1976 Volunteer 400
| Race details[1][2] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 21 of 30 in the 1976 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season | |||
 Layout of Bristol Motor Speedway | |||
| Date | August 29, 1976 | ||
| Official name | Volunteer 400 | ||
| Location | Bristol International Speedway, Bristol, Tennessee | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 0.533 mi (0.857 km) | ||
| Distance | 400 laps, 166.5 mi (328.8 km) | ||
| Weather | Temperatures reaching of 84.9 °F (29.4 °C); wind speeds of 10.9 miles per hour (17.5 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 99.175 miles per hour (159.607 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 12,000[3] | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | DiGard Motorsports | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Cale Yarborough | Junior Johnson & Associates | |
| Laps | 373 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 11 | Cale Yarborough | Junior Johnson & Associates | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | untelevised | ||
| Announcers | none | ||
The 1976 Volunteer 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on August 29, 1976, at Bristol International Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee.
The five drivers that dominated the 1976 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season were David Pearson (average finish of 7th place), Cale Yarborough (average finish of 8th place), Richard Petty (average finish of 9th place), Benny Parsons (average finish of 10th place), and Bobby Allison (average finish 12th place).
Race report
By 1980, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power anymore.
This racing event took two hours and eighteen minutes to complete in front of an audience of twelve thousand stock car racing fans.[3] Two cautions were handed out by NASCAR officials on the track for thirteen laps.[3] Cale Yarborough defeated Richard Petty by more than two laps.[3][2] Other notable drivers included Darrell Waltrip, Benny Parsons, Richard Childress, J.D. McDuffie, and Elmo Langley.[3][2]
Joe Frasson ran out of tires on lap 5 while Ed Negre would lose the rear end of his vehicle on lap 12. Dean Dalton's transmission would stop working on lap 15. Gary Myers would blow his engine on lap 35 while Walter Ballard would do the identical thing on lap 55. Elmo Langley would ruin his vehicle's engine on lap 106. Clyde Lynn would wreck the transmission of his car on lap 123. J.D. McDuffie's engine only could make it to lap 154 while Dave Marcis' engine lasted until 248. Cecil Gordon's engine would last until lap 270; when he had to leave the race.[3][2] Frank Warren was the lowest finishing driver to complete the entire race without any mechanical problems.[3][2]
Clyde Lynn would retire after this event.[3]
Notable speeds at the race were: 99.175 miles per hour (159.607 km/h) as the average speed and 110.300 miles per hour (177.511 km/h) as the pole position speed achieved by Darrell Waltrip in qualifying.[3]
The points leader after this event would be Cale Yarborough.[2] He would go on to become the NASCAR Cup Series champion at the end of the season.[4]
All the drivers competed for the prize purse which added up to $61,105 ($327,179.75 when adjusted for inflation).[5] Yarborough earned the largest share of the pie with $10,025 ($53,677.72 when adjusted for inflation) while last-place finisher Joe Frasson walked away with a meager $400 ($2,141.75 when adjusted for inflation).[5]
Qualifying
| Grid | No. | Driver | Manufacturer | Speed[6] | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 88 | Darrell Waltrip | Chevrolet | 110.307 | DiGard |
| 2 | 11 | Cale Yarborough | Chevrolet | 110.123 | Junior Johnson |
| 3 | 15 | Buddy Baker | Ford | 109.401 | Bud Moore |
| 4 | 72 | Benny Parsons | Chevrolet | 109.314 | L.G. DeWitt |
| 5 | 90 | Dick Brooks | Ford | 109.308 | Junie Donlavey |
| 6 | 54 | Lennie Pond | Chevrolet | 109.305 | Ronnie Elder |
| 7 | 71 | Dave Marcis | Dodge | 108.991 | Nord Krauskopf |
| 8 | 2 | Bobby Allison | Mercury | 108.757 | Roger Penske |
| 9 | 43 | Richard Petty | Dodge | 108.217 | Petty Enterprises |
| 10 | 30 | Terry Bivins | Chevrolet | 107.749 | Walter Ballard |
Finishing order
Section reference: [3]
- Cale Yarborough (No. 11)
- Richard Petty (No. 43)
- Darrell Waltrip (No. 88)
- Benny Parsons† (No. 72)
- Buddy Baker† (No. 15)
- Bobby Allison (No. 2)
- Dick Brooks† (No. 90)
- Lennie Pond (No. 54)
- Bobby Wawak† (No. 36)
- Richard Childress (No. 3)
- D.K. Ulrich (No. 40)
- Terry Bivins (No. 30)
- James Hylton† (No. 48)
- David Sisco (No. 05)
- Henley Gray (No. 19)
- Dick May† (No. 25)
- Buddy Arrington (No. 67)
- Skip Manning (No. 92)
- Jimmy Means (No. 52)
- Frank Warren (No. 79)
- Cecil Gordon*† (No. 24)
- Dave Marcis* (No. 71)
- J.D. McDuffie*† (No. 70)
- Clyde Lynn*† (No. 10)
- Elmo Langley*† (No. 64)
- Walter Ballard* (No. 45)
- Gary Myers* (No. 04)
- Dean Dalton* (No. 7)
- Ed Negre* (No. 8)
- Joe Frasson*† (No. 18)
† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased
* Driver failed to finish race
Standings after the race
| Pos | Driver | Points[3] | Differential |
|---|---|---|---|
1 
|
Cale Yarborough | 3211 | 0 |
| 2
|
Benny Parsons | 3112 | -99 |
| 3
|
Richard Petty | 3106 | -105 |
| 4
|
Bobby Allison | 2982 | -229 |
| 5
|
Dave Marcis | 2749 | -462 |
| 6
|
Lennie Pond | 2741 | -470 |
| 7
|
Richard Childress | 2611 | -600 |
| 8
|
Buddy Baker | 2575 | -636 |
9 
|
Frank Warren | 2364 | -847 |
| 10
|
J.D. McDuffie | 2357 | -854 |
References
- ^ "1976 Volunteer 400 weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
- ^ a b c d e f "1976 Volunteer 400 racing results (second reference)". Driver Averages. Archived from the original on 2011-10-05. Retrieved 2011-01-11.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "1976 Volunteer 400 racing results". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2011-01-11.
- ^ "1976 NASCAR Cup Series Championship points results". Driver Averages. Archived from the original on 2011-10-05. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
- ^ a b "1976 Volunteer 400 racing information". Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
- ^ "1976 Volunteer 400 qualifying results". Racing Reference. Retrieved 2017-08-20.