The 1981 Mason-Dixon 500 was a NASCAR

Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...

racing event that took place on May 17, 1981, at Dover Downs International Speedway (now Dover International Speedway) in

Dover, Delaware Dover () is the capital and second-largest city of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is also the county seat of Kent County and the principal city of the Dover, DE, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Kent County and is part of ...

. During the preceding season, NASCAR had completely stopped tracking the year model of all the vehicles and most teams did not take stock cars to the track under their own power anymore. Only manual transmission vehicles were allowed to participate in this race; a policy that NASCAR has retained to the present day. The NASCAR Winston Cup Series was also plagued with top teams running big engines and finishing in third place to avoid inspection around the time that this race was held.

Background

Dover Downs International Speedway, now called Dover International Speedway, is one of five short tracks to hold NASCAR races; the others are Bristol Motor Speedway, Richmond International Raceway, Martinsville Speedway, and

Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix Raceway is a 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona, near Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually including the final championship race since 2020. P ...

. The NASCAR race makes use of the track's standard configuration, a four-turn short track oval that is long. The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, and both the front stretch (the location of the finish line) and the backstretch are banked at nine degrees.

Race report

Five hundred laps took place on a paved track spanning a distance of per lap. It took four hours and seventeen minutes for

Jody Ridley Jody Ridley (born May 19, 1942) is a former NASCAR driver. He won the 1980 NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year award and one race at Dover International Speedway the next year, the only Cup victory for Donlavey Racing. His career statistics in ...

to defeat Bobby Allison by 22 seconds in front of 40,000 live spectators. This race was the only win for a car numbered 90 in the NASCAR Cup Series. It was also the only Cup Series win for Ridley and the only points paying win for Donlavey Racing.''1981 Mason-Dixon 500''
information at Driver Averages However, this victory was controversial because Allison's team blamed a scoring error for his loss (even though Allison himself did not actually protest the win). The winner would win $22,560 in prize money ($ when adjusted for inflation) while the last place winner would take home only $5,980 ($ when adjusted for inflation).
information at NASCAR.com Two cautions slowed the race for 24 laps and the average racing speed was .

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 ...

would acquire the pole position with a speed of . Darrell Waltrip got his Mountain Dew #11 Buick in trouble early when he lost it off Turn 4 and set off a multi-car crash. The Junior Johnson team managed to make repairs and get him back out there, with the high attrition rate they salvaged a 12th place finish and maintained their third place position in the points. David Pearson returns to the tour for the first time the Halpern team shut down after the owner's untimely death to take the wheel of Kennie Childers' #12 Kencoal Mining Oldsmobile. The new effort paired two legends of the sport with the Silver Fox driving and Jake Elder acting as crew chief with the pair winning the pole for this race. Unfortunately, engine issues started to arise as the weekend progressed so while Pearson led early in the time one a blown engine eventually sent him to the sidelines just after the 1/10th mark. The partnership of Pearson and the Childers team ended up being just a one-off effort. Richard Petty was another contender who fell by the wayside in this one. He was running fourth in this race when a rear end failure sent the #43 STP Buick to the sidelines done for a 19th-place finish. Elmo comes out of retirement in a one-off for Lake Speed. Neil Bonnett was ahead by two laps over the entire field when he failed to finish the race after leading 404 laps; quite possibly the most number of laps led in NASCAR history while getting a DNF. In today's NASCAR, it is impossible for someone to finish 20 laps down but in 10th place. All 32 drivers on the racing grid were American-born males. Benny Parsons would acquire a last-place finish on the first lap due to a crash with

Dave Marcis David Alan Marcis (born March 1, 1941) is an American former professional stock car racing driver on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit whose career spanned five decades. Marcis won five times over this tenure, twice at Richmond, including his final ...

. The lowest finishing driver to finish the race was

Cecil Gordon Cecil Gordon (June 21, 1941 – September 19, 2012) was an American stock car racing driver. A competitor in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series between 1968 and 1985, he competed in 449 events without winning a race. NASCAR Career as driver Gordon d ...

; who was 42 laps behind the lead lap. The tenth-place driver would finish 20 laps down from the lead lap drivers. In today's NASCAR, he would have finished more towards the middle of the pack. There was a "communications meltdown" on lap 480 which put the race in jeopardy. Ridley's win was considered controversial because Allison claimed to have "won the race"; according to NASCAR team owner

Harry Ranier Ranier Racing with MDM, formerly known as Ranier-Lundy, was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the K&N Pro Series East, and the ARCA Racing Series. The team formerly compete ...

Qualifying

Finishing order

Section reference: # Jody Ridley (No. 90) # Bobby Allison (No. 28) #

Dale Earnhardt Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr. (; April 29, 1951February 18, 2001) was an American professional stock car driver and team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most notably dri ...

† (No. 2) #

D.K. Ulrich Donald Keith (D. K.) Ulrich (born April 10, 1944) is a former driver/owner in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. As a driver, he had sixteen top ten finishes in 273 starts. His last race came in 1992. As car owner, he fielded cars for many years fo ...

(No. 99) # Ricky Rudd (No. 88) # Morgan Shepherd (No. 5) # Buddy Arrington (No. 67) # Terry Labonte (No. 44) # Jimmy Means (No. 52) #

Cale Yarborough William Caleb "Cale" Yarborough (born March 27, 1939) is an American former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner, businessman, and farmer. He is one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships, winning in 1 ...

* (No. 27) # Donnie Allison (No. 77) #

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 ...

(No. 11) #

Neil Bonnett Lawrence Neil Bonnett (July 30, 1946 – February 11, 1994) was an American NASCAR driver who compiled 18 victories and 20 poles over his 18-year career. Bonnett was a member of the Alabama Gang, and started his career with the help of Bobby an ...

*† (No. 21) # Tommy Gale† (No. 40) #

† (No. 24) #

Harry Gant Harold Phil Gant"Harry P. Gant"
(born January 10, 1940), known for his many nicknames such as "The Ban ...

* (No. 33) #

Richard Childress Richard Childress (born September 21, 1945 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina) is an American former race car driver in NASCAR. As the owner of Richard Childress Racing (RCR), he became one of the wealthiest men in North Carolina. In 2004, he opene ...

* (No. 3) # James Hylton*† (No. 48) #

Richard Petty Richard Lee Petty (born July 2, 1937), nicknamed "The King", is an American former stock car racing driver who raced from 1958 to 1992 in the former NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most notabl ...

* (No. 43) # Kyle Petty* (No. 42) # Mike Alexander* (No. 37) #

Joe Fields Joseph Charles Fields Jr. (born November 14, 1953) is a former professional American football center and guard in the National Football League for the New York Jets and the New York Giants. Raised in Deptford Township, New Jersey, Fields ...

* (No. 64) #

J.D. McDuffie John Delphus McDuffie Jr. (December 5, 1938 – August 11, 1991) was an American racing driver. He competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series from 1963 to 1991, collecting 106 top-10 finishes during his career, despite never finishing on the lead ...

*† (No. 70) # Ronnie Thomas* (No. 25) #

*† (No. 12) # Junior Miller* (No. 79) # Ron Bouchard*† (No. 47) #

Lowell Cowell Lowell Arthur Cowell (October 10, 1945 - November 12, 2018) was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver. He drove in ten total Winston Cup races from 1981 to 1983. Racing career Debuting in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series in 1981, Cowell drove four rac ...

* (No. 17) #

Elmo Langley Elmo Harold Langley (August 21, 1928 – November 21, 1996) was a NASCAR driver and owner. Langley primarily used the number 64 on his race cars during his NASCAR career. Racing career Langley began his racing career racing modified cars in Vir ...

*† (No. 66) # Bob Riley* (No. 94) #

* (No. 71) # Benny Parsons*† (No. 15) ''* Driver failed to finish race''
''† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased''

Timeline

Section reference: * Start of race: David Pearson had the pole position to start things off. * Lap 2: Caution called due to an accident involving Benny Parsons and four other drivers, ended on lap 13. * Lap 18: Caution due to an accident involving Dale Earnhardt and four other drivers, ended on lap 29. * Lap 42: Neil Bonnett took over the lead from David Pearson. * Lap 57: David Pearson's engine just could not stand up to the pressures of high-speed racing. * Lap 58: Cale Yarborough took over the lead from Neil Bonnett. * Lap 59: Neil Bonnett took over the lead from Cale Yarborough. * Lap 84: Cale Yarborough took over the lead from Neil Bonnett. * Lap 85: Neil Bonnett took over the lead from Cale Yarborough. * Lap 100: Cale Yarborough took over the lead from Neil Bonnett. * Lap 104: Richard Petty took over the lead from Cale Yarborough. * Lap 107: Neil Bonnett took over the lead from Richard Petty. * Lap 161: J.D. McDuffie's engine just could not stand up to the pressures of high-speed racing. * Lap 191: Cale Yarborough took over the lead from Neil Bennett. * Lap 196: Neil Bonnett took over the lead from Cale Yarborough. * Lap 297: Mike Alexander's engine just could not stand up to the pressures of high-speed racing. * Lap 342: Kyle Petty's engine just could not stand up to the pressures of high-speed racing. * Lap 412: Richard Childress' engine just could not stand up to the pressures of high-speed racing. * Lap 448: Harry Gant's engine just could not stand up to the pressures of high-speed racing. * Lap 459: Neil Bonnett's engine just could not stand up to the pressures of high-speed racing. * Lap 460: Cale Yarborough took over the lead from Neil Bennett. * Lap 480: Cale Yarborough's engine just could not stand up to the pressures of high-speed racing. * Lap 481: Jody Ridley took over the lead from Cale Yarborough. * Finish: Jody Ridley was officially declared the winner of the event.

Standings after the race

References

{{authority control Mason-Dixon 500 Mason-Dixon 500 NASCAR races at Dover Motor Speedway