|| *Comments on the 1980 Winston Western 500:* View the most recent comment <#24> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Chicago posted: 04.27.2005 - 1:58 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dan Gurney was running second in Rod Osterlund's Chevrolet when his transmission gave out. 2. dalejrrules14 posted: 03.11.2006 - 2:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) it was his last race 3. Matt posted: 06.06.2006 - 12:07 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 1979 NASCAR Grand National West Rookie of the Year Tim Williamson was killed in practice for this race. 4. mcmurrayfan posted: 06.14.2006 - 10:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Cup Debut of Lake Speed. 5. Matthew Sullivan posted: 08.08.2006 - 8:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A pretty unique top 10. You have the established racers in Waltrip and Petty, first and third. Then you have two young future chamipons in Earnhardt and Labonte, second and seventh. Then there's Richard Childress in sixth who was a pretty good driver in his own right, but never was able to win a race. Then there is west coast champion Bill Schmitt with an excellent fifth place finish. Then there are relative unknowns, Joe Millikan Bill and Don Whittington and Ronnie Thomas. 6. myself posted: 02.14.2007 - 5:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Relative unknowns?! There are 2 rookies of the year in that mix of "unknowns": Joe Millikan & Ronnie Thomas. This season is of note cause' it was the final season Cale would run for the Championship. 7. Steve.M. posted: 12.11.2007 - 5:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 30 laps for only 2 cautions?!?!?! what happened there? 8. myself posted: 02.20.2008 - 2:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Allow myself to correct myself. Millikan never won rookie of the year. 9. Matt posted: 03.01.2008 - 3:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm guessing the race was started under yellow due to rain or there was a period of yellow for rain. 10. Sean posted: 09.15.2008 - 12:56 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) The Whittington brothers are obscure in NASCAR, but are famous in motorsports in general, for both good and bad reasons. Primarily sports car racers and regulars on the IMSA circuit (the premier US sports car series of the day, before it was split into today's Grand-Am and ALMS), they won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1979 together with Klaus Ludwig, and they both drove in the Indy 500 several times. Their careers effectively ended in 1986-1987 when Bill pled guilty to smuggling marijuana into the US from Colombia, and Don pled guilty laundering money as part of Bill's scheme. Several other IMSA drivers were also involved. 11. Jim Thurman posted: 09.21.2008 - 2:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Tim Williamson's accident happened in the Grand American (Late Model Sportsman) race the day before. Nothing to do with Cup or practice. He was a very promising driver that reportedly had signed a deal to go to the South. 12. stricklinfan82 posted: 01.26.2009 - 8:38 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) This race was actually split into 2 days. On 1/13 NASCAR started the race under yellow in the rain and ran an astonishing 26 laps under green/yellow conditions before finally throwing in the towel. The race was resumed on 1/19 on lap 27 and ran to its completion with only one more caution flag. 13. RaceFanX posted: 07.12.2010 - 12:46 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Gurney came out of a 10-year racing retirement to run this race, the fact he returned to give his legendary career one final race was well-promoted and sold a whole lot of tickets for this race. He apparently did it to help his old friend Riverside President Les Richter. 14. CBASS posted: 12.12.2012 - 9:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Some sponsor updates #15 Hodgdon #48 Frank Arciero #90 Sunny King Ford-Honda/ Truxmore 15. Walleyewhacker posted: 02.15.2014 - 8:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dan Gurney was my favorite race car driver when I first started following racing in 1965. He won in F1, USAC Champ cars, TransAm, CanAm, and FIA Sports Cars besides NASCAR. He pioneered the spray of champaign after winning the 1967 24 Hours of LeMans. Some people don't rate him high as a driver because he never won a championship like AJ and Mario. At Jimmy Clark's funeral Jimmy's father came up to Dan and told Dan that Jimmy said to him that Dan was the only driver that Jimmy ever feared on a track. Dan broke down and tears fell after being told that. 16. Jeff Wagoner (ARCA Results Archive) posted: 03.04.2014 - 2:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Did Not Qualify: 38. #97 Gary Mathews, Gil Brusuelas '77 Chevelle 103* 39. #6 Dick Whalen, GR Metals '77 Chevelle No Time 40. #77 Gene Thoneson, Thoneson Racing, '77 Chevrolet No Time 41. #22 St. James Davis, La Donna Davis, '80 Dodge , No Time 42. #5 Tim Williamson, Jerry Cracker, '77 Olds, Withdrawn (Fatal Accident) *I'm guessing the "103" is his speed? I have the entire starting lineup if needed. 17. Anonymous posted: 06.08.2014 - 5:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was Darrell Waltrip's finest drive as far as I'm concerned. He blew a tire just past the pits on lap 35 and had to limp the entire way around the track on the rim, then was penalized another 30 seconds because he slid through the pit box and his crew changed the tire anyway. Darrell was almost 2 laps down but made up an entire lap under green in less than 50 laps before the second caution came out. 18. Anonymous posted: 05.01.2015 - 1:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) According to the article in Stock Car Magazine DW was penalized (really held) 30 seconds because he took the back way into the pits, a legal move but with a 30 second hold. That in no way takes away from the drive he had that day. 19. KW posted: 03.29.2016 - 1:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Nascar Grand American Stock Car series ran the "Stock Car Products 300" as a companion race. Doctor Dave Hill was the winner in a Camaro, followed by Ray Elder, Ernie Irvan, Ron Esau and Jim Lee. Joe Ruttman finished 32nd. This was tragically the race that Tim Williamson lost his life in. The Grand American Stock Car Series was separate from Late Model Sportsman, but there does appear to have been some cross over as there were a few Novas in this predominantly Camaro field. I believe the format was much the same as LMS and Mods for 1980, in that GA ran a few National Points races (Riverside, Charlotte, Talladega at least) and many local races. This series eventually became the All-American Challenge Series which later merged with All-Pro to end up as the Southeast Tour series many years later. 20. Jerald Daughtry Jr posted: 04.07.2017 - 7:09 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) According to Dante Prucetti. A local man and flagger in turn 6. Tim Williamson attempted to make a pass on the right side of the track entering turn 5. Got off in the mud from all the earlier rain. And the car just wouldn't turn. He slammed head on into the turn 5 wall at full speed. Completely destroying his car. Tim didn't suffer. Dying instantly of massive head injuries. Namely a basilar skull fracture. His head snapped forward and likely struck the steering wheel or Petty bar of his car. Very violent crash at a full speed section of Riverside Raceway. RIP Tim Williamson 21. RaceFanX posted: 07.24.2018 - 11:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor: #48 Dan Gurney- Lubri-Lon / Theodore Racing One of nascarman's blogs on this website talked about Dan Gurney's comeback here in detail... http://www.racing-reference.info/showblog?id=2307 Gurney actually took a refresher course at Bob Bondurant's famous driving school, still located at Sonoma back then, to get ready for this race. His car arrived at this race with the number #480 on the side with the team planning to adjust it based on how he qualified. Gurney wanted to race with his traditional #48 and did so after he qualified higher than series regular James Hylton to earn the use of that number. Hylton's car was renumbered as #8, with the 4 just quickly covered up, for the race. If Hylton had outqualified Gurney his team planned to number Gurney's car as #80. The ghostly spot where the 0 was visible on the side of Gurney's car during the race. A fan painted "Go Gurney" on the Riverside track before the race near Turn 6. The message remained in place for several years. 22. Anonymous posted: 08.02.2018 - 7:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "Some people don't rate him (Dan Gurney) high as a driver because he never won a championship like AJ and Mario." He does have the USAC Road Racing Championship in 1958. 23. Turn4 posted: 10.01.2019 - 10:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The 1980 Cup season got off to a tragic start with the deaths of drivers Tim Williamson at Riverside and Ricky Knotts during one of the twin 125's qualifying races at Daytona 24. rateus posted: 02.11.2021 - 4:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Starting line-up as printed in race day newspapers shows Bill Elswick qualified for Harry Gant and Ed Negre qualified for Dick May. Also Jimmy Means shows as being 34th quickest but seems to have handed that car to Roy Smith and started as the provisional in a different car. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: