Official name Coca-Cola 500 | ||
Date July 27, 1980 (1980-July-27) Location Pocono International Raceway, Long Pond, Pennsylvania Course Permanent racing facility
2.500 mi (3.400 km) Distance 200 laps, 501.0 mi (804 km) Weather Warm with temperatures approaching 79 °F (26 °C); average wind speeds of 6.6 miles per hour (10.6 km/h) with no precipitation reported with 24 hours of the race | ||
The 1980 Coca-Cola 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on July 27, 1980, at Pocono International Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Contents
By 1980, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power anymore. Only manual transmission vehicles were allowed to participate in this race; a policy that NASCAR has retained to the present day.
Background
Pocono Raceway is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races; the others are Daytona International Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. The standard track at Pocono Raceway is a three-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. The track's turns are banked differently; the first is banked at 14°, the second turn at 8° and the final turn with 6°. However, each of the three straightaways are banked at 2°.
Summary
It took four hours and one minute to complete 200 laps; Neil Bonnett defeated Buddy Baker by 6/10ths of a second. There were forty American born drivers in the race. Travis Tiller achieved the last-place finish of the race due to a problem in the ignition system during the pace laps of the race. Five cautions were given out for 26 laps while 49 lead changes took place from the green flag to the checkered flag. The other drivers who finished in the top ten were: Cale Yarborough, Dale Earnhardt, Harry Gant, Terry Labonte, Kyle Petty, Dave Marcis, Richard Childress (now the owner of Richard Childress Racing), and Ricky Rudd. Most of the drivers competed with the Chevrolet marquee.
Kenny Hemphill, Tim Richmond (12th-place finish), and Bob Riley would start their NASCAR Cup Series career at this race while Janet Guthrie and Nelson Oswald would make this race into their swan songs. Richard Petty broke his neck as a result of a crash on lap 57. Fortunately, he managed to successfully rehab his serious injury. Guthrie would race fast and furiously with the male competitors until her engine failed after 134 laps. Legendary driver and current NASCAR on Fox personality Darrell Waltrip competed in this race; he started in 7th and finished in 26th place in his #88 Chevrolet machine owned by DiGard Motorsports.
20 lead changes were accomplished during the last 58 laps of the race.