Buddy Baker 17 35 19
David Hobbs 36 37 2
David Pearson 38 39 2
Bobby Allison 40 40 1
A.J. Foyt 41 43 3
David Pearson 44 44 1
A.J. Foyt 45 56 12
Richard Petty 57 61 5
Benny Parsons 62 62 1
A.J. Foyt 63 73 11
Richard Petty 74 84 11
A.J. Foyt 85 85 1
Terry Bivins 86 89 4
Bobby Allison 90 90 1
Richard Petty 91 92 2
A.J. Foyt 93 96 4
David Pearson 97 98 2
A.J. Foyt 99 103 5
David Pearson 104 106 3
A.J. Foyt 107 118 12
David Pearson 119 122 4
A.J. Foyt 123 140 18
Benny Parsons 141 154 14
David Pearson 155 165 11
Richard Petty 166 175 10
Benny Parsons 176 176 1
David Pearson 177 187 11
Richard Petty 188 199 12
David Pearson 200 200 1

Standings after the race

Pos Driver Points[6] Differential
1 David Pearson 365 0
2 Benny Parsons 330 -35
3 Lennie Pond 310 -55
4 Richard Childress 286 -81
5 Richard Petty 268 -97
6 Frank Warren 264 -101
7 J.D. McDuffie 252 -113
8 D.K. Ulrich 233 -132
9 James Hylton 232 -133
10 Dave Marcis 229 -136

References

  1. ^ "Weather of the 1976 Daytona 500". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2014-03-09.
  2. ^ NASCAR.COM – Daytona Countdown: '76 – Jan 21, 2005
  3. ^ NASCAR.com – The 1976 Daytona 500 – July 28, 2003
  4. ^ "Restrictor-Plate This :: The `Best of' the Daytona 500: 1976". Archived from the original on 2018-07-14. Retrieved 2008-10-09.
  5. ^ No. 8 – Feb. 15, 1976: Duel at Daytona -- dailypress.com
  6. ^ a b c d e 1976 Daytona 500 – Racing-Reference.info
  7. ^ Howstuffworks "No. 1: The 1976 Daytona 500"
  8. ^ a b c d Falk, Duane (2002). The Daytona 500: The Great American Race. Metro Books. pp. 72–74. ISBN 1-58663-169-1.
  9. ^ "Ray's condition serious after three-car wreck". Gadsden, AL: The Gadsden Times, February 16, 1976, p.7.