1983 Like Cola 500

The 1983 Like Cola 500, the 10th running of the event, was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event held on July 24, 1983, at Pocono International Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.

1983 Like Cola 500

Race details[1]
Race 18 of 30 in the 1983 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Pocono Raceway, the race track where the race was held.
Date	July 24, 1983 (1983-July-24)
Official name	Like Cola 500
Location	Pocono International Raceway, Long Pond, Pennsylvania
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.500 mi (3.400 km)
Distance	200 laps, 501.0 mi (804 km)
Weather	Mild with temperatures of 75.9 °F (24.4 °C); wind speeds of 8 miles per hour (13 km/h)
Average speed	114.818 mph (184.782 km/h)
Attendance	65,000[2]
Pole position
Driver	Tim Richmond	Blue Max Racing
Time	59.218 seconds
Most laps led
Driver	Bobby Allison	DiGard Motorsports
Laps	56
Winner
No. 27	Tim Richmond	Blue Max Racing
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins Larry Nuber

Like Cola, the sponsor of the race, was an unsuccessful cola soft drink that was distributed and sold through the United States of America from 1982 to approximately 1985.

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

Background

Pocono Raceway is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races; the others are Daytona International Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.[3] The standard track at Pocono Raceway is a three-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long.[4] The track's turns are banked differently; the first is banked at 14°, the second turn at 8° and the final turn with 6°. However, each of the three straightaways are banked at 2°.[4]

Race report

Out of the 42 drivers who tried to qualify for this event; 40 managed to qualify. John Callis and Jimmy Walker are the two drivers who failed to qualify for the race.[2] John Callis would never return to NASCAR after failing to qualify for this race. With the exception of Canadian-born Trevor Boys, the grid was born in the United States of America.[2] Clark Dwyer managed to receive the last-place finish due to an oil pressure issue on lap 6 in this 200-lap extravaganza.[2] Pontiac and Buick vehicles made up the majority of the racing grid.[2] Bobby Wawak would be the lowest-finishing driver to complete the event while Morgan Shepherd's attempt at a "top ten" finish would be sabotaged by a problematic engine on lap 193.[2]

While Tim Richmond and Darrell Waltrip would dominate the opening laps of this event, the closing laps would see Bill Elliott, Dave Marcis and Tim Richmond exchange the first-place position during the closing laps.[2] Richmond would eventually best Waltrip by almost two seconds in front of a live audience of 65,000 spectators driving in a used Pontiac LeMans machine as opposed to the newer Pontiac Grand Prix model.[2] Other notable drivers in this event included Kyle Petty, J.D. McDuffie, Sterling Marlin, Benny Parsons and Buddy Arrington.[2] Bobby Gerhart and Glenn Jarrett managed to collide into each other in a manner that would rip the entire rear end off of Gerhart's vehicle on lap 25.[2]

The average speeds for this vehicles in this event was 114.818 miles per hour (184.782 km/h) while pole position winner Tim Richmond was practically sailing through the turns at speeds up to 151.981 miles per hour (244.590 km/h) during the solo qualifying runs.[2] Individual race earnings varied from the winner's portion of $27,430 ($70,413 when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's portion of $1,100 ($2,824 when adjusted for inflation). NASCAR officials authorized a grand total of $246,500 to be awarded to all qualifying drivers for this racing event ($632,763 when adjusted for inflation).[5] After this event, the racing never got super-competitive at Pocono Raceway until the July 1995 running of the Miller Genuine Draft 500.

Glenn Jarrett would retire from NASCAR Cup Series racing after racing here.[6] Notable crew chiefs who were in attendance for this race were Darrell Bryant, Joey Arrington, Elmo Langley, Dale Inman, Robin Pemberton, Bud Moore and Kirk Shelmerdine.[7]

The most dominant drivers in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series during the 1980s were Bill Elliott, Darrell Waltrip, Terry Labonte, Bobby Allison, and Dale Earnhardt. 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.

Qualifying

Grid	No.	Driver	Manufacturer	Speed[8]	Qualifying time[8]	Owner
1	27	Tim Richmond	Pontiac	151.981	59.218	Raymond Beadle
2	33	Harry Gant	Buick	150.809	59.678	Hal Needham
3	11	Darrell Waltrip	Chevrolet	150.499	59.801	Junior Johnson
4	75	Neil Bonnett	Chevrolet	150.471	59.812	RahMoc Enterprises
5	44	Terry Labonte	Chevrolet	150.461	59.816	Billy Hagan
6	3	Ricky Rudd	Chevrolet	149.778	1:00.089	Richard Childress
7	55	Benny Parsons	Chevrolet	149.358	1:00.258	Johnny Hayes
8	9	Bill Elliott	Ford	149.293	1:00.284	Harry Melling
9	43	Richard Petty	Pontiac	148.984	1:00.409	Petty Enterprises
10	15	Dale Earnhardt	Ford	148.733	1:00.511	Bud Moore
11	88	Geoff Bodine	Pontiac	148.692	1:00.528
12	22	Bobby Allison	Buick	148.588	1:00.570
13	98	Joe Ruttman	Buick	148.446	1:00.628
14	7	Kyle Petty	Pontiac	148.432	1:00.634
15	47	Ron Bouchard	Buick	147.614	1:00.970
16	90	Dick Brooks	Ford	147.196	1:01.143
17	48	Trevor Boys	Chevrolet	147.150	1:01.162
18	2	Morgan Shepherd	Buick	147.020	1:01.216
19	71	Dave Marcis	Chevrolet	146.000	1:01.644
20	17	Sterling Marlin	Pontiac	145.337	1:01.925
21	5	Greg Sacks	Chevrolet	147.481	1:01.025
22	8	Bobby Hillin, Jr.	Buick	144.550	1:02.262
23	67	Buddy Arrington	Dodge	144.316	1:02.363
24	64	Tommy Gale	Ford	143.938	1:02.527
25	74	Bobby Wawak	Buick	143.816	1:02.580
26	19	Bobby Gerhart	Buick	143.239	1:02.832
27	02	D.K. Ulrich	Pontiac	143.087	1:02.899
28	52	Jimmy Means	Pontiac	142.939	1:02.964
29	18	Slick Johnson	Buick	142.898	1:02.982
30	6	Al Elmore	Buick	142.360	1:03.220
31	76	Mike Potter	Oldsmobile	142.333	1:03.232
32	60	Bob Riley	Pontiac	142.310	1:03.242
33	41	Ronnie Thomas	Pontiac	142.265	1:03.262
34	10	Clark Dwyer	Chevrolet	142.135	1:03.320
35	65	Glenn Jarrett	Ford	141.936	1:03.409
36	24	Cecil Gordon	Chrysler	141.168	1:03.754
37	58	Jerry Bowman	Ford	141.015	1:03.823
38	63	Jocko Maggiacomo	Oldsmobile	140.988	1:03.835
39	70	J.D. McDuffie	Pontiac	140.974	1:03.923
40	13	Dick May	Buick	139.392	1:04.566

Race

Pos[2]	No.	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Laps led	Status
1	27	Tim Richmond	Pontiac	200	39	Running
2	11	Darrell Waltrip	Chevrolet	200	50	Running
3	22	Bobby Allison	Buick	200	56	Running
4	75	Neil Bonnett	Chevrolet	200	25	Running
5	33	Harry Gant	Buick	200	15	Running
6	9	Bill Elliott	Ford	200	2	Running
7	3	Ricky Rudd	Chevrolet	200	0	Running
8	71	Dave Marcis	Chevrolet	200	3	Running
9	98	Joe Ruttman	Buick	200	0	Running
10	43	Richard Petty	Pontiac	200	5	Running
11	7	Kyle Petty	Pontiac	199	0	Running
12	44	Terry Labonte	Chevrolet	199	2	Running
13	47	Ron Bouchard	Buick	198	0	Running
14	48	Trevor Boys	Chevrolet	197	0	Running
15	90	Dick Brooks	Ford	196	0	Running
16	8	Bobby Hillin, Jr.	Buick	196	0	Running
17	02	D.K. Ulrich	Pontiac	195	0	Running
18	17	Sterling Marlin	Pontiac	195	0	Running
19	2	Morgan Shepherd	Buick	193	0	Engine failure
20	41	Ronnie Thomas	Pontiac	193	1	Running
21	76	Mike Potter	Oldsmobile	192	0	Running
22	6	Al Elmore	Buick	191	0	Running
23	24	Cecil Gordon	Chrysler	189	0	Running
24	64
25	70
26	63
27	74
28	58
29	5
30	15	Dale Earnhardt	Ford	71	0	Engine failure
31	55	Benny Parsons	Chevrolet	71	2	Engine failure
32	67
33	13	Dick May	Buick	34	0	Read end
34	19
35	52
36	65
37	18
38	60
39	88	Geoff Bodine	Pontiac	7	0	Engine failure
40	10

Standings after the race

Pos	Driver	Points[2]	Differential
1	Bobby Allison	2804	0
2	Darrell Waltrip	2602	-202
3	Bill Elliott	2535	-269
4	Harry Gant	2523	-281
5	Richard Petty	2439	-365
6	Neil Bonnett	2425	-379
7	Terry Labonte	2221	-583
8	Joe Ruttman	2208	-596
9	Ricky Rudd	2188	-616
10	Dale Earnhardt	2124	-680

References

1. Weather information for the 1983 Like Cola 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
2. 1983 Like Cola 500 racing information at Racing Reference
3. "NASCAR Race Tracks". NASCAR. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on January 1, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
4. "Pocono Raceway". NASCAR. Turner Sports. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
5. Winnings information for the 1983 Like Cola 500 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet
6. 1983 Like Cola 500 racing information at Race Database
7. 1983 Like Cola 500 crew chiefs at Racing Reference
8. Additional qualifying information for the 1983 Like Cola 500 at Racing Reference

Preceded by 1983 Busch Nashville 420	NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season 1983	Succeeded by 1983 Talladega 500