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1975 Music City USA 420
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Auto race held at Nashville Speedway in 1975
February 2025
CUST Race 11 of 30 in the 1975 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season Music City USA 420 Weather for the 1975 Music City USA 420 at The Old Farmers' Almanac 1975 05 10 1975 11 30 NashvilleSpeedwayMap.svg Temperatures ranging between 55 F C and 80.1 F C; wind speeds of 11.1 mph km/h Music City USA 420 Nashville Speedway, Nashville, Tennessee 0.596 0.959 420 250.3 402.8 94.107 mi/h Darrell Waltrip DarWal Inc. Cale Yarborough Junior Johnson & Associates 273 17 Darrell Waltrip DarWal Inc. untelevised none
The 1975 Music City USA 420 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on May 10, 1975, at Nashville Speedway in Nashville, Tennessee.
Darrell Waltrip won his first NASCAR Cup Series race
Background
Nashville Speedway was converted to a half-mile paved oval in 1957, when it began to be a NASCAR series track. The speedway was lengthened between the 1969 and 1970 seasons. The corners were cut down from 35 degrees to their present 18 degrees in 1972.August 2016
Race report
There were 28 American-born drivers on the grid; Buddy Arrington received credit for the last-place finish after his car overheated on the second lap.1975 Music City USA 420 racing information at Racing Reference There were 420 laps in this race. They were completed in more than two and a half hours with Darrell Waltrip defeating Benny Parsons by at least two laps in front of an audience of 20000. It was the first of 84 career Cup Series wins in what would become a Hall of Fame career.
Waltrip earned the pole position in qualifying for his fast qualifying run of 103.793 mph km/h; driving a 1975 Chevrolet Chevelle Laguna.1975 Music City USA 420 racing information at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet Only one caution flag waved for a period of eight laps; two changes in first-place were made between Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip.
Notable crew chiefs who were Tim Brewer, Travis Carter, Harry Hyde, Dale Inman, and Jake Elder.1975 Music City USA 420 crew chiefs at Racing Reference
Richard Petty would retain his championship points lead over Dave Marcis by 225 points. He had won five races and earned two pole positions prior to qualifying this event.1975 Music City USA 420 https://web.archive.org/web/20150425192457/http://www.driveraverages.com/nascar_stats/race.php?sked_id=1975011 2015-04-25 racing information at Driver Averages
Frank Warren was the lowest finishing driver to actually finish the race; being 47 laps behind Waltrip. Attrition took its toll as only twelve cars were running at the end. Other notable drivers who raced included J.D. McDuffie, Richard Childress, Elmo Langley and Coo Coo Marlin. Monetary awards ranged from $6,500 for Waltrip ($ when adjusted for inflation) to $305 for last-place finisher Arrington ($ when adjusted for inflation). Engine problems and overheating issues would cause many of the qualifying drivers not to finish the race.
Qualifying
Grid No. Car number Driver Manufacturer 1 17 Darrell Waltrip '75 Chevrolet 2 72 Benny Parsons '75 Chevrolet 3 11 Cale Yarborough '75 Chevrolet 4 43 Richard Petty '74 Dodge 5 70 J.D. McDuffie '75 Chevrolet 6 71 Dave Marcis '74 Dodge 7 68 Alton Jones '74 Chevrolet 8 30 Walter Ballard '75 Chevrolet 9 96 Richard Childress '75 Chevrolet 10 47 Bruce Hill '75 Chevrolet 11 14 Coo Coo Marlin '75 Chevrolet 12 24 Cecil Gordon '75 Chevrolet 13 05 David Sisco '75 Chevrolet 14 8 Ed Negre '74 Dodge 15 48 James Hylton '74 Chevrolet 16 10 Bill Champion '73 Ford 17 6 Jody Ridley '74 Dodge 18 20 Rick Newsom '73 Ford 19 46 Travis Tiller '74 Dodge 20 64 Elmo Langley '73 Ford 21 79 Frank Warren '74 Dodge 22 01 Earle Canavan '74 Dodge 23 23 Earl Brooks '74 Dodge 24 44 Richard B. Brown '74 Pontiac 25 25 Jabe Thomas '74 Chevrolet 26 39 Paul Dean Holt '73 Ford 27 45 Baxter Price '74 Chevrolet 28 67 Buddy Arrington '73 Plymouth
Finishing order
Section reference:
30em
Darrell Waltrip (No. 17)
Benny Parsons† (No. 72)
Coo Coo Marlin† (No. 14)
Dave Marcis (No. 71)
Cecil Gordon† (No. 24)
Alton Jones (No. 68)
Richard Petty (No. 43)
David Sisco (No. 05)
James Hylton† (No. 48)
Walter Ballard (No. 30)
J.D. McDuffie† (No. 70)
Frank Warren (No. 79)
Rick Newsom*† (No. 20)
Cale Yarborough*† (No. 11)
Elmo Langley*† (No. 64)
Richard Childress* (No. 96)
Earle Canavan* (No. 01)
Bill Champion*† (No. 10)
Jabe Thomas* (No. 25)
Baxter Price* (No. 45)
Paul Dean Holt* (No. 39)
Earl Brooks*† (No. 23)
Bruce Hill* (No. 7)
Ed Negre* (No. 8)
Richard D. Brown* (No. 44)
Travis Tiller* (No. 46)
Jody Ridley* (No. 6)
Buddy Arrington* (No. 67)
† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased
* Driver failed to finish race
Timeline
Section reference:
Start: Darrell Waltrip was leading the starting grid as the green flag was waved.
Lap 2: Buddy Arrington managed to overheat his vehicle.
Lap 11: The suspension on Jody Ridley's vehicle developed severe problems.
Lap 13: Travis Tiller blew his engine while driving at high speeds.
Lap 15: Richard D. Brown managed to overheat his vehicle.
Lap 16: Ed Negre blew his engine while driving at high speeds.
Lap 19: Bruce Hill blew his engine while driving at high speeds.
Lap 33: Earl Brooks managed to overheat his vehicle.
Lap 34: Transmission problems got the best of Paul Dean Holt's vehicle.
Lap 38: Baxter Prices noticed that his vehicle was leaking oil.
Lap 48: Cale Yarborough took over the lead from Darrell Waltrip.
Lap 54: Jabe Thomas blew his engine while driving at high speeds.
Lap 91: The rear end came off of Bill Champion's vehicle in an unsafe manner.
Lap 165: Earle Canavan blew his engine while driving at high speeds.
Lap 192: Richard Childress blew his engine while driving at high speeds.
Lap 321: Darrell Waltrip took over the lead from Cale Yarborough.
Lap 322: Cale Yarborough and Elmo Langley blew their engines while driving at high speeds.
Lap 351: Rick Newsom blew his engine while driving at high speeds.
Finish: Darrell Waltrip was officially declared the winner of the race.
Standings after the race
Pos Driver Points Differential 1 10px Richard Petty 1744 0 2 10px Dave Marcis 1519 -225 3 Benny Parsons 1466 -278 4 Darrell Waltrip 1459 -285 5 James Hylton 1439 -305 6 10px Cecil Gordon 1431 -313 7 10px Richard Childress 1379 -365 8 10px Dick Brooks 1225 -519 9 Elmo Langley 1215 -529 10 Walter Ballard 1198 -546
References
1975 Winston 500 1975 Mason-Dixon 500 NASCAR Winston Cup Season 1975
1974 1976 Music City USA 420 races 1975
Music City USA 420
Music City USA 420
Category:NASCAR races at Fairgrounds Speedway