1976 Firecracker 400

1976 Firecracker 400
Race details[1]
Race 16 of 30 in the 1976 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season

This was the official brochure of the 1976 Firecracker 400 NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event.
Date July 4, 1976 (1976-July-04)
Official name Firecracker 400
Location Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida
Course Permanent racing facility
2.500 mi (4.023 km)
Distance 160 laps, 400 mi (643 km)
Weather Hot with temperatures reaching up to 91.0 °F (32.8 °C); wind speeds up to 12 miles per hour (19 km/h)
Average speed 160.966 miles per hour (259.050 km/h)
Attendance 50,000[2]
Pole position
Driver
Ellington Racing
Most laps led
Driver Cale Yarborough Junior Johnson & Associates
Laps 71
Winner
No. 11 Cale Yarborough Junior Johnson & Associates
Television in the United States
Network ABC (tape delay)
Announcers Keith Jackson

The 1976 Firecracker 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on July 4, 1976, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Ticket prices for this race ranged from $8 ($33.32 when adjusted for inflation) to $30 ($124.96 when adjusted for inflation).[3]

Only manual transmission vehicles were allowed to participate in this race; a policy that NASCAR has retained to the present day.

Summary

There were 40 drivers on the racing grid; all of them were American-born males except for Janet Guthrie.[2] Buddy Arrington "earned" his last-place finish due to ignition troubles before the start of the first lap out of the 160 laps raced that day.[2][4] A.J. Foyt achieved the pole position with a top speed of 183.090 miles per hour (294.655 km/h) while the average speed of the race was 160.966 miles per hour (259.050 km/h).[2][5]

Cale Yarborough managed to defeat David Pearson by eight seconds in front of an audience of 40,000 people.[2] Two cautions (for 14 laps) and 41 different lead changes made the race two hours and twenty-nine minutes long.[2][5] The green flag was waved at 10:00 A.M. and the checkered flag was waved at approximately 12:29 P.M.

The winner of the race received $22,215 ($92,536.52 when adjusted for inflation) while the last place finisher went home with $1,310 ($5,456.80 when adjusted for inflation).[2][4] The race was run on America's 200th birthday and was the site of Dick Skillen's best career finish of 17th place.

Finishing order

  1. Cale Yarborough (No. 11)
  2. David Pearson (No. 21)
  3. Bobby Allison (No. 2)
  4. A.J. Foyt (No. 28)
  5. Dave Marcis (No. 71)
  6. Coo Coo Marlin† (No. 14)
  7. Benny Parsons† (No. 72)
  8. Dick Brooks† (No. 90)
  9. David Sisco (No. 05)
  10. Ricky Rudd (No. 22)
  11. Jimmy Means (No. 52)
  12. Richard Childress (No. 3)
  13. Frank Warren (No. 79)
  14. Bobby Wawak† (No. 36)
  15. Janet Guthrie (No. 68)
  16. D.K. Ulrich (No. 40)
  17. Dick Skillen (No. 78)
  18. Harold Miller (No. 91)
  19. Bill Elliott (No. 10)
  20. Johnny Rutherford* (No. 77)
  21. Jimmy Lee Capps (No. 26)
  22. Richard Petty* (No. 43)
  23. Joe Mihalic (No. 61)
  24. J.D. McDuffie*† (No. 70)
  25. Bruce Hill* (No. 47)
  26. James Hylton* (No. 48)
  27. Dick May*† (No. 25)
  28. Ferrel Harris*† (No. 82)
  29. Tommy Gale*† (No. 19)
  30. Grant Adcox*† (No. 41)
  31. Skip Manning* (No. 92)
  32. Lennie Pond* (No. 54)
  33. Neil Bonnett*† (No. 12)
  34. Cecil Gordon* (No. 24)
  35. Buddy Baker* (No. 15)
  36. Buck Baker*† (No. 18)
  37. Ed Negre*† (No. 7)
  38. Jackie Rogers* (No. 60)
  39. Darrell Waltrip* (No. 88)
  40. Buddy Arrington* (No. 67)

† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased
* Driver failed to finish race

Standings after the race

Pos Driver Points[2] Differential
1 Cale Yarborough 2503 0
2 Benny Parsons 2413 -90
3 Bobby Allison 2331 -172
4 Richard Petty 2303 -200
5 Dave Marcis 2060 -443
6 Lennie Pond 2031 -472
7 Richard Childress 1994 -509
8 David Pearson 1918 -585
9 Buddy Baker 1886 -617
10 Frank Warren 1798 -705

References

  1. ↑ 1976 Firecracker 400 weather information at The Old Farmers' Almanac
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Firecracker 400 racing information at Racing Reference
  3. ↑ 1976 Firecracker Ticket Prices at Starport75.com
  4. 1 2 1976 Firecracker 400 racing information at Driver Averages
  5. 1 2 1976 Firecracker 400 racing information at Database Racing
Preceded by
1976 Cam 2 Motor Oil 400		 NASCAR Winston Cup Season
1976 		Succeeded by
1976 Nashville 420
Preceded by
1975		 Firecracker 400 races
1976 		Succeeded by
1977
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