1977 Firecracker 400

1977 Firecracker 400

Race details
Race 16 of 30 in the 1977 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Track map of Daytona International Speedway showing mainly the speedway.
Date	July 4, 1977 (1977-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 approaching 90.9 °F (32.7 °C); wind speeds up to 12 miles per hour (19 km/h)[1]
Average speed	142.716 miles per hour (229.679 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Neil Bonnett	Jim Stacy Racing
Most laps led
Driver	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises
Laps	95
Winner
No. 43	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises
Television in the United States
Network	ABC (tape delay)
Announcers	Keith Jackson

The 1977 Firecracker 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on July 4, 1977, at Daytona International Speedway in the American community of Daytona Beach, Florida.

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.

Summary

A racing grid of 41 drivers competed in this race; including Belgian driver Christine Beckers and Italian driving sensation Lella Lombardi. Out of this 160-lap racing event, D.K. Ulrich would be credited with the last-place finish due to an engine problem on the fourth lap. Janet Guthrie be the only American-born female driver on the grid; the rest of the American drivers were male. While A.J. Foyt, Cale Yarborough, Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip would monopolize the opening laps of the race, Donnie Allison and Richard Petty would fight it out for supremacy in the crucial final laps.^[2] Lombardi and Beckers being invited to race as basically a publicity stunt by the powers that be in NASCAR at the time. The idea apparently was to pit the three women against each other on the track.

Richard Petty would go on to defeat Darrell Waltrip by almost 18 seconds in front of a live audience of 65,000 people. Engine and steering problems knocked most of the drivers out of the race before it could be finished. Neil Bonnett would qualify for the race with a solo qualifying speed of 187.191 miles per hour (301.255 km/h) while the actual speed of the race averaged around 147.216 miles per hour (236.921 km/h).^[2]

There was two-hour rain delay about two laps before halfway, too. Actually, there was a storm covering from the tri-oval over turns one and two for about two hours while turns three and four were in sunshine due to the incessant hot and humid weather of Florida during the summer months.

Most of the vehicles at this event were Dodge or Chevrolet with some Ford vehicles and a single entry by a Matador vehicle.^[2] Winnings for this race ranged from $19,075 ($74,613.52 when adjusted for inflation) for the winner to a meager $1,390 for the last-place finisher ($5,437.11 when adjusted for inflation).^[3] Ramo Stott would retire from professional stock car racing after this event.^[4]

Top ten finishers

Standings after the race

References