1983 Miller High Life 500

Auto race held at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1983 February 2025 CUST Race 27 of 30 in the 1983 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season Miller High Life 500 Weather information for the 1983 Miller High Life 500 at the Old Farmer's Almanac 1983 10 9 1983 27 30 Lowe's Motor Speedway.svg Layout of Charlotte Motor Speedway Miller High Life 500 Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina 1.500 2.414 334 500 804.672 Temperatures of 73 F C; wind speeds of 10.1 mph km/h 139.998 mi/h 118,0001983 Miller High Life 500 racing information at Racing Reference Tim Richmond Blue Max Racing Tim Richmond Blue Max Racing 99 43 Richard Petty Petty Enterprises Mizlou Ken Squier Donnie Allison The 1983 Miller High Life 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina on October 9, 1983. Background The race was held in Concord, North Carolina at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 1.5 mi km on quad-oval paved track. The race was the second to be held at the track during the 1983 Winston Cup Series, with the other being the 1983 World 600. Bruton Smith and Curtis Turner began building the track in 1959, and despite numerous delays, the track was finished in 1960 for the inaugural World 600. Race report There were 40 drivers on the grid; 39 of them American while Trevor Boys was Canadian. Sterling Marlin finished last due to an engine failure on lap 53. Richard Petty defeated Darrell Waltrip by 3.1 seconds in front of 118,000 spectators in a time of three hours and thirty-four minutes; it was Winston Cup win number 198 in is career. There were 30 different lead changes and eight caution periods for 35 laps. Tim Richmond won the pole position with a speed of 163.073 mph km/h in qualifying while the average race speed was 139.998 mph km/h. Richmond led 99 laps in the race and finished in fifth place. J.D. McDuffie would fail to qualify for this race along with Laurent Rioux (#38), Bosco Lowe, Randy Baker and Travis Tiller. Following the last caution flag and pit stops of the race, Darrell Waltrip, driving Junior Johnson's #11 Chevy led the race over Tim Richmond in the #27 Raymond Beadle Pontiac after the restart with 23 laps to go. Richard Petty was in third place. With less than ten laps to go Waltrip's car noticeably slowed and appeared to wiggle slightly exiting turn two and allowed Petty to duck below for the lead and race win. Cale Yarborough in the #28 Ranier Racing Chevy was two laps down and also passed Waltrip and was on Petty's rear bumper at the checkered. During victory lane celebrations a NASCAR official noticed that Petty's race car had left side tires mounted on the right side of the car, which was a violation of the rules. NASCAR sent Petty's Pontiac into the inspection area for a complete detailed inspection. After a four-hour inspection of the Petty Enterprises race car, NASCAR determined the engine in Petty's car was over the limit in cubic inches as specified in the rule book. The Petty team was penalized 104 points and fined $35,000 for the rule violations involving the tires and engine.1983 Miller High Life 500 racing information at NASCAR.com1983 Miller High Life 500 https://web.archive.org/web/20110612160519/http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-racing/nascar/season-recaps/1980s/1983-nascar.htm 2011-06-12 racing information at How Stuff Works The engine was determined to be 381.983 cuin cc, well over the specifications in the NASCAR rulebook for 1983 which stipulated a maximum of 358 cuin cc. Petty co-crew chiefs, Robin PembertonRobin Pemberton and Larry Pollard, stated that during the last pit stop of the race they put softer compound bias-ply tires designed for the left side of the cars on the right side of Petty's race car. The softer left side tires provided more traction when attached to the right side of a stock car and worked best when used during cool cloudy weather days Weather Underground Data for Charlotte, NC - October 9, 1983. which prevents the softer tires from quickly wearing out if mounted on the right side of the cars. NASCAR allowed the win to stand. NASCAR stated that they wanted fans to leave the track knowing who won the race.POPULAR MECHANICS article Ironically, ten years earlier at this race the winning Chevy of Cale Yarborough (owned by Junior Johnson) and Richard Petty's second place Dodge were both submitted to long inspections after the race for allegedly having oversized engines. NASCAR admitted in the days after the 1973 race controversy that their pre-race inspection system needed to be improved.1973 National 500 The total amount of prize money was $352,430, and was one of the top paying races of the 1983 season.Monetary prize amount for the 1983 Miller High Life 500 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet Top 10 finishers Pos Grid No. Car number Driver Manufacturer Laps Number of laps completed Laps led Number of laps led Points Points earned towards championship standings Time/Status 1 20 43 Richard Petty Pontiac 334 23 76 3:34:43 2 6 11 Darrell Waltrip Chevrolet 334 18 175 +3.4 seconds 3 2 55 Benny Parsons Chevrolet 334 52 170 Lead lap under green flag 4 5 44 Terry Labonte Chevrolet 334 31 165 Lead lap under green flag 5 1 27 Tim Richmond Pontiac 334 99 165 Lead lap under green flag 6 3 21 Buddy Baker Ford 334 37 155 Lead lap under green flag 7 25 22 Bobby Allison Buick 334 3 151 Lead lap under green flag 8 7 9 Bill Elliott Ford 334 43 147 Lead lap under green flag 9 13 3 Ricky Rudd Chevrolet 333 1 143 +1 lap 10 11 28 Cale Yarborough Chevrolet 333 10 139 +1 lap Standings after the race Pos Driver Points Differential 1 10px Bobby Allison 4229 0 2 10px Darrell Waltrip 4162 -67 3 10px Bill Elliott 3849 -380 4 10px Richard Petty 3658 -571 5 10px Harry Gant 3574 -655 6 Terry Labonte 3513 -716 7 Neil Bonnett 3497 -732 8 Ricky Rudd 3381 -848 8 10px Dale Earnhardt 3381 -848 10 Tim Richmond 3176 -1053 References 1983 Holly Farms 400 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon American 500 NASCAR Winston Cup Series races 1983 1983 Winston 500 1984 Budweiser 500 Richard Petty's Career Wins 1960–1984 1982 1984 National 500 races 1983 Miller High Life 500 Miller High Life 500 Category:NASCAR races at Charlotte Motor Speedway Category:NASCAR controversies