Petty Wins Daytona 500 In The Pits
Reprinted From February 26, 1981 Edition Of Grand National Scene
By Gary McCredie

Richard Petty of Randleman, N.C., took the lead on lap 175 and went on to surprise an overflow crowd at Daytona International Speedway today — as well as several other drivers — to win his seventh Daytona 500.

Driving the STP Buick, Petty and his crew combined luck and strategy to snatch victory from Bobby Allison, who driving a much talked about Pontiac LeMans owned by Ranier Racing and sponsored by Tuf-Lon International, finished second some four seconds behind. Third went to Ricky Rudd in the DiGard-Gatorade Oldsmobile, fourth was taken by Buddy Baker, driving the UNO-sponsored Oldsmobile of Hoss Ellington, and Dale Earnhardt was fifth in the Wrangler-sponsored Osterlund Racing Pontiac.

All five cars were in the same lap at the checkered flag.

“This was probably not as an emotional race (win) for me as some,” said Petty, “but for the crew, it was — mostly because we went out (today) cold turkey and didn’t know what to expect. But we were lucky. We just happened to make that pit stop.”

Petty was referring to the fact that Allison, Baker and Earnhardt, who were running close together in formation all decided to pit for fuel and right side tires on lap 174 and went in in that order. The trio went back out, as Petty came in to take on only fuel, forgoing any fresh tires. He shot back out onto the track and managed to take the lead and open up as much as an eight– or nine-second lead over Allison. Although Allison’s Pontiac was quicker, especially on the straightaways (something Petty later admitted), the seven-time Winston Cup champion managed to stay by himself, and at the end had a healthy lead on the rest of the field.

“Allison’s car didn’t handle any better than anybody else’s, but he could run faster down the straightaway,” Petty said. He also noted that if there had been a caution flag later in the race, Allison probably could have caught him and passed him for the win.

“If four or five (cars) had of run run for the lead at the checkered, we might not have won,” Petty added, saying that because he was on the track by himself, there was no one to slow him down.

Allison, Earnhardt and Baker were locked in a draft, explained Petty, and while the draft would benefit the second two cars, it would actually slow down Allison, as he was dragging Baker and Earnhardt with him.

Did not taking on fresh rubber on that last pit stop turn into a gamble for the STP crew? According to Petty, it was not.

“Really it was not a gamble. If it was, they (the crew) wouldn’t have done it. Dale (Inman, his crew chief) and them out-smarted them (the other teams). We got real fortunate. Dale said one can of gas would get it the rest of the way, and you’re got to give him the credit for this race,” Petty said.

According to Goodyear tire representatives, Petty ran 60-65 laps on his last set of tired, and the right rear — the one that take the most punishment — still had more than 50 percent of its tread left.

“The car was really strong. We ran out of gas and got behind and never caught up again,” said a hot and tired Allison afterward. “We ran out and that was it.”

“Everybody was accusing me of sandbagging (not running the car to its full potential) all week. Well, they better look for somebody else now — the No. 1 sandbagger of all time. I ran out of gas on the backstretch and had to coast back to the pits, and that was it.”

Petty simply denied the charge. “When the time came, we ran. We wasn’t particular,” he said in rebuttal.

Although the race’s time of two hours and 56 minutes was not a record for the Daytona 500 (it was the second fastest ever run), the fact that there were also only four caution flags for 18 laps contributed to its rapid conclusion. The other factor was Allison.

Starting on the pole, the Hueytown, Ala. Driver led the 200-lap race 21 times for a total of 117 laps. Although on several occasions he lost the lead because of pit stops, only the Thunderbird of Neil Bonnett seemed able to pass him and stay in the lead. Baker and Earnhardt, for example, could pass but could not retain the lead for any amount of time. Allison’s car passed everyone on the straights as though there were standing still.

Other lap leaders included Bonnett (15 times for 26 laps), Baker (six for nine), Earnhardt (two for four), Ricky Rudd (two for nine), Dick Brooks (once for one lap), Bill Elliott (once for four) and David Pearson (once for three).

The first yellow came out on lap 19 when Blackie Wangerin tagged the fourth turn wall and spun onto the infield grass, while Geoff Bodine brought out the second when he spun off the track off turn three into the infield. His car narrowly missed several spectators and ended up hitting a van belonging to a Florida TV station.

Bruce Hill connected with the turn two wall on lap 57 and brought out yellow number three, and the fourth yellow occurred when Cale Yarborough got out of shape between turns one and two and spun down on the inside apron. The incident also involved Pearson, and Yarborough returned to his pit with a flat tire.

Although it was not counted as a caution, the race ended under the yellow and checkered flags because Stan Barrett spun out on turn four on the last lap and ended up backwards against the outside retaining wall. He turned his car around and crossed the start-finish line in a cloud of tire smoke to finish 13th.

Engine failure removed the cars of Pearson, Kyle Petty, Darrell Waltrip, Terry Labonte and Billie Harvey, Bonnett dropped out at 123 laps with a bad clutch, Benny Parsons made 135 laps before pitting for the day with an overheating engine, and A.J. Foyt completed 120 laps before a faulty valve spring ended his efforts for the day.

Foyt also ran into trouble on pit row during the Yarborough caution when he was penalized a lap for jumping the stop sign at the end of pit row, as he was re-entering the race.

Barrett, despite his unusual finish, was voted the Champion Spark Plug Rookie of the Race, while the Rudd/DiGard team, under the direction of crew chief J.C. “Jake” Elder, won the Sears Craftsman National Pit Crew Championship competition.

Petty averaged 169.651 mph and won a total of $90,575. His 193rd GN victory marked the first time in over 25 years that a Buick had won a Grand National race. Herb Thomas is credited with giving that marquee that win — a 100-mile event at Raleigh, N.C. in August 1955.

See Also:

1981 Daytona 500 Photo Gallery (coming soon)