Though the season was seven races old, the story to that point was the Wood Brothers team with David Pearson. The team entered only four of the first seven races, yet Pearson won three of the four at Riverside, the Daytona 500, and Atlanta. Pearson arrived in Darlington having also won three of the past four Rebel 500 races.
Richard Petty, grew a beard in conjunction with the year-long celebration of the United States' bicentennial. After growing and showing in the legendary finish of the '76 Daytona 500 with Pearson and in victory lane two weeks later at Rockingham, The King caved and shaved during the week before Darlington.
Fans were treated to a great race from the jump. Pearson led the first lap but was soon passed by Allison. Pearson battled back a couple of laps later to regain the lead, but his time there was once again short lived.
Others soon battled past Pearson and Allison to take their own turns at the point. Buddy Baker, Donnie Allison, Lennie Pond, Darrell Waltrip, Dave Marcis, Benny Parsons, Cale Yarborough and Petty all muscled their way to join Pearson and Bobby Allison at the front at some point during the first two-thirds of the race. Throughout the day, fans witnessed 32 lead changes - a stat generally expected at other tracks such as Daytona or Talladega.
The race featured a couple of brutal accidents - though fortunately none of the drivers involved were seriously injured. Shortly past the 80th lap, independent racer James Hylton spun and was clipped by Buddy Baker. As Hylton's car swapped ends, Waltrip had nowhere to go and drilled the nose of Hylton's 48 hard enough to launch his Gatorade Chevy a bit. Both were done for the day.
Early leader Bobby Allison also nicked Hylton. He was able to continue but was no longer competitive. Baker damaged the nose and hood of his Bud Moore Ford, but the team made some battlefield repairs that allowed the car to remain competitive the rest of the way.
About a hundred laps later, Jerry Sisco lost it coming off turn four. He popped the outside wall along the front straightway, crossed the track near the flag stand, drilled the inside pit wall, and came to a stop as flames began to emerge from the car.
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| Credit: Gerald Medford |
Sisco's car came to rest near the Petty pit stall. Crew chief Dale Inman and crewman (and future crew chief) Barry Dodson instinctively rushed to Sisco's aid. They leapt the pit wall and pulled Sisco to safety before rescue crews arrived.
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| Credit: Don Hunter / Smyle Media |
Sisco, the brother of Cup racer and 1969 Nashville late model sportsman champion Dave Sisco, had only three Cup starts on his resume prior to Darlington. With the hit and near miss, his Cup days ended after his fourth one.
Though Sisco did not return to NASCAR, his racing days continued. He returned in the early 1980s to race in the Grand American Division at Nashville's Fairgrounds Speedway. Sterling Marlin's streak of consecutive track championships ended at three when Sisco won the title himself in 1983. He was later inducted into Nashville's Hall of Fame in 2012.
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| Car owner Wayne Day, Nashville PR Director Tom Roberts, and 1983 Grand American track champion Jerry Sisco Source: Tom Roberts |
By the time the race reached it's final 100 laps, the Track Too Tough To Tame had taken its toll on many. Ol' DW was nursing some bruises from his tough hit on James Hylton. Bobby Allison hung in as best he could after also tangling with Hylton. Cale Yarborough's engine failed around lap 170, and Richard Petty's Dodge suffered the same fate about 30 laps later.
Buddy Baker, however, was still up on the wheel. Despite the damage suffered in the Hylton crash, he remained in the hunt. He and Pearson swapped the lead several times in the second half of the race - with Baker leading most of them.
With about 20 laps, Parsons looped his car to bring out the final caution of the day. At the time of the yellow, Baker had once again gone to the front, led a sizable chunk of laps, and gapped second place running Pearson a bit.
As the race returned to green, Pearson had a renewed opportunity. With about 10 to go, he eased the Purolator Mercury past Baker's Ford and continued to win yet another time at Darlington. Though Baker wasn't happy with P2, he had to be pleased at leading over 200 of the race's 367 laps - most of them with a damaged car.
Pearson's 91st career win was also his sixth at Darlington and fourth of the past five Rebel races.
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| Source: Charlotte Observer |
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