The 1981 spring race at Rockingham was a battle royale among NASCAR titans in Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, Richard Petty and Neil Bonnett.
The Carolina 500 was the first race to be broadcast on ESPN and consisted of 492 laps on the 1.017-mile paved track for a prize purse of $21,655.
Yarborough dominated most of the race, leading a race-high 320 laps. But it would be Waltrip who would surge late to take the lead away from Petty with three laps to go. The win was Waltrip’s first of four at Rockingham, and he went on to sweep the season’s races there. The win was his second for team owner Junior Johnson in the No. 11 after replacing Yarborough as the team’s driver at the start of the 1981 season.
RELATED: Full race results of the 1981 Carolina 500 | Darrell Waltrip through the years
The ’81 season would turn out to be one of the best of Darrell Waltrip’s NASCAR Hall of Fame career. Waltrip whittled away at Allison’s points lead with a series of wins and top-five finishes before taking the points lead for good at Dover with six races to go. That was followed by a run of four straight wins that led to his first of three NASCAR Cup Series titles. On the season, he won 12 races, compiled 2,517 laps led, 21 top fives and 25 top 10s.
Relive one of Waltrip’s wins in his championship-winning season in this NASCAR Full Race Replay of the 1981 Carolina 500.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70iqXNgKW4Q