1984 Firecracker 400

The 1984 Firecracker 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now Sprint Cup Series) racing event that took place on July 4, 1984 at Daytona International Speedway (Daytona Beach, Florida, USA).^[1]

Racing summary

General information

This racing event was Richard Petty's 200th and final victory in the Winston Cup Series. Petty beat Cale Yarborough at the line with just two laps remaining in the race after Doug Heveron flipped over in the first turn to end the race.^[1] Rumors circulated that Petty used illegal parts for his final five victories in his Cup Series career. Some people believe that this event was fixed in favor of Richard Petty. The final eight years of his NASCAR career would unfortunately be winless due to aging reasons. Darrell Waltrip would begin to reach his prime - climaxing at his win at the 1989 Daytona 500. Ronald Reagan was there to see Petty's 200th victory and became the first sitting president to see a NASCAR racing event. One of the reasons that Richard Petty managed to earn 200 wins in his Cup series career (impossible by today's standards) is that he raced in the early days when the average season had fifty-one races. Dale Earnhardt would not even acquire 100 wins because more of his racing career took place in the "modern NASCAR era" than Richard Petty.

The entire race took two hours, nineteen minutes, and fifty-nine seconds from the green flag to its final conclusion.^[1] All the drivers were averaging speeds up to 171.204 miles per hour (275.526 km/h) while the pole speed was 199.743 miles per hour (321.455 km/h).^[1] There were three cautions for fifteen laps and the race ended under caution.^[1] A live audience of 80,000 people came to see this race (with more people attending the subsequent Daytona 500 races).^[1] The other finishers in the top ten were: Harry Gant, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, Benny Parsons, Bill Elliott, Terry Labonte, Dale Earnhardt, Neil Bonnett, and Joe Ruttman.^[1] Other notable participants in the 1984 Firecracker 400 included Trevor Boys, Geoffrey Bodine, Ricky Rudd (who retired after the 2006 NEXTEL Cup Season), David Pearson, Dale Jarrett (his first start on a superspeedway), Rusty Wallace, Kyle Petty (son of Richard Petty and grandson of Lee Petty), Buddy Baker, Sterling Marlin, and Darrell Waltrip.^[1]

Out of the forty-two drivers on the grid, there were forty-one drivers who were born in the United States of America. Trevor Boys was the only non-American driver because he was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.^[1] Dale Earnhardt kept the championship lead in points for the 1984 NASCAR Winston Cup Series after the race.^[1] However, Darrell Waltrip was beginning to catch up and he was only fifty-two points away from securing the points lead after the 1984 Firecracker 400 race.^[1] This would be Dean Roper's final race before retiring from the NASCAR Winston Cup Series.

Sponsorship

Sponsors for the race included sponsors for alcoholic beverages, soft drink sponsors, restaurants, variety stores, automotive sponsors, and even one political sponsorship for the Republican Party's candidate for the 1984 United States presidential election (Reagan in '84).^[1] John McCain tried to recreate that political sponorship using his name for the 2008 United States presidential election but was turned down by all teams. During the era that the 1984 Firecracker 400 race took place in, political sponsorship in motorsports wasn't considered to be taboo ye. It was simply considered to be the same as an alcohol sponorship because it dealt with a product or service that only an adult could use. People had to be eighteen years of age or older to vote all 50 of American's states; so this demographics of the sponsorship excluded children. The total winnings for this race was $336,550 ($752,871.62 in today's money).^[2] However, the winner received $43,755 of that purse ($97,881.14 in today's money).^[1] Manufacturers involved in the race were: Buick (an active organization that is no longer involved in racing), Chevrolet (active), Ford (active), Chrysler (another active organization that is no longer racing), Pontiac (defunct), and Oldsmobile (defunct).^[1]

Also, because of the 1971 Myers Brothers 250 dispute, there is dispute whether this is Petty's 201st win or not; because of the Grand American / Grand National combination race status, Petty had finished second in a Grand National car to a Grand American car that won the race; under current NASCAR rules for combination races, both the Grand National and Grand American winners would be credited a win for their division.

References

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