Classic NASCAR

Daytona 500

February 14th 1982

Pole Winner - Benny Parsons

Winner - Bobby Allison

2nd - Cale Yarborough 

3rd - Joe Ruttman

4th - Terry Labonte

5th - Bill Elliott

2018 Daytona 500

February 18th 2018

The 60th running of the Daytona 500

Race winner - Austin Dillon  (#3)
2nd - Darrell Wallace, Jr.  (#43)

3rd - Denny Hamlin  (#11)

4th - Joey Logano  (#22)

5th - Chris Buescher (#37)
Pole winner - Alex Bowman (#88)

Austin Dillon bumped Aric Almirola  (#10) out of the lead on the last lap to take the win in the 60th running of the Daytona 500.  This was only the 2nd time that the #3 has been in the winners circle of the Daytona 500 with Dale Earnhardt winning the 1998 500.   This was also the 17th anniversary of the death of Dale Earnhardt, who died in a crash on the last lap of the 2001 500 race.

Jeff Gordon Wins 1st Dayton 500

February 16, 1997, 25-year-old Jeff Gordon claims his first Daytona 500 victory, becoming the youngest winner in the history of the 200-lap, 500-mile National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) event, dubbed the “Super Bowl of stock car racing.” Driving his No. 24 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for the Hendrick Motorsports racing team, Gordon recorded an average speed of 148.295 mph and took home prize money of more than $377,000. According to NASCAR.com, Gordon was “a veritable babe in a field that included 27 drivers older than 35, 16 at least 40.” Gordon’s Hendrick teammates Terry Labonte and Ricky Craven finished the race second and third, respectively.

Happy Birthday Cale Yarborough

March 27th 2015 was the 76th birthday of racing legend 
Cale Yarborough.

Cale was the first driver to win 3 consecutive NASCAR Winston Cup Championships (1976, 1977, 1978)

He won 4 Daytona 500 races (1968, 1977, 1983 and 1984)

In 1967 he was voted NASCAR's most popular driver
He holds the modern NASCAR record for most pole wins in one season (14) in 1980

Winner of 4 Daytona Firecracker 400 races 
(1967, 1968, 1976, 1981)

In 2012 he was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

The Great American Race - 1988 Daytona 500

More Throwback Thursday

Ten years after his first Daytona 500 victory, Bobby Allison would get his 3rd and last victory with the 1988 Daytona 500 .  

 He would share this with his son, Davey Allison in his 2nd 500, who finished 2nd behind his father.

The Great American Race - 1978 Daytona 500

Throwback Thursday continues with the 1978 Dayton 500.
 This was unique in that it was the last Daytona 500 not to be shown flag to flag on television.  ABC carried updates on the race in the afternoon until 3pm when they went live for the last 250 miles.   Also this saw the heavy favorites Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip and David Pearson all go out in one wreck when Petty was leading and blew a tire and collected the 2nd and 3rd place cars of Waltrip and Pearson
Bobby Allison would manage to get by Buddy Baker and Cale Yarborough for his first of 3 Daytona 500 victories.
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