1976 Riverside 400
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 15 of 28 in the 1976 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season | |||
 Riverside International Raceway | |||
| Date | June 13, 1976 | ||
| Location | Riverside International Raceway (Riverside, California) | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 2.620 mi (4.216 km) | ||
| Distance | 153 laps, 400.9 mi (645.1 km) | ||
| Weather | Temperatures reaching a high of 84.9 °F (29.4 °C); winds reaching a maximum of 11.8 miles per hour (19.0 km/h)[1] | ||
| Average speed | 106.279 miles per hour (171.039 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | David Pearson | Wood Brothers Racing | |
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Cale Yarborough | Junior Johnson & Associates | |
| Laps | 48 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 21 |
David Pearson |
Wood Brothers Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | CBS | ||
| Announcers | Ken Squier Richard Petty | ||
The 1976 Riverside 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on June 13, 1976 at Riverside International Raceway in the American community of Riverside, California.[2]
Most of the vehicles that raced in this event had Chevrolet as their manufacturer.[3] Roy Smith was the only Canadian competitor out of the 35-driver grid; the rest of them were American-born males.[2]
Summary
Pearson's qualifying speed of 114.437 miles per hour (184.168 km/h) would earn him the pole position while the average speed of the actual race was 106.279 miles per hour (171.039 km/h).[2][3] Richard Petty would become proficient on turn 6 throughout the race; despite ending the race outside of the "top five."
The victor would take home $15,150 in winnings ($62,150.44 in today's money) while last-place paid a meager $665 ($2,728.06 in today's money).[2][3] Benny Parsons, Ray Elder, Buddy Baker, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, Jimmy Insolo, Richard Petty, and Dave Marcis would round out the rest of the "top ten" finishers.[2][3] Ron Esau would acquire the last-place finish due to a clutch problem on lap 6 out of the 95 that made up the regulation length of the course.[2][3] David Pearson managed to defeat Bobby Allison by a time of 1.6 seconds in front of 29,500 people.[2] The race took two hours and twenty minutes to complete; with the event's only caution flag lasting for a duration of four laps.[2] Safe driving habits and remarkable efforts with keeping the oil products away from the track helped to keep most of the race under the green flag.
John Dineen and Ernie Stierly would make their NASCAR Cup Series debut at this racing event. Final NASCAR appearances by Jim Danielson, Bill Polich, and Don Reynolds were also memorable moments from this racing event.[4] A little known fact was that Darrell Waltrip was listed down as a resident of Daytona Beach, Florida for the purpose of tracking the starting grid instead of using his home town of Owensboro, Kentucky.[5] A race that Waltrip would end up winning later in his career would have him as listed as a resident Franklin, Tennessee - which is located exactly 127 miles (204 km) to the south of Owensboro.
References
- ↑ 1976 Riverside 400 weather information at The Old Farmers' Almanac
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 1976 Riverside 400 racing information at Racing Reference
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 1976 Riverside 400 racing information at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet
- ↑ Driver debuts at the 1976 Riverside 400 at Race Database
- ↑ Darrell Waltrip home town information at TheVRL.com
| Preceded by 1976 World 600 |
NASCAR Winston Cup Season 1976 |
Succeeded by 1976 Cam 2 Motor Oil 400 |