1980 Richmond 400

1980 Richmond 400
Race details[1]
Race 3 of 31 in the 1980 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season

Layout of Richmond International Speedway
Date February 24, 1980 (1980-February-24)
Official name Richmond 400
Location Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway, Richmond, Virginia
Course Permanent racing facility
0.542 mi (0.872 km)
Distance 400 laps, 216.8 mi (348.9 km)
Weather Chilly with temperatures approaching 66 °F (19 °C); wind speeds up to 8 miles per hour (13 km/h)
Average speed 67.703 miles per hour (108.957 km/h)
Attendance 17,000[2]
Pole position
Driver
DiGard
Most laps led
Driver Darrell Waltrip DiGard
Laps 148
Winner
No. 88 Darrell Waltrip DiGard
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1980 Richmond 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on February 24, 1980, at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway (now Richmond International Raceway) in Richmond, Virginia.

By 1980, 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. Only manual transmission vehicles were allowed to participate in this race; a policy that NASCAR has retained to the present day.

Background

In 1953, Richmond International Raceway began hosting the Grand National Series with Lee Petty winning that first race in Richmond.[3] The original track was paved in 1968.[4] In 1988, the track was re-designed into its present D-shaped configuration

The name for the raceway complex was "Strawberry Hill" until the Virginia State Fairgrounds site was bought out in 1999 and renamed the "Richmond International Raceway". The Strawberry Hill Races, which are a series of steeplechase horse races were formerly held the third Saturday of April at the Richmond Raceway Complex. In 2001, the races were moved to Colonial Downs in New Kent County, Virginia's first Thoroughbred racetrack.[5]

Summary

There were 35 American-born male drivers on the grid. Darrell Waltrip defeated Bobby Allison by 1.2 seconds in front of 17,000 people.[2][6] Nine caution flags were waved for 72 laps along with 19 different lead changes resulted in a race that lasted three hours and twelve minutes.[2][6]

While Waltrip would earn the pole position with a qualifying speed of 93.695 miles per hour (150.787 km/h) in his #88 Chevrolet Malibu vehicle, the average speed of the actual race was 67.703 miles per hour (108.957 km/h)[6] - a difference of 25.992 miles per hour (41.830 km/h) between the pole position speed and the actual speeds of the race.[2] Baxter Price achieved the last-place finish of the race due to a crash on lap 45 out of the 400 laps being done that day.[2][6] Richard Childress (racing for himself at Richard Childress Racing) would be the last driver to actually finish the race.[2][6] He would drive an Oldsmobile as opposed to the Chevrolet vehicles that he would own today.[2][6]

Tommy Houston would make his NASCAR debut here while Joey Arrington would retire here. Joe Booher would make his best career finish here before dying years later.

Top ten finishers

Pos[2] Grid No. Driver Manufacturer Laps Winnings Laps led
1 1 88 Darrell Waltrip Chevrolet 400 $17,800 148
2 5 15 Bobby Allison Ford 400 $10,975 127
3 3 43 Richard Petty Chevrolet 400 $9,375 70
4 10 71 Dave Marcis Chevrolet 400 $4,310 16
5 11 2 Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet 398 $6,550 0
6 15 67 Buddy Arrington Dodge 392 $3,360 0
7 31 48 James Hylton Chevrolet 385 $2,940 0
8 14 24 Cecil Gordon Oldsmobile 382 $2,780 0
9 7 70 J.D. McDuffie Chevrolet 380 $2,610 0
10 20 74 Bobby Wawak Chevrolet 377 $1,150 0

Timeline

Standings after the race

Pos Driver Points[2] Differential
1 Dale Earnhardt 490 0
2 Bobby Allison 459 -31
3 Richard Petty 433 -57
4 Darrell Waltrip 413 -77
5 Terry Labonte 387 -103
6 Dave Marcis 379 -111
7 Richard Childress 371 -119
8 James Hylton 361 -129
9 Jody Ridley 358 -132
10 J.D. McDuffie 338 -152

References

  1. ↑ Weather information for the 1980 Richmond 400 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1980 Richmond 400 racing information at Racing Reference
  3. ↑ http://racing.ballparks.com/Richmond/index.htm "Richmond International Raceway has hosted the NASCAR Winston Cup Series since 1953. Lee Petty won the first race that year. "
  4. ↑ http://racing.ballparks.com/Richmond/index.htm "The original track was paved in 1968."
  5. ↑ Strawberry Hill Races Traditions
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 1980 Richmond 400 racing information at Race Database
Preceded by
1980 Daytona 500		 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season
1980 		Succeeded by
1980 Carolina 500
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