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Date April 13, 1980 (1980-April-13) Official name CRC Chemicals Rebel 500 Location Darlington Raceway (Darlington, South Carolina) Course Permanent racing facility
1.366 mi (2.198 km) Distance 189 laps, 258.2 mi (415.4 km) Scheduled Distance 367 laps, 501.3 mi (806.7 km) | ||
The 1980 CRC Chemicals Rebel 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that was held on April 13, 1980, at Darlington Raceway in the American community of Darlington, South Carolina.
Contents
Forty-five thousand racing fans would attend the event, interrupted by 0.31 inches or 7.9 millimetres of precipitation, shortened to the shortest race in what is now the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series by percentage in Darlington history (51.50%, 189 laps, which is six laps more than an official race, which is 184 laps), as the race was shortened because of impending darkness (Darlington did not add lights until the 2004 Southern 500).
Summary
There were 36 American-born drivers on the racing grid for this event. A multiple-car crash where Ricky Rudd and Richard Petty collided in Turn 1 collected numerous cars, with Neil Bonnett never completing the first lap. David Pearson would earn his final victory ever as a NASCAR Cup Series driver as he gathered the strength to defeat Benny Parsons by a little more than three seconds. Lake Speed would finish in the top ten only three races after his Cup Series debut; making a similar impression on the NASCAR community that Trevor Bayne would eventually do at the 2011 Daytona 500.
Most of the cars used in this racing event belonged to the Chevrolet manufacturer. The entire event took two hours and twenty-three minutes to complete. Almost the entire "top ten" grid were driving Chevrolet stock car vehicles. Harry Gant would achieve his first "top five" finish in this event; marking a precedence for more than 100 "top five" finishes. Winnings for this race varied from $21,340 for the winner ($62,029.07 when adjusted for inflation) to a modest $1,800 for the last-place finisher ($5,232.07 when adjusted for inflation); he never recorded an actual lap during the event. The total prize purse was calculated to be $173,565 ($504,502.14 when adjusted for inflation).
Melvin Revis would retire from NASCAR Cup Series competition after this race while David Pearson would never win again.
Finishing order
* Driver failed to finish race