Tim Richmond won the Busch pole ... for the Miller High Life 500 ... while sponsored by Old Milwaukee. I'm pretty sure those three brews were in my cooler when the Schaefer tradition began at Talladega 9 years later!
Finishing in second place in the race was Darrell Waltrip in Junior Johnson's Chevrolet. Both were livid Petty's win was allowed to stand. What the two of them conveniently forget to remind the press and fans then - and now - is the #11 Pepsi Chevy was loaded on the hauler immediately after the race. As the post-inspection took place on the 43, Waltrip's car was high-tailing it back to Junior's shop in Ronda, NC. Consequently, NASCAR was unable to inspect Waltrip's car, and many to this day suspect the #11 maaaaay not have been within the rules that day either.
Once a NASCAR official spotted the wrong tires on the 43, Maurice Petty confessed to Dick Beaty, NASCAR's chief official, about the over-sized engine and how he got it through inspection.
Maurice said he placed wax in the engine, wedging open valves on the eight cylinders to foil an air-pump test of the cylinders' cubic inch displacement. When the race started, heat quickly melted the wax. The engine then produced increased speed and power from the over-sized cylinders. ~ Greg Fielden, Forty Years of Stock Car Racing - Volume IV, p. 400.
Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers |
Got about 45 minutes? If so, you can watch the highlights of the race at YouTube.
Article courtesy of Jerry Bushmire |
TMC
Edited October 8, 2014
I WAS THERE AND STOPPED AT A RESTAURANT ON THE WAY HOME AND OVERHEARD THE NEWS ABOUT POSSIBLE PENALTYS AND WAS VERY SURPRISED.
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