Official name World 600 | ||
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Date May 27, 1984 (1984-May-27) Location Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, North Carolina Course Permanent racing facility
1.500 mi (2.414 km) Distance 400 laps, 600 mi (965 km) Weather Hot with temperatures approaching 87.1 °F (30.6 °C); wind coming at speeds up to 11.1 miles per hour (17.9 km/h) | ||
The 1984 World 600, the 25th running of the event, was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on May 27, 1984. A souvenir magazine from this race would set back a person exactly $4 in American cash ($9.22 when adjusted for inflation).
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Background
Charlotte Motor Speedway is a motorsports complex located in Concord, North Carolina, 13 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina. The complex features a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including the prestigious World 600 on Memorial Day weekend and the Miller High Life 500. The speedway was built in 1959 by Bruton Smith and is considered the home track for NASCAR with many race teams located in the Charlotte area. The track is now owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) with Marcus G. Smith (son of Bruton Smith) as track president.
Summary
There were 42 drivers on the racing grid for this race; Benny Parsons received the last-place finish of the race due to an ignition issue on the sixth lap out of the 400 that were completed.
Trevor Boys was the driver that was not an American-born driver. Notable drivers that competed in this race included: Terry Labonte, Sterling Marlin, Bill Elliott, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, and Rusty Wallace. Harry Gant would get the pole position for this race with an outstanding speed of 162.496 miles per hour (261.512 km/h). Nearly 150000 fans would end up seeing Bobby Allison defeat Dale Earnhardt after five caution periods for 48 laps. The entire race lasted more than four and a half hours; with 22 different changes in the first-place position.
Kyle Petty and his father Richard also competed at this race. The younger Petty charged from 41st starting position to seventh in the races first 100 miles but dropped out on lap 193 due to a blown engine. Senator Jesse Helms was a genuine fan of Richard Petty and had the opportunity to meet him during the event. He was a leader of a conservative movement who equated Christianity with morality and atheism with immorality, the implementation of a minimum wage, integration of African-Americans into the general American society, equality for women along with a national health insurance program for America. Besides being a member of the Moral Majority, Senator Helms helped to get Christian right-wingers to appreciate NASCAR and to become NASCAR traditionalists themselves.
Allison would end up in a slump afterwards and would not win another race until the 1986 Winston 500 at Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega, Alabama.