|| *Comments on the 1981 Winston Western 500:* View the most recent comment <#53> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. James Reisdorf posted: 01.29.2005 - 6:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race started Ricky Rudd's streak of 24 consecutive seasons (and counting) without missing a Cup race. 2. HomeDepotKid posted: 03.05.2005 - 8:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race also ended an era in NASCAR, sort of. During the offseason, a rule was made bringing brand-new cars in. The wheelbases were shrunk from 115 inches to 100 inches, the cars were made smaller, and boxier. Some of these new cars were run in this race, but mainly, the old, bigger, "Taxicabs", the 115 inch behmoths made their last appearance here. Bobby Allison won in a 1977 Monte Carlo. 3. HomeDepotKid posted: 06.15.2005 - 10:47 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) CORRECTION:I didn't mean 100 inches. I meant 110. My god, 100 inches?! That's, umm... a little, umm, short. 4. Chevy posted: 06.16.2005 - 11:11 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Richard Petty in #42 and Kyle in #43? Interesting. Anybody knows why? 5. MASH_guy posted: 08.15.2005 - 5:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Richard Childress almost won this race. He was leading late when the clutch got hot and he had trouble shifting forcing him to back off (this from American Zoom). Who knows if winning would have influenced him to retire as a driver later that year. 6. Steve posted: 04.14.2006 - 12:20 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) First Top 10 for famous road racer Elliott Forbes-Robinson (8th), and the last Top 10 for 4th place finisher Richard Childress. He never finished better than 13th the rest of the year. However, Earnhardt finished 9th in RC's car right off the bat. 7. MOST posted: 05.07.2006 - 3:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Donnie and Bobby Allison, Benny Parsons, David Pearson, Ricky Rudd, Darrell Waltrip, Buddy Baker and Chuck Bown all were in a huge silly season ride swap deal. Chuck Bown did not get a ride out of the deal though. 8. myself posted: 02.14.2007 - 6:05 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Here's the crazy silly season that happened between 80-81: Darrell left Digard to drive for Junior Johnson; Cale left Junior Johnson to drive for M.C. Anderson; Benny left M.C. Anderson to drive for Bud Moore; Bobby left Bud Moore to drive for Harry Ranier; Buddy left Harry Ranier to drive for Hoss Ellington; Ricky Rudd got the Digard ride vacated by Darrell Did I leave anybody out? 9. Dan posted: 03.16.2007 - 6:03 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) No, I think that about covers the big names of the sport. A lot of changes in 1981. I wonder if people complained as much then as they do now. 10. RaceFanX posted: 11.29.2007 - 7:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last Cup race for West Coast driver John Borneman, ending it with a career best 12th. Borneman would later become a trivia question answer when in 1995 he became the first driver ever to drop out of a Truck series race 11. Jay Coker posted: 01.04.2008 - 7:07 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Richard ran the 42 car with the hope of winning the race, thus getting 2 Petty cars on Winner's Circle. Nascar got wind of what the plan was and quickly told Petty not to do it again. 12. Steve.M. posted: 02.03.2008 - 7:01 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Last time a race other then the Daytona 500 would open a Cup season 13. myself posted: 02.20.2008 - 2:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) First race w/o Cale in a long time. 14. Sébastien posted: 09.07.2009 - 12:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Didn't McGriff raced an Olds in this race ? 15. 123564 posted: 01.08.2010 - 10:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) 3nd win 78 car 16. 18fan posted: 08.28.2010 - 12:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) Elliott Forbes-Robinson is from my hometown of La Crescenta, California. 17. Zuel660 posted: 10.14.2010 - 3:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Anyone have any idea which drivers ran the 'new' cars in this race, besides Earnhardt? 18. The Great Dave posted: 08.31.2011 - 5:21 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) "17. Zuel660 posted: 10.14.10 - 3:08 pm Anyone have any idea which drivers ran the 'new' cars in this race, besides Earnhardt?" Elliot Forbes-Robinson Don Sprouse Niel Bonnet Rodger Hamby 19. The Great Dave posted: 08.31.2011 - 5:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DNQ #41 Harry Dinwiddie #37 Don Sprouse 20. The Great Dave posted: 08.31.2011 - 5:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also Roy Smith was in the #45 car. 21. bakerracingpix posted: 10.21.2011 - 5:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) [url="http://bakerracingpix.com/1981-ww500-1.html/"]Photos from this event[/url] 22. CBASS posted: 12.12.2012 - 10:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Some sponsor updates #15 Melling Oil Pumps #42/43 STP Oil Treatment #01 1000 RPM Speed Shop #90 Sunny King Ford-Honda/ Truxmore #28 Tuf-Lon Engine Coating #64 The Auto Merchant 23. James W. McLaughlin posted: 01.22.2014 - 10:57 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also the first race for McDonald's as a sponsor. (BTW, thank you, racing-reference.info for the new sponsor locator. It's really helpful.) 24. FloridaFan88 posted: 04.05.2015 - 12:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Roy Smith drove a #45 Oldsmobile in this race. Not an #11W. 25. RaceFanX posted: 12.31.2015 - 11:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was Ricky Rudd's first race in DiGard's Gatorade #88. Since this was the last race with the full-size cars this was Rudd's only race for the team where the group could gain much assistance from its prior notes developed during Darrell Waltrip's tenure with them. Rudd ran great and led a good chunk of the race before a blown engine late doomed his chances for a good finish. 26. Maverick11 posted: 03.27.2016 - 10:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last time that a points paying race was held in January. 27. 1995z71 posted: 12.04.2017 - 9:04 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Richard Childress's only lead lap finish of his career. 28. Rob posted: 12.04.2017 - 9:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) @27, i had no idea Childress was that bad of a racer..... good thing he retired and put Earnhardt in the car... 29. Corey posted: 12.04.2017 - 9:49 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) @28 Childress had 76 Top 10's in his career. Keep in mind, he raced in an era where it was common to see less then 10 guys finish on the lead lap. 30. 1995z71 posted: 12.04.2017 - 10:08 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) @Rob, what Corey said. Example: Jody Ridley finished 5th in the 1981 standing with 1 win, 3 top 5s, 18 top 10s yet only 5 lead lap finishes. 31. JSPorts posted: 12.04.2017 - 11:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It was just a different time. It doesn't happen as often anymore, though I've noticed it's happened more recently than it did 5-10 years ago. But even then, Darrell Waltrip was the 1981 champion with 22 lead lap finishes. This year's champion, Martin Truex, Jr., had 29 lead lap finishes. Waltrip had 3 top 10 finishes in 1981 that weren't lead lap finishes, while Truex had 3 lead lap finishes in 2017 that weren't top 10s. 32. cjs3872 posted: 12.04.2017 - 11:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @29-31, to expand on that, Childress raced in an era in which it wasn't uncommon for margins of victory to be measured in laps, instead of seconds. For instance, Childress finished fourth in a wreck-marred race at Darlington in 1973 that saw David Pearson win by 13 laps, with Childress being the next healthy car to finish, 21 laps behind Pearson (Benny Parsons finished second in a wounded car, and he finished five laps ahead of Bobby Allison, who failed to finish). And one of Childress' contemporaries as an owner- driver, James Hylton, finished in the top ten in half of his 601 career starts, yet only won twice, and never after 1972. Yet despite 140 top five and 301 top ten finishes, Hylton had only five lead lap finishes other than the two races he won, with his final lead lap finish being that 1972 Talladega 500 win. 33. Altracing posted: 12.07.2017 - 3:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last time a Petty car would have Chevrolet as a manufacture until 2018 34. Canadianfan posted: 12.07.2017 - 3:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A more accurate thing to say it's the last time the #43 was a Chevy. Petty Enterprises and Richard Petty Motorsports are two different teams. PE closed its doors after 2008. 35. RaceFanX posted: 07.24.2018 - 11:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was the last race time that Riverside hosted the season opener. NASCAR had been kicking off is seasons on the Southern California road course every year since 1970, taking advantage of the area's moderate winters to run a race when other areas of the country would be too snowy or rainy to do so. 36. James posted: 08.22.2018 - 11:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Honestly I think NASCAR should go back to starting the season on the west coast in January. BUT now the NFL season doesn't end in mid January anymore so it would be shitty having the season start during the playoffs. But at the same time it be nice to end the season a little earlier 37. GoPM21 posted: 08.23.2018 - 1:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @36 I couldn't agree more. Hit up Phoenix, Auto Club, and Sonoma. Axe Vegas down to one race a year (in the fall). The west coast NFL teams will likely be sitting at home by January anyways. 38. Danish Pie posted: 10.26.2018 - 4:52 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Best career finish for successful Winston West driver, Jim Robinson. Out of 21 total Cup starts, 19 of them came at Riverside. None turning out better than his surprise near-Top 5 here. 39. Anonymous posted: 01.26.2019 - 8:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Anyone know why Darrell´s car look different in this one particular race? 40. Joshua posted: 04.01.2019 - 3:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I wonder if Richard Childress won this race. He was leading late whenever his clutch got hot and he forced himself to back off, allowing 3 other drivers to pass him, with his future driver finishing right ahead of him. 41. ChaseElliottFan9 posted: 08.08.2019 - 12:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The debut for gen 3 cars 42. Canadianfan posted: 04.29.2020 - 2:22 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) GEN2 Cars per bakerracingpix #28, #44, #3, #42, #78, #90, #67, #38, #48 (Hylton was running a Caprice), #81, #75, #93, #17 (Gant was running a Impala), #15, #11, #52, #88, #43, #03, #70, #64, #71, #45, #01, #66, and #24. GEN3 Cars #2, #86, #73, and #21. Unknown #94, #08, #99, #9 (Likely GEN3), #13, and #2W. Our 2 DNQ's were both GEN3's. #37 Don Sprouse Oldsmobile Cutlass Rogers Auto Leasing #41 Harry Dinwiddie Pontiac Grand Prix No Sponsor 43. acerogers58 posted: 07.09.2020 - 3:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Richard Petty was apparently planning to run the #42 for the whole season, but switched back to #43 after this race while Kyle went back to #42. No idea why he did this. 44. Evan posted: 07.09.2020 - 8:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) There are a couple of reasons, Richard was probably planning on Kyle to take his place at Petty Enterprises one day. It's possible that Kyle didn't want to race that number out of respect to his father and the legacy that number carries and Kyle has always been a guy that wants to do things his own way and make his own legacy. Plus the fans would have been shocked if Richard changed his number, since most hats and memorabilia already had his #43 and it would be a great deal of money to change all that over. This or a combination of these factors are likely the reason why they went back to their original numbers. The biggest reason I can think of, it just didn't look right for the parties involved. 45. Canadianfan posted: 07.09.2020 - 11:14 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) @43 and 44. The actual reason was much more pure and simple money. This excerpt from Cars of the King. The plan, on top of everything else, was to let Kyle run the entire season, so right from the start some additional money was needed to help the team field two cars. At the time, Winner's Circle money, a bonus paid to a select number of winning teams for the period of a year from the time they won, was based on the car number. Richard, perceiving a loophole in the rules, plan to drive the #42 right through it. So at Riverside in January 1981, the last race for the big cars, the famous #43 was driven by Kyle instead of Richard, and Richard piloted #42 around the old Riverside road course. To a certain degree, the ploy got Kyle credit for the Winner's Circle money for his finish in #43, but it was a 20th place finish produced by a blown engine on lap 96. Richard manage the fifth-place finish, running on the lead lap. NASCAR didn't take too kindly to Richard's interpretation of the rules and advise the team that he and Kyle would have to revert to their respective numbers at Daytona. 46. KW posted: 08.14.2020 - 11:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Saturday race was the Warner Hodgdon 300 for Grand American cars, won by Joe Ruttman, Jim Neal was 2nd followed by David Hill, Ron Esau and Don Noel. Ray Elder was 18th, Hershel McGriff 20th and Ron Hornaday Jr. 24th. 47. zuel660 posted: 09.10.2020 - 10:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @38 probably because this would be DW's only race in the 'old' style car that year, & the Junior Johnson team just ran a simplified Mountain Dew paint scheme for a car they would only be able to use for this one race. 48. zuel660 posted: 09.10.2020 - 10:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @42 Looks like Gant was running a Malibu, not an Impala, so that would be one more 'new' car for this race https://i.pinimg.com/originals/34/0e/b8/340eb840d8731f15354025ebf4bff12d.jpg 49. Corey posted: 09.25.2020 - 5:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Larry McReynolds was working for Don Sprouse and the Bob Rogers team for this race. He said on the Dale Jr Download that this is the only race where the team he was on DNQ'd. 50. Canadianfan posted: 09.25.2020 - 6:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @48 Thanks for the correction the 2 photos of the car on bakerracingpix were from far away and made the headlight stack look wider than it was. Also the photos are labeled on that site as being Roger Hamby. 51. BroadcastingBrothers posted: 10.30.2020 - 8:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Can it be added to Don Sprouse's DNQ entry that his sponsor was Rogers Auto Leasing and that his car owner was Bob Rogers? 52. 11d7jake posted: 12.19.2020 - 8:01 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Robert Tartaglia was the last person to start a cup race with a car number with a letter in it. 53. JSPorts posted: 01.22.2021 - 11:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wins in the Gen-2 car (1967-1981): 1st: Richard Petty, 144 2nd: David Pearson, 77 3rd: Cale Yarborough, 68 4th: Bobby Allison, 58 5th: Bobby Isaac, 36 6th: Darrell Waltrip, 27 7th: Buddy Baker, 18 8th: Benny Parsons, 17 9th: LeeRoy Yarbrough, 11 10th: Donnie Allison, 10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: