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1975 Music City USA 420

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1975 Music City USA 420
Race details[1]
Race 11 of 30 in the 1975 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Date May 10, 1975 (1975-May-10)
Official name Music City USA 420
Location Nashville Speedway, Nashville, Tennessee
Course Permanent racing facility
0.596 mi (0.959 km)
Distance 420 laps, 250.3 mi (402.8 km)
Weather Temperatures ranging between 55 °F (13 °C) and 80.1 °F (26.7 °C); wind speeds of 11.1 miles per hour (17.9 km/h)
Average speed 94.107 miles per hour (151.451 km/h)
Pole position
Driver
DarWal Inc.
Most laps led
Driver Cale Yarborough Junior Johnson & Associates
Laps 273
Winner
No. 17 Darrell Waltrip DarWal Inc.
Television in the United States
Network untelevised
Announcers none

The 1975 Music City USA 420 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on May 10, 1975, at Nashville Speedway in Nashville, Tennessee. Darrell Waltrip won his first NASCAR Cup Series race

Background

Nashville Speedway was converted to a half-mile paved oval in 1957, when it began to be a NASCAR series track. The speedway was lengthened between the 1969 and 1970 seasons. The corners were cut down from 35 degrees to their present 18 degrees in 1972.[citation needed]

Race report

There were 28 American-born drivers in the entire racing grid; Buddy Arrington received credit for the last-place finish after his car overheated on the second lap.[2] There were 420 laps in this race.[2] They were completed in more than two and a half hours with Darrell Waltrip defeating Benny Parsons by at least two laps in front of an audience of 20000 people.[2] It was the first of 84 career Cup Series wins in what would become a Hall of Fame career.

Waltrip earned the pole position in qualifying for his fast qualifying run of 103.793 miles per hour (167.039 km/h); driving a 1975 Chevrolet Chevelle Laguna in that event.[2][3] Only one caution flag was given out for a period of eight laps; two changes in the first-place position were made between Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip.[2]

Notable crew chiefs who attended the race were Tim Brewer, Travis Carter, Harry Hyde, Dale Inman, and Jake Elder.[4]

Richard Petty would retain his championship points lead over Dave Marcis by 225 points.[2] He had won five races and earned two pole positions prior to qualifying this event.[5]

Frank Warren was the lowest finishing driver to actually finish the race; being 47 laps behind Waltrip. Attrition took its toll again as only twelve cars were running at the end.[2] Other notable drivers who raced included J.D. McDuffie, Richard Childress, Elmo Langley and Coo Coo Marlin.[2][3] Monetary awards given out to this race ranged from $6,500 for Waltrip ($36,805.19 when adjusted for inflation) to $305 for last-place finisher Arrington ($1,727.01 when adjusted for inflation).[5] Engine problems and overheating issues would cause many of the qualifying drivers not to finish the race.[3]

Qualifying

Grid[2] No. Driver Manufacturer
1 17 Darrell Waltrip '75 Chevrolet
2 72 Benny Parsons '75 Chevrolet
3 11 Cale Yarborough '75 Chevrolet
4 43 Richard Petty '74 Dodge
5 70 J.D. McDuffie '75 Chevrolet
6 71 Dave Marcis '74 Dodge
7 68 Alton Jones '74 Chevrolet
8 30 Walter Ballard '75 Chevrolet
9 96 Richard Childress '75 Chevrolet
10 47 Bruce Hill '75 Chevrolet
11 14 Coo Coo Marlin '75 Chevrolet
12 24 Cecil Gordon '75 Chevrolet
13 05 David Sisco '75 Chevrolet
14 8 Ed Negre '74 Dodge
15 48 James Hylton '74 Chevrolet
16 10 Bill Champion '73 Ford
17 6 Jody Ridley '74 Dodge
18 20 Rick Newsom '73 Ford
19 46 Travis Tiller '74 Dodge
20 64 Elmo Langley '73 Ford
21 79 Frank Warren '74 Dodge
22 01 Earle Canavan '74 Dodge
23 23 Earl Brooks '74 Dodge
24 44 Richard B. Brown '74 Pontiac
25 25 Jabe Thomas '74 Chevrolet
26 39 Paul Dean Holt '73 Ford
27 45 Baxter Price '74 Chevrolet
28 67 Buddy Arrington '73 Plymouth

Finishing order

Section reference: [2]

  1. Darrell Waltrip (No. 17)
  2. Benny Parsons† (No. 72)
  3. Coo Coo Marlin† (No. 14)
  4. Dave Marcis (No. 71)
  5. Cecil Gordon† (No. 24)
  6. Alton Jones (No. 68)
  7. Richard Petty (No. 43)
  8. David Sisco (No. 05)
  9. James Hylton† (No. 48)
  10. Walter Ballard (No. 30)
  11. J.D. McDuffie† (No. 70)
  12. Frank Warren (No. 79)
  13. Rick Newsom*† (No. 20)
  14. Cale Yarborough* (No. 11)
  15. Elmo Langley*† (No. 64)
  16. Richard Childress* (No. 96)
  17. Earle Canavan* (No. 01)
  18. Bill Champion*† (No. 10)
  19. Jabe Thomas* (No. 25)
  20. Baxter Price* (No. 45)
  21. Paul Dean Holt* (No. 39)
  22. Earl Brooks*† (No. 23)
  23. Bruce Hill* (No. 7)
  24. Ed Negre* (No. 8)
  25. Richard D. Brown* (No. 44)
  26. Travis Tiller* (No. 46)
  27. Jody Ridley* (No. 6)
  28. Buddy Arrington* (No. 67)

† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased
* Driver failed to finish race

Timeline

Section reference: [2]

  • Start: Darrell Waltrip was leading the starting grid as the green flag was waved.
  • Lap 2: Buddy Arrington managed to overheat his vehicle.
  • Lap 11: The suspension on Jody Ridley's vehicle developed severe problems.
  • Lap 13: Travis Tiller blew his engine while driving at high speeds.
  • Lap 15: Richard D. Brown managed to overheat his vehicle.
  • Lap 16: Ed Negre blew his engine while driving at high speeds.
  • Lap 19: Bruce Hill blew his engine while driving at high speeds.
  • Lap 33: Earl Brooks managed to overheat his vehicle.
  • Lap 34: Transmission problems got the best of Paul Dean Holt's vehicle.
  • Lap 38: Baxter Prices noticed that his vehicle was leaking oil.
  • Lap 48: Cale Yarborough took over the lead from Darrell Waltrip.
  • Lap 54: Jabe Thomas blew his engine while driving at high speeds.
  • Lap 91: The rear end came off of Bill Champion's vehicle in an unsafe manner.
  • Lap 165: Earle Canavan blew his engine while driving at high speeds.
  • Lap 192: Richard Childress blew his engine while driving at high speeds.
  • Lap 321: Darrell Waltrip took over the lead from Cale Yarborough.
  • Lap 322: Cale Yarborough and Elmo Langley blew their engines while driving at high speeds.
  • Lap 351: Rick Newsom blew his engine while driving at high speeds.
  • Finish: Darrell Waltrip was officially declared the winner of the race.

Standings after the race

Pos Driver Points[2] Differential
1 Richard Petty 1744 0
2 Dave Marcis 1519 -225
3 Increase Benny Parsons 1466 -278
4 Increase Darrell Waltrip 1459 -285
5 Decrease James Hylton 1439 -305
6 Cecil Gordon 1431 -313
7 Richard Childress 1379 -365
8 Dick Brooks 1225 -519
9 Increase Elmo Langley 1215 -529
10 Increase Walter Ballard 1198 -546

References

  1. ^ Weather for the 1975 Music City USA 420 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 1975 Music City USA 420 racing information at Racing Reference
  3. ^ a b c 1975 Music City USA 420 racing information at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet
  4. ^ 1975 Music City USA 420 crew chiefs at Racing Reference
  5. ^ a b 1975 Music City USA 420 Archived 2015-04-25 at the Wayback Machine racing information at Driver Averages
Preceded by NASCAR Winston Cup Season
1975 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Music City USA 420 races
1975 		Succeeded by
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