1983 Winston Western 500

The 1983 Winston Western 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on November 20, 1983, at Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California.

1983 Winston Western 500

Race details[1][2]
Race 30 of 30 in the 1983 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
1983 Winston Western 500 program cover
Date	November 20, 1983 (1983-November-20)
Official name	Winston Western 500
Location	Riverside International Raceway, Riverside, California
Course	2.620 mi (4.345 km)
Distance	119 laps, 311.8 mi (501.7 km)
Weather	Temperatures of 64.9 °F (18.3 °C); wind speeds of 8 miles per hour (13 km/h)
Average speed	95.859 miles per hour (154.270 km/h)
Attendance	24,000
Pole position
Driver	Darrell Waltrip	Junior Johnson & Associates
Most laps led
Driver	Darrell Waltrip	Junior Johnson & Associates
Laps	34
Winner
No. 9	Bill Elliott	Melling Racing
Television in the United States
Network	WTBS
Announcers	Ken Squier, Cale Yarborough

The layout of Riverside International Raceway (1969-1988 version), the venue where the race was held.

Qualifying

Pos.	#	Driver	Make	Team/Owner	Time	Avg. Speed (mph)
1	11	Darrell Waltrip	Chevrolet	Junior Johnson & Associates
2	3	Ricky Rudd	Chevrolet	Richard Childress Racing
3	44	Terry Labonte	Chevrolet	Hagan Racing
4	98	Joe Ruttman	Pontiac	Benfield Racing
5	55	Benny Parsons	Chevrolet	Johnny Hayes Racing
6	22	Bobby Allison	Buick	DiGard Motorsports
7	33	Harry Gant	Buick	Mach 1 Racing
8	43	Richard Petty	Pontiac	Petty Enterprises
9	15	Dale Earnhardt	Ford	Bud Moore Engineering
10	9	Bill Elliott	Ford	Melling Racing
11	75	Neil Bonnett	Chevrolet	RahMoc Enterprises
12	51	Scott Miller	Pontiac	Scott Miller
13	93	Jim Bown	Buick	John Kieper
14	74	Roy Smith	Buick	John Edgett
15	21	Buddy Baker	Ford	Wood Brothers Racing
16	47	Ron Bouchard	Buick	Race Hill Farm Team
17	78	Jim Robinson	Oldsmobile	Lois Williams
18	38	Don Waterman	Buick	Don Waterman
19	12	Jimmy Insolo	Buick	DiGard Motorsports
20	88	Donnie Allison	Pontiac	Cliff Stewart Racing
21	90	Dick Brooks	Ford	Donlavey Racing
22	04	Hershel McGriff	Buick	Gary Smith
23	48	Trevor Boys	Chevrolet	Hylton Motorsports
24	66	Ron Esau	Buick	Lee Racing
25	87	Randy Becker	Buick	Randy Becker
26	27	Tim Richmond	Pontiac	Blue Max Racing
27	2	Morgan Shepherd	Buick	Jim Stacy Racing
28	08	Rick McCray	Pontiac	Rick McCray
29	71	Dave Marcis	Oldsmobile	Marcis Auto Racing
30	73	Bill Schmitt	Chevrolet	Bill Schmitt
31	41	Ronnie Thomas	Pontiac	Ronnie Thomas
32	7	Kyle Petty	Pontiac	Petty Enterprises
33	03	Glenn Francis	Pontiac	Trent Francis
34	64	D.K. Ulrich	Ford	Langley Racing
35	83	Sumner McKnight	Chevrolet	McKnight Racing
36	91	John Krebs	Oldsmobile	KC Racing
37	67	Buddy Arrington	Dodge	Arrington Racing
38	70	J.D. McDuffie	Pontiac	McDuffie Racing
39	13	Doug Wheeler	Buick	Matt Puskarich
40	52	Jimmy Means	Chevrolet	Jimmy Means Racing
41	17	Sterling Marlin	Pontiac	Hamby Racing
42	35	Pat Mintey	Chevrolet	Pat Mintey
Failed to qualify
	1	Mark Perry	Buick	Dave Perry
	02	St. James Davis		St. James Racing
	6	Bobby Hillin Jr.		Ulrich Racing
	8	Steve Pfeifer
	17	Harry Goularte	Buick	Harry Goularte
	37	Dan Noble	Buick	Noble Racing
	58	Tony Settember
	94	Bob Kennedy

Race recap

There were 42 drivers;^[3] 40 of them were American-born while Roy Smith and Trevor Boys were born in Canada.

Ricky Rudd started on the front row but retired from the lead with a blown engine in his last outing for Richard Childress in the #3 Piedmont Airlines Chevrolet.^[2] Dale Earnhardt would start his final NASCAR Winston Cup Series race in a Ford; bringing home Bud Moore's #15 Wrangler Thunderbird with a top-5 finish.^[2] James "J.D." Stacy would mark his final race as an official NASCAR team owner at this race.^[2] Stacy came in with promises and a lot of cash but proved to be a charlatan. The Sterling Marlin and Trevor Boys battle for rookie of the year came down to the last race of the year with the Canadian Boys leading coming into the final race by approximately 16 points. Marlin came from behind to claim the honor after scoring a top-20 finish while mechanical problems in this final race doomed Boys' hopes.^[2]

Buddy Arrington was the 23rd-place finisher after dropping out of the race on lap 109 due to wheel issues in his Chrysler Cordoba. Sumner McKnight finished in 19th place after completing 114 of the regulation laps.^[2]

Bobby Allison secured his only Winston Cup Championship during the course of the race.

Jimmy Insolo, a West Series driver, drove a second car for DiGard Racing (which fielded Bobby Allison), as a start and park entry to help Allison's team (a common practice for the lead team to have the backup car prepared for a second driver in case their lead car failed, the driver can be changed before the start). It was pulled after one lap. Joe Ruttman blew his engine on lap 12 while Bill Schmidt would ruin his engine on lap 13. Rick McCray's engine would stop working on lap 29. Meanwhile, ignition problems would take out Ron Esau on lap 32 at the same time Ricky Rudd suffered from a faulty engine. The ignition on Roy Smith's vehicle stopped working on lap 36 while the throttle on Jim Bown's vehicle gave out on lap 37. Between lap 38 and lap 61, four drivers were forced to exit the race due to engine concerns.^[2][3]

Bill Elliott passed Benny Parsons on the Lap 115 restart that took place on the backstretch, taking the lead before the final safety car was called during Lap 117 for rain, meaning the cars would race back to the line (prohibited in 2003) and finished the final two laps under the safety car for a win in front of 24,000 spectators for his first-ever Cup Series victory.^[2] This was Elliott's first Cup win.^[2] Bill Elliott won this race driving a 1982 Ford Thunderbird as opposed to the slicker 1983 model; the team used the older car on road courses and short tracks this season. Elliott's first Cup and second-tier series wins were on road courses, as his first second-tier race win was at Watkins Glen International. In August 2018, his son Chase Elliott also scored his first Cup win, again on a former United States Grand Prix circuit, winning at Watkins Glen in 2018.

There were 13 lead changes and five caution flags for 26 laps;^[3] making the race last three hours and fifteen minutes.^[2] While the average speed of the race was 95.859 miles per hour (154.270 km/h), Darrell Waltrip qualified for the pole position with a speed of 116.782 miles per hour (187.942 km/h).^[2][3] The length of this race was 119 laps - the equivalent of 311.8 miles (501.8 km).^[2][3]

Jimmy Insolo, Doug Wheeler, Don Waterman, Pat Mintey, and Randy Becker would retire from NASCAR Cup Series racing after this event.^[4]

Drivers who failed to qualify were: Bobby Hillin Jr. (#6), Dan Noble (#37), Tony Settember (#58), Harry Goularte (#17), Steve Pfeifer (#8), St. James Davis (#02), Mark Perry (#1) and Bob Kennedy (#94).^[5]

This was the last race without Rusty Wallace until the 2006 Daytona 500.

Results

Fin[6][7]	St	#	Driver	Make	Team/Owner	Sponsor	Laps	Led	Status	Pts	Winnings
1	10	9	Bill Elliott	Ford	Melling Racing	Melling Oil Pumps	119	5	running	180	$26,380
2	5	55	Benny Parsons	Chevrolet	Johnny Hayes Racing	Copenhagen	119	33	running	175	$13,225
3	11	75	Neil Bonnett	Chevrolet	RahMoc Enterprises	Hodgdon	119	0	running	165	$18,375
4	9	15	Dale Earnhardt	Ford	Bud Moore Engineering	Wrangler	119	4	running	165	$13,725
5	26	27	Tim Richmond	Pontiac	Blue Max Racing	Old Milwaukee	119	31	running	160	$8,930
6	1	11	Darrell Waltrip	Chevrolet	Junior Johnson & Associates	Pepsi, Burger King	119	34	running	160	$19,200
7	3	44	Terry Labonte	Chevrolet	Hagan Racing	Budweiser	119	0	running	146	$6,100
8	22	04	Hershel McGriff	Buick	Gary Smith	Mark C. Bloome	119	0	running	142	$4,700
9	6	22	Bobby Allison	Buick	DiGard Motorsports	Miller High Life	119	1	running	143	$10,850
10	8	43	Richard Petty	Pontiac	Petty Enterprises	STP	118	10	running	139	$8,650
11	16	47	Ron Bouchard	Buick	Race Hill Farm Team	Race Hill Farm	118	0	running	130	$5,030
12	29	71	Dave Marcis	Oldsmobile	Marcis Auto Racing	Miller Brothers	118	0	running	127	$9,650
13	32	7	Kyle Petty	Pontiac	Petty Enterprises	7-Eleven	117	0	running	124	$4,620
14	20	88	Donnie Allison	Pontiac	Cliff Stewart Racing	Gatorade	117	0	running	121	$4,410
15	25	87	Randy Becker	Buick	Randy Becker	Becker Trucking	116	0	running	118	$1,950
16	40	52	Jimmy Means	Chevrolet	Jimmy Means Racing	Broadway Motors	115	0	running	115	$5,125
17	41	17	Sterling Marlin	Pontiac	Hamby Racing	Hesco Exhaust	115	0	running	112	$4,465
18	39	13	Doug Wheeler	Buick	Matt Puskarich	W & W Machine	115	0	running	109	$2,755
19	35	83	Sumner McKnight	Chevrolet	McKnight Racing	McKnight Racing	114	0	running	106	$2,415
20	15	21	Buddy Baker	Ford	Wood Brothers Racing	Valvoline	113	0	running	103	$1,675
21	17	78	Jim Robinson	Oldsmobile	Lois Williams	Hammer Security	112	0	running	100	$2,305
22	12	51	Scott Miller	Pontiac	Scott Miller	MDB Systems	112	0	running	97	$1,575
23	37	67	Buddy Arrington	Dodge	Arrington Racing	Arrington Grocery	109	0	wheel	94	$3,195
24	23	48	Trevor Boys	Chevrolet	Hylton Motorsports	Hylton-McCaig	101	0	drive line	91	$3,135
25	18	38	Don Waterman	Buick	Don Waterman	St. John's Auto Parts	101	0	running	88	$1,425
26	34	64	D.K. Ulrich	Ford	Langley Racing	Sunny King	101	0	differential	85	$2,325
27	31	41	Ronnie Thomas	Pontiac	Ronnie Thomas	McCord Gaskets	96	0	differential	82	$1,275
28	33	03	Glenn Francis	Pontiac	Trent Francis	Francis Race Cars	89	0	shifter	79	$1,225
29	42	35	Pat Mintey	Chevrolet	Pat Mintey	AFR Signs	73	0	engine	76	$1,175
30	38	70	J.D. McDuffie	Pontiac	McDuffie Racing	McDuffie Racing	66	0	rocker arm	73	$2,100
31	7	33	Harry Gant	Buick	Mach 1 Racing	Skoal Bandit	61	0	engine	70	$8,925
32	36	91	John Krebs	Oldsmobile	KC Racing	Coca-Cola	60	0	engine	67	$1,100
33	27	2	Morgan Shepherd	Buick	Jim Stacy Racing	My Car	42	0	engine	64	$8,675
34	21	90	Dick Brooks	Ford	Donlavey Racing	Chameleon Sunglasses	38	0	engine	61	$2,050
35	13	93	Jim Bown	Buick	John Kieper	Wholesale Truck Parts	37	0	throttle	58	$1,025
36	14	74	Roy Smith	Buick	John Edgett	Edgett Excavating	36	0	ignition	55	$2,025
37	2	3	Ricky Rudd	Chevrolet	Richard Childress Racing	Piedmont Airlines	32	1	running	57	$1,900
38	24	66	Ron Esau	Buick	Lee Racing	McDonald's	32	0	ignition	49	$875
39	28	08	Rick McCray	Pontiac	Rick McCray	Coors	29	0	engine	46	$850
40	30	73	Bill Schmitt	Chevrolet	Bill Schmitt	Mountain Dew	13	0	engine	43	$840
41	4	98	Joe Ruttman	Pontiac	Benfield Racing	Levi Garrett	12	0	engine	40	$1,840
42	19	12	Jimmy Insolo	Buick	DiGard Motorsports	Miller High Life	1	0	handling	37	$840
Failed to qualify
		1	Mark Perry	Buick	Dave Perry	Perry Engineering
		02	St. James Davis		St. James Racing	St. James Racing
		6	Bobby Hillin Jr.		Ulrich Racing
		8	Steve Pfeifer
		17	Harry Goularte	Buick	Harry Goularte
		37	Dan Noble	Buick	Noble Racing	Noble Racing
		58	Tony Settember
		94	Bob Kennedy

Standings after the race

Pos	Driver	Points[2]	Differential
1	Bobby Allison	4667	0
2	Darrell Waltrip	4620	-47
3	Bill Elliott	4279	-388
4	Richard Petty	4025	-625
5	Terry Labonte	4004	-663
6	Neil Bonnett	4002	-665
7	Harry Gant	3790	-877
8	Dale Earnhardt	3732	-935
9	Ricky Rudd	3693	-974
10	Tim Richmond	3597	-1070

References

1. Weather information for the 1983 Winston Western 500 at the Old Farmers' Almanac
2. 1983 Winston Western 500 racing information at Racing Reference
3. 1983 Winston Western 500 racing information at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet
4. NASCAR Retirements at Race Database
5. Qualifying information at Racing Reference
6. "1983 Winston Western 500 - The Third Turn". www.thethirdturn.com. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
7. "1983 Winston Western 500 race results". Racing-Reference. Archived from the original on 2021-04-28.

Preceded by 1983 Atlanta Journal 500	NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season 1983-4	Succeeded by 1984 Daytona 500

Preceded by 1982	Winston Western 500 races 1983	Succeeded by 1984