1981 NASCAR Winston Cup Season: Waltrip's First Title and the Gen 3 Car

A 53-point margin gave Waltrip his first championship in 1981, a year that also introduced a smaller, more fuel-efficient car to the series. The season opened and closed at Riverside, bookending a schedule that produced plenty of close finishes.

Who won the 1981 NASCAR Winston Cup championship?

Waltrip finished 53 points in front of Bobby Allison, and that gap was the final margin in the title fight. The season also brought the Gen 3 design into the series, and Ron Bouchard took the rookie award for the year.

Waltrip's title was built on a long run of strong finishes in the second half of the year. He won several races in a row in the autumn and gained steadily on Allison, who had led the points for much of the early season.

Allison finished second in the standings, and his late-season disappointments left the title race in Waltrip's hands. Waltrip's final margin was 53 points, a result that confirmed his place as one of the year's most consistent drivers.

A smaller car, a famous Daytona win for Richard Petty and a first title for Darrell Waltrip by 53 points.

What changed with the Gen 3 car in 1981?

The 1981 season introduced the Gen 3 car, which NASCAR set at a 110-inch wheelbase in response to the energy crisis. Manufacturers were downsizing their cars to save fuel, and the rules reflected that shift. Early testing showed the new cars were difficult to handle, and several airborne crashes marred the preliminary races.

The Twin 125 qualifiers showed the problem clearly. John Anderson and Connie Saylor flew off the ground and tumbled in the first race, and the Pontiac LeMans proved more stable than the other makes. Its sloped tear glass set it apart on the track.

Tim Richmond's crash ended one of the 125-mile races, and the field was reduced to a one-lap sprint. Waltrip's driving in the second race gave him a victory over Benny Parsons. The early weeks made clear that the new cars would test every team's engineering.

How did the season begin at Riverside?

The season opened on January 11 with the first Winston Western 500 at Riverside International Raceway. Because it was the final race in which the older 115-inch cars could run, the field mixed 1977 Monte Carlos with 1981 models, and Bobby Allison won in one of the older cars.

The Busch Clash, the third edition of that invitational for pole winners from 1980, followed. Darrell Waltrip led 13 of the 20 laps to win the event, pocketing $71,500 for a run of 15 minutes and 52 seconds.

Earnhardt drove a 1981 Pontiac in that race, while Allison's winning car was one of the older models. It was a race that had the new and old cars sharing the grid.

What happened at the 1981 Daytona 500?

Richard Petty won the 1981 Daytona 500, his seventh and final victory in the race. NASCAR had increased the spoiler size twice during Daytona week to keep the cars on the ground, and the race itself saw only four minor cautions.

Petty took the lead after his last pit stop, when he did not change tires. Once in front he was not caught, even though Bobby Allison's Pontiac LeMans had proved faster and more stable than expected during the week.

The race had 49 lead changes, which made it a lively event for the drivers and fans. The result put Petty back in the record books once more.

Earlier in the week, the 12 cars that failed to qualify ran a 30-lap consolation race for the first time since 1962. Lake Speed led every lap and collected $5,000 for the win.

Which races shaped the spring of 1981?

The spring races gave Darrell Waltrip his first wins of the year. He won at Richmond, driving Junior Johnson's Buick, and he edged Ricky Rudd, who was driving the DiGard Oldsmobile that Waltrip had once used. That early run set the pace for the rest of the year.

At Carolina, Cale Yarborough led 320 laps but ran dry in the final 25, and Waltrip outlasted the field after Petty led until three laps to go. The lead changed a track-record 36 times, and it was the last race in which Petty led the points standings.

At Atlanta, Harry Ranier protested the spoiler reduction on the Pontiac LeMans his team was running, but rival teams did not back him. Yarborough got the better of Gant at the finish, and Dave Marcis flipped after sliding into a truck tire that shielded the pit wall.

Waltrip edged Harry Gant in the Rebel 500, a race in which Gant drove a Pontiac Grand Prix entered by Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham for the first time. Bobby Allison also debuted a new Buick around that time, because the team had given up on the LeMans after the spoiler reduction.

Waltrip also won the Southeastern 500, leading 323 laps and edging Rudd for the victory. That was his third win of the season, and the points gap began to widen in his favour.

Benny Parsons won the Melling Tool 420 with Bud Moore, after Rudd and Parsons had led 419 of the 420 laps between them. It was Parsons' first win with Bud Moore.

Morgan Shepherd dominated the Virginia 500 for his first career Grand National win. It was the first career Grand National victory for the driver, and it came at Martinsville.

What happened in the Gabriel 400 and Firecracker 400?

The Gabriel 400 at Michigan produced 50 lead changes before Bobby Allison took the win. Kyle Petty's blown engine sent four of the top six cars into the Turn Two guardrail, and the result gave Allison a lead of close to 300 points over Waltrip.

Afterwards, Rod Osterlund sold his team to J. D. Stacy, which changed the situation for Dale Earnhardt. Earnhardt had been running that car, and the sale was one of the main stories of the summer.

The Firecracker 400 was decided on the final lap. Cale Yarborough led 78 laps and passed Harry Gant to win, after Gant had led 43 laps himself. Bobby Allison burned a valve and finished 28th, which cut his points lead over Waltrip from 256 to 206.

Which drivers pushed Waltrip for the title?

Bobby Allison was Waltrip's main rival all season. He won the Winston 500 at Talladega in a last-lap scramble with Waltrip, Rudd and Buddy Baker, and he also took the World 600 after his brother Donnie suffered a serious leg injury in a crash.

Benny Parsons pushed hard all year. He won the Budweiser 400 at Texas, edging Dale Earnhardt after a race with 35 official lead changes, the most in the track's history. He also took the Wrangler Sanfor-Set 400 for his 20th Cup win.

Neil Bonnett was a constant threat in the autumn. He led 216 laps at Darlington's Southern 500 and edged Waltrip, and later he led 185 laps to win the CRC Chemicals 500, a result that let Waltrip take the points lead by 2 points over Allison.

The tone of the autumn was set by Waltrip's consistency. He took the lead at the Old Dominion 500 with 36 laps to go, and then padded his lead with a win at the Holly Farms 400, where he led 318 laps.

Late-season races and the Talladega upset

At the Southern 500, Neil Bonnett led 216 laps and finished just ahead of Waltrip. That second place left Waltrip only 18 points behind Bobby Allison, which made the closing races far more interesting.

ESPN broadcast the Atlanta Journal 500 live, its first such NASCAR broadcast for a third-year cable network. Bonnett won that race as well, and Waltrip padded his lead by 15 points to 83 heading into Riverside.

Richard Petty passed five cars with five laps to go and took the Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan. The race had 65 lead changes among 14 drivers, a record for the track that still stood, and Earnhardt finished ninth in his first start for Richard Childress.

At Talladega, Bobby Allison led the most laps, but Ron Bouchard edged through on the final lap by inches. Many fans still regard that result as one of the biggest upsets in NASCAR history, and Earnhardt finished 29th in his last race in the J. D. Stacy car.

Darrell Waltrip's Buick won the Mountain Dew 500 with the race sponsor on its side, a result that drew controversy six years after the 1975 Purolator 500 win that had stirred similar debate.

How did the points race finish?

The points race finished with Waltrip ahead, and the margin was built across the autumn. He won the National 500 after Bonnett's engine expired on lap 191, then raised his lead at the American 500 by 10 points to 68.

Waltrip's points lead stood at 83 before the finale at Riverside, where Bobby Allison won the Winston Western 500. Allison led 49 laps in that race, but Waltrip finished sixth and clinched the title by 53 points.

Dale Earnhardt's year ended with a change of team. He had raced the first 20 events in Rod Osterlund's Pontiac, but he left when Osterlund sold the team to J. D. Stacy. The rest of his year was spent in Richard Childress's car.

What were the key results of the 1981 season?