The 1979 Winston Western 500 was a

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and fro ...

racing event that took place on January 14, 1979, at

Riverside International Raceway Riverside International Raceway (sometimes known as Riverside, RIR, or Riverside Raceway) was a motorsports race track and road course established in the Edgemont area of Riverside County, California, just east of the city limits of Riversid ...

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. As of the 2020 census, the city has a population of 314,998. It is the most populous city in th ...

. Buying a souvenir program at this race was relatively inexpensive for the era at $2 USD per copy ($ when adjusted for inflation). By the following season, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power anymore. Only manual transmission vehicles were allowed to participate in this race; a policy that NASCAR has retained to the present day.

Summary

This race was Williamson's Cup Series debut. He died in a racing accident the following year during the running of a Grand American series race. This race was the final caution-free race in NASCAR road course history; bringing the idea of a "perfect game" to an end. The final oval course race that went the entire distance without a single caution flag would be the 2002 EA Sports 500; which was won by

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, and broadcaster. A third-generation driver, he is the son of the late 7-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt and relative ...

of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. During the 1970s, Riverside International Raceway had its configurations modernized in order to create the fast-paced racing that the public started to demand for after engine technology picked up during the 1960s. NASCAR would develop a liking for mile and a half tracks by the

2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kyle Larson, the 2014 NASCAR Rookie of the Year. file:Jimmie Johnson Dale Earnhardt Jr. cars at Hendrick Engines 2014.jpg"> List_of_NASCAR_Manufacturers%27_champions">Manufacturer's championship with 20 wins & 1572 points, their 13th champi ...

season; with Sonoma and Watkins Glen serving as the sole road course tracks. There were 35

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

-born male drivers on the grid;

Terry Labonte Terrance Lee Labonte (born November 16, 1956), nicknamed "Texas Terry" or "the Iceman", is an American former stock car racing, stock car driver. He raced from 1978 to 2014 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup and Sprint Cup Series (now called the NAS ...

received the last-place finish due to an

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

issue on lap 7 out of 119.

Darrell Waltrip Darrell Lee Waltrip (born February 5, 1947) is an American motorsports Color analyst, analyst, author as well as a former national television broadcaster and stock car driver. He raced from 1972 to 2000 in the NASCAR Cup Series (known as the NAS ...

defeated

David Pearson David or Dave Pearson may refer to: * David Pearson (librarian) (born 1955), British librarian and scholar * David Pearson (racing driver) (1934–2018), American car racing champion * David Pearson (geologist) (born 1942), Canadian scientist, acad ...

by 3.27 seconds in front of 68,000 live audience members. Waltrip would get his first-ever Cup road course victory; going on to win five times in total at Riverside. Drivers who failed to qualify were Gary Matthews (#51), Ed Hale (#20), Steve Pfeifer (#0), John Krebs (#91) and Rick McCray (#08). Although there were no cautions in this "perfect game," there were still 13 lead changes and the race lasted two hours and fifty-three minutes. While Pearson would clinch the

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

with an average speed of , the average speed of the race was . The other drivers in the top ten were:

Cale Yarborough William Caleb Yarborough (March 27, 1939 – December 31, 2023) was an American NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner, businessman, farmer, and rancher. He was the first driver in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships, winn ...

Bill Schmitt Bill Schmitt (born February 13, 1936 – November 8, 2014) was an American professional stock car racing driver who competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the NASCAR Winston West Series. Schmitt was a multiple time champion of the West Se ...

Donnie Allison Donnie Allison (born September 7, 1939) is an American former driver on the NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup circuit, who won ten times during his racing career, which spanned from 1966 to 1988. He is part of the " Alabama Gang", and is the br ...

Joe Millikan Joseph "Joe" Milikan (born April 30, 1950 in Randleman, North Carolina) is an American former NASCAR Winston Cup race car driver who competed from the 1979 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season to the 1986 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. Career T ...

Buddy Baker Elzie Wylie "Buddy" Baker Jr. (January 25, 1941 – August 10, 2015) was an American professional stock car racing driver and commentator. Over the course of his 33-year racing career, he won 19 races in the NASCAR Cup Series, including the 19 ...

Jim Thirkettle Jim or JIM may refer to: Names * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy People and horses * Jim, the nickname of Yelkanum Seclamatan (died April 1911), Nat ...

Tim Williamson Reginald Garnet "Tim" Williamson (6 June 1884 – 1 August 1943) was an English football player who made 602 appearances as a goalkeeper for Middlesbrough, scoring two goals, as well as 7 appearances for England. Playing career While he was y ...

, and

Harry Gant Harold Phil Gant"Harry P. Gant"
(born January 10, 1940) is an American former

This was Richard Petty's first race after he had some serious stomach surgery during the offseason. There was concern he might not be able to go the distance this soon after that treatment and his former teammate Hershel McGriff was lined up as the possible relief driver. McGriff was supposed to run this race in James Hylton's #48 Chevrolet but he moved over to standby duty with Hylton racing his car himself. Petty expected to go the distance in the cool Southern California winter weather, but the #43 blew a motor and put him on the sidelines on lap 14.

Timeline

Section reference: * Start: Cale Yarborough officially had the pole position when the green flag was waved. * Lap 4: Darrell Waltrip took over the lead from Cale Yarborough. * Lap 7: Terry Labonte fell out with engine failure. * Lap 10: The clutch in Neil Bonnett's vehicle could not handle the pressures of high-speed racing. * Lap 12: Dick Brooks fell out with engine failure. * Lap 14: Richard Petty fell out with engine failure. * Lap 15: Transmission problems managed to ruin Don Noel's day on the track. * Lap 17: Jim Robinson fell out with engine failure. * Lap 21: Bobby Allison took over the lead from Darrell Waltrip. * Lap 28: David Pearson took over the lead from Bobby Allison. * Lap 29: Al Holbert took over the lead from David Pearson. * Lap 31: Darrell Waltrip took over the lead from Al Holbert. * Lap 32: Richard White fell out with engine failure. * Lap 48: Frank Warren fell out with engine failure. * Lap 56: Benny Parsons managed to break his vehicle's transmission. * Lap 60: Al Holbert took over the lead from Darrell Waltrip. * Lap 63: David Pearson took over the lead from Al Holbert. * Lap 64: Darrell Waltrip took over the lead from David Pearson. * Lap 66: Cecil Gordon fell out with engine failure. * Lap 91: David Pearson took over the lead from Darrell Waltrip. * Lap 95: Bobby Allison took over the lead from David Pearson. * Lap 100: Don Graham fell out with engine failure. * Lap 103: David Pearson took over the lead from Bobby Allison. * Lap 105: Bobby Allison fell out with engine failure. * Lap 106: Darrell Waltrip took over the lead from David Pearson. * Lap 111: Jimmy Insolo managed to bust his vehicle's oil pump. * Finish: Darrell Waltrip was declared the winner of the event.

Standings after the race

References

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Winston Western 500 The Winston Western 500 was an annual NASCAR Winston Cup race held at Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California, United States, in January, and then in later years, November. From 1963 to 1981, the race was held in January and was ...

NASCAR races at Riverside International Raceway