September 6, 1982 - Southern 500

The 1982 Southern 500 was the 22nd race of a 30-race Winston Cup season, and was the next-to-last Southern 500 held on Monday - true Labor Day.

The season's points battle was shaping up as a repeat of 1981. Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip were again pushing one another week to week, race to race. Terry Labonte, three years removed from his rookie season, was thick in the mix as well. But on a pleasantly warm, late summer day at Darlington in September 1982, the three of them took a backseat to a few other legends of the era.

Source: Motor Racing Programme Covers

As shown above, the Wood Brothers were featured on the program cover along with their driver Neil Bonnett. Throughout the 1970s, the Woods' 21 Mercury frequently won the pole with David Pearson. The two parted ways in 1979, and Pearson raced only in selected Cup races afterwards.

But the Silver Fox never forgot his way around Darlington. Sure enough, in a Bobby Hawkins-owned, Chattanooga Chew-sponsored #03 Buick, Pearson again won the pole. The top spot was Pearson's last career pole and his twelfth at Darlington.

Source: Spartanburg Herald Journal

Waltrip and Allison kept each other in sight and were both quick in qualifying. Waltrip lined up alongside Pearson, and Allison started third. Joe Ruttman and Dale Earnhardt in Bud Moore's Ford rounded out the top 5 starters.

Miss Cathy Lee Knauss won the traditional Miss Southern 500 pageant held before each year's race. Though it's uncertain that she was related to Chad Knauss, rumor has it she asked for a rules interpretation for the talent and swimsuit components of the contest.

Source: Sumter Daily Item via Google News Archive

Kyle Petty qualified 24th in Hoss Ellington's STP/UNO Chevrolet. The Southern 500 was the only time Hoss fielded a Chevy in 1982 for Kyle or any of his other drivers that year (Benny Parsons, Donnie Allison, and Buddy Baker). One is led to wonder if Hoss leased the car from another team to see if it would race better than the other cars he'd used that year.

Kyle raced a Chevrolet for Petty Enterprises in 1979-80. After NASCAR reduced the Cup wheelbase to 110 inches in 1981, however, Kyle raced a Chevy only two times during the remainder of his career. The first time was the 1982 Darlington race, and the other was in a Monte Carlo borrowed from Hendrick Motorsports as a backup for the 1989 Coke 600 at Charlotte.

Kyle's day was about on par with his other starts with Ellington: average. After qualifying poorly, he got caught up in an early caution with independent driver Tommy Gale. The #1 Chevy returned to race to the credit of Kyle and the crew, and Kyle salvaged a 14th place finish - the best of his six starts for Ellington.

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When the green dropped, the field sailed off into turn 1 with Pearson taking the early lead. Down the backstretch (Darlington's frontstretch today), Allison dropped low with the plan of taking the lead. But Pearson held his line, and Allison lost a bit of ground as he fell back a few car lengths.

A couple of laps later, however, Allison made his pass on Pearson to take the lead. Waltrip followed suite and went with Allison. Richard Petty soon came from his eighth starting spot to take the lead. And on it went for the first 20 percent or so of the race: Allison, Petty, Pearson, and Tim Richmond.

During the first caution, an oil line broke on rookie Mark Martin's Buick. The oil ignited, and flames erupted immediately under the car and from under the hood.

Source: Chicago Tribune

Martin's first Southern 500 was certainly spectacular and memorable but perhaps more because of his perseverance than the fire. He stopped the car right away, he was pulled from the car, the flames were extinguished, and the car was towed to the garage. Martin's crew thrashed on it, and he re-entered the race to earn a 22nd place finish - the final car still running at the end.

Near lap 80, Pearson's plan of winning at Darlington yet again ended. His Buick broke an axle, and he was done for the day. Labonte, who entered the race second in points, followed Pearson to the trailer 40 laps later when his #44 Buick lost an engine and popped the wall. After Waltrip led several more laps at different stages, he too lost an engine and exited at lap 241.

With DNFs by Labonte and Waltrip, Allison had the opportunity to open a wider points gap. Instead, his 88 Gatorade Buick had issues of its own. He finished the race - but 40 laps down and only a few spots ahead of Waltrip in the final standings.

Over the final 30 laps, the race turned into a three-car battle between Earnhardt, Richard Petty, and Yarborough. Throughout his career, Petty had a reputation as a smooth driver. He could flat dominate a race or perhaps outlast the competition to seize a victory near the end of the race.

But having not won at Darlington in 15 years nor at all in about a year, the King displayed a new personality. Petty's Pontiac dogged Cale in the remaining laps. He leaned on him in the corners - wisps of tire smoke rising from between the two cars.

Source: Sumter Daily Item

With 12 to go, Petty stuck his car to the inside, fought his Grand Prix as the rear drift into Cale's Buick, stood on the gas, and took the lead. As he did so, Earnhardt watched from third and had a thought about taking the leaders three-wide. Instead, he cracked just a moment and watched as the two titans settled it between themselves.

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Four laps later, Cale went back to the point. As Petty worked through his plan to set up Cale once again for the lead - and the win, the two came upon a couple of lapped cars. Both times, the King threaded the needle, nicked the inside slower car, bounced off Cale, and kept his foot in it.

But time ran out. Cale was able to maintain the lead and gapped Petty a bit as King managed his swerving car and worn out tires. Yarborough breezed across the finish time to claim his fifth Southern 500 win with Petty a close second. The race was the 31st and final time Petty and Yarborough finished in the top two spots.

The win was Cale's third of the year with owner M.C. Anderson and fifth over two limited seasons. Anderson had a desire to return to full-time Cup racing as he had in 1979 and 1980. Yarborough was committed, however, to sticking to his new career path of running only selected events.

As a result, Anderson stepped away from NASCAR altogether and sold his team to drag racer Raymond Beadle. Yarborough moved to Ranier Racing in 1983 and promptly won the Daytona 500. Beadle re-branded his newly acquired team Blue Max Racing and hired raw talent Tim Richmond.

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