|| *Comments on the 1983 Miller High Life 500:* View the most recent comment <#41> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Jake posted: 12.29.2004 - 4:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Big time controversy after this race. Richard Petty won the race, but in post-race inspection, they found an oversized engine in his car. They later penalized him over 100 points for the incident. 2. MASH_guy posted: 06.10.2005 - 9:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A few more details: After the race, Petty was found to have a 382 cid engine (the maximum allowed is 358) and to have put left-side tires on the right side. Petty kept the win, but was fined $25,000 and stripped of 104 points. 3. MASH_guy posted: 06.10.2005 - 9:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It should be 358 in the above post; curse the formatting. 4. MegaRacer posted: 10.17.2005 - 6:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 8) 5. je24go posted: 12.24.2005 - 8:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) +1 6. MOST posted: 05.07.2006 - 3:26 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) This broke up the Petty's. I have this one on tape, good old Mizlou TV, some perv always had to show the women though. 7. biffle16 posted: 01.28.2007 - 3:06 am Rate this comment: (4) (1) In a public-relations nightmare, Tim Richmond won the Busch Pole Award for the Miller High Life 500 in an Old Milwaukee-sponsored car. He received the keys to a Ford Thunderbird passenger car after averaging his Pontiac Grand Prix to a speed of 163.073 MPH in time trials. Richmond led 99 laps in the race and finished 5th. 8. myself posted: 02.14.2007 - 8:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) No telling how many times ole' Richard had something "shady" about his car that let him win! Glad he was caught! The win should've been stripped from him! 9. Bill posted: 02.24.2007 - 12:43 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) That could be said about so many drivers. I was told a story from a very reliable source that a certain champion driver from the 1980's had an illegal distributer in his car from all but 1 of his wins in a championship year. I'm sure this happened all the time. 10. myself posted: 03.14.2007 - 7:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Must have been Bobby Allison, eh Bill???? 11. MegaRacer posted: 03.20.2007 - 2:38 am Rate this comment: (2) (1) Looks like biffle16 also has a copy of the book NASCAR Chronicle... 12. Bill posted: 04.11.2007 - 9:03 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Nope not Bobby.....and trust me, this was from a VERY reliable source 13. Bill posted: 05.02.2007 - 1:17 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) A current broadcaster..... 14. myself posted: 05.15.2007 - 4:49 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Ole' DW, huh? 15. MegaRacer posted: 08.05.2007 - 6:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mark Martin's last Cup race in a Chevy until the '007 Daytona 500. 16. Anonymous posted: 08.31.2007 - 4:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Yes, I'm sure the AMAZING, GREAT, UNDERRATED Cale Yarborough (more like God, am I right?) never cheated in his entire NASCAR career. 17. allen posted: 10.10.2008 - 12:14 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Someone needs to start showing those old races if the tapes still exist. ESPN Classic shows a few but its the same ones over and over.. 18. g048 posted: 10.18.2008 - 5:25 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) I loved Waltrip's comment.He went by me so fast I thought he was going to make me spin. 19. myself posted: 07.26.2009 - 4:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Or was it Rusty Wallace, Bill? 20. Anonymous posted: 03.19.2010 - 2:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mark Martin's last start until 1986 21. Anonymous posted: 06.03.2010 - 6:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) "...and trust me, this was from a VERY reliable source " Bobby Allison is not a reliable source. 22. Sebastien posted: 03.15.2011 - 7:59 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Bouchard #47 sponsor was "Sponsor Desired". LOL 23. Anonymous posted: 04.07.2011 - 1:30 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) 21. Anonymous, Bill didn't say Bobby Allison was the source concerning a certain champion driver from the 1980's had an illegal distributer in his car from all but 1 of his wins in a championship year. I am guessing the source was Andy Petree. Andy Petree for Espn a couple years ago, mentioned on air that 11 of Darrell Waltrip's 12 victories in 81 were with an illegal engine part. In victory lane, they would sneak the part in a hat bag and the race official would be so busy wanting to get free stuff that they never noticed Junior and his crew changing out the part. Andy Petree got that information because he was former crew member for Junior Johnson in 1981. 24. moon posted: 05.23.2012 - 2:46 pm Rate this comment: (2) (1) Andy didn't have a clue, he was just a weekend tire changer. What JJ had in his engine was legal at the time but of course NASCAR made it illegal once everyone complained they couldn't figure out what it was. Sorta like a hundred other things we figured out the rest could not. 25. JasonB72 posted: 10.23.2014 - 6:15 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Actually, I read in a book once that the early '80s was plagued with top teams running big engines and finishing 3rd to avoid inspection. This really ended that era. 26. JasonB72 posted: 10.23.2014 - 6:20 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also worth noting that this would be John Anderson's last Winston Cup race. 27. wrankfakefield posted: 07.10.2015 - 12:21 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) cheating to win is as old as NASCAR. Just ask Smokey Yunick. Everyone assumed everyone beating them was cheating and that their own cheating was just leveling the playing field. Its called Paranoia lol. 28. Jessie Henry posted: 08.10.2015 - 12:42 am Rate this comment: (1) (2) I Am Not Darrell Waltrip But They Should Gave Him The Win 29. Bullet posted: 08.11.2016 - 3:29 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) NASCAR did not want to take the win away to please the damn Petty fans 30. Ryan posted: 09.07.2018 - 8:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) He should have 199 wins. Waltrip said Petty went by him like he was parked. Like DW had any room to talk. 31. Taylor posted: 04.13.2019 - 8:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Interesting that in the most recent Dover advertisement it showcased Petty's 199th win and he's quoted by saying "I don't even know where the 198th one was at." Well this race was is 198th "win". Sounds like he wants to forget this race as much as possible. 32. GuidoFan posted: 04.02.2020 - 2:06 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "I Am Not Darrell Waltrip..." That's exactly what Darrell Waltrip would say. 33. bj posted: 04.05.2020 - 7:25 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) #30 That's still 94 more wins than the next driver. 34. ThomasNester posted: 05.17.2020 - 10:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) who led lap 184, leader summary goes from 13 Richmond to 185 Waltrip 35. Tigerman posted: 05.20.2020 - 12:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Suggestions regarding DNQ's please correct me if I am wrong. Travis Tiller, self-owned #46 Chevrolet Bosco Lowe, Bill Terry-owned #32 Buick 36. Ryan posted: 07.19.2020 - 12:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) At the current moment Kyle Busch has exactly 97 wins in the Xfinity series. He claims or says that when he gets to 100 wins in the series he will stop racing in it. Last night it had looked like he won his 98th victory in the series, however, it was found that his car was illegal in post-race inspection and he was therefore disqualified. NASCAR finally started taking wins away from cheaters in 2019 after years of controversial decisions of only giving out fines and/or taking points away from drivers, BUT letting them keep wins. One of the biggest controversies was at Charlotte in October of 1983. It actually made as big (if not bigger) as headlines than Bobby Allison finally winning his first (and only) championship. Petty, like Busch, was after a magic number. That number was having 200 wins in NASCAR/Cup races. He was at 197 before this race and had won two races earlier in the season, but was having trouble finding speed to win races. After finishing just over 3 seconds ahead of Darrell Waltrip in the Miller 500, Petty was told the engine in his Pontiac had measured 382 cubic inches, 24 inches larger than the rules allowed. In addition, inspectors found that crew chief Larry Pollard had put softer, more adhesive left-side tires on the right side of Petty's car during its last pit stop. After running fourth or fifth all day, Petty abruptly gained several positions in the final laps, taking the lead on lap 312 and leading the final 23 laps. Those laps were the only laps he would lead all day. He was midway through his winner's interview when NASCAR president Bill France Jr. called him aside saying there was a problem in post-race inspection. NASCAR inspector Dick Beaty had went to the garage to oversee the teardown of Petty's Pontiac. Just minutes later in the press box Petty was handed a note that said, ?Big trouble.? Petty left the interview and went to the garage area, where he got the word that his engine was oversized by a lot. Fully expecting a lecture about the tires, Petty was genuinely shocked to learn of the oversized engine. After Four hours of deliberation and with the speedway deserted and most homeward-bound fans unaware, Winston Cup director Dick Beaty addressed the media. Despite the big engine and illegal tires, Petty's 198th career victory would stand. The team would be fined $35,000 and penalized 104 championship points for cheating. Waltrip commented that Petty went by him like he was "tied". Using an oversized engine was, perhaps, the biggest crime in NASCAR. To run it with left-side tires on the right side was even more of an infraction. And that it involved Petty was, well, unimaginable. Petty said, ?We accept NASCAR's penalty. I am only the driver and I don't know anything about the motor or tires.? Petty added that he was falling out of touch with his crew and was getting further and further away from the car. Crew chief Robin Pemberton said he was well aware that the wrong tires were put on the car. ?We weren't trying to get ahead,? he added. ?We were just trying to keep up.? Maurice Petty, Richard's brother and engine builder, came forth and admitted his guilt. ?I did it,? he said. ?Richard had nothing to do with it. Just because I'm a cheater doesn't make him one. If he had known about the engine he would have finished a strong second.? (smh). The fine represented 60 percent of the first-place payoff generally earmarked for the car-owner. The 104 points represented Petty's (4th) Winston Cup lead over Harry Gant (5th) prior to the race. NASCAR wanted to make sure that Petty was ahead of Gant (84) by the margin he was before the race started. NASCAR also said that there would be stiffer penalties for future infractions, but that day they didn't want race fans to leave without knowing the winner. I was there with my family and friends that day and I can tell you that we were home when we found out about the penalties. But many drivers felt Petty should have been disqualified. Waltrip, obviously, was one of them. ?This is in contradiction to of two of the most flagrant rules violations,? he said. ?There's a whole lot more here than meets the eye.? ?The credibility of the sport has been degraded so badly that it will take years to build it back up,? added Johnson. I believe it is plum laughable that Waltrip and Johnson would make these comments of all people. Honestly, Waltrip should probably have 87 NASCAR Cup wins because of this and with the '90 N. Wilkesboro scoring error (Brett Bodine won) and the 1975 Darlington Rebel 500 scoring error (B. Allison won). Both of those races were similar occurrences. Deeply embarrassed, Petty said his brother, Maurice, built and installed the engine on his own. ''I wouldn't have been stupid enough to win if I'd known it was illegal,'' Richard said. ''I would have finished third or fourth, far enough back so nobody would inspect it.'' (Lol) Later, it was determined that Maurice used wax to make the oversized cylinders measure 358 inches during pre-race inspection. When the engine was started, the wax melted, leaving a 382-inch powerplant. Pollard admitted he thought his car might gain some positions with softer tires, but not enough to attract any attention. Maurice took full responsibility for the engine and promptly quit the team. Unrepentant to this day, he said he had to cheat to stay competitive with others who were cheating even more (Waltrip/Junior Johnson- illegal distributors in 1981 and hard to say what else). As to why Richard didn't refuse the tainted victory: ''Who would they have given it to?'' he asked several days later. ''How would anybody have known the car they gave it to was legal.'' Well Richard, it's easy, you check that car as well. Unfortunately, the Waltrip car had already left the track. Although it took some time NASCAR finally started to check more cars than just the winner. Petty would win the next year at Dover and then he would win his 200th race at the Firecracker 400 in Daytona in an epic battle with long time rival, Cale Yarborough, with U.S. President Ronald Reagan in attendance. - Contributions from Al Pearce and Steve Waid 37. Canadianfan posted: 07.19.2020 - 12:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @36 All teams have cheated at some point in their careers especially back then. DW is no different you do remember he drove for DiGard and Junior two teams that had very creative ways at looking at the rule book? NASCAR always looked the other way back then as long as the racing was good. 38. Ryan posted: 07.20.2020 - 1:40 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @37 I mentioned that in my post how I felt it was amusing that Waltrip and Johnson would complain about it, especially the way they would change the distributor while in victory lane. Thanks for reading. And Dale Earnhardt never had any infractions, if so not of any that were major like this. Besides this isn't about just cheating. This is about integrity. Fans paid good money to see a good and FAIR race, not one that was manipulated, especially at the magnitude the cheating was conducted. I know plenty of fans that went to the race and they wanted their money back after hearing what happened. Did they get it? No. It's Richard Petty so it's OK what they were basically saying. I guess they did the best they could with the situation, but a more strict decision would have set a bigger precedent for future infractions like this. There was a strong rumor that Sterling Marlin's 1995 Daytona 500 winning car was illegal (it sounded like a Indy car as opposed to a Cup car for most of the week). However, it wasn't mentioned to the public because they knew there would be major backlash from fans and media because Dale Earnhardt finished 2nd and would have been the first legal car across the finish line and it would have been his first Daytona 500 win after seeking it for so long having several close calls over the years. Many fans were turned off by NASCAR's decision just fine and strip Petty of points and felt Petty should not been given the win. More than likely STP paid the fine. NASCAR is about the only sport that was continuously inconsistent on matters like this until 2019. I mean the guy had an oversized engine and lefts on the right side. The biggest of infractions. @33 "#30 That's still 94 more wins than the next driver." That's not the point. Besides, he may have more wins than Pearson, but he wasn't as good as him and Pearson has him on winning percentage. But in a way, you made the point for me. Why did they have to cheat if he had 92 more wins than Pearson at the time? That's easy. For one, that didn't matter to them like you are implying. It was because they had a goal to get to 200 wins and they knew they couldn't reach that goal without manipulating a race or races. This was about a driver/team cheating majorly to gain an edge and it was obvious to everyone at the end of the race and after the race that something was up. There's no way that Petty couldn't have known what was going on. 39. zuel660 posted: 07.20.2020 - 7:45 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Petty's team cheating to win this race when he wasn't quite as competitive at this stage in his career, but so close to win #200, always reminded me of some older baseball pitchers getting 'creative' when they were less effective, but closing in on 300 career wins. 40. KW posted: 07.20.2020 - 10:11 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) NASCAR pretty much set a president by not taking the win from Cale at Charlotte in the fall of '73. Most everything I've seen says he was running a 450(at least) compared to the 427 that was allowed. Circumstances were pretty similar here. 41. Anonymous posted: 07.28.2020 - 2:14 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) precedent ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: