Editor’s Note: NASCAR is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2023. SPEED SPORT was founded in 1934 and was already on its way to becoming America’s Motorsports Authority when NASCAR was formed. As a result, we will bring you Part 29 of a 75-part series on the history of NASCAR as told in the pages of National Speed Sport News and SPEED SPORT Magazine.
Race car drivers are always looking for an edge over their competition, even if it’s outside the rules.
A.J. Foyt sat on the pole and Darrell Waltrip held the outside front-row spot after qualifying for the Daytona 500. The inside position on row two was manned by Dave Marcis, whose fastest lap was a substantial 3 mph faster than the next fastest qualifier, Ramo Stott.
Immediately, Foyt’s 187.477 mph fast lap and Waltrip’s 186.617 mph quick turn aroused the suspicions of NASCAR’s inspection crew because of the marked discrepancy between the duo’s fastest and slowest laps. Foyt’s best lap was 2.118 mph faster than his first lap while Waltrip traveled 2.444 mph faster. Conversely, Marcis went .317 mph faster while Stott’s second lap was only .37 mph quicker.
Thus, Foyt’s No. 28 car and Waltrip’s No. 88 ride underwent a second and more thorough post-qualifying inspection.
National Speed Sport News reported the results of the teardowns in the Feb. 11 edition. In the statement, NASCAR said Foyt and Waltrip’s Chevrolet Chevelle’s “were set up for use of fuel pressure assists which are not allowed,” and cited Marcis, who posted a 186.548 mph hot lap, for a “non-approved radiator stoppage.”
Specifically, Foyt and Waltrip’s cars held bottles of oxygen-rich nitrous oxide behind body panels. When the gas was released, tubes delivered it into the induction system and the cars were given a one-lap upsurge in horsepower. Marcis’ offense was covering his radiator to enhance his car’s aerodynamics.
Foyt’s crew chief, Hoss Ellington, who was cited at the Daytona 500 three years earlier for an illegal carburetor plate, claimed: “Golly, I clean forgot about that. We put (the nitrous oxide bottles) in there three years ago for Trenton.”
Waltrip was less circumspect: “In Grand National racing there are a lot of things you have to do to keep up with the competition. It’s common knowledge that cheating in one form or another is part of it,” Waltrip said. “If you don’t cheat, you look like an idiot. If you do it and don’t get caught, you look like a hero. If you do It and get caught, you look like a dope.”
Despite Waltrip’s assertion, he, Foyt and Marcis were sent to the rear of the field for the start of the 500 while the rival United States Auto Club stock car champion, Stott, started on the pole.
18th Annual Daytona 500 Ends With Wild Dirt Finish
The finish of the 18th annual Daytona 500 hearkened to the past as well.
Fred Seely wrote in the Feb. 18 issue of NSSN, “What was supposed to be a great race on asphalt ended with a wild finish on dirt Sunday. Daytona lnt’l Speedway may be the South’s premier racing arena, but it looked like a half-mile bullring at the end of the Daytona 500.”
Richard Petty and David Pearson were running nose to tail as the rivals entered the third turn of the 200th and final lap. Pearson swung out from behind Petty in an attempt to slingshot into the lead, but Petty went low and stayed even with Pearson. As the two cars came off turn four side by side, Petty’s Dodge wiggled and Pearson’s Mercury bobbled bringing them in contact with each other.
Pearson spun into the wall and slid down the track and Petty hit the wall even harder before he spun into the infield grass.
The No. 21 car stopped 200 yards short of the finish line as the Petty came to a rest only 35 yards from the stripe. Pearson’s Purolator Mercury engine was still running while Petty’s STP Dodge had stalled in the melee. So, while Petty desperately tried to restart his car, Pearson “raced” to his first Daytona 500 crown at 20 mph.
Pearson’s Daytona victory gave him two for the season with his first coming at Riverside (Calif.) Int’l Raceway in January.
The 41-year-old “Silver Fox” added his third World 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway and his first Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway triumph to capture Winston Cup’s triple crown.
“When I was a teenager working on my hobby racers back home, I used to listen to the Southern 500 on the radio,” Pearson said. “I thought those guys are crazy. I said to myself there was no way I’d ever race at Darlington the way they beat and banged into the walls and got the Darlington stripe.”
Pearson was glad he changed his mind and the Southern 500 became one of a Winston Cup-high 10 races he won in 1976. Yet, under the new points system instituted in 1975, which gave every race equal points value, his 10 victories (all on superspeedways, which formerly held a greater point value) and 18 top-10 finishes in the 22 events (of 30) he entered, left him a distant ninth in the points.
Petty, on the other hand, finished second in the points, but only won three races, including the 180th of his career.
Yarborough’s Race To NASCAR’s Top Prize
Cale Yarborough’s race to NASCAR’s top prize was fueled by nine victories and a Winston Cup-leading 23 top-10 finishes, yet his course was not smooth.
Yarborough posted a strong second-place finish in the Western 500, but finished last at Daytona when a burned piston knocked him from competition after one lap. Engine failure was a recurring problem for Junior Johnson’s Holly Farms team. In each of the seven races in which the Timmonsville, S.C., pilot failed to make the top 10, an engine-related problem was the cause.
Yarborough won twice at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and became the first Chevrolet driver to capture the Gwyn Staley Memorial 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Other short tracks where Yarborough triumphed include Nashville (Tenn.) Fairgrounds Speedway, Richmond (Va.) Fairgrounds Speedway and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
Yarborough also won on superspeedways.
He grabbed the Firecracker 400 at Daytona and the Delaware 500 at Dover Downs Int’l Speedway.
“I don’t know how much I won, but I earned every nickel of it. The championship means more to me now than anything else.”
Other NASCAR champions from 1976 include top rookie Skip Manning, late-model sportsman driver L.D. Ottinger and five-time modified titlist Jerry Cook.