1954 - Herb Thomas
Elmo Langley made his 1st career GN/Cup start in this race.
Video (but no sound)
1971 - Bobby Allison
With Marty Robbins in VL. Marty finished 7th - a career high in his limited GN/Cup career.
Doggone it. King Richard had a good shot at winning this race. However, in the end, Bobby's car was likely too strong for the 43 to overcome it. Near the end of the race, Petty makes a pit stop while in 2nd. A crewman thought he needed a splash of gas and quickly loosened the gas cap. Actually, RP needed only a splash of water. He grabbed it and went - but with the gas cap dangling. He was forced back into the pits with a black flag and ended up 2nd to Allison a lap down. Teammate Buddy Baker in the #11 Dodge finished 3rd.
Watch closely too from around 14-17 minute mark. Pete Hamilton falls out of the race. He goes right to his former employer's pit to see if Petty needs relief help. RP signals he is OK to make it to the end. But Pete jumps over the wall anyway, and he helps push the car out of its pit stall.
1976 - David Pearson
King Richard makes a great, late race run to get by Darrell Waltrip. Unfortunately, the pass by 43 of DW is for 2nd place. Neither 43 or 88 were a match for the Wood Brothers 21.
James Hylton talking to Bill France Jr. Wonder if conversation went something like:
JH: "So Billy, about those guaranteed purses and bonus money for us independent guys."
BFJr: "Good seein' ya Jimmy. Yeah, we'll talk about it sometime. Hey, I think I see Ralph Seagraves. See ya later."
1982 - Cale Yarborough - Cale's final win with M.C. Anderson (though he would win 9 more times in his career with Harry Ranier).
Promo poster from Dave Fulton collection.
Kyle Petty raced a #1 Chevy for Hoss Ellington in the race. STP/UNO: 2 sponsors, 6 letters. That's efficient. From Tom Knox collection.
As was often the case, King Richard was oh so close at Darlington. He finished 2nd to Cale about 3/4 of second behind the 27. Interestingly, #27 that Cale drove to the win in 1982 was the same number he was sporting when he flew over the wall in the 1965 Southern 500.
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Two other memorable Southern 500s were held on September 6 - albeit on SUNDAY vs. Labor Day. And rain affected the outcome of both.
1987 - Richard Petty passed Dale Earnhardt well past the half-way point to the delight of the crowd. But then Earnhardt got back past the 43, and rains begin the fall. The race was called after 202 of the scheduled 367 laps, and Earnhardt was declared the winner.
1992- Davey Allison won the Daytona 500 and Coca-Cola 600 earlier in the year, and he was shooting for the Winston Million at Darlington.
He was leading when the 28 Yates crew had to make a tough decision as to whether to pit. Larry McReynolds elected to bring Davey to pit road. Unfortunately for the team, it was the wrong call. Rains begin to fall, Darrell Waltrip was out front, and the race was called official. It was DW's only Southern 500 win. When asked what the win meant to him, DW replied "about a million bucks".
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 09/02/17 09:49:11PM
