1975 Daytona 500
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 2 of 30 in the 1975 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
Track map of Daytona International Speedway showing mainly the speedway.
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| Date | February 16, 1975 | ||
| Location |
Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S. |
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| Course | Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.023 km) |
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| Distance | 200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km) | ||
| Weather | Temperatures reaching up to 82.9 °F (28.3 °C); wind speeds approaching 13 miles per hour (21 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 153.649 miles per hour (247.274 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | DiGard Motorsports | ||
| Qualifying race winners | |||
| Duel 1 Winner | Bobby Allison | Penske Racing | |
| Duel 2 Winner | David Pearson | Wood Brothers Racing | |
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | David Pearson | Wood Brothers Racing | |
| Laps | 74 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 72 | Benny Parsons | L.G. DeWitt | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ABC's Wide World of Sports | ||
| Announcers |
Bill Flemming Jackie Stewart |
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The 1975 Daytona 500, the 17th running of the event on February 16, 1975, was a race in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series.
From the start, it appeared that David Pearson was on his way to his first Daytona 500 victory as he built a sizable lead on second place Benny Parsons late in the race. However, Richard Petty, who was eight laps behind the leaders on his way to finishing seventh, and Parsons hooked up in a draft and began reeling in Pearson who was slowed by lapped traffic. The key moment of the race occurred two laps from the end when contact with Cale Yarborough in traffic sent Pearson spinning on the backstretch. Parsons avoided the accident and went on to take the win. As per the list below, 26 of the 40 drivers failed to finish the race for various reasons, including a huge crash on the fourth lap, which took out nine cars, nearly one quarter of the field. Among those involved were famous country music singer Marty Robbins, who also crashed out of the 1973 Daytona 500.
At the time, it was the biggest crash in terms of number of cars involved in race history. Donnie Allison started on the pole, but only led the first lap and was sidelined by mechanical problems, as was DiGard Racing teammate Johnny Rutherford, the reigning Indianapolis 500 champion. Another that failed to finish was Buddy Baker, who led 46 laps. As a result, a record-low 14 cars, including that of Pearson, were classified as running at the finish.
None of the 40 cars in this year's Daytona 500 had a single-digit car number.
Note: * denotes that the driver failed to finish the race.
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