Busch Clash a Springboard to Earnhardt's 1st Championship

There have been many exciting Clashes and Shootouts at Daytona.

Coming off his 1979 NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National Rookie of the Year performance, a win in the 1980 Busch Clash at Daytona got Dale Earnhardt headed toward his first Winston Cup Championship.

I'm sure Busch Beer would have preferred Cale Yarborough in that #11 Busch Chevy they sponsored out of Ronda, NC in victory lane, but the results were prophetic.

The 1980 Busch Clash on CBS television was run on a rain plagued date. The ARCA race, already in progress, was red flagged to run the Bush Clash, then resumed following Dale's win.

That's the Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt smile I remember so well. R.I.P. Dale and Suitcase Jake.

That was awesome Dave!

Also kinda wild that they halted one race to start another!

Here are the early laps (starting at lap 4) through the final, winning move of that 1980 Busch Clash.

and that, newcomers, is the kind of racing that used to put fannies in seats at the NASCAR tracks!

and in the 1984 pre-roof flap Clash, Ricky Rudd drove in the Daytona 500 with his eyes taped open the week following the incident below and two weeks after the crash won the short track race at Richmond wearing a flak jacket. One of racing's most memorable comebacks. Commentary by "The King"

dave i remember that wreck looked a lot worse than what it was rudd was a tough man to come back 2 weeks later and win at richmond

dave i enjoyed the video i wonder did bobby allisonwin the 500 that year

Buddy Baker won in the Harry Ranier #28, followed by Bobby in Bud Moore's #15.

5:13 in the 1st video clip - Ken Squier "Later, #18, the rookie... the Will Cronkrite car, #18... LOSES an engine."

I caught that, too.

I wasn't there for the Clash. But I did arrive via a Greyhound bus in Jacksonville, FL the next Saturday in time to see Buddy win his one and only Daytona 500. Was my first D500 to see. My mother put me on the bus Friday night. Rode all night to Jax where my uncle picked me up. Sunday morning, two of my uncles, my aunt, my other uncle's girlfriend, and I pulled out in the motorhome of my uncle's father-in-law. I remember the stiff, cold breeze as I watched the cars make laps as best I could.

My uncle from Tennessee was supposed to drive me home on Monday when he and his girlfriend returned. But being the free spirit that he is, he decided to stay longer which put me in a bind with school.

Instead, he took me to the Jax airport and put me on a one-way flight aboard Eastern airlines.

So I was pretty close to experiencing Planes, Trains & Automobiles to see the 1980 Daytona 500.