|| *Comments on the 1978 Talladega 500:* View the most recent comment <#22> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Chevy posted: 11.23.2005 - 9:32 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lennie Pond's only victory and King's last start in a Chrysler corporation car. 2. HomeDepotKid posted: 12.19.2005 - 8:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) To this point, this race featured the most lead changes in NASCAR history, a record smashed in the 1984 Winston 500. 3. 18fan posted: 03.03.2009 - 12:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lennie Pond's only win and all five of his career poles came in his only season driving for Harry Ranier, although he did bring his signature #54 with him. Ironically, his win came at Talladega, the biggest track, and all of his poles came at short tracks 4. OldSkoolNascarNoRestrictorPlate posted: 03.21.2009 - 5:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) There were a lot of lead changes- 67! That's only counting at the start/finish line. The most laps led at one time was only 10. Lennie Pond became the 10th different winner of this race in ten years. His 174.700 mph average speed was a race record, a track record and a record for a 500 mile race. In 1980, Buddy Baker reset the 500 mile record winning the Daytona 500 and Bill Elliot set a new track record for 500 miles at a Talladega race with his incredible 1985 Winston 500 win. It would take until Ernie Irvan in 1992 to set a new record for this particular race. 5. Jay Coker posted: 10.27.2011 - 10:48 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Buddy Baker won the Goody's Headache Award for the race. 6. Eric Pickel posted: 01.17.2014 - 8:11 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) The top 4 finishing cars in the race were 1977 Oldsmobile 442s. Not many people talk about this car but from 1978 to 1980 The Olds eon 6 of the 12 Winston Cup Grand National races at Daytona and Talladega. The Olds was also the only make to have at least one car finish in the top 5 in all 12 races in those 3 years. Probably one of the most underrated cars run in NASCAR history. 7. Eric Pickel posted: 01.17.2014 - 8:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Won 6 of the 12 I mean 8. Eric Pickel posted: 01.17.2014 - 8:15 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Look at the drivers Lennie Pond beat out for the win: Donnie Allison, Benny Parsons, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, and Neil Bonnett. Even if it was his only win, beating out this group of drivers is a huge accomplishment in itself. Way to go Lennie! 9. cjs3872 posted: 01.17.2014 - 8:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And Eric Pickel, not only that, but this race was both the most competitive race ever run to that point, but also the fastest race ever run, as Lennie Pond broke Buddy Baker's 500-mile record from the 1976 Winston 500. Ironically, Baker would win the record back in the 1980 Daytona 500 driving for the exact same team, W.I.N. Racing, which was a tribute to crew chief Herb Nab (he left Junior Johnson for Harry Ranier's team for 1978) and engine builder Waddell Wilson. And you're also right about the '77 Oldsmobiles, because from the time GM returned with Richard Howard's team in 1971 all the way through 1977, it was with Chevrolets. In fact, 32 of the 42 cars in the 1976 Daytona 500 were Chevrolets. But in 1978, that changed, as many of the top teams that used GM cars went with the Oldsmobiles on the big tracks, though they continued to run Chevrolets on the other tracks. A.J. Foyt's team went another direction, running Buicks. In fact, of the major GM teams in 1978, only DiGard Racing ran a Chevrolet on the big tracks. The other major GM teams, with the exception of A.J. Foyt's team, ran Oldsmobiles on the big speedways. And your point about the competition that Pond beat is exactly why I say that, while there are more very good drivers today, there were more great drivers back in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s. And for a change, most of the top cars and drivers were actually running at the end of the race, instead of in the garage area, because back then, there were usually more cars capable of winning in the garage area, for whatever reason, than on the track when the race ended. Though saying that, the Daytona 500 had only 14 cars fail to finish, which was a record at that time for the fewest cars failing to finish a Daytona 500. But most of those that had problems in that race were the top drivers of the period. 10. Mr Baxter posted: 11.02.2016 - 7:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Petty comments Glad it's over we will clean them up and put them in the corner of the shop referring to the magnums It still amazing to me he was able to race that WHALE of a car 11. Tide1732 posted: 12.18.2016 - 2:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) No full race on tv? I Not found in Youtube. 12. Seibaru posted: 12.18.2016 - 3:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (4) @11 Grammar, Tide, GRAMMAR! Highlight reels started being shown on television when NASCAR came around. Around the early seventies, races started being shown in a more complete fashion. Some were shown in full, but on tape delay, meaning few people watched it, and thus it's less likely that someone recorded it. Some were shown live, but only the second half. The 1979 Daytona 500 was the first time they showed a race both live and from start to finish. And even then, some things don't get uploaded either because no one with a Youtube has it on tape, or people do have it on tape, but are not willing to upload it for one of several reasons. Only two NASCAR Sportsman races are on Youtube. That doesn't mean that only two races were shown on TV. In fact, almost all of the Charlotte Sportsman races were shown. So, where are the recordings? Either lost or in the hands of people who don't want to upload them for one reason or another. Oh, and it should be, 'I wasn't able to find it on Youtube.' Do you need someone to help you with grammar, Tide?...Because I know English isn't your first language (what is your first language, anyway?). 13. KW posted: 07.27.2017 - 10:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The ARCA Talladega 200 was run the day before this race. The winner was former Cup Rookie of the year Bruce Hill in a Chevy, Jim Sauter was 2nd, John Rezek 3rd, Joe Frasson 4th and Johnny Halford was 5th. Sterling Marlin was 21st. 14. Benjamin LordLowe posted: 08.02.2017 - 5:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race was put on MRN audio a few years ago so saltsburgtrojanfan should have a good idea of when the caution periods took place 15. Benjamin LordLowe posted: 08.02.2017 - 7:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Forget my earlier comment it's not on their classic race page anymore 16. saltsburgtrojanfan posted: 04.27.2018 - 2:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Caution 1: Lap 40-44: #17 spun turn 1 Caution 2: Lap 51-53: #49 engine Caution 3: Lap 136-141: #52,68 accident turn 3 Caution 4: Lap 180-182: 17. paulie posted: 04.29.2018 - 12:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) FYI- MRN is rolling out their Throwback Thursday races as a classic race each week when they visit that track (on in the case of Texas, that area). 18. Anonymous posted: 08.20.2018 - 1:44 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) The reason for the final caution was the slow car of J.D. McDuffie. McDuffie ran out of fuel and was being pushed on the apron by Dick May. Pond was lucky to have it since he was short on fuel. He was also lucky when Bill Elliott's tire exploded right in front of the leaders with just two to go. Large pieces of debris hit the cars of Parsons and Allison, damaging the first one and making the latter to lose some momentum. Neil Bonnett was relieved by Skip Manning at some point of the race after a piece of glass went underneath his goggles and caused a minor eye injury. 19. Ivan Balakhonov posted: 08.20.2018 - 5:12 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Forgot to list my name in the previous comment. Few more tidbits about the race: Lennie Pond became the third driver whose only career victory was a summer Talladega race (Richard Brickhouse in 1969 and Dick Brooks in 1973). It is worth mentioning that this success did little to secure his position in Harry Ranier's team. Ranier was in open negotiations with Darrell Waltrip at that time, and strained working relationship between Lennie and his crew chief Herb Nab didn't help. Cale Yarborough... He was about to win the race but the final caution ruined his day. Seeing that Lennie Pond is going to pit, Junior Johnson asked Cale to come for the fresh rubber too. Yarborough refused and the heated argument (won by Junior, of course) ensued. Cale missed the pit entry and made his stop on the next lap. It turned out that race officials decided to give a restart on that very lap and made this decision when the pace car was approaching Turn 4 (there are reports that it didn't make it to the pit lane, just veered to the apron in the tri-oval and let the field pass by). Yarborough was caught half a lap behind, without any chance to get back into the fight with the leaders. 20. 41YearsBehind posted: 11.30.2019 - 6:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last win to date for the #54 car number. 21. RaceFanX posted: 07.07.2020 - 1:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The late Marty Robbins makes his only start of the season and comes home in the top-20. 22. rateus posted: 02.13.2021 - 8:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ed Negre qualified for Dick May. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: