April 5, 1981
Northwestern Bank 400
The new asphalt was in place and was given the necessary time to cure. Retired Indianapolis Motor Speedway superintendent and friend of Enoch Staley, Clarence Cagle, was a consultant and supervisor in the 2nd repaving of North Wilkesboro Speedway in less than a year and a half, in November of 1980. According to Staley, “Cagle prescribed the asphalt formula and personally supervised while every ounce of it was put down. If a load of hot mix got here and the temperature wasn’t what he wanted, he sent it back.”
Record speeds were anticipated by all. The previous two-day average qualifying speed record was beaten by four drivers. Dave Marcis topped the list with an average of 19.626sec/114.646mph. And on day two, Dave Marcis broke the one lap record by nearly a quarter of a second with a lap of 19.483sec/115.485mph, 0.241 seconds quicker than the previous mark set by Dale Earnhardt one year earlier.
Qualifying 13th, this driver did what he did so well on race day—win. It was career win number 194 for Richard Petty, and his 15th and final victory at North Wilkesboro. Petty won the race while driving a Buick. It was the first win for Buick at NWS. Petty also won at NWS while driving Plymouth, Dodge and Chevrolet. Petty’s win from the 13th starting spot was the deepest spot in which the winner came from at NWS since Petty himself did from the 16th spot ten years earlier. It took 267 laps before Petty grabbed the lead for the first time. He led 89 laps in the race.
Bobby Allison finished three seconds behind Petty at the end of the race. A two day qualifying average of 19.721sec/114.094mph gave Allison a third place starting spot. Allison first took the lead on lap two and led several different times throughout the day. He led a total of 186 laps—a race high. Allison teamed up with car owner Henry Ranier in 1981 and had early success. NWS was race number seven of the season, and he already had a 129 point lead over second place following this race.
A new number, new sponsor and new owner were with Darrell Waltrip in 1981. DW and Junior Johnson, along with the Mountain Dew sponsored #11 Buick came together. The team experienced a couple of blown engines early in the season, but about midway thru, they started raising some hell as DW had one of the most successful string of races outside of Richard Petty’s run of 10 consecutive victories in 1967. The crowd didn’t seem to appreciate it though as they booed him again and again. The flamboyant Waltrip responded by saying “those aren’t boos, they’re saying DEW,” referring to his sponsor. “D-dubya” started the race from the seventh spot (19.909sec/113.014mph) and led two laps.
Dave Marcis ran one of his best races at NWS on this day. The pole sitter led a personal best 123 laps at the track. He led the first lap and led at various times well into the race, past the 300 lap mark. He finished 4th, on the lead lap. In the early 1960’s, Marcis owned a pub in Wassau, Wisconsin, before getting involved in racing......my next door neighbor just happened to be one of the employees. Unfortunately, this would be the last time Mr. Marcis’ name will be mentioned as a top five finisher at NWS.
BRING BACK DAVE MARCIS!
Harry Gant was the fifth place finisher, the final car on the lead lap. Gant started eighth with a qualifying speed of 113.002mph/19.911sec. Prior to his Winston Cup days, “High Groove Harry” won over 300 races in the NASCAR Sportsman on his way to winning three national championships in 1972, 1973, and 1974. He finished second three times in the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman in 1969, 1976, and 1977. He was the IROC Champion in 1985. The race following the NWS spring event saw Harry Gant and Skoal Bandit come together for the first time—one of the most recognized driver/sponsors in NASCAR history.
20 cars of the 31 entered were running at the finish. The race took 2 hours, 55 minutes, 41 seconds to complete. The race saw a record tying 10 cautions for a total of 87 laps. The caution periods were on laps 25-29, 32-35, 143-146, 196-234, 242-246, 295-305, 327-337, 348-350, 361-363, 382-384. Jimmy Means improved the most spots of all drivers—14, by starting 28th and finishing 14th. Lap leaders were Dave Marcis 1, Bobby Allison 2-25, Marcis 26-131, Allison 132-196, Darrell Waltrip 197, Allison 198-266, Richard Petty 267-293, Allison 294, Marcis 295-300, Allison 301-327, Waltrip 328, Marcis 329-338, Petty 339-400.
New faces in a Winston Cup race at North Wilkesboro included 1981 Rookie of the Year, Ron Bouchard, Morgan Shepherd, Tim Richmond, Butch Lindley and Mark Martin, in what was his very first career Cup race.
Running his last race at NWS was Richard Childress. He finished 17th in the race. In the months to come, Childress would get out of the driver's seat and into the pit box. He teamed up with Dale Earnhardt for a brief stint in 1981 and in 1982 and '83 had Ricky Rudd as his driver. Richard Childress ran 19 Cup races at NWS and finished in the top ten 8 times. His best finish was 6th, in the fall race of 1977.
Richard Petty accepts the winner’s trophy a record 15th time at North Wilkesboro. This was his final trip to victory lane at the track.