1977 Firecracker 400

1977 Firecracker 400
Race details
Race 16 of 30 in the 1977 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Track map of Daytona International Speedway.
Track map of Daytona International Speedway.
Date July 4, 1977 (1977-July-04)
Official name Firecracker 400
Location Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida
Course Permanent racing facility
2.500 mi (4.023 km)
Distance 160 laps, 400 mi (643 km)
Weather Extremely hot with temperatures of 90.9 °F (32.7 °C); wind speeds of 12 miles per hour (19 km/h)[1]
Average speed 142.716 miles per hour (229.679 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Jim Stacy Racing
Most laps led
Driver Richard Petty Petty Enterprises
Laps 95
Winner
No. 43 Richard Petty Petty Enterprises
Television in the United States
Network ABC (tape delay)
Announcers Keith Jackson

The 1977 Firecracker 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on July 4, 1977, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Race report

A racing grid of 41 drivers competed in this race; including Belgian driver Christine Beckers and Italian Lella Lombardi. D.K. Ulrich would finish last due to an engine problem on the fourth lap. Janet Guthrie was the only American-born female driver on the grid. While A. J. Foyt, Cale Yarborough, Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip would lead the opening laps of the race, Donnie Allison and Richard Petty would fight it out for supremacy in the crucial final laps.[2] Lombardi and Beckers were invited by NASCAR with the idea to pit the three women against each other on the track.

Richard Petty would go on to defeat Darrell Waltrip by 18 seconds in front of 65,000 people; marking the final win for Richard Petty in his trusty 1974 Dodge Charger. Engine problems knocked most of the drivers out of the race. Neil Bonnett would win the pole position with a qualifying speed of 187.191 miles per hour (301.255 km/h) while the speed of the race was 147.216 miles per hour (236.921 km/h).[2]

There was two-hour rain delay two laps before halfway. There was a storm covering from the tri-oval over the first and second turns for about two hours while the third and fourth turns were in sunshine due to the incessant hot and humid weather of Florida during the summer months.

Most of the vehicles at this event were Dodge or Chevrolet with some Ford vehicles and a single entry by an AMC Matador.[2] Winnings for this race ranged from $19,075 ($78,866 when adjusted for inflation) for the winner to $1,390 for last-place. ($5,747 when adjusted for inflation).[3] Ramo Stott would retire from professional stock car racing after this event.[4]

Qualifying

Grid[2] No. Driver Manufacturer Owner
1 5 Neil Bonnett Dodge Jim Stacy
2 11 Cale Yarborough Chevrolet Junior Johnson
3 72 Benny Parsons Chevrolet L.G. DeWitt
4 36 Ron Hutcherson Chevrolet John Gwinn
5 43 Richard Petty Dodge Petty Enterprises
6 51 A.J. Foyt Chevrolet A.J. Foyt
7 27 Sam Sommers Chevrolet M.C. Anderson
8 1 Donnie Allison Chevrolet Hoss Ellington
9 12 Bobby Allison Matador Bobby Allison
10 81 Terry Ryan Chevrolet Bill Monaghan

Top ten finishers

Pos[2] Grid No. Driver Manufacturer Laps Winnings Laps led Points Time/Status
1 5 43 Richard Petty Dodge 160 $23,075 95 185 2:48:10
2 12 88 Darrell Waltrip Chevrolet 160 $16,350 21 175 +17.7 seconds
3 3 72 Benny Parsons Chevrolet 160 $12,300 1 170 Lead lap under green flag
4 14 21 David Pearson Mercury 160 $6,900 0 160 Lead lap under green flag
5 6 51 A. J. Foyt Chevrolet 160 $4,700 4 Unknown Lead lap under green flag
6 8 1 Donnie Allison Ford 160 $4,570 12 155 Lead lap under green flag
7 32 15 Buddy Baker Ford 160 $6,670 0 146 Lead lap under green flag
8 1 5 Neil Bonnett Dodge 158 $4,020 1 147 +2 laps
9 30 90 Dick Brooks Ford 157 $5,220 0 138 +3 laps
10 7 27 Sam Sommers Chevrolet 156 $3,570 0 134 +4 laps

Standings after the race

Pos Driver Points[2] Differential
1 1rightarrow.png Cale Yarborough 2630 0
2 1rightarrow.png Richard Petty 2613 -17
3 1rightarrow.png Benny Parsons 2426 -206
4 1rightarrow.png Darrell Waltrip 2315 -315
5 1rightarrow.png Buddy Baker 2196 -434
6 1rightarrow.png Dick Brooks 1992 -638
7 1rightarrow.png Cecil Gordon 1933 -697
8 1rightarrow.png Richard Childress 1851 -779
9 Increase David Pearson 1809 -821
10 1rightarrow.png James Hylton 1726 -904

References

  1. ^ Weather information for the 1977 Firecracker 400 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
  2. ^ a b c d e f 1977 Firecracker 400 racing information at Racing Reference
  3. ^ 1977 Firecracker 400 Archived 2012-06-13 at the Wayback Machine racing information at Driver Averages
  4. ^ '1977 Firecracker 400 racing information at Race Database
Preceded by
1976
Firecracker 400 races
1976
Succeeded by
1978
Preceded by
1977 Cam 2 Motor Oil 400
NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season
1977
Succeeded by
1977 Nashville 420
Preceded by
1977 NAPA 400
Richard Petty's Career Wins
1960-1984
Succeeded by
1979 Daytona 500

This page was last updated at 2019-11-09 01:49 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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