From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

1978 Daytona 500

Auto race held at Daytona International Speedway in 1978

Field	Value
Year	1978
Type	NASWINSTON
Race_No	2
Season_No	30
Image	1978_Daytona_500_program_cover_and_logo.jpg
Caption	1978 Daytona 500 program cover
Fulldate
Distance_laps	200
Distance_mi	500
Distance_km	804.672
Weather	Temperatures of 73.9 F; wind speeds of 9.9 mph
Avg	159.73 mi/h
Attendance	140,000
Pole_Driver	Cale Yarborough
Pole_Team	Junior Johnson & Associates
Duel1	A. J. Foyt
One_Team	A. J. Foyt Enterprises
Duel2	Darrell Waltrip
Two_Team	DiGard Motorsports
Most_Driver	Buddy Baker
Most_Team	M.C. Anderson Racing
Most_laps	76
Car	15
First_Driver	Bobby Allison
First_Team	Bud Moore Engineering
Network	ABC's WWOS
Announcers	Jim McKay and Jackie Stewart
Ratings	11.8/33
(20.9.1 million viewers)

(20.9.1 million viewers)

The 1978 Daytona 500, the 20th running of the event, was the second race of the 1978 NASCAR Winston Cup season. It was held on February 19 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Defending winner Cale Yarborough won the pole and Bobby Allison won the race.

Race report

The race began with Richard Petty, who brought a brand new Dodge Magnum to the race, leading early. Starting in sixth place, Petty quickly went out in front and led 32 out of the first 60 laps, all under green. The first 60 laps were run at an average speed of nearly 180 mph. But on the lap 61, Petty cut a left rear tire and spun out, collecting long-time rival David Pearson and Darrell Waltrip.

Track conditions were very "green" that day, due to heavy rains during the week, meaning there was little rubber on the track. Just after the restart on lap 70, Parsons blew a left rear tire and spun out. Behind him, 1972 race winner A. J. Foyt was caught up and flipped several times in the turn 1 infield. That left the race to three drivers, 1977 race winner and polesitter Cale Yarborough, Buddy Baker and Bobby Allison, who entered the race with a 67-race winless streak. Yarborough dropped out with engine problems. With 11 laps remaining, Baker, dueling with Allison, suffered an engine failure. Allison drove his Bud Moore Ford Thunderbird around Baker to take the lead and capture his first Daytona 500 win.

It was the lowest starting position (33rd) that a driver had won the event, until 2007 when Kevin Harvick started one spot further back than Allison. 1978 would be final year for the AMC Matador with Jocko Maggiacomo's entry. First Daytona 500 starts for Bill Elliott, Blackie Wangerin, Morgan Shepherd, and Harry Gant. Only Daytona 500 starts for Roger Hamby, Roland Wlodyka, Jerry Jolly, Claude Ballot-Léna, and Al Holbert. Last Daytona 500 starts for Ron Hutcherson, Ferrel Harris, Skip Manning, Dick May, Jimmy Lee Capps, and Joe Mihalic.

Denver racer Jerry Jolly made his NASCAR Winston Cup debut and finished 20th, his best in the series. This would be the only one of his five Winston Cup starts where he was running at the finish. This was done in spite of a cut tire on the 92nd lap that started a four-car incident that also involved the cars of Cecil Gordon, Jimmy Lee Capps, and Tighe Scott. All four were running at the finish of a race that had a remarkably low amount of attrition for a race of that era. Only 14 of the 41 cars that started failed to make it to the finish, with a high percentage of those who failed to make it to the finish being some of the sport's top drivers.

This was the last Daytona 500 until the 2019 Daytona 500 without an Earnhardt in the field.

Notable crew chiefs who participated in this race included Darrell Bryant, Junie Donlavey, Jake Elder, Joey Arrington, Herb Nab, Dale Inman, Bud Moore and Harry Hyde.

Race results

Pos	Grid	No.	Driver	Entrant	Manufacturer	Laps	Winnings	Laps led	Time/Status
33	15	Bobby Allison	Bud Moore Engineering	Ford	200	$56,300	28	3:07:49	180
1	11	Cale Yarborough	Junior Johnson & Associates	Oldsmobile	200	$41,900	43	+33.2	175
8	72	Benny Parsons	L. G. DeWitt	Oldsmobile	199	$31,865	2	+1 Lap	170
2	53	Ron Hutcherson	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Buick	199	$22,250	0	+1 Lap	160
32	90	Dick Brooks	Donlavey Racing	Mercury	198	$19,925	0	+2 Laps	155
10	2	Dave Marcis	Rod Osterlund	Chevrolet	198	$15,600	0	+2 Laps	150
31	27	Buddy Baker	M. C. Anderson	Oldsmobile	196	$16,395	76	Engine	156
9	9	Bill Elliott	Elliott Racing	Mercury	195	$12,085	0	+5 Laps	142
23	6	Ferrel Harris	Jim Stacy	Dodge	195	$11,175	0	+5 Laps	138
28	54	Lennie Pond	Ranier Racing	Oldsmobile	195	$10,285	0	+5 Laps	134
11	30	Tighe Scott	Walter Ballard	Oldsmobile	194	$10,605	0	+6 Laps	130
18	92	Skip Manning	Billy Hagan	Buick	194	$9,560	0	+6 Laps	127
19	3	Richard Childress	Richard Childress Racing	Oldsmobile	194	$8,665	0	+6 Laps	124
13	41	Grant Adcox	Herb Adcox	Chevrolet	193	$6,370	0	+7 Laps	121
30	17	Roger Hamby	Hamby Motorsports	Chevrolet	193	$6,185	0	+7 Laps	118
17	67	Buddy Arrington	Buddy Arrington	Dodge	192	$6,845	0	+8 Laps	115
40	40	D. K. Ulrich	D. K. Ulrich	Chevrolet	192	$6,150	0	+8 Laps	112
25	57	Dick May	Alfred McClure	Ford	192	$4,410	0	+8 Laps	109
15	98	Roland Wlodyka	Rod Osterlund	Buick	192	$4,150	0	+8 Laps	106
26	28	Jerry Jolly	Charles Dean	Chevrolet	191	$3,720	0	+9 Laps	103
41	24	Cecil Gordon	Gordon Racing	Chevrolet	191	$4,110	0	+9 Laps	100
35	49	Claude Ballot-Léna	G. C. Spencer	Dodge	190	$2,835	0	+10 Laps	–
27	26	Jimmy Lee Capps	David Lee Sellers	Chevrolet	189	$2,805	0	+11 Laps	94
34	79	Frank Warren	Frank Warren	Dodge	188	$3,125	0	+12 Laps	91
38	64	Tommy Gale	Elmo Langley	Ford	185	$3,350	0	+15 Laps	88
16	14	Coo Coo Marlin	H. B. Cunningham	Chevrolet	179	$2,425	0	+21 Laps	85
12	5	Neil Bonnett	Jim Stacy	Dodge	150	$5,750	0	Engine	82
4	88	Darrell Waltrip	DiGard Racing	Chevrolet	138	$16,050	12	+62 Laps	84
14	48	Al Holbert	James Hylton	Chevrolet	136	$3,065	0	Engine	76
22	70	J. D. McDuffie	McDuffie Racing	Chevrolet	132	$2,880	0	+68 Laps	73
21	61	Joe Mihalic	Jim Norris	Oldsmobile	110	$2,200	0	Engine	70
3	51	A. J. Foyt	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Buick	68	$12,675	0	Crash	–
6	43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises	Dodge	60	$11,600	39	Crash	69
5	21	David Pearson	Wood Brothers Racing	Mercury	60	$6,775	0	Crash	61
39	52	Jimmy Means	Jimmy Means Racing	Chevrolet	41	$2,395	0	Engine	58
29	39	Blackie Wangerin	Blackie Wangerin	Mercury	30	$1,950	0	Engine	55
36	22	Ricky Rudd	Al Rudd	Chevrolet	21	$4,375	0	Handling	52
24	89	Jim Vandiver	O. L. Nixon	Chevrolet	19	$1,975	0	Engine	49
7	1	Donnie Allison	Hoss Ellington	Oldsmobile	9	$4,325	0	Body dam	46
37	84	Morgan Shepherd	Jim Makar	Mercury	8	$1,650	0	Engine	43
20	66	Harry Gant	Ray Emerson	Buick	1	$1,975	0	Engine	40

Media

Television

The Daytona 500 was covered by ABC for the seventeenth and final time. ABC aired reports during the early stages of the race and then live coverage started at 3:00pm and was two thirds into the race and continued into the end of the race. Jim McKay and three time Formula One World Champion Jackie Stewart called the race from the broadcast booth. Chris Economaki handled pit road for the television side.

ABC	Booth announcers	Pit reporters	Lap-by-lap	Color-commentators
Jim McKay	Jackie Stewart	Chris Economaki

References

"Weather of the ''1978 Daytona 500''". The Old Farmers' Almanac.
[http://www.nascar.com/2005/kyn/01/21/1978_daytona/index.html NASCAR.COM – Daytona Countdown: '78 – Jan 21, 2005]
"''1978 Daytona 500'' race information". Racing Reference.
[https://www.racing-reference.info/entrylist/1978-02/W/C 1978 Daytona 500 crew chiefs] at Racing Reference
[https://www.racing-reference.info/race-results/1978_Daytona_500/W/ 1978 Daytona 500]

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1978-in-sports-in-florida 1978-nascar-winston-cup-series february-1978-sports-events-in-the-united-states nascar-races-at-daytona-international-speedway

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 1978 Daytona 500 — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report