1979 Busch Clash

The 1979 Busch Clash was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now the NASCAR Cup Series) exhibition race for the 1978 pole winners held on February 11 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Buddy Baker started second and led 18 of 20 laps on his way to victory in the inaugural Clash. Stats

Summary
While excitement will be high when the 34th-annual Bud Shootout rolls off this Saturday evening at Daytona International Speedway, it’s hard to imagine the race having a bigger buzz than the inaugural event – the 1979 Busch Clash.

The first of the big money ‘non-points’ events in NASCAR, the 1979 Busch Clash rolled off on Sunday, February 11. The race – brainchild of the Anheuser-Busch Company – grew out of the beer makers desire to take advantage of the emerging sport of NASCAR and the new sponsorship/marketing possibilities if brought to the table.

The hook was the race paid a whopping $50,000 to win, an immense sum at that time. The race was also televised live on CBS – a full week before the now legendary telecast of the 1979 Daytona 500.

Unlike this year’s Bud Shootout that pretty much allows everybody a spot in the starting field, the inaugural Busch Clash was an exclusive affair open only to pole position winners from the previous season. That meant that just nine cars would compete in the 20-lap (50 miles) race in 1979.

Cale Yarborough was considered the favorite coming into the event. Yarborough had won three-straight Winston Cup titles and had captured eight poles during the 1978 season – including the final three poles of the year at North Carolina Motor Speedway (Rockingham), Atlanta and Ontario (CA).

Yarborough had edged David Pearson (seven) for the lead in NASCAR Cup poles in 1978 while Lennie Pond – coming off his best season ever – had scored five pole positions the previous season.

Neil Bonnett (three), Benny Parsons (two), Darrell Waltrip (two), Bobby Allison (one), J. D. McDuffie (one) and Buddy Baker (one) completed the list of 1978 pole winners eligible for the 1979 Busch Clash.

The race was sure to be a quick one as the giant 2.5-mile Daytona oval had been repaved after 1978 season. It wouldn’t take long to see just how fast the new Daytona surface would be as qualifying for the Daytona 500 would be held earlier in the day prior to the ‘Clash.’

Baker immediately served notice that he – and not Yarborough – would be the favorite to win the Busch Clash as he drove his Harry Rainer-owned Spectra Oil Oldsmobile to the Daytona 500 pole with an average speed of 196.049 miles per hour. Baker’s speed was significantly faster than the 194.889 mph lap turned in by runner-up Donnie Allison and marked the first time since 1970 that the Daytona 500 pole winner had averaged more than 190 mph.

Parsons, meanwhile, was awarded the pole for the Busch Clash through a blind drawing with Baker taking the outside row position. Of the nine cars in the race, seven of them were Oldsmobiles – the top aero model in the General Motors fleet that year. Allison in a Bud Moore Ford and Pearson in the Wood Brothers Mercury were the only holdouts.

At the drop of the green, it was all Baker as his W-I-N Racing Team of master wrenches Jake Elder and Herb Nab along with top engine builder Waddell Wilson had their Oldsmobile on stun. Baker led all but two of the 20 laps contested beating Waltrip to the checkered flag by one car length. Rounding out the finish were Yarborough, Parsons, Allison, Pearson, Pond and Bonnett – each running at the finish. McDuffie was the only one to not go the distance falling out early with an engine failure.

The race took just over 15 minutes to complete and Baker averaged a rocket-like 194.384 mph in the caution-free event.

The 1979 Busch Clash victory was Baker’s first since Talladega in 1976 and paid a cool $50,000. While that doesn’t seem like much in an era when Kurt Busch banked $203,000 for his win in last year’s Bud Shootout, the sum was a huge amount for any race distance much less 20 laps at DIS. To put it into perspective, Richard Petty earned $73,900 for winning the 200-lap Daytona 500 a week later.