NASCAR. It's basically one of America's national sports. Even over here in Ireland, we're vaguely
aware of NASCAR, and while it's not quite as popular today as it was in its heyday,
it's still pretty big. But that wasn't always the case. In fact, the sport's explosion in
popularity is largely attributed to one drama-filled race. "How could a load of cars driving round
and round and round an oval be drama-filled?", I ask to the collective disbelief of every
NASCAR fan - well, there was a fight. Cool.
Before the event in question, stock-car racing was not a nationwide phenomenom. I am Irish
so forgive my cultural disarticulation here, but as far as I can gather, it was just sort
of a redneck thing. It arose during prohibition in the 1920's when moonshine runners would
have to modify their cars to outrun the police, while still leaving them with their stock
appearance so as not to attract attention. In appreciation of their upgraded cars, the
bootleggers would sometimes challenge eachother to races, and eventually, in 1948, NASCAR
- or the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing was formed, with the idea that
only cars using parts available to the general public could partake in their races.
By 1979, NASCAR negotiated a deal with television network CBS to broadcast the 1979 Daytona
500 race. It would be held on the 18 February, and would be the first race of its kind to
be televised live from start to finish. It was a big deal for NASCAR already, but a number
of circumstances that were completely out of their control made this debut bigger than
they ever could have hoped for.
A major snowstorm affecting most of the American East Coast and parts of the Midwest saw a
lot of Americans snowed-in and stuck in the house on the day of the race. With nothing
else to do, many turned on the TV and saw their first introduction to stock-car racing.
The 1979 Daytona 500 had a viewership of 15 million people.
Although they were lucky enough to get mostly clear weather down in Florida on the day of
the race, it had been raining shortly before, leaving the track wet and slippy, like a bar
of soap that's been pissed on. By lap 31, Donnie Allison is in the lead,
followed by Bobby Allison, who is his brother, followed by Cale Yarborough, who isn't his
brother. Donnie loses control of his car and Bobby collides with him, Yarborough steers
to avoid them and all three end up in the infield. Unfortunately the rain had turned
the infield into a muddy mess, with the consistency of a birthday cake that's been pissed on.
The three drivers require assistance in getting their cars out of the muck and they all fall
a lap behind.
On lap 38, the favourite, Buddy Baker is having problems with his engine misfiring. His pit
crew attempted to switch the primary ignition control box for the backup box and replace
much of the ignition system. But it's no good, the favourite is forced to drop out of a promising
race. After the race, Baker's team reinspected the
car and it turned out that one of the dopes had plugged the primary ignition control box
back in, instead of the backup box. They then tried plugging the backup box in, and the
car worked fine. So that goon cost poor Baker the race.
That wasn't the end of the mishaps though. On lap 53 there was a six-car crash that eliminated
some of the drivers. Someone else blew a tire and spun out. Another fella crashed. Some
dude over-revved his engine and fucked it. A car overheated and another car slid through
the pits after driving over a puddle of water from the overheating engine.
Throughout all this chaos, Donnie Allison had somehow managed to make back his lap and
claw his way back up to first. Unbelievably, Cale Yarborough had done the same thing and
was now drafting him closely. Everyone else was a distant third, with the closest cars
behind half a lap behind. On lap 178 - yeah this NASCAR shit does drag
on - Yarborough sees his opportunity, and attempts to pass Allison on the inside. Allison
moves to block. The two cars make contact, lose control and wreck. They are both out
of the race. It's debatable who was at fault for this crash and to this day, both drivers
contend the other was to blame. As both cars come to a stop in the infield,
Allison and Yarborough exchange words, each man claiming the other cost him the victory
- it would have been Donnie's first Daytona 500 win, and Yarborough's third. Understandably
it was a pretty heated exchange.
The cars battling for third are now shocked to find out that it's still anyone's race.
Richard Petty, suitably nicknamed "the King" for his past racing legacy, picks up his sixth
Daytona 500 win, to a massive pop from the adoring crowd. Despite his reputation, Petty
hadn't been performing well and actually shouldn't have been racing at all. His doctors advised
him not to compete, after surgery on an ulcer left him without 40% of his stomach. After
a long losing streak, the king was back, and for fans it was a feel-good end to a dramatic
race. After finishing the race, Bobby Allison drove
over to the infield, to see if his brother Donnie needed a lift after his crash. Cale
Yarborough was still fuming and the sight of Bobby set him off. These two boobs had
already sent him into the infield earlier in the race, causing him to painstakingly
reclaim every lost inch, and then they fucking did it again and cost him the whole thing.
Yarborough went over to Bobby's car and smacked him in the face with his helmet. Bobby got
out and fought with him and Donnie ran over to help his brother before officials could
separate the three. The live cameras unfortunately only managed to get a bit of the action, but
photographers captured some beautiful pieces.
These pictures made it onto the front page of newspapers, and the incident was the talk
of everyone who had tuned in to see their first ever stock-car race. What an amazing
first impression. Inevitably, NASCAR's popularity soared, as people all around the country clamoured
to see more of this redneck shit. And so, NASCAR became a nationwide spectacle. The
1979 Daytona 500 is still regarded as one of, if not the most important races in the
sport's history.
Are you a fan that owes your interest in NASCAR to this event? Are you not a fan, but considering
looking into it after learning about this? I will warn you, most of it is a load of cars
driving round and round and round an oval. And while I am a fan of the brawling, especially
Yarborough fighting with three limbs all at once, may I instead suggest you spend that
time watching my videos? Half a million people can't be wrong. Oh hell yeah, we hit 500k.
It's been a lot of work and a lot of videos but I couldn't have done it without you. Thank
you all. If you're new here... well you heard me, I have a lot of videos, go watch them.
And why not subscribe, and you can be part of the journey to the next milestone,. Then
I'll be thanking you at the end of the video. And we could all do with more mindless pandering
in our lives. Cheers!