The Winston Cup Grand National drivers rolled into North Wilkesboro in early April for the Gwyn Staley 400, the seventh race of the 1976 season. Clearly, the story line of the season to-date was the amazing finish between Richard Petty and David Pearson in the Daytona 500.
http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/stock-car-racing-history/30818/racing-history-minute-1976-daytona-500
Pearson backed up his superspeedway Daytona win with two more victories at Riverside's road course and then at Atlanta.
The King rebounded nicely from Daytona. The crew thrashed on the wrecked 43, towed it to Rockingham two weeks later, and celebrated as Petty won the Carolina 500 in the rebuilt Dodge.
http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/stock-car-racing-history/13015/yes-virginia-there-has-been-a-leap-year-race
Dave Marcis nabbed a win at Richmond...
http://racersreunion.com/brian-yezierski/gallery/54547/dave-marcis-richmond-1976
... and Cale Yarborough put a whuppin' on the field at Bristol.
Wilkesboro was slotted as the third short-track event in the first seven races of the season. The scarce number of short track races now compared to the abundance of them then has robbed today's fan base of some legendary racing facilities, rivalries, and driver skills.
Today, I blogged about Cale's dominating performance at Wilkesboro in Junior Johnson's Holly Farms #11 Chevy.
http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2017/04/april-4-1976-gwyn-staley-400.html
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 01/18/20 05:20:38AM