|| *Comments on the 1979 Winston Western 500:* View the most recent comment <#14> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. SK posted: 04.03.2007 - 6:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Tim Williamson makes his Winston Cup debut and posts an impressive 9th-place finish. Tragically, he would lose his life in an accident while practicing for the following year's running of this same event. 2. Jim Thurman posted: 09.21.2008 - 2:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wrong!. Williamson's accident did not occur in practice, and was not the GN series. His accident happened at turn 5 during the running of the Grand American (Late Model Sportsman) race the day before. 3. AC posted: 03.27.2009 - 6:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Only caution-free road course race in NASCAR history. 4. myself posted: 05.14.2010 - 11:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Little did everyone know the most famous race in NASCAR history would follow. 5. bigjohnson posted: 05.30.2010 - 7:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) AC posted: "Only caution-free road course race in NASCAR history." No it wasn't. There have been many. Technically, Daytona was a road course prior to 1959, so the second race ever run in NASCAR history in 1949, was caution free on a road course. Many of the races run on the pavement/beach at Daytona and some at Watkins Glen were caution free. There were even three at Riverside before this one in 1979. There was a caution free 100-miler in 1962, Richard Petty's win in a Ford in 1969, and his win in that awesome Dodge Charger in 1977. I was there for Petty's win in 1977, and for Waltrip's 1979, win as well. I still have the program and the starting lineup sheet they inserted in the program!One interesting note is that since Waltrip's 1979, win over 30 years ago there has not been a caution free race run on a road course. This was the last one! 6. Sebastien posted: 06.26.2013 - 5:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The race which started the Labonte bros streak, at least one of the Labonte brothers in a point race, streak that lasted until the Sonoma race (included) on june 23rd, 2013. 7. Michael Schwartz posted: 06.25.2015 - 2:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Best career Winston Cup finish (4th) for noted Winston West driver Bill Schmitt. 8. Scott Baker posted: 01.13.2016 - 10:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Pics of this event are here: http://bakerracingpix.com/1979-ww500-2.html 9. RaceFanX posted: 05.11.2016 - 8:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Darrell Waltrip starts out 1979 by recording his first-ever Cup road course victory. He'd go on to win five times in total at Riverside. 10. KW posted: 03.28.2017 - 8:33 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The companion race was the Stock Car Products 300 (KM) for the Grand American Stock Car division, the winner was Tim Williamson in a Camaro followed by Bobby Allison, Hershel McGriff, Vince Giamformaggio and Jimmy Walker. Rusty Wallace was 8th, Dave Marcis was 22nd, Joe Ruttman was 29th, and Neil Bonnett was 31st. The Grand American series would be an interesting one to know the history of. In 1979 there was no national champion but there were track and state champions and there were races at bigger tracks like this one at Riverside and Charlotte and Talladega. 11. RaceFanX posted: 11.27.2017 - 9:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) California's own Jim Thirkettle makes his ninth and final Winston Cup start but makes it an impressive one as he comes home eighth, recording the best finish of his career. Thirkettle went on to race in the NASCAR Southwest Tour years later. 12. RaceFanX posted: 07.24.2018 - 11:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was Richard Petty's first race after he had some serious stomach surgery during the offseason. There was concern he might not be able to go the distance this soon after that treatment and his former teammate Hershel McGriff was lined up as possible relief driver. McGriff was supposed to run this race in James Hylton's #48 Chevrolet but he moved over to standby duty with Hylton racing his car himself. Petty expected to go the distance in the cool Southern California winter weather, but the #43 blew a motor and put him on the sidelines early on. Track president Les Richter actually tried to line up long retired racing legend Dan Gurney as Petty's relief driver for this race. The King vetoed that but the discussions between Richter and Gurney eventually did lead to Gurney's one-race comeback in a Riverside Cup race the following year. 13. binkerbo posted: 04.13.2019 - 9:58 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Two more DNQs were #78 Jim Robinson and #57 Robert Tartaglia. The pictures at Baker Racing Pix shows them both practicing. That would make Robinson racing the #81 a driverchange with John Borneman. 14. rateus posted: 02.13.2021 - 12:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Starting line-up shows John Borneman did qualify, so Robinson is a diver change. Also Hershel McGriff qualified for James Hylton. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: