1979 Daytona 500

The 1979 Daytona 500 was the first 500-mile race to be broadcast in its entirety live on national television in the United States.^[3][4] Races were shown on television, but the Indianapolis 500, for example, was broadcast on tape delay later in the evening on the day it was run in this era and usually in edited form. Most races aired during this period were only broadcast starting with the final quarter to half of the race, as was the procedure for ABC's IndyCar broadcasts on their Wide World of Sports program.

CBS signed a new contract with NASCAR to telecast the race. Ken Squier and David Hobbs were the booth announcers with Ned Jarrett and Brock Yates^[5] in the pits for that race, while other angles, such as an interview with race grand marshall Ben Gazzara and NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., were handled by Marianne Bunch-Phelps. The day was fortunate for CBS as a major snowstorm known as the Presidents' Day Snowstorm of 1979 bogged down most of the Northeast and parts of the Midwestern United States, increasing the viewership of the event. The race introduced two new innovative uses of TV cameras, the "in-car" camera and the low angle "speed shot", which are now considered standard in all telecasts of auto racing.

The race attracted a TV rating of 10.5 and attracted 16 million viewers. It held the highest television rating for a Daytona 500 until the 2002 Daytona 500.^[6]

Motor Racing Network broadcast the race on the radio and their announcers included Jack Arute, Barney Hall, Mike Joy, Gary Gerould (who also hosted prerace ceremonies) and Dick Berggren.^[7]

Buddy Baker and Donnie Allison qualified first and second and were the only drivers to do so, as only two cars qualify from time trials. All other drivers had to race their way through qualifying races.

Baker won his first qualifying race, with Cale Yarborough, Benny Parsons, Bobby Allison and David Pearson finishing in the top five, with positions 2-5 starting on the inside of rows 2-5, respectively.

In the second qualifying race, pole-sitter Donnie Allison had an engine failure (no penalty for failed engines in the qualifying race until 2018) midway through the race. Darrell Waltrip won the second qualifying race to start fourth. The rest of the cars starting on the outside of rows 3-5 were A. J. Foyt, Dick Brooks and rookie Dale Earnhardt making his Daytona 500 debut.

Notable drivers who failed to advance from qualifying races or speed included USAC star Jim Hurtubise, French sports car ace Claude Ballot-Léna, Cup race winners James Hylton, Morgan Shepherd, and future NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Bill Elliott.

The first 15 laps of the 200-lap race were run under green and yellow flag conditions to help dry the track from rain the previous night. This impacted Waltrip, as running at relatively slow speeds on the high banks of the track caused a lack of oil to lubricate his camshaft, resulting in a cam lobe wearing away prematurely and causing his engine to run on seven cylinders for the rest of the race.

On the start of lap 16 (the first green flag lap), pole-sitter Baker lost the draft and fell back. Donnie raced with Yarborough and Bobby Allison, but lost control of his car on lap 31 and forced Yarborough and Bobby to take evasive action. All three cars spun through the backstretch infield, which was slippery and muddy from the rain. Yarborough was forced to repair his car and fell two laps behind the leader, as did Bobby, while Donnie lost one lap. The track would remain under caution through lap 41.

While the field was still under caution on lap 38, Baker dropped out of the race with ignition problems. His team had made some minor welding repairs before the race, and it was thought the primary ignition control box had been damaged as the engine was misfiring. During attempts to diagnose and repair the problem, the team switched to the backup box and replaced much of the ignition system to no avail.^[8] When the team returned home after the race, engine builder Waddell Wilson determined that the crewman who had switched to the backup box by unplugging the primary ignition box and plugging into the backup box had plugged back into the defective primary box. When Wilson switched to the backup ignition box, the car fired perfectly.

When the caution ended on lap 42, the race became an 18-car battle. Neil Bonnett, driving an Oldsmobile, took the lead and was challenged by Foyt and Waltrip; he fought them off, but was soon challenged by Bobby trying to unlap himself, Earnhardt and dark-horse driver Tighe Scott, driving a Buick Century prepared by Harry Hyde. A six-car crash on lap 55 eliminated Pearson and others.^[9] Donnie raced to unlap himself and made his lap up when Bonnett blew a tire and spun in traffic. Other contenders were eliminated, as Bobby felt multiple laps behind, Harry Gant crashed, Earnhardt over-revved his engine leaving the pits and broke a rocker arm and valve spring, Parsons' car overheated, and Scott slid through his pits unable to stop when he hit a puddle of water from Parsons' overheating engine. Past the halfway point, Donnie assumed the lead, but Yarborough used more caution flags to make up his lost laps. Yarborough was on the lead lap with Allison by lap 178.

Following green flag stops, Donnie took the lead on lap 178 with Yarborough close behind. They pulled away during the final laps and led the next closest competitors by half a lap. Allison took the white flag and was leading the race on the final lap with Yarborough drafting him tightly. As Yarborough attempted a slingshot pass on the backstretch, Allison attempted to block him. Yarborough refused to give ground and as he pulled alongside Donnie, his left side tires left the pavement and went into the wet and muddy infield grass. Yarborough lost control of his car and contacted Donnie's car halfway down the backstretch. As both drivers tried to maintain control, their cars made contact three more times before locking together and crashing into the outside wall in turn three. The cars slid down the banking and came to rest in the infield. Petty, who was over half a lap behind both drivers before the incident, went on to win,^[3] beating Waltrip by one car length.

After the wrecked cars of Donnie and Yarborough settled in the infield grass short of the finish line, the two drivers began to argue. Bobby, who was one lap down at that point, stopped where the wreck was, offering Donnie a ride back to the garage. Yarborough blamed Bobby for his defeat due to tensions they had with each other earlier during the race. He struck Bobby in the face with his helmet while Bobby was sitting in his car. Fuming, Bobby jumped out of his car and struck Yarborough in the mouth.

Yarborough knocked Bobby to the ground and struck him in the back with his helmet twice. Donnie Allison grabbed Yarborough from behind, shouting "Hey! You want to fight?! I'm the cat you should be fighting with!" Donnie pulled Yarborough away from Bobby, who jumped up and threw a punch at Yarborough. Bobby grabbed Yarborough by the collar with one arm, shaking him as Yarborough tried to shove him away with his foot and kicking at him. Donnie also held on to Yarborough's arm and swung his helmet trying to defend his brother. A track safety official grabbed Yarborough, trying to pry him away from the Allisons. Yarborough fell to the ground and Bobby jumped on him, hitting him twice in the nose. More track marshals arrived and restrained all three drivers, separating them after the 16-second brawl.

With Allison and Yarborough wrecking near the end of the last lap, the television audience was mostly shown footage of Petty crossing the finish line to win the race. Brief moments of the fight were seen on national television when the commentators and camera operators realized what was going on and switched to the scene.

Yarborough said, "I was going to pass him and win the race, but he turned left and crashed me. So, hell, I crashed him back. If I wasn't going to get back around, he wasn't either."^[7] Allison said, "The track was mine until he hit me in the back," he says. "He got me loose and sideways, so I came back to get what was mine. He wrecked me, I didn't wreck him."^[7]

In the aftermath, both Allison brothers and Yarborough were fined $6,000 for actions detrimental to stock car racing. Although all three of them were penalized, the Allisons were put on probation for six months as the incident was judged to have been instigated by them. As per the penalty, the Allisons and Yarborough had to post a $5,000 bond which would be returned over the next several races provided good behavior. Bobby and Donnie appealed the penalty, arguing that they weren't the cause of the accident. On appeal, the Allisons' probation periods concluded in three months, and Yarborough was put on probation for three months. The initial judgment that the wreck was Donnie's fault was amended to place blame equally on both him and Yarborough. $5,000 of their $6,000 fines were returned $1,000 at a time over the next five races.

The story made the front page of The New York Times Sports section. NASCAR had arrived as a national sport and began to expand from its southeastern United States base and become a national sport, shedding its moonshine running roots along the way.

• Lead changes: 36
• Cautions/Laps: 7 for 57 laps
• Average speed: 143.977 miles per hour (231.709 km/h)

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