1981 Budweiser NASCAR 400

Coordinates: 30°32′13″N 96°13′16″W / 30.537°N 96.221°W / 30.537; -96.221

1981 Budweiser NASCAR 400

Race details[1]
Race 14 of 31 in the 1981 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Layout of Texas World Speedway
Date	June 7, 1981 (1981-June-07)
Official name	Texas 400
Location	Texas World Speedway, College Station, Texas
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.000 mi (3.218 km)
Distance	250 laps, 400 mi (404 km)
Weather	Extremely hot with temperatures approaching 91 °F (33 °C); wind speeds up to 12.8 miles per hour (20.6 km/h)
Average speed	132.475 miles per hour (213.198 km/h)
Attendance	18,000[2]
Pole position
Driver	Terry Labonte	Hagan Enterprises
Most laps led
Driver	Dale Earnhardt	Osterlund Motorsports
Laps	96
Winner
No. 15	Benny Parsons	Bud Moore Engineering
Television in the United States
Network	untelevised
Announcers	none

The 1981 Budweiser NASCAR 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on June 7, 1981, at Texas World Speedway in the American community of College Station, Texas.

Background

Texas World Speedway was built in 1969 and is one of only seven superspeedways of two miles (3 km) or greater in the United States used for racing, the others being Indianapolis, Daytona, Pocono, Talladega, Auto Club, and Michigan (there are several tracks of similar size used for vehicle testing). TWS is located on approximately 600 acres (2.4 km²) on State Highway 6 in College Station, Texas. There is a 2-mile (3 km) oval, and several road course configurations. The full oval configuration is closely related to that of Michigan and is often considered the latter's sister track, featuring steeper banking, at 22 degrees in the turns, 12 degrees at the start/finish line, and only 2 degrees along the backstretch,^[3] compared to Michigan's respective 18, 12, and 5 degrees. The last major race occurred at the track in 1981. The track was used by amateur racing clubs such as the SCCA, NASA, Porsche Club of America, Corinthian Vintage Auto Racing, CMRA, driving schools and car clubs, as well as hosting music concerts and the like. The speedway was also a race track location for the video game, Need for Speed: Pro Street.

During the 1980s the track fell into a state of disrepair, and both NASCAR and the Indy cars chose to drop it from their respective schedules. It continued to operate in a limited role for amateur racing.

Summary

During the preceding season, 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.

34 drivers qualified for this 200-lap race; with Baxter Price, Kirk Shelmerdine and D.K. Ulrich quitting the race early on in this three-hour-long session.^[2] Morgan Shepherd's vehicle developed a problematic radiator on lap 17 while a faulty cylinder head forced Darrell Waltrip out of the race on lap 33. Kyle Petty's engine suddenly stopped working on lap 34; the wreckers couldn't even get to him for fear of getting stuck. Rick Newsom inflicted terminal vehicle damage on lap 40. Engine problems would claim the vehicles of Roger Hamby on lap 72 in addition to Bobby Wawak on lap 92 and James Hylton on lap 115.^[2] Ricky Ruddy's engine stopped working on lap 122 where Terry Labonte was involved in a crash on lap 131. Before Labonte's crash, he had put on a daring move to barely beat leaders Parsons and Earnhardt to the line to get back on the lead lap. Randy Ogden managed to lose the rear end of his vehicle on lap 137 while Rick Baldwin managed to blow his vehicle's engine on lap 149.^[2]

Benny Parsons and Dale Earnhardt would dominate the later portion of the race.^[2] Parsons would end up beating the Intimidator by slightly more than half a second.^[2] All of the drivers were born in the United States of America. Only three drivers remained on the lead lap at the end of the race: Benny Parsons, Dale Earnhardt, and Bobby Allison.^[2] Eighteen thousand people would come to see 35 different lead changes. Many of these lead changed occurred under green flag racing. Regardless of the problems that the drivers faced during the race and the resulting separation of the field at the finish, there was still tight competition for the lead throughout the entire race.^[2]

Other notable participants at the race were: Richard Petty, J.D. McDuffie, Richard Childress, Terry Labonte, Ricky Rudd, and Kyle Petty. Crashes and engine problems also made up the bulk of the drivers who failed to finish the race. The winner received $22,750 in total winnings ($61,238.47 when considering inflation) while last-place finisher Baxter Price received a meager $900 ($2,422.62 when considering inflation).^[2]

Notable crew chiefs for this event included Junie Donlavey, Joey Arrington, Darel Dieringer, Elmo Langley, Travis Carter, Waddell Wilson, Jabe Thomas, Tim Brewer, and Kirk Shelmerdine.^[4]

The total purse for this event was $179,075 ($482,034.24 when considering inflation).^[5]

Standings after the race

Pos	Driver	Points[2]	Differential
1	Bobby Allison	2256	0
2	Ricky Rudd	1984	-272
3	Darrell Waltrip	1915	-341
4	Harry Gant	1890	-366
5	Dale Earnhardt	1848	-408
6	Jody Ridley	1817	-439
7	Terry Labonte	1750	-506
8	Richard Petty	1711	-545
9	Benny Parsons	1634	-622
10	Buddy Arrington	1615	-641

References