November 29, 1981: Petty 3 of 4 at Phoenix

TMC Chase
@tmc-chase
12 years ago
4,073 posts

I did find a race held on November 29th. It was yet another Winston West race held at Phoenix following the end of the 1981 Winston Cup season. I blogged about it this morning and have excerpted some of it below:

https://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2013/11/november-29-1981-petty-3-of-4-at-phoenix.html

Having completed the Winston Cup season's final race at Riverside, most teams returned south. Bobby Allison celebrated his race victory, and Darrell Waltrip's Junior Johnson team likely had serious morning headaches for a few days after the Mountain Dew team won the 1981 championship.

Richard and Kyle Petty and representatives from the Alabama Gang - Bobby Allison and Neil Bonnett - stayed over a few days out west to participate in the Warner Hodgdon 250 Winston West race at Phoenix International Raceway.

Bonnett won the pole for the race - his second in seven Winston West races at the track from 1977 through 1982. Not surprisingly, Bonnett along with Richard Petty and Allison had the most success in the string of annual races during that period. Petty had three wins in the six Phoenix races he ran. Bonnett and Allison each had a win in the seven races they ran, and both finished in the top 5 all seven times.

Neil took advantage of his top starting spot by leading the first 33 laps. He surrendered the lead for a handful of laps - presumably during a cycle of pit stops. But soon after, Bonnett's #21 Ford went back to the point for another 34-lap segment.

After Kyle Petty led for 2 laps, Neil took the lead for a third time to lead for 17 laps. On lap 94, however, King Richard who had been running with Bonnett all day took the lead and never gave it back. The 43 led the final 63 laps to take the win.

The victory was the King's third in four races at Phoenix having won previously the 1978 Arizona NAPA 250 and 1980 Arizona Winston 250 . He led the most laps but finished third to Bonnett in the 1979 race - otherwise, he could have possibly "four-peated".

Cup regulars claimed the top four spots - Richard, Neil, Kyle and Bobby - and were the only cars to finish on the lead lap.

Fin Driver Sponsor / Owner Car
1 Richard Petty STP Buick
2 Neil Bonnett Warner Hodgdon / National Engineering Ford
3 Kyle Petty STP (Petty Enterprises) Buick
4 Bobby Allison Gatorade (DiGard) Buick
5 Bill Schmitt Schmitt Racing (Bill Schmitt) Buick
6 Roy Smith Aircraft Standards (Robert Beadle) Buick
7 Scott Miller J.D. Stacy Pontiac
8 Pat Mintey Marv's Chevy Only (Pat Mintey) Chevrolet
9 Terry Forsythe J.D. Stacy (Dick Midgley) Buick
10 Don Waterman St. John's Auto Parts (Don Waterman) Buick
11 Mark Stahl Mark Stahl Race Prep (Mark Stahl) Ford
12 Don Stanley United Motors Chevrolet
13 Gene Thonesen Thonesen Racing (Gene Thonesen) Buick
14 Jim Bown Rose Auto Wrecking (Dick Bown) Buick
15 John Kieper Wholesale Truck Parts (John Kieper) Oldsmobile
16 Jim Robinson Hammer Security / Gibson Remodeling (Jack Williams) Oldsmobile
17 Gary Kershaw J.R. Edgett (John Edgett) Buick
18 Randy Becker Herborn's Alignment / Matson Graphics (Robert Palmer) Dodge
19 John Borneman Borneman Plastering (John Borneman) Buick
20 Bob Bondurant HFJ Racing Pontiac
21 Steve Pfeifer KCAL Radio Pontiac
22 Chuck Pittenger Pitt's Performance Buick
23 Hershel McGriff Industrial Leasing (Gerald Craker) Buick
24 Don Puskarich Puskarich Racing (Matt Puskarich) Oldsmobile



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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.

updated by @tmc-chase: 11/29/20 01:46:13PM