|| *Comments on the 1979 CRC Chemicals Rebel 500:* View the most recent comment <#18> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. HomeDepotKid posted: 09.12.2004 - 3:02 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) David Pearson didn't crash. In all actualities, he lost his left tires coming out of the pits. Thinking that he was only making a two-tyre pit stop, Pearson pulled off as his team, the Wood Brothers, had the left-side tyre lugnuts pulled off to change the tyres. The tyres fell off, Pearson was out, and soon was out of a ride-He and the Wood Brothers split. I think that y'all need to also remember another story-the story of the last lap. Darrell Waltrip and "The King", Richard Petty, swapped the lead four times on the final lap. That'd be one thing at Talladega, which is 2.66 miles, ultra-wide, and usually has mass lead changes, but this is Darlington. A 1.366 mile egg-shaped, ultra-narrow track that really doesn't have room for 50-60 lead change epics. Now, I was born 9 years after 1979, but I've heard of this and seen this race, and from what I heard, the track was REALLY scary in 1979. 2. Aaron Camp posted: 11.28.2004 - 8:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I heard about this finish in Speedway Illustrated, and it souns like a thriller. "Mr. Boogity" won the race, but Richard Petty was a winner as well. 3. tim posted: 09.15.2007 - 4:29 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) The best race i ever attended. Petty and Waltrip put on a great show for several laps. I have been to many races,at least ten at Bristol in the 70s&80s and this was the most exciting of all. 4. DieselDan posted: 12.16.2007 - 12:31 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) The police officer ducking for cover from Pearson's wheel is my father. 5. RaceFanX posted: 01.11.2008 - 2:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The wheels literally did come off... This was the final race together for David Pearson and the Wood Brothers 6. Clayton posted: 03.05.2008 - 10:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Wood Brothers and David Pearson's careers would never be the same again! They both would have limited success the rest of their careers. A fight between the two is what made the split. They were both very pissed off at eachother. It's a shame really, but that's how life happens I guess!!! 7. GITNIT17 posted: 06.13.2008 - 5:18 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I attended this race at the age of 11. We camped out in the infield down in turn four (turn two now). As I remember, there was a very lengthy rain dealy through the mid part of the race. I can remember wading through the infield. Most of the crowd in the infield vacated because of the standing water and we were left with an unobstructed view of the last part of the race. Those that left missed the most exciting race I have ever seen, and I've seen a bunch. The last lap was esxciting, but so were the last 100 or so as well. Waltrip, Petty, and Donnie Allison were locked in a three way duel for those laps and swapped the lead back and forth on waht seemed like every lap. Me being a DW fan in 1979, I was intently waiting to see how he finished. I can't remember who was leading when they took the white flag, but as they came down the backstretch on the final lap, Petty passed DW and slipped up the banking in three. DW did the old cross over move and beat Petty back to the flag. The Greatest race of all time as far as I'm concerned. 8. RaceFanX posted: 01.24.2009 - 11:56 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Finishing a strong 14th, this was the last race for Butch Hartman Check out Al Holbert in 21st and sponsored by a Porsche dealership. It not often that car maker comes up when discussing NASCAR 9. 18fan posted: 03.09.2010 - 1:18 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Glen Wood had become angry with Pearson because David was being way more conservative than usual and even said Pearson's laying back got him in the big one at Daytona. 10. Tommy Htaher posted: 07.06.2010 - 8:17 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I was there - GREAT racing! 11. Jim Crooks posted: 12.26.2012 - 8:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I remember seeing a replay of the highlights of this race. It was a few years before I could get to Darlington my first time. I really wish I had been there for this one. 12. v2v1v5 posted: 02.03.2013 - 1:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) A sad ending to one of and maybe the greatest driver/teams ever! 7 years to the race.David Pearson and the Wood Bros.Mercury amass an astounding 43 victories in just 143 races!That's a 30.07% winning percentage,almost 1 of every 3 races over 7 years,...Awesome personified!Besides the competition,Nascar did their best to slow down the Wood Bros.Mercury too.David Pearson retires as the winningest Mercury driver of all time with 44 wins, having one 1971 win with Holman&Moody. 13. myself posted: 05.23.2013 - 1:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) why did they part ways @ such a strange time? 14. mkl62 posted: 02.19.2014 - 11:04 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) I attended this race when I was in Boy Scouts. I did so from 1974-1980. Of those seven, this was the most exciting. If Petty and Waltrip had crashed, Donnie Allison would most likely have won. It seems that he was jinxed after Daytona two months earlier. David Pearson and The Wood Brothers parted ways after the pit road fiasco. David later said that he was trying to beat DW out of the pits. DW had set the standard for that day. I vividly remember Jimmy Means crashing and one car that lost a tire on the track and sparks flying out from under it. In an interview with The State newspaper (Columbia), Bobby Allison bemoaned that there was way too much debris on the track during the race. 15. Bullet posted: 08.10.2016 - 7:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I was there As much as I disliked jaws I was pulling hard for him that day glad he won 16. Jay posted: 04.27.2018 - 6:10 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Question about the first caution. It says #92 stalled but there is not a #92 in this race. Could it be referring to the #44 since it was that number the year before? 17. @Statscrash posted: 08.25.2018 - 2:06 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) So were there 6 cautions like listed at the top of the page or 2 like listed at the bottom? 18. Anonymous posted: 08.25.2018 - 2:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @17 Considering the average speed I'd say there were 6. Probably don't have enough information for a full caution flag breakdown. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: