A week after I saw my first live Cup race, the Music City 420 at Nashville, the Cup series headed west young man to again race the road course of Riverside International Raceway. The NAPA 400 was run on June 11, 1978. - Motor Racing Programme Covers
To save costs and perhaps manage through internal team issues, Benny Parsons' team was pitted by Cale Yarborough's Junior Johnson team. The two teams shared a common sponsor - First National City Travelers Checks - but had nothing else in common.
It really is amazing to think a team would be willing to pit a legit competitor - and to think a crew would have to perform twice the number of stops ... in 90+ degree heat. What a great era of racing.
The Silver Fox, David Pearson, won the pole in the Wood Brothers Mercury. Cale Yarborough qualified on the front row with him. Dave Marcis, Benny Parsons and Bobby Allison rounded out the top 5 starters.
Pearson wasn't much of a factor in the race. He didn't lead any laps, broke a valve after 66 laps, and finished 27th in the 35-car field. Marcis had a solid day finishing 4th after starting 3rd in car number 2. How's THAT for some racing numerology.
Cale was the rabbit in the first half of the race. He led 47 of the first 54 laps. After losing a tire, pitting and surrendering the lead, however, he was never able to get back to the front. When the checkers fell, he had to settle for 5th.
The remaining laps were led by Richard Petty, Bobby Allison and Benny Parsons. After Petty and Allison made their final stops of the day, they went searching for Parsons who had inherited the lead again. But Benny had built a sizable lead and used the accelerator as if it had an egg under it in an effort to extend his fuel mileage.
Sure enough with about a 30 second lead over the King, Benny was able to creep across the finish line with barely enough gas left in the tank. In today's racing, perhaps NASCAR would argue the 72 wasn't maintaining race speed. But in that era, the L.G. DeWitt team and Junior Johnson crew played the rules and strategy perfectly to stretch the tank of gas as far as it would go - all the way to victory lane.
Benny going through the Esses - from Richard Guido
Finishing a mildly surprising second was King Richard. I say mildly surprising for a couple of reasons:
- He hadn't won in almost one year
- His stomach ulcers gave him fits as they would continue to do so the rest of the season
- He was making his one and only start at Riverside in the ill-fated Dodge Magnum. (The team raced the fabulous Dodge Charger in the season-opener at Riverside.) Though the car was often un-competitive in many races, Petty did manage a 3rd place finish on Nashville's half-mile followed a 2nd place finish at Riverside. Go figure.
Victory celebration - Sumter Daily Item
Race report from Times-News
Interestingly, just a couple of weeks earlier Benny was talking about a pinched nerve in his neck and a couple of messed up vertebrae that were giving him fits. Facing possible surgery, he manged his way through the discomfort the rest of the season. I have to believe the back-and-forth steering needed at Riverside didn't do his neck any favors. Yet the win likely soothed him a bit for at least a day or two. - Spartanburg Herald Journal
As it turns out, the Riverside victory was Benny's final win of the 1978 season. Faced with the on-going health issues plus internal management issues with the DeWitt team, Benny chose to part ways with the organization at the end of the season. The race also turned out to be the final one EVER for the DeWitt team. Despite a promising fresh start with Joe Millikan in 1979, the 1973 championship winning team ran out of money and was shuttered after only a few races into 1980. - Spartanburg Herald Journal
| Fin | Driver | Car |
| 1 | Benny Parsons | Chevrolet |
| 2 | Richard Petty | Dodge |
| 3 | Bobby Allison | Ford |
| 4 | Dave Marcis | Chevrolet |
| 5 | Cale Yarborough | Oldsmobile |
| 6 | Ray Elder | Dodge |
| 7 | Lennie Pond | Chevrolet |
| 8 | Bill Schmitt | Oldsmobile |
| 9 | Jim Thirkettle | Buick |
| 10 | Neil Bonnett | Dodge |
| 11 | Tighe Scott | Chevrolet |
| 12 | Cecil Gordon | Chevrolet |
| 13 | Rick McCray | Chevrolet |
| 14 | D.K. Ulrich | Chevrolet |
| 15 | Richard Childress | Oldsmobile |
| 16 | Darrell Waltrip | Chevrolet |
| 17 | Hershel McGriff | Chevrolet |
| 18 | Buddy Arrington | Ford |
| 19 | Richard White | Chevrolet |
| 20 | Harry Goularte | Chevrolet |
| 21 | Dick May | Chevrolet |
| 22 | Don Graham | Chevrolet |
| 23 | John Borneman | Chevrolet |
| 24 | J.D. McDuffie | Chevrolet |
| 25 | Ronnie Thomas | Chevrolet |
| 26 | Dick Brooks | Ford |
| 27 | David Pearson | Mercury |
| 28 | Chuck Wahl | Chevrolet |
| 29 | Frank Warren | Dodge |
| 30 | Rocky Moran | Buick |
| 31 | Ernie Stierly | Chevrolet |
| 32 | Jimmy Insolo | Oldsmobile |
| 33 | Don Noel | Chevrolet |
| 34 | Bill Baker | Buick |
| 35 | Norm Palmer | Dodge |
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
