1978: A prayer answered

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- While Bobby Allison was making good on a child's prayer, Buddy Baker had to wonder why his prayers remained unanswered.

Bobby Allison Credit: Daytona Racing Archives

Holding nearly a lap lead on the field in the 20th annual Daytona 500 and with just 100 miles to go, Baker was forced to make two consecutive unscheduled pit stops for cut tires. Even so, he still had a slight advantage over Allison when his engine, so strong all day, expired with five laps remaining.

Allison had gone 67 races without a win and wrecked during the qualifying race. That forced him to start 33rd in the field and left him and crew chief/car owner Bud Moore pessimistic about their chances.

Instead, the two were celebrating a surprise win in Victory Lane, outrunning Cale Yarborough by 33 seconds at the stripe.

"In Friday's qualifying race, my daughter Bonnie said a prayer for me while I was leading," Allison said. "The next lap I wrecked, and that had been weighing on me the last couple of days.

"I'd hate for any child to think her prayers went unanswered, and that had bothered me the last couple of days."

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Baker was left with all-too-familiar feelings of frustration from too many lost chances.

"Damn, what have I got to do to win here?" Baker asked.

"Late in the race the engine was skipping and I could still outrun Allison. Then the oil pressure needle started dropping and so did my heart. All of a sudden I felt like crying.

"It's tough to have a car that strong and have something like that happen, when you're so close to winning."

A number of other top cars were wiped out by accidents.

1978 Daytona 500 Top 10  1. Bobby Allison  2. Cale Yarborough  3. Benny Parsons  4. Ron Hutcherson  5. Richard Brooks  6. Dave Marcis  7. Buddy Baker  8. Bill Elliott  9. Ferrell Harris  10. Lennie Pond

On lap 60, Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip and David Pearson were about to put Baker and Allison down a lap when Petty's car cut a tire, sending all three cars into the wall and out of contention.

"Either I cut a tire or ran over something," Petty said. "All of a sudden, it went 'pow' and that was it."

Then on lap 68, A.J. Foyt was involved in a wild rollover accident triggered by Benny Parsons' blown tire.

"A tire went down in a hurry and it got real squirrelly," Parsons said. "A.J. couldn't back off because it happened so fast. He hit me in the back and got me going sideways. When my car got sideways at 190 mph, it almost blew me out the window."

Allison was right in the same pack of cars, but escaped without serious damage to his car.

"I bumped another car slightly but I got through as Benny spun," Allison said. "Foyt was behind me and I didn't see him roll."

Foyt was hospitalized with shoulder and rib injuries, while Parsons was able to continue and finish third.

Ron Hutcherson, Foyt's teammate, and Richard Brooks rounded out the top five.

Bill Elliott finished eighth in his rookie debut, while Morgan Shepherd was 40th and Harry Gant 41st.

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