1974: One bad tire deserves another

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Richard Petty's bad luck in the 16th annual Daytona 500 was better than Donnie Allison's bad luck, only because Petty's bad luck picked a better location.

After a furious late-race battle with Allison for the lead, Petty's chances for a fifth Daytona 500 victory seemed to disappear when he blew a tire 19 laps from the finish.

KNOW YOUR NASCAR  •  1974 Season Recap  •  50 Greatest Drivers  •  More History    1974 Daytona 500 Top 10  1. Richard Petty  2. Cale Yarborough  3. Ramo Stott  4. Coo Coo Marlin  5. A.J. Foyt  6. Donnie Allison  7. Darrell Waltrip  8. Bobby Issac  9. Dick Brooks  10. Walter Ballard

However, it happened just in front of the pit entrance, allowing Petty to steer his Dodge immediately to the pits for a replacement. He returned to the race 38 seconds behind Allison, who seemingly had the race locked up.

But eight laps later, tire troubles hit Allison when he ran over some debris in the tri-oval and spun out of control. By the time Allison limped all the way around the track for repairs, Petty found himself back in front, this time for good, while Allison finished sixth.

"From then on, I knew all I had to do was keep from hitting anybody," Petty said.

"I know exactly how Donnie must have felt, because the same thing had just happened to me. Both of us cut tires at the end, and I just came out on the best end of it."

The real hard-luck loser might have been Coo Coo Marlin, who probably would have won the race had he not been black-flagged to tighten a loose lug nut. Then Marlin lost a sure second place when he thought the race had already been flagged, allowing Cale Yarborough and Ramo Stott to pass him as the cars crossed the finish line.

A windy day created a dirty track, forcing several cautions for debris. The strange conditions created a race-record 60 lead changes among 15 drivers, mainly during pit stops.

"There was a lot of sand on it, lot of hot dog wrappers since the campers were here overnight and there were little pieces of sheet metal everywhere," Petty said. "Cars were running so close that there was a lot of bumping, and little pieces were falling off the cars."

Once Petty and Allison began drafting each other with 50 laps to go, they pulled away from the pack.

"Through hand signals, Donnie and I finally decided to get together and that's when we broke away from the rest of them," Petty said. "I don't think the other cars were handling well enough to run with us. When we hooked up and ran away, we were picked up three-quarters of a second on the field every lap."

Mechanical problems sidelined a number of contenders, including David Pearson (broken exhaust), Charlie Glotzbach (broken windshield), Hershel McGriff (crash), Bobby Allison (engine) and Bobby Isaac (ball joint).

The race was shortened to 450 miles because of NASCAR's response to the energy crisis. The race began on lap 21.

Richard Childress completed just two laps, finishing 40th in his Daytona 500 debut.

This is one in a series of articles counting down to the 2003 Daytona 500.