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Pepsi 400
Daytona Int'l Speedway
Saturday, July 2, 2004
Fox at 4pm PT / 7pm ET
Pepsi 400 Viewer's Guide
Broadcast schedule
All times below Eastern
Pepsi 400 FOX --- Sat. 7 p.m.
O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 --- SPEED Sat. 3 p.m.
Winn-Dixie 250 --- FX Fri. 7:30 p.m.
Pepsi 400 Bud Pole qualifying --- SPEED Thr. 8 p.m.
Track Smack: Daytona
Daytona International Speedway
Since 1959, Daytona International Speedway has hosted the Daytona 500, now the culmination of a two-week festival of speed known as Speedweeks. In early July, the track hosts the night-time running of the Pepsi 400. In addition to Busch Series and Craftsman Truck events, the track also hosts the sports-car Rolex 24 at Daytona, and motorcycle and karting events.
Track Facts
Banking/Turns: 31 degrees
Distance: 2.5 miles
Shape: Tri-oval
The last time the King ruled
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Speed/Headlines/03SpeedSPEED02063004.htm
By GODWIN KELLY
Motorsports Editor
Last update: 30 June 2004
DAYTONA BEACH -- There was a different kind of buzz, a new level of energy radiating from Daytona International Speedway on the morning of July 4, 1984.
For the first time in the history of NASCAR racing, a sitting President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, would be attending a stock car race.
But the thousands of race fans who poured into the Speedway that day did not come to see Reagan. They were there with the hopes of seeing history unfold over the 2.5-mile tri-oval.
The throng got what they wanted -- to see Richard Petty win for the 200th time in the Winston Cup Series.
"It is one day amongst a bunch, but it was one huge, special day for me," Petty said in the days leading up to the 20th anniversary of that monumental victory.
"Twenty years?" Petty said. "It feels more like it happened yesterday."
Five weeks before Daytona's Pepsi Firecracker 400, Petty, the undisputed "King of Stock Car Racing," had won the 199th Winston Cup Series race of his career.
That victory came at Dover (Del.) International Speedway and the watch for win No. 200 was going strong, even though Petty was in a rough patch.
In the four races between Dover and Daytona, Petty finished 34th, 23rd, 13th and 34th, dropping out of two events with mechanical failure.
Petty celebrated his 47th birthday on July 2, 1984, and hoped Daytona would help get him out of his little funk. After all, he had won seven Daytona 500s and become synonymous with high performance at NASCAR's premier facility.
In those days, the summer race started at 10 a.m. because of the intense heat and clockwork afternoon thunderstorms. The Speedway did not install lights until 1998, when the race was moved to night.
Reagan gave the command to fire the engines while en route here on Air Force One. By the middle of the 160-lap run, it hadbecome a two-car battle between Petty and his familiar nemesis, Cale Yarborough.
As the laps wound down, Petty's No. 43 Pontiac was in the lead just ahead of Yarborough's No. 28 Chevrolet. Yarborough was waiting to use his signature "slingshot" pass to win the race.
"Cale was sitting back there waiting for the last lap, and I knew that," said Petty, a seven-time NASCAR champion.
Rookie Doug Heveron changed the game plan for both drivers. His No. 01 Chevrolet spun off the course in Turn 1 and as Petty and Yarborough thundered past the start-finish line to begin Lap 158, the yellow flag was displayed behind them.
"With three laps to go, we both seen a bunch of dust or something up in the air," Petty said. "We went past the start-finish line and the caution came out. I knew I had to get back to the finish line first. Cale realized the same thing."
The Pepsi Firecracker 400 had suddenly turned into a one-lap drag race between two NASCAR legends in the twilight of their driving careers.
As they raced down the back straightaway, Yarborough passed Petty for the lead going into Turn 3.
"When the caution came out, I knew the race was over," Yarborough said. "I was too far behind him to make the run I wanted to make on him. I got by him anyway."
Petty said Yarborough's Chevrolet had so much momentum, it washed up the east banking, leaving the inside racing lane open. Petty stuck his blue and red Pontiac in that hole.
"I got in there and got up beside him and we raced back to the flag," Petty said.
The yellow flag.
Even with two laps remaining, the first driver to the yellow flag would be declared the race winner. NASCAR does not allow racing to the yellow flag today.
The two legends touched at least three times as they exited Turn 4 and came screaming through the tri-oval bend.
"The basic deal was this," Petty said. "I was on the inside of the track and he was on the outside and when we turned in the dogleg, he had to go three or four more foot than me and that's how much I beat him by."
While there was a lot of sentiment for Petty to win, Yarborough felt it was his job to make him earn it.
"I think everybody was talking about his 200th win, but everybody was also thinking about not letting him get it, too," Yarborough said. "I didn't have a problem with it. I didn't want him to have it either. I wanted it."
Instead, he became the subject of a racing trivia question: who finished second in the 1984 400? The answer: Harry Gant.
When Yarborough came back around the track for the first lap of caution, he pulled into the pits thinking the race was over, then rejoined the field for the final lap.
Afterward, he said the frantic finish had "completely blow'd his mind." NASCAR awarded Yarborough third place that day.
"It was one race that I'd love to run over one more time," Yarborough said. "I feel like I left that one laying on the table."
After completing the two laps behind the pace car then the cool-down lap, Petty parked his war horse at the start-finish line and was escorted through the grandstands to see Reagan, who was watching from a suite.
Then the party started.
"That was a big celebration for us and our family," Kyle Petty, Richard's son, said. "All of my sisters were here. All of our family was here. The President was here. It was a big day in NASCAR in general but it was a really big day for the Petty family."
"I guess if you look at the way my career evolved all them years, it built up to that day," Richard said. "If you had been really Hollywood, it would have been get out of the car and say 'See ya.' "
Petty raced another eight years without winning because he "loved driving a car too much" to retire.
July 4, 1984 will go down as one of NASCAR's all-time banner days, a day of kings and presidents and a classic, fender-rubbing finish.
