The 1976 Los Angeles Times 500 was a NASCARWinston Cup Series race that took place on November 21, 1976, at
Ontario Motor Speedway
Ontario Motor Speedway was a motorsport venue located in Ontario, California. It was the first and only automobile racing facility built to accommodate major races sanctioned by all of the four dominant racing sanctioning bodies: USAC (and now In ...
in Ontario, California. Each copy of the souvenir program was $2 ($ when adjusted for inflation).
The five drivers that dominated the 1976 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season were David Pearson (average finish of 7th place), Cale Yarborough (average finish of 8th place), Richard Petty (average finish of 9th place), Benny Parsons (average finish of 10th place), and Bobby Allison (average finish 12th place).
Background
Ontario Motor Speedway was a motorsport venue located in Ontario, California. It was the first and only automobile racing facility built to accommodate major races sanctioned by all of the four dominant racing sanctioning bodies: USAC (and now IndyCar Series) for open-wheel oval car races; NASCAR for a oval stock car races; NHRA for drag races; and FIA for Formula One road course races. Constructed in less than two years, the track opened in August 1970 and was considered
state of the art
The state of the art (sometimes cutting edge or leading edge) refers to the highest level of general development, as of a device, technique, or scientific field achieved at a particular time. However, in some contexts it can also refer to a level ...
at the time.
The first full year of racing included the Indy-style open-wheel Inaugural California 500 on September 6, 1970; the Miller High Life 500 stock car race on February 28, 1971, the Super Nationals drag race on November 21, 1970 and the
Questor Grand Prix
The Questor Grand Prix was a non-championship race for Formula One and Formula 5000 cars held on 28 March 1971 to inaugurate a new racing facility in California, the Ontario Motor Speedway, built by the Questor conglomerate.
Because of the smalle ...
on March 28, 1971. Each of these inaugural races drew attendance second only to their established counterparts, the USAC Indianapolis 500, the NASCAR
Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...
Darrell Waltrip
Darrell Lee Waltrip (born February 5, 1947) is an American motorsports analyst, author, former national television broadcaster, and stock car driver. He raced from 1972 to 2000 in the NASCAR Cup Series (known as the NASCAR Winston Cup Series dur ...
would earn the last-place finish of the race due to an engine issue on lap 10 of 200. A grand total of $155,639 was awarded for this race ($ in when adjusted for inflation); Pearson received $27,715 ($ when adjusted for inflation) while Waltrip won $3,660 ($ when adjusted for inflation).
David Pearson David or Dave Pearson may refer to:
* David Pearson (librarian) (born 1955), British librarian and scholar
* David Pearson (racing driver) (1934–2018), American car racing champion
* David Pearson (scientist) (born 1942), Canadian scientist, a ...
defeated Lennie Pond by one lap in front of 44,702 people; giving Pearson at least one win at each of the 16 tracks in use at that time. Petty lacked only Ontario (where he would never win). There were four lead changes and two cautions for 19 laps in this three-hour-and-thirty-eight-minute race. Pearson would earn the
pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
with a top speed of while the average speed of the race was .
Former IndyCar driver Mike Hiss would make his only NASCAR start here. This race saw the rare occurrence of both a husband and wife being entered in the same NASCAR race looking to race as IndyCar competitors Mike and Arlene Hiss both attempted to qualify for the race. Arlene Hiss failed to qualify although the late Mike Hiss, as mentioned above, did both qualify for and finish the race.
There was a brutal level of attrition due to mechanical problems in this race, even by 1976 standards. Blown engines in addition to transmission failures and clutch failures forced a lot of the star drivers out of the race; allowing a lot of independent drivers to have decent finishes.
Notable crew chiefs for this race included Billy Hagan, Junie Donlavey,
Jake Elder
J. C. "Jake" Elder (November 22, 1936 – February 24, 2010) was a NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup Series crew chief. He was the championship crew chief for two years and for part of a third season. Elder had these successes despite never pas ...
Dale Inman
Dale Inman (born August 19, 1936) is a retired NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup Series crew chief from Level Cross, Randolph County, North Carolina. He is best known for being the crew chief of Richard Petty at Petty Enterprises during three de ...
Hugh Pearson Hugh Pearson may refer to:
* Hugh Pearson (canon of Windsor) (1817–1882), vicar of Sonning and canon at Windsor
* Hugh Pearson (dean of Salisbury) (1776–1856), his father, Anglican priest
* Hugh Pearson (racing driver), American NASCAR driver, ...
Travis Tiller
Travis may refer to:
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*Travis, Staten Island, a neighborhood
*Travis Air Force Base, a ...
Sumner McKnight
Sumner may refer to:
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* Mount Sumner, a mountain in the Rare Range, Antarctica
* Sumner Glacier, southern Graham Land, Antarctica
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* Sumner, Queensland, suburb of Brisbane
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* Sumner, New Zealand, seaside subu ...
Jerry Barnett
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* Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National
* Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes
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* ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian film ...
Don Reynolds
Donald Edward Reynolds (born April 16, 1953) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder for the San Diego Padres from 1978 to 1979.
Ernie Stierly
Ernie is a masculine given name, frequently a short form (hypocorism) of Ernest, Ernald, Ernesto, or Verner. It may refer to:
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* Ernie Accorsi (born 1941), American football executive
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* Ernie Afaganis (born c. ...
Arlene Hiss
Arlene Hiss (born 1954 according to Mortorsport Database or born 1941) is an American former race car driver and schoolteacher. Hiss has the distinction of being the first woman to start an Indy car race, doing so in the 1976 season. She is the ...
Eddie Bradshaw
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*Eddy (fluid dynamics), the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid flows past an obstacle
*Eddie (text editor), a text editor originally for BeOS and now ported to Linu ...
(#09),
Dean Dalton
Dean may refer to:
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* Dean (given name)
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* Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean
Titles
* ...
(#7),
Doc Faustina
Doc Faustina (born February 1, 1939 in Las Vegas, Nevada) was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver who competed from 1971 to 1976.
Career
Faustina competed in 1502 laps, earned $7,995 in winnings (over $36,500 when adjusted for inflation), and ...
Earle Canavan
Earle Samuel Canavan (December 5, 1937 – February 9, 2016) was an American racing driver from Fort Johnson, New York.
Canavan immigrated to the United States from Northern Ireland in 1951. Always interested in racing and speed, he admired Mal ...
John Dineen
John Dineen (born 21 December 1935) is a former Australian rules football
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 pl ...
(#18),
Bruce Jacobi
Harold "Bruce" Jacobi (June 23, 1935 – February 4, 1987) was an American race car driver. In 1987, Jacobi, 51, died of head injuries sustained in a NASCAR race crash at the Daytona International Speedway in 1983. He had 37 USAC Champ Car start ...
(#37),
Chuck Wahl
Chuck is a masculine given name or a nickname for Charles or Charlie. It may refer to:
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Arts and entertainment
* Chuck Alaimo, American saxophonist, leader of the Chuck Alaimo Quartet
* Chuck Barris (1929–2017), American TV producer
* ...
Steve Pfeifer
''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form ( hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen
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steve jops
* Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people
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* Stev ...
(#0).
Top 10 finishers
Section reference:
#
David Pearson David or Dave Pearson may refer to:
* David Pearson (librarian) (born 1955), British librarian and scholar
* David Pearson (racing driver) (1934–2018), American car racing champion
* David Pearson (scientist) (born 1942), Canadian scientist, a ...
Bobby Wawak
Robert Laurence Wawak (September 4, 1939 – April 17, 2004) was an American NASCAR driver from Villa Park, Illinois. He made 141 Grand National/Winston Cup Series starts, with fourteen top-10 finishes.Terry Bivins (No. 50), 6 laps down
# Skip Manning (No. 92), 8 laps down
# Terry Ryan (No. 81), 8 laps down
# Bruce Hill (No. 47), 8 laps down
Timeline
Section reference:
* Start of race: David Pearson started the race but Cale Yarborough quickly overtook him.
* Lap 10: Darrell Waltrip managed to blow his engine while racing.
* Lap 12: Buddy Baker managed to wreck his vehicle's transmission.
* Lap 23: Roy Smith managed to blow an engine while racing.
* Lap 24: Richard Petty took over the lead from Cale Yarborough.
* Lap 35: Cale Yarborough took over the lead from Richard Petty.
* Lap 48: Henley Gray suffered through some transmission issues with forced him out of the race.
* Lap 54: Richard Childress managed to overheat his vehicle.
* Lap 80: David Pearson took over the lead from Cale Yarborough.
* Lap 111: Carl Joiner, Jr. had a terminal crash, forcing him to exit the race.
* Lap 168: Cale Yarborough had troubles dealing with his vehicle's clutch.
* Lap 171: The battery inside Jimmy Insolo's vehicle no longer worked properly.
* Lap 177: Janet Guthrie experiences problems with her vehicle's hub.
* Lap 178: Chuck Bown managed to blow an engine while racing.
* Finish: David Pearson was officially declared the winner of the event.
Standings after the race
References
{{Los Angeles Times 500
Los Angeles Times 500
The Los Angeles Times 500 was an annual NASCAR Winston Cup race held at Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California, United States, in February from 1971 to 1972 and in November from 1974 to 1980.
Past winners
Multiple winners (drivers)
Mul ...
Los Angeles Times 500
The Los Angeles Times 500 was an annual NASCAR Winston Cup race held at Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California, United States, in February from 1971 to 1972 and in November from 1974 to 1980.
Past winners
Multiple winners (drivers)
Mul ...
Los Angeles Times 500
The Los Angeles Times 500 was an annual NASCAR Winston Cup race held at Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California, United States, in February from 1971 to 1972 and in November from 1974 to 1980.
Past winners
Multiple winners (drivers)
Mul ...