I was honestly too busy yesterday, however, I hope you all enjoy my first foray this "Racing History Minute" scene.
It was November 20th, 1983 at Riverside, California. During the mid 80's, Riverside was known as the season finale. For most of the track's life, two Cup races were ran per year, with the exception of 1981, when Riverside was tackled three times throughout the season - the season opener, a mid-season race, and the season finale.
Big notables for this race was.....
- Eventual winner, Bill Elliott had signed on a multi-year contract with Coors Brewing Company to sponsor the Elliott's family operated #9 Ford. For the last couple of races that year, a small Coors decal had been place on the quarter panel. The whole deal worked out well, since it had just a year or so that Coors had now been available east of the Mississippi. They (Coors) wanted to promote themselves as a family company and what better spokesmen than the Elliott family.
- Neil Bonnett would be leaving the RahMoc #75 Monte Carlo in an effort to join Junior Johnson's team as a second car (#12) in addition to current driver, and then two time cup champion, Darrell Waltrip, driving #11. Both cars were to be painted identical red and white with Budweiser decals and gold numbers. Bud would leave Terry Labonte. It was unique for it's time, but later in the 1984 season, the two teammates came down to a last lap battle, in which both thought they won; that's for a later story
- Dale Earnhardt and Ricky Rudd were essentially trading seats for the upcoming season. Rudd, who for 1983, was driving #3 at RCR, was switching with Earnhardt, who for the past two years had been driving the Bud Moore Engineering #15 Ford. Earnhardt, who had a contract with Wrangler Jeans also had a commitment to Bud Moore's team. The only logical solution was to allow Earnhardt to drive a Wrangler #3 Chevrolet for RCR, while Rudd jumped on board to fulfill Wrangler's other commitment to Bud Moor Engineering. This is one of the only, if no the only time the same sponsor was on two different cars.
- This was the last race for Richard Petty under his family owned company, Petty Enterprises. Life was great for Petty until he was fined after a post-race inspection at Charlotte a month before found Petty had an oversized engine by 30 cubic inches. Richard was leaving to independent Mike Curb with essentially the same car as before - same paint, sponsor, number, etc. Kyle Petty would now be the lead driver for the team. For this race, he was in a Green & Orange Pontiac, but for 1984, KP would switch to Ford and debut a new Red, White & Blue paint scheme.
Now onto the actual race.....
Darrell Waltrip would take the pole position in his Pepsi #11 Chevrolet, starting alongside would be Ricky Rudd in the Piedmont Airlines Chevrolet, the same car that won Ricky his first Winston Cup race at the same track earlier that year.
This race was known for Winston West drivers to enter and get seat-time alongside Winston Cup regulars. One notable was Jimmy Insolo, driving a #12 for Digard (same team as Winston Cup champ that year, Bobby Allison) according to the stats, Insolo qualified his Miller High Life Buick (I'm assuming identical scheme to Allison) in 19th place, completed one lap, and quit, finishing in last place. I'm assuming that Digard wanted a back-up car for Allison to gain points in (back before teams brought 2-3 to the track), should Bobby wreck his #22.
Another notable was the champ's brother, Donnie, who was driving Cliff Stewart's #88 Gatorade Pontiac. For most of the 1983 season, Geoff Bodine was driver, however, Donnie would finish the last two events of the season in the car. Donnie would enter just two more Winston Cup races after this event.
In the closing laps of the race, a young red-head from Dawsonville would find a battle with Benny Parsons, in the Copenhagen #55, who coincidentally enough, was one of the main reasons that Elliott hooked up with carowner, Harry Melling. The two would battle door-to-door in the closing laps. Behind them, Alabama native, Neil Bonnett was holding off the hard charging cars of Earnhardt, Richmond and Waltrip, who lead the most laps in this race.
As rain started to fall under the white flag, cars were sliding through the 'esses', but as they came back around, it was a 28 year old from North Georgia that held the likable veteran to claim the 'Western Winston 500'
Bobby Allison would finish 9th, just enough to score his only Winston Cup Championship. During the 1981 & 82 seasons, Waltrip wound up the champion with Allison being runner-up in points. Allison knew his team needed to be stronger on the short tracks. They worked hard all year long and this year, positions 1 & 2 in points were switched. While Allison celebrated his year-long battle, Waltrip settled for second.
The finishing order from that day -
Fin | St | # | Driver | Sponsor / Owner | Car | Laps | Money | Status | Led | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 10 | 9 | Bill Elliott | Melling Oil Pumps ( Harry Melling ) | Ford | 119 | 26,380 | running | 5 | 180 |
2 | 5 | 55 | Benny Parsons | Copenhagen ( Johnny Hayes ) | Chevrolet | 119 | 13,225 | running | 33 | 175 |
3 | 11 | 75 | Neil Bonnett | Hodgdon ( RahMoc Enterprises ) | Chevrolet | 119 | 18,375 | running | 0 | 165 |
4 | 9 | 15 | Dale Earnhardt | Wrangler ( Bud Moore ) | Ford | 119 | 13,725 | running | 4 | 165 |
5 | 26 | 27 | Tim Richmond | Old Milwaukee ( Raymond Beadle ) | Pontiac | 119 | 8,930 | running | 31 | 160 |
6 | 1 | 11 | Darrell Waltrip | Pepsi / Burger King ( Junior Johnson ) | Chevrolet | 119 | 19,200 | running | 34 | 160 |
7 | 3 | 44 | Terry Labonte | Budweiser ( Billy Hagan ) | Chevrolet | 119 | 6,110 | running | 0 | 146 |
8 | 22 | 04 | Hershel McGriff | M. Bloome / Antioch Speedway ( Gary Smith ) | Buick | 119 | 4,700 | running | 0 | 142 |
9 | 6 | 22 | Bobby Allison | Miller High Life ( DiGard ) | Buick | 119 | 10,850 | running | 1 | 143 |
10 | 8 | 43 | Richard Petty | STP ( Petty Enterprises ) | Pontiac | 118 | 8,650 | running | 10 | 139 |
11 | 16 | 47 | Ron Bouchard | Race Hill Farm ( Jack Beebe ) | Buick | 118 | 5,030 | running | 0 | 130 |
12 | 29 | 71 | Dave Marcis | Miller Brothers ( Dave Marcis ) | Oldsmobile | 118 | 9,650 | running | 0 | 127 |
13 | 32 | 7 | Kyle Petty | 7-Eleven ( Petty Enterprises ) | Pontiac | 117 | 4,620 | running | 0 | 124 |
14 | 20 | 88 | Donnie Allison | Gatorade ( Cliff Stewart ) | Pontiac | 117 | 4,410 | running | 0 | 121 |
15 | 25 | 87 | Randy Becker | Becker Trucking ( Randy Becker ) | Buick | 116 | 1,950 | running | 0 | 118 |
16 | 40 | 52 | Jimmy Means | Broadway Motors ( Jimmy Means ) | Chevrolet | 115 | 5,125 | running | 0 | 115 |
17 | 41 | 17 | Sterling Marlin | Hesco Exhaust ( Roger Hamby ) | Pontiac | 115 | 4,465 | running | 0 | 112 |
18 | 39 | 13 | Doug Wheeler | W & W Machine ( Matt Puskarich ) | Buick | 115 | 2,755 | running | 0 | 109 |
19 | 35 | 83 | Sumner McKnight | McKnight Racing ( Sumner McKnight ) | Chevrolet | 114 | 2,415 | running | 0 | 106 |
20 | 15 | 21 | Buddy Baker | Valvoline ( Wood Brothers ) | Ford | 113 | 1,675 | running | 0 | 103 |
21 | 17 | 78 | Jim Robinson | Hammer Security Systems ( Lois Williams ) | Oldsmobile | 112 | 2,305 | running | 0 | 100 |
22 | 12 | 51 | Scott Miller | MDB Systems ( Scott Miller ) | Pontiac | 112 | 1,575 | running | 0 | 97 |
23 | 37 | 67 | Buddy Arrington | Arrington Grocery ( Buddy Arrington ) | Dodge | 109 | 3,195 | wheel | 0 | 94 |
24 | 23 | 48 | Trevor Boys | Hylton-McCaig ( James Hylton ) | Chevrolet | 101 | 3,135 | drive line | 0 | 91 |
25 | 18 | 38 | Don Waterman | St. John's Auto Parts ( Don Waterman ) | Buick | 101 | 1,425 | running | 0 | 88 |
26 | 34 | 64 | D.K. Ulrich | Sunny King Ford & Honda ( Elmo Langley ) | Ford | 101 | 2,325 | differential | 0 | 85 |
27 | 31 | 41 | Ronnie Thomas | McCord Gaskets ( Ronnie Thomas ) | Pontiac | 96 | 1,275 | differential | 0 | 82 |
28 | 33 | 03 | Glenn Francis | Francis Race Cars ( Trent Francis ) | Pontiac | 89 | 1,225 | shifter | 0 | 79 |
29 | 42 | 35 | Pat Mintey | AFR Signs ( Pat Mintey ) | Chevrolet | 73 | 1,175 | engine | 0 | 76 |
30 | 38 | 70 | J.D. McDuffie | McDuffie Racing ( J.D. McDuffie ) | Pontiac | 66 | 2,150 | rocker arm | 0 | 73 |
31 | 7 | 33 | Harry Gant | Skoal Bandit ( Hal Needham ) | Buick | 61 | 8,925 | engine | 0 | 70 |
32 | 36 | 91 | John Krebs | Coca-Cola ( John Krebs ) | Oldsmobile | 60 | 1,100 | engine | 0 | 67 |
33 | 27 | 2 | Morgan Shepherd | My Car ( Jim Stacy ) | Buick | 42 | 8,675 | engine | 0 | 64 |
34 | 21 | 90 | Dick Brooks | Chameleon Sunglasses ( Junie Donlavey ) | Ford | 38 | 2,050 | engine | 0 | 61 |
35 | 13 | 93 | Jim Bown | Wholesale Truck Parts ( John Kieper ) | Buick | 37 | 1,025 | throttle | 0 | 58 |
36 | 14 | 74 | Roy Smith | Edgett Excavating ( John Edgett ) | Buick | 36 | 2,025 | ignition | 0 | 55 |
37 | 2 | 3 | Ricky Rudd | Piedmont Airlines ( Richard Childress ) | Chevrolet | 32 | 1,900 | running | 1 | 57 |
38 | 24 | 66 | Ron Esau | McDonald's ( Jack Lee ) | Buick | 32 | 875 | ignition | 0 | 49 |
39 | 28 | 08 | Rick McCray | Coors ( Rick McCray ) | Pontiac | 29 | 850 | engine | 0 | 46 |
40 | 30 | 73 | Bill Schmitt | Mountain Dew ( Bill Schmitt ) | Chevrolet | 13 | 840 | engine | 0 | 43 |
41 | 4 | 98 | Joe Ruttman | Levi Garrett ( Ron Benfield ) | Pontiac | 12 | 1,840 | engine | 0 | 40 |
42 | 19 | 12 | Jimmy Insolo | Miller High Life ( DiGard ) | Buick | 1 | 840 | quit | 0 | 37 |
Back in Dawsonville, on a closed-circuit in the famous Dawsonville Pool Room, half of town went crazy! They had to figure out somekind of celebration like driving around the courthouse backwards and blaring their horns or something like that. Owner of the Pool Room and friend of Bill Elliott, Gordon Pirkle (Now CEO of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame) went and found an old Fire Department Siren that someone had given him. They stood outside and hooked up the "si-reen" to a 12V battery and blared it for a good while when the local law came rolling around and asked what was going on. Gordon tried to explain that Bill Elliott had just won is first race! The deputy replied with something like 'ok, but start winding it down'. About another 10 minutes of blaring the 'si-reen', the same deputy came back and asked them to stop, and they were disturbing the peace. Gordon replied back with once again "Don't you understand, Bill Elliott just won a NASCAR race!!" Sooner or later the police chief called Gordon and asked what was going on, after Pirkle explained, the chief came down and celebrated himself! In 1984, Elliott won three more races. Mid-way through 1985 (when he set the world on fire) Gordon decided to mount the siren on a pole, high above his Pool Room. Gordon hasn't blared it since 2003, when Bill earned his last victory in Rockingham. Since his son Chase has came along, Gordon has got an even louder siren that he blares whenever Chase earns a victory somewhere across the U.S! It's especially funny when tourists in town hear this siren and start looking around like there's a tornado coming!
Thanks to TMCChase for suggesting this to me in honor of Bill Elliott's 30th Anniversary of his first win!
Hope everyone enjoyed this little piece...... ok, not so little, but I have to get the information across, don't I?
-Cody
updated by @cody-dinsmore: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM