1978 NAPA National 500

Auto race held at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1978 February 2025 CUST Race 27 of 30 in the 1978 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season NAPA National 500 Weather information for the 1978 NAPA National 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac 1978 10 8 1978 27 30 Lowe's Motor Speedway.svg Layout of Charlotte Motor Speedway NAPA National 600 Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina 1.500 2.414 334 500 865 Chilly with temperatures of 66 F C; wind speeds of 12 mph km/h 141.846 mi/h David Pearson Wood Brothers Racing Bobby Allison Bud Moore Engineering 108 72 Bobby Allison Bud Moore Engineering ABC Jim McKay Chris Economaki The 1978 NAPA National 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event held on October 8, 1978, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The #96 Ford was qualified and driven by Dale Earnhardt. Baxter Price only started the race to preserve Dale's status as a rookie for 1979 (NASCAR rules allow a driver to make five starts in a previous year). Background Charlotte Motor Speedway was designed and built by Bruton Smith and partner and driver Curtis Turner in 1959. The first World 600 NASCAR race was held at the 1.5 mi km on speedway on June 19, 1960. On December 8, 1961, the speedway filed bankruptcy notice. Judge J.B. Craven of US District Court for Western North Carolina reorganized it under Chapter 10 of the Bankruptcy Act; Judge Craven appointed Robert "Red" Robinson as the track's trustee until March 1962. At that point, a committee of major stockholders in the speedway was assembled, headed by A.C. Goines and furniture store owner Richard Howard. Goines, Howard, and Robinson worked to secure loans and other monies to keep the speedway afloat.Charlotte Observer timeline on Charlotte Motor Speedway https://web.archive.org/web/20131102052807/http://www.thatsracin.com/2009/05/21/9571/the-beginning-1959-1969.html November 2, 2013 By April 1963 some $750,000 was paid to twenty secured creditors and the track emerged from bankruptcy; Judge Craven appointed Goines as speedway president and Howard as assistant general manager of the speedway, handling its day-to-day operations. By 1964 Howard become the track's general manager, and on June 1, 1967, the speedway's mortgage was paid in full; a public burning of the mortgage was held at the speedway two weeks later.Benyo, Richard (1977) SUPERSPEEDWAY: The Story Of NASCAR Grand National Racing Mason/Charter 0-88405-391-1 pp.71-6 Smith departed from the speedway in 1962 to pursue other business interests, primarily in banking and auto dealerships from his new home of Rockford, IL. He became quite successful and began buying out shares of stock in the speedway. By 1974 Smith was more heavily involved in the speedway, to where Richard Howard by 1975 stated, "I haven't been running the speedway. It's being run from Illinois."Benyo, SUPERSPEEDWAY, p. 76 In 1975 Smith had become the majority stockholder, regaining control of its day-to-day operations. Smith hired H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler as general manager in October 1975, and on January 29, 1976, Richard Howard resigned as president and GM of the speedway. Race report The race was held on a dry circuit; with no precipitation recorded around the speedway. http://www.sercc.com/CharlotteNASCARClimatology.pdf Charlotte NASCAR Climatology SERCC 2018-09-12 2018-09-08 https://web.archive.org/web/20180908092914/http://www.sercc.com/CharlotteNASCARClimatology.pdf dead Glenn Jarrett, the brother of Dale Jarrett, and the son of Ned Jarrett, made his NASCAR Winston Cup Series debut in the race.Driver Glenn Jarrett Career Statistics The race was contested by 40 drivers in front of a crowd of 80,000 spectators. Bobby Fisher suffered an engine failure on lap 3 and finished in last place.1978 NAPA National 500 race information at Racing Reference Butch Mock finished 80 laps behind the leaders, the lowest-placed driver to complete the race. Mock would drive two more career races before sticking to just owning the #75 car.Driver Butch Mock Career Statistics at Racing Reference In his fourth start, Terry Labonte finished outside the top ten for the first time due to an engine failure on lap 293.Driver Terry Labonte 1978 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Results at Racing Reference Skip Manning returns to the Winston Cup ranks for the first time in seven races after losing his ride in Billy Hagen's #92 to Terry Labonte. Manning did a one-off here in Robert Gee's #8 Autowize Chevrolet but a blown engine very early on sent him to the sidelines and resulted in a bad finish.Driver Skip Manning Career Statistics at Racing Reference Bobby Allison achieved his 50th career victory, defeating Darrell Waltrip by just over 30 seconds after more than three and a half hours of racing. Allison won both the Cup race and the World Service Life 300 Sportsman race that weekend. The race featured 40 lead changes among drivers including Allison, Cale Yarborough, and Richard Petty. Dick Brooks suffered a fuel pump failure on lap 325, preventing a top-five finish. Richard Petty finished 27th after qualifying in the top ten. The average speed of the race was 141.826 mph km/h. David Pearson earned his 12th consecutive pole position at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The majority of the field drove Ford and Chevrolet vehicles. All competing drivers were from the United States. Individual race earnings for each driver ranged from the winner's share of $40,000 ($ when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's purse of $895 ($ when adjusted for inflation). Total driver earnings handed out by NASCAR officials for this event was finalized at $259,980 ($ when adjusted for inflation).Winnings information for the 1978 NAPA National 500 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet Qualifying Grid No. Car number Driver Manufacturer 1 21 David Pearson Mercury 2 11 Cale Yarborough Oldsmobile 3 72 Benny Parsons Oldsmobile 4 54 Lennie Pond Chevrolet 5 1 Donnie Allison Chevrolet 6 14 Coo Coo Marlin Chevrolet 7 12 Harry Gant Chevrolet 8 15 Bobby Allison Ford 9 43 Richard Petty Chevrolet 10 88 Darrell Waltrip Chevrolet 11 27 Buddy Baker Chevrolet 12 2 Dave Marcis Chevrolet 13 22 Ricky Rudd Chevrolet 14 90 Dick Brooks Mercury 15 05 Bruce Hill Oldsmobile 16 92 Terry Labonte Chevrolet 17 5 Neil Bonnett Chevrolet 18 19 Bill Dennis Chevrolet 19 3 Richard Childress Oldsmobile 20 00 John Utsman Chevrolet 21 71 Bobby Fisher Chevrolet 22 70 J.D. McDuffie Chevrolet 23 16 Glenn Jarrett Oldsmobile 24 64 Tommy Gale Ford 25 96 Baxter Price Ford 26 9 Bill Elliott Mercury 27 79 Frank Warren Dodge 28 8 Skip Manning Chevrolet 29 41 Grant Adcox Chevrolet 30 99 Dick Trickle Ford Top 10 finishers Pos Grid No. Car number Driver Manufacturer Laps Laps completed Laps led Laps as the lead driver Points Number of points earned towards championship standings Time/Status 1 8 15 Bobby Allison Ford 334 108 185 3:31:57 2 10 88 Darrell Waltrip Chevrolet 334 4 175 +30.2 seconds 3 12 2 Dave Marcis Chevrolet 334 5 170 Lead lap under green flag 4 5 1 Donnie Allison Chevrolet 334 15 165 Lead lap under green flag 5 1 21 David Pearson Mercury 333 35 160 +1 lap 6 4 54 Lennie Pond Chevrolet 330 0 150 +4 laps 7 6 14 Coo Coo Marlin Chevrolet 330 3 151 +4 laps 8 34 57 Dick May Ford 326 0 142 +8 laps 9 19 3 Richard Childress Oldsmobile 325 0 138 +12 laps 10 14 90 Dick Brooks Mercury 325 0 134 Fuel pump problems Standings after the race Pos Driver Points Differential 1 10px Cale Yarborough 4334 0 2 Darrell Waltrip 3953 -381 3 Dave Marcis 3936 -398 4 Benny Parsons 3878 -456 5 10px Bobby Allison 3857 -477 6 10px Richard Petty 3553 -781 7 10px Lennie Pond 3442 -892 8 10px Dick Brooks 3344 -990 9 10px Buddy Arrington 3315 -1019 10 10px Richard Childress 3229 -1105 References 1978 Wilkes 400 1978 American 500 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season 1978 1977 1979 NAPA National 500 races 1978 NAPA National 500 NAPA National 500 Category:NASCAR races at Charlotte Motor Speedway