1981 Talladega 500

1981 Talladega 500
Race details[1]
Race 20 of 31 in the 1981 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season

Layout of Talladega Superspeedway
Date August 2, 1981 (1981-August-02)
Official name Talladega 500
Location Alabama International Motor Speedway, Talladega, Alabama
Course Permanent racing facility
2.660 mi (4.280 km)
Distance 188 laps, 500.1 mi (804.8 km)
Weather Warm with temperatures approaching 84 °F (29 °C); wind speeds up to 9.9 miles per hour (15.9 km/h)
Average speed 156.737 miles per hour (252.244 km/h)
Attendance 75,000[2]
Pole position
Driver
Mach 1 Racing
Most laps led
Driver Bobby Allison Ranier Racing
Laps 105
Winner
No. 47 Ron Bouchard Race Hill Farm Team
Television in the United States
Network CBS
Announcers Ken Squier
Ned Jarrett

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.

During the preceding season, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power anymore.

Background

Talladega Superspeedway, originally known as Alabama International Motor Superspeedway (AIMS), is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base in the small city of Lincoln. The track is a Tri-oval and was constructed by International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France Family, in the 1960s. Talladega is most known for its steep banking and the unique location of the start/finish line - located just past the exit to pit road. The track currently hosts the NASCAR series such as the Sprint Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and the Camping World Truck Series. Talladega Superspeedway is the longest NASCAR oval with a length of 2.66 miles (4.28 km), and the track at its peak had a seating capacity of 175,000 spectators.[3]

Summary

An all-American grid of 42 drivers would appear at this race; Joe Booher would receive credit for the last-place finish due to an engine issue on the fourth lap.[2] There was 188 laps in the race; it took more than three hours to resolve the race.[2][4] There were eight caution periods for 36 laps while 39 different changes were made concerning the leader of the race.[2][4] Harry Gant would make the pole position for this race with a qualifying speed of 195.897 miles per hour (315.266 km/h).[2][4] Most of the participants used Buick as their manufacturer of the choice for the race.[2][4]

Ron Bouchard managed to defeat Darrell Waltrip by 2 feet or 0.61 metres in front of 75,000 live spectators.[2][4][5][6] Labonte managed to get his revenge on Talladega (for causing his third-place finish) by defeating Joe Nemechek at the 1999 Aaron's 312 race that was sanctioned on the Busch Series level by less than 0.010 seconds.[5] Bouchard and Pete Hamilton are the only NASCAR Sprint Cup Series winners from Massachusetts as of 2015.

Terry Herman would make his introduction to NASCAR during this race while Sandy Satullo would retire from the series after this race.[4] Stan Barrett would make the best finish of his career in this race;[2][4] he would go on to father independent driver Stanton Barrett. Richard Childress would make one of his final driving appearance before becoming a full-time owner of Richard Childress Racing.[2][4] Talladega would reach the peak of competitive racing opportunities during in the 1984 Winston 500.[7] After that, legendary driver Bill Elliott - along with restrictor plates during the most recent years - would ruin the chances for truly competitive racing.

Qualifying

Grid No. Driver Manufacturer
1 33 Harry Gant Buick
2 28 Bobby Allison Buick
3 2 Dale Earnhardt Pontiac
4 44 Terry Labonte Buick
5 27 Cale Yarborough Buick
6 21 Neil Bonnett Ford
7 1 Buddy Baker Buick
8 6 Joe Ruttman Buick
9 62 Rick Wilson Oldsmobile
10 47 Ron Bouchard Buick

Finishing order

  1. Ron Bouchard†
  2. Darrell Waltrip
  3. Terry Labonte
  4. Harry Gant
  5. Bobby Allison
  6. Lake Speed
  7. Kyle Petty
  8. Jody Ridley
  9. Stan Barrett
  10. Dave Marcis
  11. Bill Elliott
  12. Elliott Forbes-Robinson
  13. Benny Parsons†
  14. Terry Herman
  15. Dick May†
  16. Jimmy Means
  17. Cecil Gordon†
  18. Tommy Gale†
  19. Bobby Wawak†
  20. Rick Wilson*
  21. Rusty Wallace*
  22. Joe Ruttman*
  23. Ricky Rudd
  24. Lennie Pond*
  25. Gary Balough*
  26. Richard Childress*
  27. Mike Potter*
  28. Cale Yarborough*
  29. Dale Earnhardt*†
  30. Bruce Hill*
  31. Sandy Satullo*
  32. Buddy Baker*
  33. Connie Saylor*†
  34. Tim Richmond*†
  35. Mike Alexander*
  36. Morgan Shepherd*
  37. Neil Bonnett*†
  38. Jack Ingram*
  39. James Hylton*
  40. Richard Petty*
  41. Buddy Arrington*
  42. Joe Booher*

† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased
* Driver failed to finish race

Standings after the race

Pos Driver Points[2] Differential
1 Bobby Allison 3029 0
2 Darrell Waltrip 2935 -94
3 Harry Gant 2782 -247
4 Ricky Rudd 2664 -365
5 Dale Earnhardt 2608 -421
6 Increase Terry Labonte 2573 -456
7 Jody Ridley 2566 -463
8 Decrease Richard Petty 2562 -467
9 Benny Parsons 2417 -612
10 Increase Kyle Petty 2272 -757

References

  1. ↑ Weather information for the 1981 Talladega 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1981 Talladega 500 at Racing Reference
  3. ↑ "Track Facts". talladegasuperspeedway.com. Talladega Superspeedway. November 1, 2012. Archived from the original on November 1, 2012. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1981 Talladega 500 racing information at Race Database
  5. 1 2 1981 Talladega 500 Archived 2010-04-16 at the Wayback Machine. results at Talladega Superspeedway
  6. ↑ 1981 Talladega 500 Finish at YouTube
  7. ↑ Talladega Superspeedway at Encyclopedia of Alabama
Preceded by
1981 Mountain Dew 500		 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season
1981 		Succeeded by
1981 Champion Spark Plug 400
Preceded by
1980		 Talladega 500 races
1981 		Succeeded by
1982
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