7/27/2019 This week in 1977: Waltrip wins Nashville 420
1/2
James Hunt Gets His First 1977 GP Win~a&bunt, dehnb inE-~
mldCh.mplon. -red hi s 1Lntr i n o i t h e 1OnuwnJu l y 16rlth a
rlotory in his horn.OruIdF v hHunt recovered tmm m poor. t U t t h
. t U W h l m ~ t ofolmth PL.w, WY.ldwthe lead on lap peeW c o n t
i n u -i n g U n ~ ~ t 0 , w i n b y m.eoon&
ooarNtlclLaada,whor e t r i n s d b i . a r i r 1 U d W i t h
amanna plum tlni.h.Hunt oorsraf 100.8mfIwin-row. 31 minu*s, 43.Ml
& f m u a a v a r g . ~~ . S m p h , W m o v a u p t ok lpce In
thoatmdinp.?ullmportwxtreeL.
waI r* ScoresNbshidliii 420 winBy Q a a O mnpr
NASHVILLE. Tenn-The Nash vill e 420~a t i rd ay igh t w u ramin
iscent of yes-teryear. when wdl-ban-, fender-bending and angry
outbumts were wm -m o n p l k .Add a sweltering 90 degrees and youh
d all the ingred ient8 of a wild nIght ofracing at any local dirt
track.But this war thestar-studded 17th we ntin the Winston Cup
series. The spit andpoliahed late model m ac hm s
showedmoreasarandtearaiterthersoethanyouwul d bslieve.It waa the
28th and ladt race for the camand drive rs on the ,588-mile
Nashville
Winston Cup teams return next May. Itwu, a fitting climax to 20
waaons ofcompetition on theold fairgrounds mck.However, it was a
very frustrating 250-mile. 420-la0 event for most of the driv ersrn
the 30-c& field. It w a 8 agr eat week forDa ml l Waltnp. who
had a Waltrip dayheld m his honor on Wednesday atn eu hyRankIin.He
led300laps,includingthelast251, nposting his t h M victory of the
season. Itwas not an easy win,alth oughthe DiOudGatorade Chevrolet
driver won by twolaps over the battered and bruised 8TPDodge driven
by Richard Petty.
Waltrip. 30, ought off the sizzling heat.survived numerous
accidents and ended
milem an hour, the race going under thecaution 10 imes for 54
laps.He became only the fifth driver to winulmany as two races
here, joining Petty(8).Cale Yarborough (4). Ji m Paschal (3)and
Benny Parsons (2).
WalMp won the fir st race of hin careerhere in his 50th start,
the 1975Music City420. His sixt h win came in start No. 115.It wss
a bitter loss for pole winnerPuaons. who wss trying to become
thethird driver to win three Nashville racesin a row and the first
to take threeconsecutive 250-milers.Pstty,who has won only one of
the la st
11 -8 here, had hopes of breaking a 15-race losing atreak on the
short tracks. acircuit he once dominated. His last sho rt-track win
wa s recorded on Nov. 2,1975, tBristol. Tenn.
provide bo&s prize money of $&O. $200, and g50 to the
top threefinishers in Showroom Stock B racing. The V W of A bucks
en, naddition to any guaranteed payback from other
sources.MidOhio's CanAm raoe August 8, ~ m O r e do be the s ite of
aninsurrection whemin promoter Lea Griebl ing would allow turbosand
let the SCCA do as it would. will be "a box-stock CanAm."according
to the track . No turbos, no trick stuff. But the August 28IMSA
weekend will fea ture 50 cars, a $10.000 bonus for the overallwin,
and the track h as made u p a list of 22 leading drivers whowillnot
be allowed to pair up in the th ree hour race in a n effort to
getmore cars.Camel GTU driver Walt Maas, leading the ser ies at
themidpoint of the season, has had hie sponaorship incmaaed
byAutomation and Garretson Ente rprises so he canrun he restof
theyear. He had initi ally had enough money for aelected races
only.Everywhere you look. there's a kid going fast: German
HansSurer ha s been signed to team with BN ~ O iacomelli on the
MerohFZ eam. Surer , who has raced with American Eddie Cheever in
a
And the losing str eak sol Bobby Allisonand Buddy Baker
continued. AUiaon hsslost 53 races in a row dating back to
the1875Bouthem 500.Baker is winless in hisl a d 37 starts, his last
victory beingmgistsmd in the 1878Winston 500.After climbing out of
the car. Weltripsa id "Well, do you think I lucked into
thisContlnwd Om Pago 16
Ford Backs OutOf Airbag DealDEARBORN. Mich.-Ford Motor Co.h u
turned down th e RansportationDepartment's request that the
companyfollow t l u o u ~ h n the construction of aKt of
carao&ipped with a ~ ~ b a g s ,sagreed upon w ~ t hhe previous
Admiois-tration. Ae long as passive restrahta nowhave been
mandated, chairman HenryFord U told DOTSecretary Brock Adams.work
on the project ha s been terminated
''hwaune we believe it is neither prudentno r
nwesearymtoonUnue:'
l o t NecessaryBy R i ah u d A. WrightcraioNews Ssrvlce
The U.B. doesn't haveto hav eag uo1l l.oahonrge, but "if smpld
thlngs ue one.we could have one," according to ChulesR. Bitter,
wnior ~icepreaid~mt.xxonUBA.~Bitter told the Automotive News
WorldCongress that guo lin e supplies appearto be ample to meet
demand through thesummer and that upa cit yof U.B. refiner-ies is
sufficient to m wid emm d for thenext few m a . m v i d e dhe
mvernmentdoea not restrict useof l e d andthe octane-Improving
additlve MMT.MMT is a manganese-based d&tivmused to Dm en t
enpine ho c k With Un-leaded &oline. I.62 swed forthe samep ur
po ae i n g ~ ~ o I i n eor cars built befora1msSitte r said
unleaded fuel now account8for about one-third of total puoli nesr
les.BYlm,twillbe a d nd within anotherdnyam,al l guloline ril l be
unlerded.he said.- ~ ~The average le d content is decliningssolder
c u a are replaced, and Bitter saidthis trend will bring average
lead contentfrom the present 1.7 r a G per gallon to0.5 ramove
rthenex t five years.ButEPArul es call for an 0.8-gram averag e by
Jan.1 of next year.
Sitter said this requirement can bewaived and said his
projections of ade-quate gasoline capacity prs hu ed on
theasaumntion of such a wai ver and no banon MM'T.
IfeithertheO.8Lead requirementor a n MMT ban goes into effect.
refinen,would have to reduce gasoline outputlower octane levels, he
said.Bitter called for more dialog betweenthe oil and auto
industries. notinu that aban on MMT might help au to mak irs .
butcould create problems for refiners thatwould eventually hurt
both industries."If MMT wsre banned. it would m i r ea billion iv
&t me nt by 188J to keepoctane up to curran t levels." he said.
"11could cause a s hortf all by 1979of 500.000ConUnued On Next
Pam
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s l l t m 1RlEQ 2nd Wuno b n p MCBAtlanta. July I1HP in rn, r c m
Spr*~p in a 3 m s spr81' p 1st k* St lu r sp,rnr
For the conect award schedule coveri~class. wri te to:Earl: Mike
b r r a t t W e s t : Jim CMIb0 Willow Tree Rd. 442 Valley
DrircLmnia. N.J. 07605 B r i s h n e . CA 940054201) 461-7300
(415)467-9402
