Dennis Andrews, James Trout (or anybody else)... Please Tell Me About the 1980 NASCAR Grand American Season
Stock Car Racing History
Following Tim Leeming's post about the September 10, 1978 race at Richmond when Neil Bonnett slammed into Darrell Waltrip's car on pit road, I decided to look at some Neil Bonnett / Richmond facts.
Looking at the Ultimate Racing History site, I saw that Neil won a May 11, 1980 NASCAR Grand American race at Richmond. I did a double-take because I thought the Grand American Series only ran from 1968 - 1972.
But, sure enough there are newspaper articles out there and race results from various 1980 NASCAR Grand American races at places like Riverside, Daytona, Nashville, Talladega, Richmond, Charlotte, Huntsville, Pensacola, and Ontario and probably more.
Lots of Camaros running and even some David Allio photos floating around.
Please refresh my memory, because I absolutely don't remember this NASCAR division in 1980. Were these cars like Late Model Modifieds? Were they like ASA cars or promoter, Bob Harmon's All-Pro Series cars? Was NASCAR using this division to compete with ASA and All-Pro? Was this a Winston Racing Series Division like Late Model Sportsman?
I note the abbreviated results of the 1980 Richmond NASCAR Grand American race show some ASA names like Mark Martin and Bob Senneker in the field, but also names like David Pearson, Butch Lindley and Elton Sawyer.
Seems Mark Martin's Richmond luck in the 1980 NASCAR Grand American race at Richmond wasn't any better than his 1981 Richmond Cup debut when his pole winning car wouldn't start because of a rag in the carburetor or when his 1990 Roush Richmond winning car was stripped of points because of an illegal carburetor spacer.
In the 1980 Richmond NASCAR Grand American race, Mark ran out of gas.
Mark Martin is really snake bitten at Richmond.
I'm really curious about this series that rings no bells with me. What can you good folks tell me?
Grand American 200
NASCAR Grand American race
Richmond International Raceway, Richmond, VA
May 11, 1980
200 laps on 0.542 mile paved oval; 108.4 miles
Fin St Driver # Owner Car Laps Money Status Laps Led
1 2 Neil Bonnett 1979 Chevrolet Camaro 200 running
2 6 Jody Ridley 1979 Chevrolet Camaro 200 running
3 8 Bob Senneker 1980 Chevrolet Camaro
4 7 David Pearson 1979 Chevrolet Camaro
5 Morgan Shepherd
1 Mark Martin 1980 Chevrolet Camaro
3 Rick Wilson 1979 Chevrolet Camaro
4 Bob Strait 1979 Chevrolet Camaro
5 Butch Lindley 1979 Chevrolet Camaro
9 Phil Grissom 1977 Chevrolet Camaro
10 Elton Sawyer 1979 Chevrolet Camaro
Time of race: 01:13:38
Average Speed: 88.329 MPH
Pole Speed: 19.04 seconds
2 cautions for 19 laps
Butch Lindley leads David Pearson in the CRC Chemicals 200 NASCAR Grand American race at Nashville Fairgrounds on April 19, 1980 in this David Allio photo.
Jeff Morgan #11 and Ronnie Broadway #28 are lined up for the start of the NASCAR Grand American race on July 4, 1980 at Pensacola, Florida's Five Flags Speedway in this David Allio photo.
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
