Memory Lane At The Rock
Dateline: 02/28/2000
Can you remember when the Daytona 500 was the second race of the season? When the season finale was held in Ontario, CA? Do you remember the "Baby Grand" series? If you can answer yes to these questions then you probably can remember 1976.
The 11th Annual "Carolina 500" was scheduled to be run on February 29th 1976, however rain forced the
race to be run the following Sunday when it was won by Richard Petty.
The total purse for the race was listed as $107,525 for the entire field which was above average for the 1976 season. (compare with the $2.3 Million that Dale Jarrett alone received for the 2000 Daytona 500) Money fans spent to attend the race was quite a bit less then too. Admission to the Baby Grand race and the Pit Crew competition on Saturday was just $4.00 and the most expensive seat in the grandstand for the Winston Cup race was $25.00 (BankAmericard is Welcome Here).
The flyer for the 1976 race features the results of the 1975 pit crew championships. Donnie Allison and his Mario Rossi lead DiGard Racing team crushed the competition with an "official world record" time of 18.021 for two tires and 14 gallons of gas. (compare to current four-tire stops of 17 seconds)
NASCAR has changed a lot since 1976, mostly for the better, but in exchange for nationally televised races, multi-million dollar paydays and 150,000 seat racing palaces NASCAR has given up some of it's small-town charm that the sport was built on.
