1977 Winston 500

Auto race held at Talladega Superspeedway in 1977 February 2025 CUST Race 10 of 30 in the 1977 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season Winston 500 Weather information for the 1977 Winston 500 at The Old Farmers' Almanac 1977 05 1 1977 10 30 Talladega Superspeedway.png Layout of Talladega Superspeedway Very hot with temperatures of 84 F C; wind speeds of 11.8 mph km/h Winston 500 Alabama International Motor Speedway, Talladega, Alabama 2.660 4.280 188 500.1 804.8 164.887 mi/h 90,000 A. J. Foyt A.J. Foyt Donnie Allison Hoss Ellington 71 88 Darrell Waltrip DiGard Motorsports CBS Ken Squier The 1977 Winston 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on May 1, 1977, at Alabama International Motor Speedway (now Talladega Superspeedway) in Talladega, Alabama. The tenth of 30 races of the 1977 Winston Cup Grand National season, the Winston 500 started 41 cars. The race's pole was won by A. J. Foyt, driving a Chevrolet Laguna. His pole speed was 192 mph km/h or. Benny Parsons qualified second while the race's defending champion Buddy Baker timed in 20th. Darrell Waltrip qualified 11th a month after a breakthrough win in the Rebel 500 at Darlington; it was the only time all season a Cup driver started outside the top-8 and ended up in victory lane. Background Talladega Superspeedway, originally known as Alabama International Motor Superspeedway (AIMS), is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base in the small city of Lincoln. The track is a Tri-oval and was constructed by International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France Family, in the 1960s. Talladega is most known for its steep banking and the unique location of the start/finish line - located just past the exit to pit road. The track currently hosts the NASCAR series such as the Sprint Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and the Camping World Truck Series. Talladega Superspeedway is the longest NASCAR oval with a length of 2.66 mi km, and the track at its peak had a seating capacity of 175,000 spectators.http://www.talladegasuperspeedway.com/This-Is-Talladega/Track-Facts.aspx Track Facts Talladega Superspeedway November 1, 2012 talladegasuperspeedway.com April 27, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20121101080016/http://www.talladegasuperspeedway.com/This-Is-Talladega/Track-Facts.aspx November 1, 2012 Race report The race lead changed 63 times among 11 drivers. Donnie Allison, driving a Chevrolet for Hoss Ellington, raced to the lead on the opening lap and would lead 71 laps total. Foyt fell out on Lap 18 when his engine blew and he spun through Turns Three and Four. Richard Petty, who passed seven cars on Lap Six to take the lead, fell out in the final 35 laps with engine failure, while Baker, who passed both Petty and Foyt for the lead on Lap Seven, fell out 90 laps in with engine failure. Coming across the stripe at the white, Waltrip led with Allison in second, Yarborough third, Parsons fourth. In turn one, Waltrip broke the draft and drove to the bottom of the track, gaining a five or six car length advantage. The advantage disintegrated on the backstretch, as Allison showed his hand first, trying vainly to get by Waltrip but was trained by Yarborough who drove up the center and Parsons who rocketed on the inside. Yarborough swept up Allison's draft high and banged into Waltrip as he tried to beat him out of four but nearly lost it as he kept his foot in the throttle of his ill-handling car. When Yarborough slipped, Parsons took it and as they came through the trioval, Waltrip drove away from the battle for second as Parsons and Yarborough slammed into each other for second and Allison tried to steal it up high. It was Yarborough beating out Parsons by inches with Allison fourth and Waltrip taking the victory. The win was Waltrip's second of the 1977 season and second on a superspeedway; Darrell Waltrip's win here was the first of four points-paying victories for him at Talladega, all coming between 1977 and 1982. Individual earnings for each driver varied from the winner's portion of $26,875 ($ when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's portion of $1,705 ($ when adjusted for inflation). A grand total of $211,405 for all the qualifying drivers ($ when adjusted for inflation).Winnings information for the 1977 Winston 500 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet Top 10 finishers Pos1977 Winston 500 racing information at Racing Reference Grid No. Car number Driver Manufacturer Laps Number of laps completed Laps led Number of laps led Points Number of points earned towards championship standings Time/Status 1 11 88 Darrell Waltrip Chevrolet 188 18 180 3:01:59 2 5 11 Cale Yarborough Chevrolet 188 29 175 +0.29 seconds 3 2 72 Benny Parsons Chevrolet 188 16 170 Lead lap under green flag 4 4 1 Donnie Allison Chevrolet 188 71 170 Lead lap under green flag 5 6 2 Dave Marcis Mercury 188 3 160 Lead lap under green flag 6 8 36 Ron Hutcherson Chevrolet 187 0 150 +1 lap 7 19 90 Dick Brooks Ford 187 0 146 +1 lap 8 17 14 Coo Coo Marlin Chevrolet 186 0 142 +2 laps 9 32 80 Terry Bivins Chevrolet 183 0 138 +5 laps 10 3 27 Sam Sommers Chevrolet 183 0 134 +5 laps Standings after the race Pos Driver Points Differential 1 10px Cale Yarborough 1725 0 2 10px Richard Petty 1558 -167 3 Darrell Waltrip 1502 -223 4 Benny Parsons 1497 -228 5 10px Buddy Baker 1302 -423 6 10px Dave Marcis 1300 -425 7 10px Richard Childress 1236 -489 8 10px Cecil Gordon 1217 -508 9 Dick Brooks 1187 -538 10 10px James Hylton 1156 -569 References 1977 Virginia 500 1977 Music City USA 420 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season 1977 1976 Winston 500 1978 Winston 500 Talladega spring race 1977 Winston 500 Category:NASCAR races at Talladega Superspeedway Winston 500 Winston 500