1981 Winston Western 500 (November)


The 1981 Winston Western 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that was held on November 22, 1981, at Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California. NASCAR ran three Cup Series races at Riverside in 1981. During the early 1980s, the NASCAR Winston Cup Series was plagued with top teams running big engines and finishing in third place to avoid inspection.
Richard Childress decided to run a second Junior Johnson car if Darrell Waltrip were to have trouble or if he needed a car to win the championship. However, this was not needed because Darrell Waltrip would clinch his first Winston Cup series championship at this race over Bobby Allison. He would become the first champion not from the Carolinas since Virginia's Joe Weatherly in 1963.
Dave Marcis finished the 1981 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season at Riverside in a Pontiac, after racing in a Chevrolet, Buick, and Oldsmobile throughout the year.

Race report

This race at Riverside during the 1981 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season was used to make up for the loss of the season-ending race at Ontario Motor Speedway. In previous years Riverside had the opening date in January and a race in June. Then they changed it leaving the June Riverside race and putting the second race as the finale from 1982 to 1986 before Atlanta got the finale until 2000. Riverside kept its two races until its last race in June 1988 and the dates went to Sonoma and Phoenix. Then they added a second Pocono race in 1982 but then lost Texas World Speedway. It would be the last time a circuit would have three Cup Series races in a single season until Darlington Raceway earned three dates in the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It took three hours and sixteen seconds for Bobby Allison to defeat Joe Ruttman by 0.24 seconds in front of 46000 spectators driving Harry Ranier’s No. 28 Hardee’s Buick. There was a battle between Allison and Ruttman for the last 20 laps. Bobby passed Joe with nine laps to go and Ruttman got back alongside Allison several times but was never able to complete the pass. Ruttman got his first of three 2nd place finishes.
Richard Childress would make his final racing appearance here before devoting his career to running Richard Childress Racing. Former Formula One racer Bob Bondurant would retire from the NASCAR Cup Series after this race with his best career finish of 18th place. Seven cautions slowed the race for 33 laps on this road course that spanned per lap; for a grand total of. Darrell Waltrip qualified for the pole position with a speed of while the average race speed was. This would be the first time in 14 races that Waltrip failed to finish in the top three. Out of the entire 40-driver grid, 38 drivers were American while Roy Smith and Gary Kershaw were Canadians.
Ricky Rudd would finish last with an engine problem on the second lap in his Buick; earning $6,150 in prize winnings. J.D. McDuffie would finish in 11th place; a rarity for a driver with the most last-place finishes in NASCAR history. Joe Millikan would make his final "top five" finish in this race.
Notable crew chiefs for the race included Junie Donlavey, Joey Arrington, Elmo Langley, Jake Elder, Travis Carter, Waddell Wilson, Bud Moore, Tim Brewer, Kirk Shelmerdine, and Dale Inman.

Qualifying

Failed to qualify: Ferrel Harris, Don Stanley

Finishing order

Section reference:
  1. Bobby Allison
  2. Joe Ruttman
  3. Terry Labonte
  4. Dale Earnhardt
  5. Joe Millikan
  6. Darrell Waltrip
  7. Richard Petty
  8. Harry Gant
  9. Jody Ridley
  10. Ron Bouchard
  11. J.D. McDuffie
  12. Gary Kershaw
  13. Morgan Shepherd
  14. Bill Schmitt
  15. Don Waterman
  16. Lake Speed
  17. James Hylton
  18. Bob Bondurant
  19. Gary Balough
  20. Tim Richmond
  21. Don Puskarich
  22. Gene Thonesen
  23. Mark Stahl
  24. Buddy Arrington
  25. Dave Marcis*
  26. Tommy Gale*
  27. Benny Parsons*
  28. Chuck Pettinger*
  29. Scott Miller*
  30. Roy Smith*
  31. Terry Herman*
  32. Jim Robinson*
  33. Neil Bonnett*
  34. Pat Mintey*
  35. Don Whittington*
  36. Jim Bown*
  37. Kyle Petty*
  38. Hershel McGriff*
  39. Richard Childress*
  40. Ricky Rudd*
* Driver failed to finish race

Standings after the race