In the next to last race of the 1976 season, the Winston Cup teams rolled into Hampton GA for the running of the Dixie 500 at Atlanta International Raceway.
Buddy Baker won the pole in Bud Moore's #15 Ford. Dave Marcis qualified second in the #71 K&K Insurance Dodge previously piloted a couple of years earlier by Baker. Two giants of the sport David Pearson and Richard Petty - lined up in the second row, and Donnie Allison qualified 5th in Hoss Ellington's #1 Chevy. - Spartanburg Herald Journal
A carrot dangled before the teams was a Ski Nautique speedboat. The boat was to be awarded to the driver with the biggest improvement from qualifying to race results. Some MAY have thought of sand bagging in qualifying to nab the boat on Sunday. If so, they didn't follow through as most of the expected front runners for the race did the same during time trials. At the same time, some of the independents were unabashedly honest about their intent to nab the boat. - Lakeland Ledger
Rookie Dale Earnhardt was attempting to qualify for only his third career Cup start. Driving a Chevy fielded by owner and former driver Johnny Ray, Earnhardt struggled in the first round of qualifying. But after listening to the counsel of the King, Earnhardt nailed down the quickest lap in round two of qualifying.
Also making the show was Richie Panch, son of Marvin Panch. Richie raced the #99 Ford owned by Delbert and Diane Puro. The restoration of the car raced by Richie, Dick Trickle and Hershel McGriff was featured on Ray Evernham's show AmeriCARna.
Missing the show were Marty Robbins and Joe Frasson. I can only imagine the party those two may have led on Saturday night with nothing to do on Sunday. - From Spartanburg Herald Journal
Georgia late model driver, Bill Elliott, started the first eight Cup races of his career in 1976. He did not enter the Atlanta race. Instead, he helped service fellow Georgian Gene Feltons car. Driving a Ford fielded by Junie Donlavey, Felton made his only career Winston Cup start in this race.
Baker was the early rabbit leading the first 11 laps. From there a number of drivers took their turn up front including David Pearson, Marcis, Cale Yarborough and Benny Parsons. Each time Marcis took the lead though, he led a more sizable chunk of laps than the others.
Earnhardt kept his nose clean for much of the race and was poised for the accomplishment of simply finishing the race as a rookie. He accumulated several spectacular finishes in his career. But after started 16th in this race, he had a spectacular wreck with about 50 laps to go. Dick Brooks in Donlavey's primary car hit the wall, almost leapt it, hooked left back down the track and hooked Earnhardt who was hoping to just pass on by. A wild series of flips ended the day for Ralph's son.
Or as the Tuscaloosa News noted about its future favorite adopted son outside of the Alabama Gang: Dale BARNHART.
Earnhardt and car builder Robert Gee re-built the car, and Ray entered it again with USAC driver Johnny Rutherford behind the wheel in February 1977 in the Daytona 500.
As the race entered its second half, the two primary combatants were Pearson and Marcis. With about 30 laps to go, Marcis was leading. A few laps later, however, Pearson in his #21 Wood Brothers Purolator Mercury slipped by Marcis 71 and led the next 14 laps. But Marcis then hammered down, passed Pearson for the final time and held the lead until he saw the checkered flag. Pearson kept Wingtip Dave honest though as Marcis won by only 2 car lengths. When the dust settled, Marcis had led 224 of the race's 328 laps - a pretty commanding performance even with several lead changes.
Marcis was obviously delighted to be in victory lane. Though he had no idea at the time, he would not visit victory lane again and for the final time - until 1982 at Richmond. - Spartanburg Herald Journal
Another driver perhaps even happier than Marcis was Yarborough. With this fourth place finish and a rotten P28 by the King, Cale locked up his first of three consecutive Winston Cup titles. - Spartanburg Herald Journal
(Click to open larger version of article in new tab.)
And who won the ski boat? I haven't found an article that mentioned who claimed it. But JD McDuffie and Bobby Wawak both improved 22 spots from their starting spot. I'm not sure the tiebreaker used, but Wawak did finish P10 to JD's 13th place finish. Felton improved 20 spots - and it would've certainly made for interesting trivia if he had towed home a boat in his only Cup start.
Finishing order
| Fin | Driver | Sponsor / Owner | Car |
| 1 | Dave Marcis | K & K Insurance (Nord Krauskopf) | Dodge |
| 2 | David Pearson | Purolator (Wood Brothers) | Mercury |
| 3 | Donnie Allison | Hoss Ellington | Chevrolet |
| 4 | Cale Yarborough | Holly Farms (Junior Johnson) | Chevrolet |
| 5 | Buddy Baker | Norris Industries (Bud Moore) | Ford |
| 6 | Benny Parsons | 1st National City Travelers Checks (L.G. DeWitt) | Chevrolet |
| 7 | Darrell Waltrip | Gatorade (DiGard) | Chevrolet |
| 8 | Neil Bonnett | Hawaiian Tropic (Neil Bonnett) | Chevrolet |
| 9 | Sam Sommers | M.C. Anderson | Chevrolet |
| 10 | Bobby Wawak | Gwinn-Wawak (John Gwinn) | Chevrolet |
| 11 | Bruce Hill | Howson Algraphy (Bruce Hill) | Chevrolet |
| 12 | James Hylton | Hylton Engineering (James Hylton) | Chevrolet |
| 13 | J.D. McDuffie | J.D. McDuffie | Chevrolet |
| 14 | Skip Manning | Stratagraph (Billy Hagan) | Chevrolet |
| 15 | Sonny Easley | Haddick's Towing (Jerry Lankford) | Ford |
| 16 | Gene Felton | Truxmore (Junie Donlavey) | Ford |
| 17 | Jimmy Means | WIXC (Bill Gray) | Chevrolet |
| 18 | D.K. Ulrich | Howard Johnson's (J.R. DeLotto) | Chevrolet |
| 19 | Dale Earnhardt | Hy Gain (Johnny Ray) | Chevrolet |
| 20 | Grant Adcox | Adcox-Kirby (Herb Adcox) | Chevrolet |
| 21 | Richie Panch | Delbert Puro | Ford |
| 22 | Terry Bivins | Ballard Racing (Walter Ballard) | Chevrolet |
| 23 | Cecil Gordon | Cannon Farms (Cecil Gordon) | Chevrolet |
| 24 | Lennie Pond | Pepsi-Cola (Ronnie Elder) | Chevrolet |
| 25 | Richard Childress | Kansas Jack (Richard Childress) | Chevrolet |
| 26 | Bobby Allison | CAM 2 (Roger Penske) | Mercury |
| 27 | Frank Warren | Native Tan (Frank Warren) | Dodge |
| 28 | Richard Petty | STP (Petty Enterprises) | Dodge |
| 29 | Dick Brooks | Truxmore (Junie Donlavey) | Ford |
| 30 | Coo Coo Marlin | Cunningham-Kelley (H.B. Cunningham) | Chevrolet |
| 31 | Chuck Bown | Lake's Drywall (Gerald Craker) | Chevrolet |
| 32 | Dick May | Harold Miller | Chevrolet |
| 33 | David Sisco | Red Dog's (Lou Viglione) | Chevrolet |
| 34 | Billy McGinnis | David Sisco | Chevrolet |
| 35 | G.C. Spencer | Lady & Son Auction (G.C. Spencer) | Dodge |
| 36 | Jack Donohue | Thundercraft Boat (Dean Dalton) | Chevrolet |
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 10/25/17 12:29:13PM
