1980 CRC Chemicals 500

1980 Delaware 500
Race details
Race 25 of 31 in the 1980 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season
Date September 14, 1980 (1980-September-14)
Location Dover International Speedway (Dover, Delaware)
Course Permanent racing facility
1.000 mi (1.609 km)
Distance 500 laps, 500.0 mi (804.6 km)
Avg Speed 116.024 miles per hour (186.723 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Cale Yarborough Junior Johnson
Most laps led
Driver Darrell Waltrip DiGard
Laps 264
Winner
88
 Darrell Waltrip
 DiGard
Television
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1980 CRC Chemicals 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on September 14, 1980 at Dover Downs International Speedway (Dover, Delaware).[1]

Summary

Twenty-nine lead changes were noticed amongst 11 different drivers.[2]

A combination of racing veterans and relative newcomers to the sport made the 1980 NASCAR Cup Series racing amongst the closest ever seen within the 1970s and 1980s decades.[3] The 1980 NASCAR season was also a rare period in time where the "little teams" could compete almost on a completely equal level against the "big organizations" of stock car racing.[3] Today, independent organizations like NEMCO Motorsports and Robby Gordon Motorsports have a very harsh degree of difficulty to overcome when trying to overtake powerhouses like Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, and Joe Gibbs Racing. The approximate time it took to complete the race was four hours and fourteen minutes using 500 laps of racing.[1][2] Eight yellow flags were given out for 39 laps while Darrell Waltrip defeated Harry Gant[4][5] by almost ½ of a second.[1][2] The attendance for this paved oval track race was 35,500 live audience members.[1][5] Waltrip would earn $22,900 just by winning this race ($61,035.74 in today's money).[3]

Frank Warren would retire from NASCAR after this race along with Eddie Dickerson.[2] Meanwhile, John Callis and Joel Stowe used this racing event to make their respective NASCAR debuts.[2] Steve Gray was the last-place driver with a head gasket incident; earning only a meager prize amount of $450 for his 35 laps of racing ($1,199.39 in today's money).[1] Speeds for this race were: 116.024 miles per hour (186.723 km/h) as the average racing speed[5] and 137.583 miles per hour (221.418 km/h) for the pole position winner Cale Yarborough.[1] This would be one of the few races where Bobby Allison didn't win at the track that is now known as Dover International Speedway.[1] Dale Earnhardt would have the NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship after this race.[6] This would eventually lead to his 1980 NASCAR championship.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "1980 CRC Chemicals 500 racing information". Racing Reference. http://www.racing-reference.info/race/1980_CRC_Chemicals_500/W. Retrieved 2011-01-30. 
  2. ^ a b c d e "People entering/exiting NSACAR after the 1980 CRC Chemicals 500 race w/ other information". Race Database. http://www.race-database.com/results/results.php?year=1980&race=25&series_id=2. Retrieved 2011-02-01. 
  3. ^ a b c "General summary of the 1980 NASCAR Cup Series season". Dover Speedway. http://www.doverspeedway.com/75Races/22_1980_Sept.pdf. Retrieved 2011-01-31. 
  4. ^ "1980 CRC Chemicals 500 racing information (second reference)". Everything Stock Car. http://everythingstockcar.com/1794r-1980-crc-chemicals-500-nascar-race.html. Retrieved 2011-01-31. 
  5. ^ a b c "1980 CRC Chemicals 500 racing information (third reference)". Ultimate Racing History. http://www.ultimateracinghistory.com/race.php?raceid=10164. Retrieved 2011-01-31. 
  6. ^ "Dale Earnhardt's championship hopes". Driver Averages. http://www.driveraverages.com/nascar_stats/race.php?sked_id=1980025. Retrieved 2011-01-31. 
  7. ^ "Dale Earnhardt's 1980 Championship Win". Driver Averages. http://www.driveraverages.com/nascar_stats/year.php?yr_id=1980. Retrieved 2011-01-31. 
Preceded by
1980 Capital City 400		 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season
1980		 Succeeded by
1980 Holly Farms 400