The 1977 Talladega 500 was a NASCAR

NASCAR

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...

 Winston Cup Series race that took place on August 7, 1977 at Talladega Superspeedway

Talladega Superspeedway

Talladega Superspeedway is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama, United States. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base just outside the small city of Lincoln. It was constructed by International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France Family, in...

 in the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 community of Talladega

Talladega, Alabama

Talladega is a city in Talladega County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 15,143. The city is the county seat of Talladega County. Talladega is approximately 50 miles east of Birmingham, Alabama....

, Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

.

Summary

Hank Williams, Jr.

Hank Williams, Jr.

Randall Hank Williams , better known as Hank Williams, Jr. and Bocephus, is an American country singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of Southern rock, blues, and traditional country...

 served as the honorary starter of this race; joining a list of celebrities that came before and after him like Bart Starr

Bart Starr

Bryan Bartlett "Bart" Starr is a former professional American football player and coach. Wearing #15, he was the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers from 1956 to 1971 and head coach from 1975 to 1983, compiling a record of 52–76–3 ....

 and Will Ferrell

Will Ferrell

John William "Will" Ferrell is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the late 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega...

. The temperatures of the race reached an oppressive 100.9 °F (38.3 °C); marking this event as one of the warmest ever in NASCAR Cup Series history.

188 laps were accomplished on a paved oval spanning 2.66 miles (4.3 km); the race was completed in three hours and four minutes. Donnie Allison

Donnie Allison

Dunkiny "Donnie" Allison is a former driver on the NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup circuit, who won ten times during his racing career, which spanned the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. He was part of the "Alabama Gang," and is the brother of 1983 champion Bobby Allison and uncle of Davey Allison...

 (who would lead 92 laps overall) defeated Cale Yarborough

Cale Yarborough

William Caleb "Cale" Yarborough , is a farmer, businessman and former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner. He is one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships...

 by less than a lap under the caution flag. Notable speeds were: 162.524 miles per hour (261.6 km/h) for the winner's speed and 192.684 miles per hour (310.1 km/h) for the pole position qualifying speed. Sixty-five thousand people would attend this live race from the opening ceremonies to the final yellow flag (which marked its official finish). Most of the entries were manufactured by Chevrolet

Chevrolet

Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...

. There were 39 male participants and one female participant (Ms. Janet Guthrie

Janet Guthrie

Janet Guthrie is a retired professional race car driver and the first woman to qualify and compete in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500....

). Unfortunately, Ms. Guthrie suffered an engine problem on lap 61 and did not finish the race.

One of the most unusual facts of the race is that Marty Robbins

Marty Robbins

Martin David Robinson , known professionally as Marty Robbins, was an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist...

 (who was also a country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 star) did not qualify in his own vehicle; Freddy Fryar

Freddy Fryar

Freddy Fryar is a retired NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series driver whose career spanned from 1956 to 1971 . Fryar participated in 772 laps of racing; equivalent to of racing. His average start position is 27th while his average finish position is 21st...

 did that for him.

Finishing order

1. Donnie Allison
2. Cale Yarborough
3. Skip Manning
   Skip Manning
   Skip Manning is a former NASCAR driver from Bogalusa, Louisiana. He competed in seventy-nine Winston Cup events in his career, spanning from 1975 to 1979. Manning won the rookie-of-the-year award in 1976...
   
   
4. Ricky Rudd
   Ricky Rudd
   Ricky Rudd is a former American NASCAR driver. He is the uncle of actor Skeet Ulrich and Nationwide Series driver Jason Rudd. Rudd is known as the "Iron Man" of NASCAR; holding the record for most consecutive starts in NASCAR racing. At the conclusion of the 2005 season, Rudd had made 788...
   
   
5. Lennie Pond
   Lennie Pond
   Lennie Pond is a former NASCAR driver. He won NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year honors in 1973, and won his only race at Talladega Superspeedway in 1978 for Ronnie Elder and Harry Ranier....
   
   
6. Buddy Baker
   Buddy Baker
   Elzie Wylie Baker, Jr. , nicknamed "Leadfoot" or more famously Buddy, is a former American NASCAR racecar driver.-Early life:...
   
   
7. Bobby Allison
   Bobby Allison
   Robert Arthur Allison is a former NASCAR Winston Cup driver and was named one of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers. His two sons, Clifford Allison and Davey Allison followed him into racing, and both died within a year of each other....
   
    (drove the only AMC Matador
   AMC Matador
   The AMC Matador is a mid-size car that was built and sold by American Motors Corporation from 1971 to 1978. The Matador came in two generations: 1971 to 1973 and a major redesign from 1974 to 1978...
   
    in the race)
8. J.D. McDuffie
   J.D. McDuffie
   John Delphus McDuffie was a NASCAR Winston Cup driver. He raced in the top division of NASCAR from 1963 to 1991. McDuffie had 106 top-tens in his Cup Series career...
   
   †
9. James Hylton
   James Hylton
   James Harvey Hylton is a part-time race car driver. He is a two-time winner in NASCAR and competes in the ARCA RE/MAX Series,finishing 16th in points in 2006. He made headlines while attempting to qualify for the 2007 Daytona 500 at age 72...
   
   
10. Frank Warren
11. Richard Petty
    Richard Petty
    Richard Lee Petty is a former NASCAR driver who raced in the Strictly Stock/Grand National Era and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series...
    
    
12. Buddy Arrington
    Buddy Arrington
    Buddy Arrington is a retired NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup driver.- Biography :...
    
    
13. Harold Miller
    Harold Miller
    Harold Syndey 'Dusty' Miller was an English footballer who played between the wars.An inside-forward, Miller's first professional club were Charlton Athletic, whom he joined from amateurs St Albans City. Miller made 20 appearances for Charlton, scoring 11 times. He won a solitary cap for England,...
    
    
14. Tommy Gale
    Tommy Gale
    Thomas "Tommy" Gale was an English footballer who played for Sheffield Wednesday and York City in the Football League.-Career:...
    
    
15. Grant Adcox
    Grant Adcox
    Grant Adcox was a stock car racing driver who died in a single-car accident in the 1989 Atlanta Journal 500 in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series.-Career:...
    
    *†
16. Cecil Gordon
    Cecil Gordon
    Cecil Gordon was a NASCAR driver. He is not related to Sprint Cup driver Jeff Gordon although the two drivers drove in car number 24....
    
    
17. Dick May
    Dick May
    Dick May was a NASCAR driver who competed in 185 races in the NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup between 1967 and 1985....
    
    *†
18. D.K. Ulrich
19. Steve Moore
    Steve Moore
    Steven Dean Moore is a former Canadian professional ice hockey center, best known for receiving what turned out to be a career-ending injury as a result of an illegal hit by then Vancouver Canucks forward Todd Bertuzzi....
    
    *
20. Richard Childress
    Richard Childress
    Richard Childress is a former NASCAR driver and the current team owner of Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. As a business entrepreneur, Childress became one of the wealthiest men in North Carolina...
    
    *
21. Johnny Rutherford*
22. Darrell Waltrip
    Darrell Waltrip
    Darrell Lee Waltrip is a 3-time NASCAR Cup Series champion , 3-time runner-up , winner of the 1989 Daytona 500 and 5-time winner of the prestigeous Coca-Cola 600 ,...
    
    *
23. Bill Elliott
    Bill Elliott
    William Clyde "Bill" Elliott , also known as Awesome Bill from Dawsonville or Million Dollar Bill, is a part-time driver and former champion of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Elliott was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America on August 15, 2007. He won the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup...
    
    *
24. Benny Parsons
    Benny Parsons
    Benjamin Stewart Parsons was an American NASCAR driver, and later an announcer/analyst on TBS, ESPN, NBC and TNT...
    
    *†
25. Neil Bonnett
    Neil Bonnett
    Lawrence Neil Bonnett was a NASCAR driver who compiled 18 victories and 20 poles over his 18-year career. The Alabama native currently ranks 35th in all-time NASCAR Cup victories. He appeared in the 1983 film Stroker Ace and the 1990 film Days of Thunder...
    
    *†
26. Sam Sommers*
27. Tighe Scott
    Tighe Scott
    Tighe Scott is a retired American racecar driver from Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania. He competed in dirt modified racing before moving up into the NASCAR Winston Cup...
    
    *
28. David Sisco
    David Sisco
    David Sisco is a retired NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver who has led 98 laps out of the 33668 that he raced in his entire career. Sisco also managed to earn $251,359 in his seven-year NASCAR career . His average starting position is 22nd place while he managed to finish in 19th place on average...
    
    *
29. Butch Hartman
    Butch Hartman (racer)
    Larry "Butch" Hartman was an American stock car racing national champion in the United States Automobile Club from Zanesville, Ohio. After winning the USAC Stock Car Rookie of the Year award in 1966, the series' Most Improved Driver in 1967, and its Most Outstanding Driver the following year...
    
    *†
30. Jim Raptis*
31. G.C. Spencer
    G.C. Spencer
    G. C. Spencer July 9, 1925 in Owensboro, Kentucky – September 20, 2007 in Johnson City, Tennessee was a NASCAR driver who competed in 415 Grand National/Winston Cup races from 1958 to 1977...
    
    *†
32. Joe Mihalic*
33. Peter Knab*
34. Janet Guthrie*
35. Bruce Hill
    Bruce Hill
    Bruce Edward Hill is a former professional American football player who selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fourth round of the 1987 NFL Draft with a draft pick the Buccaneers had received for trading Steve Young. A 6'0", 175-lb. wide receiver from Arizona State, Hill played his entire NFL...
    
    *
36. Jimmy Means
    Jimmy Means
    James "Jimmy" Means is a former Winston Cup/Nextel Cup owner/driver. Currently, he is an adviser for Front Row Motorsports and owns his own team, Means Racing. He competed in NASCAR for eighteen years in mostly his own equipment, posting seventeen career top-tens...
    
    *
37. David Pearson*
38. Marty Robbins*† (his engine froze during a pit stop)
39. Dick Brooks
    Dick Brooks
    Richard "Dick" Brooks was an American NASCAR driver. Born in Porterville, California, he was the 1969 NASCAR Rookie of the Year, and went on to win the 1973 Talladega 500...
    
    *†
40. Coo Coo Marlin
    Coo Coo Marlin
    Clifton "Coo Coo" Marlin was a NASCAR Winston Cup driver who spent 14 years in the series.-Local track history:...
    
    *†

* Driver failed to finish race

† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased