1979 Daytona 500
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 2 of 31 in the 1979 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
Track map of Daytona International Speedway showing mainly the speedway.
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| Date | February 18, 1979 | ||
| 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 | Mild with temperatures reaching as high as 70 °F (21 °C); wind speeds approaching 14 miles per hour (23 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 143.977 miles per hour (231.709 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Ranier-Lundy | ||
| Qualifying race winners | |||
| Duel 1 Winner | Buddy Baker | Ranier-Lundy | |
| Duel 2 Winner | Darrell Waltrip | DiGard Motorsports | |
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Donnie Allison | Ellington Racing | |
| Laps | 93 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 43 | Richard Petty | Petty Enterprises | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | CBS | ||
| Announcers | Ken Squier and David Hobbs | ||
| Nielsen Ratings | 10.5/29 (15.1 million viewers) |
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The 1979 Daytona 500, the 21st annual event, was the second race of the 1979 NASCAR Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup) season. It was held on February 18, 1979. Sports pundits consider the 1979 Daytona 500 to be the most important race in stock car history.
The race was televised live beginning to end, a rarity in that era, and the first for a 500-mile race in the United States. Camera angles such as the "in-car" view were introduced to United States racing viewers.
On the final lap of the 500, race leaders Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison collided with each other on the Daytona International Speedway's back stretch. Both drivers' races ended in Daytona's grass infield. The wreck allowed Richard Petty, then over one-half lap behind both, to claim his sixth Daytona 500 win.
At the same time Petty made his way to Victory Lane to celebrate, a fight erupted between Yarborough, Donnie Allison, and his brother Bobby at the site of the back stretch wreck. Both events were caught by television cameras and broadcast live.
The 1979 Daytona 500 brought national publicity to NASCAR. Motorsports announcer and editor Dick Berggren said: "Nobody knew it then, but that was the race that got everything going. It was the first 'water cooler' race, the first time people had stood around water coolers on Monday and talked about seeing a race on TV the day before. It took a while – years, maybe – to realize how important it was."
The 1979 Daytona 500 was the first 500-mile race to be broadcast in its entirety live on national television in the United States. Races were shown on television but as an example, the Indianapolis 500 was broadcast on tape delay later in the evening on the day it was run, in this era, and usually in edited form. Most races aired during this period were only broadcast starting with the final quarter to half of the race, as was the procedure for ABC's IndyCar broadcasts on their Wide World of Sports program.
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