1980 Winston Western 500 Program

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1971 NASCAR Golden State 400 program

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1980 Winston Western 500 Program

Race number one for the 1980 season would start on a misty, cloudy, lousy afternoon on January 13, 1980, and conclude on a bright and sunny afternoon six days later. The race was started in a mist because track officials and NASCAR wanted to get the race in the books for the teams could get ready for Daytona.

Darrell Waltrip qualified the DiGard Chevrolet on the pole with Cale Yarborough in the Junior Johnson Chevrolet to start to his outside. Richard Petty would start his Chevrolet in third, Bobby Allison in the Bud Moore Ford fourth and Dale Earnhardt in the Rod Osterlund Chevy fifth. (Dave Fulton was, I think, a part of the sponsor team for Earnhardt then). Dan Gurney, who had won the Riverside event five times but had not driven in NASCAR since his 1970 run at Riverside in a Petty Enterprises Superbird, would start 7th in another Osterlund Chevrolet. Gurney, however, would experience transmission failure on lap 79 and was done for the day.

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Related Links

– Racers Reunion Page: 1980 Winston-Western 500
– Racing Reference Page: 1980 Winston Western 500