| Type: | CUST |
| Description: | Race 12 of 31 in the 1981 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season |
| Race Name: | Mason-Dixon 500 |
| Details Ref: | [1] [2] |
| Year: | 1981 |
| Race No: | 12 |
| Season No: | 31 |
| Weather: | Temperatures reaching of 69.1F; wind speeds of 8mph |
| Official Name: | Mason-Dixon 500 |
| Location: | Dover Downs International Speedway, Dover, Delaware. |
| Course Mi: | 1.000 |
| Course Km: | 1.609 |
| Distance Laps: | 500 |
| Distance Mi: | 500.0 |
| Distance Km: | 804.6 |
| Attendance: | 40,000[3] |
| Pole Driver: | David Pearson |
| Pole Team: | Kennie Childers |
| Pole Time: | 26.007 |
| Most Driver: | Neil Bonnett |
| Most Team: | Wood Brothers Racing |
| Most Laps: | 404 |
| Car: | 90 |
| First Driver: | Jody Ridley |
| First Team: | Donlavey Racing |
| Network: | ESPN |
| Announcers: | Bob Jenkins |
The 1981 Mason-Dixon 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on May 17, 1981, at Dover Downs International Speedway (now Dover International Speedway) in Dover, Delaware.
Dover Downs International Speedway, now called Dover International Speedway, is one of five short tracks to hold NASCAR races; the others are Bristol Motor Speedway, Richmond International Raceway, Martinsville Speedway, and Phoenix International Raceway.[4] The NASCAR race makes use of the track's standard configuration, a four-turn short track oval that is 1miles long.[5] The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, and both the front stretch (the location of the finish line) and the backstretch are banked at nine degrees.
Five hundred laps on a paved track of 1miles per lap.[3] [2] It took four hours and seventeen minutes for Jody Ridley to defeat Bobby Allison by 22 seconds in front of 40,000 spectators. This race was the only win for Ridley, a car numbered 90, and the only points paying win for Donlavey Racing in the NASCARWinston CupSeries.[3] [6] However, this victory was controversial because Allison's team blamed a scoring error for his loss (even though Allison himself did not actually protest the win).[7]
The winner would win $22,560 in prize money ($ when adjusted for inflation) while the last place winner would take home $5,980 ($ when adjusted for inflation).[6] [8] Two cautions slowed the race for 24 laps and the average racing speed was 116.925mph.[3] David Pearson would win the pole position with a speed of 138.425mph.[3] Darrell Waltrip got his Mountain Dew #11 Buick in trouble early when he lost control off Turn 4 and set off a multi-car crash. The Junior Johnson team managed to make repairs and get him back in the race, with the high attrition rate they salvaged a 12th-place finish and maintained their third-place position in the points.[3]
David Pearson returned to the series for the first time since the Halpern team shut down after the owner's untimely death to take the wheel of Kennie Childers' #12 Kencoal Mining Oldsmobile. The new effort paired two legends of the sport with the "Silver Fox" driving and Jake Elder acting as crew chief with the pair winning the pole for this race. Pearson led early but a blown engine sent him to the sidelines just after the one-tenth mark. The partnership of Pearson and the Childers team ended up being a one-off effort.[3]
Richard Petty was another contender who fell by the wayside.[3] He was running fourth in this race when a rear end failure sent the #43 STP Buick to the sidelines for a 19th-place finish.[3] Elmo Langley came out of retirement in a one-off for Lake Speed.[3] Neil Bonnett was ahead by two laps over the field when he failed to finish the race after leading 404 laps; possibly the most number of laps led in NASCAR history while getting a DNF.[3]
All 32 drivers on the racing grid were American-born.[3] Benny Parsons would finish last on the first lap due to a crash with Dave Marcis.[3] [2] The lowest finishing driver to finish the race was Cecil Gordon; who was 42 laps behind the lead lap.[3] [2] The tenth-place driver would finish 20 laps down from the lead lap drivers. There was a communication issue on lap 480 which put scorimg of the race in jeopardy. Ridley's win was considered controversial because Allison claimed to have "won the race"; according to NASCAR team owner Harry Ranier.
| Grid | Driver | Manufacturer | [9] | Owner | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | David Pearson | 138.425 | 26.007 | Kennie Childers | ||
| 2 | 5 | Morgan Shepherd | 138.249 | 26.040 | Cliff Stewart | ||
| 3 | 21 | Neil Bonnett | 137.826 | 26.120 | Wood Brothers | ||
| 4 | 88 | Ricky Rudd | 136.773 | 26.321 | DiGard | ||
| 5 | 11 | Darrell Waltrip | 136.333 | 26.406 | Junior Johnson | ||
| 6 | 27 | Cale Yarborough | 136.276 | 26.417 | M.C. Anderson | ||
| 7 | 44 | Terry Labonte | 136.081 | 26.455 | Billy Hagan | ||
| 8 | 28 | Bobby Allison | 136.075 | 26.456 | Harry Ranier | ||
| 9 | 43 | Richard Petty | 135.998 | 26.471 | Petty Enterprises | ||
| 10 | 33 | Harry Gant | 135.725 | 26.524 | Hal Needham |
Section reference:[3]
† signifies that the driver is known to be deceased
Section reference:[3]
| Pos | Driver | Points | Differential | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bobby Allison | 1900 | 0 | |
| 2 | 1733 | -168 | ||
| 3 | 1694 | -207 | ||
| 4 | 1576 | -325 | ||
| 5 | 1559 | -342 | ||
| 6 | 1554 | -347 | ||
| 7 | 1530 | -371 | ||
| 8 | 1455 | -446 | ||
| 9 | 1402 | -499 | ||
| 10 | 1373 | -528 |
