1982 Busch 500

The 1982 Busch 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on August 28, 1982, at Bristol International Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee.

1982 Busch 500
Race details[1]
Race 21 of 30 in the 1982 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Map of the Bristol Motor Speedway
Date August 28, 1982 (1982-August-28)
Official name Busch 500
Location Bristol International Raceway, Bristol, Tennessee
Course Permanent racing facility
0.533 mi (0.857 km)
Distance 500 laps, 266.5 mi (428.8 km)
Weather Warm with temperatures approaching 80.1 °F (26.7 °C); wind speeds up to 8 miles per hour (13 km/h)
Average speed 94.318 miles per hour (151.790 km/h)
Attendance 30,000[2]
Pole position
Driver
Jim Stacy Racing
Most laps led
Driver Bobby Allison DiGard Motorsports
Laps 169
Winner
No. 11 Darrell Waltrip Junior Johnson & Associates
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none

During the early 1980s, the NASCAR Winston Cup Series was plagued with top teams running big engines and finishing in third place to avoid inspection.

Background

Bristol International Speedway is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Despite its short length, Bristol is among the most popular tracks on the NASCAR schedule because of its distinct features, which include extraordinarily steep banking, an all concrete surface, two pit roads, and stadium-like seating. It has also been named one of the loudest NASCAR tracks.[3]

Race report

It took almost two hours and fifty minutes for Darrell Waltrip to defeat Bobby Allison and 29 other American-born drivers in front of an audience of 30,000 live spectators.[2] This would make him equal to Cale Yarborough in the number of wins at Bristol Speedway up to this point.[4] 20 notable crew chiefs were reported as attending this race; including Larry McReynolds, Dale Inman, Kirk Shelmerdine, Jeff Hammond, Jabe Thomas, Waddell Wilson, Jake Elder and Junie Donlavey.[5]

Kyle Petty scored a last-place finish due to an engine problem on the second lap of this 500-lap race.[2] Tim Richmond earned the pole position with a speed of 112.507 miles per hour (181.062 km/h).[2] Almost ¾ of a second would separate Allison from Waltrip. Three cautions occurred for 15 laps.[2] Only seven vehicles would fail to finish the race.[2] Other notable drivers in this race included J.D. McDuffie, Dale Earnhardt, and D.K. Ulrich.[2]

The final pole of Tim Richmond's career would occur at this race while Al Loquasto would terminate his NASCAR racing career after this race.[6] After the end of this race, Bobby Allison would take a slim lead over Terry Labonte for championship points.[7]

Qualifying
Grid[2] No. Driver Manufacturer Owner
1 2Tim RichmondBuickJim Stacy
2 44Terry LabonteBuickBilly Hagan
3 98Morgan ShepherdBuickRon Benfield
4 75Joe RuttmanBuickRahMoc Enterprises
5 28Buddy BakerPontiacHarry Ranier
6 3Ricky RuddPontiacRichard Childress
7 33Harry GantBuickHal Needham
8 11Darrell WaltripBuickJunior Johnson
9 88Bobby AllisonChevroletDiGard Racing
10 71Dave MarcisBuickDave Marcis
11 50Geoffrey BodinePontiacCliff Stewart
12 15Dale EarnhardtFordBud Moore
13 02Mark MartinPontiacBud Reeder
14 43Richard PettyPontiacPetty Enterprises
15 26Brad TeagueChevroletCharlie Henderson
16 40D.K. UlrichBuickD.K. Ulrich
17 17Lake SpeedBuickRoger Hamby
18 86Darryl SageChevroletLee Sage
19 52Jimmy MeansChevroletJimmy Means
20 4Connie SaylorBuickG.C. Spencer

Top 10 finishers
Pos[2] Grid No. Driver Manufacturer Laps Laps led Points Time/Status
1 811Darrell WaltripBuick500381802:49:32
2 988Bobby AllisonChevrolet500169180+0.70 seconds
3 733Harry GantBuick50047170Lead lap under green flag
4 244Terry LabonteBuick4994165+1 lap
5 398Morgan ShepherdBuick49985160+1 lap
6 1215Dale EarnhardtFord49974155+1 lap
7 63Ricky RuddPontiac4980146+2 laps
8 2490Jody RidleyFord4950142+5 laps
9 528Buddy BakerPontiac4940138+6 laps
10 1150Geoffrey BodinePontiac4940134+6 laps

Timeline

Section reference:[2]

  • Start of race: Tim Richmond started out as the first-place driver, holding it for 81 laps.
  • Lap 2: Kyle Petty had engine problems; making him the last-place finisher.
  • Lap 28: Rick Newsom's oil pump stopped working properly.
  • Lap 30: Ronnie Thomas overheated his vehicle, ending his day on the track.
  • Lap 45: Al Loquasto developed major engine problems, forcing him off the track.
  • Lap 50: Richard Petty's issues with his steering forced him out of the race.
  • Lap 82: Morgan Shepherd took over the lead from Tim Richmond.
  • Lap 83: Tim Richmond's engine acted up, bringing his race weekend to a premature end.
  • Lap 166: Joe Ruttman took over the lead from Morgan Shepherd.
  • Lap 168: Dale Earnhardt took over the lead from Joe Ruttman.
  • Lap 169: Darrell Waltrip took over the lead from Dale Earnhardt.
  • Lap 171: Terry Labonte took over the lead from Darrell Waltrip.
  • Lap 173: Dale Earnhardt took over the lead from Terry Labonte, eventually losing it to Harry Gant on lap 246.
  • Lap 246: Harry Gant took over the lead from Dale Earnhardt, eventually losing to Darrell Waltrip on lap 293.
  • Lap 259: Joe Ruttmann had to end the day because his vehicle's rear end came off in an unsafe manner.
  • Lap 293: Darrell Waltrip took over the lead from Harry Gant.
  • Lap 303: Morgan Shepherd took over the lead from Darrell Waltrip.
  • Lap 304: Bobby Allison took over the lead from Morgan Shepherd.
  • Lap 472: Darrell Waltrip took over the lead from Bobby Allison.
  • Lap 476: Terry Labonte took over the lead from Darrell Waltrip.
  • Lap 478: Darrell Waltrip took over the lead from Terry Labonte.
  • Lap 480: Bobby Allison took over the lead from Darrell Waltrip.
  • Lap 481: Darrell Waltrip took over the lead from Bobby Allison.
  • Finish: Darrell Waltrip was officially declared the winner of the event.

Standings after the race
Pos Driver Points[2] Differential
1 Bobby Allison 3142 0
2 Terry Labonte 3077 -65
3 Darrell Waltrip 3022 -120
4 Buddy Arrington 2639 -503
5 Harry Gant 2630 -512
6 Richard Petty 2622 -520
7 Dave Marcis 2539 -549
8 Dale Earnhardt 2540 -602
9 Ron Bouchard 2516 -626
10 Morgan Shepherd 2472 -670

References
  1. Weather information for the 1982 Busch 500 at the Old Farmers' Almanac
  2. 1982 Busch 500 racing information at Racing Reference
  3. Gragg, Joe (August 25, 2011). "It's Official: Bristol Is The Loudest NASCAR Track". WCYB.com. Retrieved June 3, 2012.
  4. Memorable Moments at BMS at Google News Archive Search
  5. 1982 Busch 500 crew chiefs at Racing Reference
  6. 1982 Busch 500 results at Race-Database
  7. NASCAR Race Results at Bristol - August 28, 1982 Archived 2015-12-26 at the Wayback Machine at Driver Averages
Preceded by
1982 Champion Spark Plug 400		 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season
1982		 Succeeded by
1982 Southern 500
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