1983 Daytona 500

Auto race held at Daytona International Speedway in 1983 February 2025 CUST Race 1 of 30 in the 1983 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season 1983 2 20 1983 1 30 1983_Daytona_500_program_cover_and_logo.jpg 1983 Daytona 500 program cover Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida 2.5 4.02336 200 500 804.672 Temperatures of 70 F C; wind speeds of 13 mph km/hhttp://www.almanac.com/weather/history/FL/Daytona%20Beach/1983-02-20 Weather of the 1983 Daytona 500 The Old Farmers' Almanac 2013-06-24 https://archive.today/20240526175519/https://www.webcitation.org/6Hnsiesao?url=http://m.almanac.com/weather/history/FL/Daytona%20Beach/1983-02-20 2024-05-26 live 155.979 mi/h 115,000 Ricky Rudd Richard Childress Racing Dale Earnhardt Bud Moore Engineering Neil Bonnett RahMoc Enterprises Joe Ruttman Benfield Racing 57 28 Cale Yarborough Ranier-Lundy CBS Ken Squier and David Hobbs 8.7/26 (11 million viewers) The 1983 Daytona 500, the 25th running of the event, was held February 20 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida as the first race of the 1983 NASCAR Winston Cup season. Summary Cale Yarborough was the first driver to run a qualifying lap of more than 200 mi/h at Daytona in his #28 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. However, on his second of two qualifying laps, Yarborough crashed and flipped his car in turn four. The car was destroyed in the crash, and Ranier-Lundy did not have a back up car for Yarborough to race. Thus, the team had to scramble to find a replacement and eventually found a Hardee’s restaurant displaying a Pontiac LeMans painted like the #28 and used for promotional purposes; that car was brought to Daytona and restored to racing condition, with Yarborough starting it from the eighth position. Ricky Rudd wound up with the pole, driving Richard Childress' Chevrolet in what would become a breakthrough season for the longtime independent driver Childress. The early laps were a battle between Geoff Bodine, Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Kyle Petty, and a resurgent Dick Brooks. Richard broke away from the field before his engine failed after 47 laps and the race became a showdown between Bodine, Yarborough, Joe Ruttman, Brooks, Neil Bonnett, Buddy Baker, and Bill Elliott, while former Talladega 500 winner Ron Bouchard was also in contention.http://www.racing-reference.info/race/1983-01/W 1983 Daytona 500 racing information Racing Reference 2013-06-24 https://archive.today/20130628020432/http://www.racing-reference.info/race/1983-01/W 2013-06-28 live On Lap 63, the engine on the Bud Moore Engineering Ford driven by Earnhardt failed. As the race went on the lead bounced back and forth, and Bobby Allison, who'd lost a lap, crowded the leaders most of the day. Past halfway Kyle Petty blew his engine and a tire issue dropped Bonnett off the lead lap; when Mark Martin hit the wall Ruttman swerved to stop Bonnett from getting his lap back as they raced through a group of lapped cars. Bonnett got his lap back later but blew his engine in the final twenty laps while Brooks cut a tire and lost a lap. On the final lap, Baker led Yarborough, Ruttman, and Elliott. Cale stormed past Baker on the backstretch and Ruttman drafted into second; Baker dove under Ruttman and Elliott snookered them both on the high side in a three-abreast photo finish for second. The win was Cale's third in the 500 and was also the first time that an in-car camera of a car went into victory lane before a national CBS Sports audience. Waltrip-Brooks incident With Brooks as the leader, the field slowed down coming back to the yellow. Two cars, though, tried to get their lap back by beating the leader back to the finish line, a practice banned subsequently in 2003 - Lake Speed passed Brooks in Turn Four and then moved into his path; Brooks braked and Darrell Waltrip spun to avoid hitting Brooks; Waltrip's Chevrolet struck the inside guardrail and flew backward back onto the racetrack, nearly collecting Yarborough, Bodine, and Ruttman. Waltrip suffered a concussion, resulting in an overnight hospitalization. He returned the next week at Richmond, since prohibited after a 2014 rule change mandating drivers take a concussion test which he would have failed, as NASCAR, like most motorsport following the rule change, requires drivers sit out considerable time after a concussion and not be allowed to race until the driver clears a concussion test. Waltrip admitted in his biography DW: A Lifetime Going Round in Circles (published in 2002) that it was a life-changing crash: when he heard drivers and fans joking that the crash would "knock him conscious" or "finally shut him up", he realized for the first time how unpopular he was and resolved to clean up his image. Waltrip often referenced the crash when asked to be a keynote speaker at national events. The family now believes this severe concussion and not sitting out races is related to his 2026 diagnosis of frontaltemporal brain disorder and the family's belief he suffers from chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The practice of allowing lapped cars to attempt passing the leader at the finish line when taking the caution was prohibited after the 2003 Sylvania 300 at Loudon, NH when after Dale Jarrett crashed and numerous cars nearly struck Jarrett's disabled car on the race to gain a lap back, leading to the development of the current beneficiary rule. The concussion protocol was adopted in 2014 after Dale Earnhardt Jr. took himself out of two races in the 2012 season after two concussions—one in August (Kansas tire test) and in October (Talladega race crash). Did not qualify Drivers who failed to qualify for this event include Blackie Wangerin, Joe Millikan, Connie Saylor, Morgan Shepherd, Rusty Wallace and David Simko. Because of the format of the Daytona 500, heat races were established. The qualifying races were marred by two serious crashes on the backstretch. Bruce Jacobi was killed in a Lap 6 crash of in the first of two 50-lap qualifying races, flipping violently on the backstretch as the roll cage filed. Although he survived the initial impact, he suffered brain stem injuries and was comatose until his death in 1987. On Lap 27 of the second race, Rusty Wallace and Rick Wilson made contact on the backstretch, and Wallace's car violently flipped on the backstretch. Wallace was injured, but survived and the next year began a full-time career that led him to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Finishing Order Pos Grid No. Car number Driver Car Make Laps Status Lapsled Points 1 8 28 Cale Yarborough Pontiac LeMans 200 Running 23 180 2 17 9 Bill Elliott Ford Thunderbird 200 Running 6 175 3 5 21 Buddy Baker Ford Thunderbird 200 Running 35 170 4 11 98 Joe Ruttman Chevrolet Monte Carlo 200 Running 57 170 5 10 90 Dick Brooks Ford Thunderbird 199 Running 15 160 6 41 44 Terry Labonte Chevrolet Monte Carlo 199 Running 0 150 7 22 53 Tom Sneva Chevrolet Monte Carlo 199 Running 0 146 8 15 16 David Pearson Chevrolet Monte Carlo 198 Running 0 142 9 35 22 Bobby Allison Chevrolet Monte Carlo 198 Running 0 138 10 18 84 Jody Ridley Buick Regal 197 Running 0 134 11 9 14 A. J. Foyt Chevrolet Monte Carlo 197 Running 0 130 12 39 51 Lennie Pond Buick Regal 197 Running 0 127 13 32 66 Phil Parsons Buick Regal 196 Running 0 124 14 42 52 Jimmy Means Buick Regal 196 Running 0 121 15 27 89 Dean Roper Pontiac Grand Prix 194 Running 0 118 16 34 67 Buddy Arrington Chrysler Imperial 194 Running 0 115 17 36 41 Ronnie Thomas Pontiac Grand Prix 192 Running 0 112 18 20 6 Jim Sauter Chevrolet Monte Carlo 191 Running 0 109 19 28 26 Ronnie Hopkins Buick Regal 191 Running 0 106 20 30 04 Rick Baldwin Dodge Mirada 188 Running 0 103 21 40 10 Clark Dwyer Chevrolet Monte Carlo 188 Running 0 100 22 4 75 Neil Bonnett Chevrolet Monte Carlo 187 Running 9 102 23 29 48 James Hylton Chevrolet Monte Carlo 184 Running 0 94 24 1 3 Ricky Rudd Chevrolet Monte Carlo 182 Camshaft 1 96 25 16 1 Lake Speed Chevrolet Monte Carlo 178 Engine 0 88 26 23 47 Ron Bouchard Buick Regal 162 Engine 0 85 27 25 64 Tommy Gale Ford Thunderbird 149 Engine 0 82 28 12 2 Mark Martin Buick Regal 136 Crash 0 79 29 37 70 J. D. McDuffie Pontiac Grand Prix 132 Engine 0 76 30 2 88 Geoffrey Bodine Pontiac Grand Prix 106 Engine 14 78 31 38 0 Delma Cowart Buick Regal 102 Crash 0 70 32 21 71 Dave Marcis Chevrolet Monte Carlo 100 Piston 0 67 33 7 7 Kyle Petty Pontiac Grand Prix 99 Engine 9 69 34 33 17 Sterling Marlin Chevrolet Monte Carlo 69 Piston 0 61 35 3 15 Dale Earnhardt Ford Thunderbird 63 Engine 2 63 36 31 11 Darrell Waltrip Chevrolet Monte Carlo 62 Crash 0 55 37 13 33 Harry Gant Buick Regal 56 Engine 0 52 38 6 43 Richard Petty Pontiac Grand Prix 47 Engine 29 54 39 26 32 Bosco Lowe Buick Regal 36 Crash 0 46 40 19 23 Elliott Forbes-Robinson Buick Regal 36 Engine 0 43 41 24 27 Tim Richmond Pontiac LeMans 24 Engine 0 40 42 14 55 Benny Parsons Buick Regal 8 Push Rod 0 37Sourcehttps://www.racing-reference.info/race/1983_Daytona_500/W Race Results References 1982 Winston Western 500 1983 Richmond 400 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season 1982-83 Daytona 500 Daytona 500 Daytona 500 Category:NASCAR races at Daytona International Speedway