1984 Sovran Bank 500 - NASCAR Race
| Name of Race: | 1984 Sovran Bank 500 |
| Name of Track: | Martinsville Speedway |
| Date: | April 29th |
Martinsville Speedway is an International Speedway Corporation-owned NASCAR stock car racing track located in Martinsville, Virginia. At 0.526 miles in length, it is the shortest track in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series.
NASCAR PaperclipThe track was also one of the first paved "superspeedways" in NASCAR, being built in 1947 by H. Clay Earles. The track is often referred to as paper clip-shaped and is banked only 12° in the turns. The combination of long straightaways and flat, narrow turns makes hard braking going into turns and smooth acceleration exiting turns a must.
Original OwnershipThe track ownership was a joint venture of brothers Jim and Bill France, Jr., and H. Clay Earles, the majority owner, along with daughters Dorothy Campbell and Mary Weatherford, and Dorothy Campbell's children, Sarah Fain and Clay Campbell.
Grandfather Clock TrophyWinners of Martinsville's Nextel Cup and Whelen Modified Tour events receive a longcase clock as a trophy instead of a regular trophy, a tip of the cap to the fame of the Martinsville furniture industry. One of the neat things one can see while watching a NASCAR race is a Norfolk Southern train running along the tracks outside the speedway, although the tracks were recently moved back 100 feet.
$192 Million Price TagAlthough sold for $192 million in 2004, the track continues to prosper under the new ownership of International Speedway Corporation. The track hosts two Nextel cup races, currently the DirecTV 500 in April and the Subway 500 in October, along with Busch, Craftsman Truck, and Late Model Stock Car races. The track had plans to add an additional 20,000 seats along the backstretch, boosting capacity to over 85,000 seats, but nothing more has been officially mentioned regarding this by track management since the sale of the track to ISC.
Courtesy of Wikipedia.1984 Sovran Bank 500 NASCAR Race Results
Below are the race results for 1984 Sovran Bank 500, in order of finishing place.
| Fin | Driver | Num | Start | Money | Laps | Pts | Status | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Geoffrey Bodine | 5 | 6 | $29,880 | 500 | 0 | running | Northwestern Security Life |
| 2 | Ron Bouchard | 47 | 4 | $18,905 | 500 | 0 | running | Race Hill Farm |
| 3 | Darrell Waltrip | 11 | 5 | $17,450 | 500 | 0 | running | Budweiser |
| 4 | Bobby Allison | 22 | 18 | $18,000 | 500 | 0 | running | Miller High Life |
| 5 | Neil Bonnett | 12 | 8 | $4,900 | 499 | 0 | running | Budweiser |
| 6 | Joe Ruttman | 98 | 1 | $9,480 | 499 | 0 | running | Levi Garrett |
| 7 | Bill Elliott | 9 | 12 | $8,200 | 499 | 0 | running | Coors |
| 8 | Kyle Petty | 7 | 22 | $9,650 | 498 | 0 | running | 7-Eleven |
| 9 | Dale Earnhardt | 3 | 15 | $7,345 | 497 | 0 | running | Wrangler Jeans |
| 10 | Buddy Baker | 21 | 7 | $2,890 | 496 | 0 | running | Valvoline |
| 11 | Dick Brooks | 90 | 16 | $4,515 | 495 | 0 | running | Chameleon Sunglasses |
| 12 | Richard Petty | 43 | 17 | $4,295 | 493 | 0 | running | STP |
| 13 | Harry Gant | 33 | 2 | $6,085 | 493 | 0 | running | Skoal Bandit |
| 14 | Dale Jarrett | 2 | 24 | $1,515 | 492 | 0 | running | Enterprise |
| 15 | Rusty Wallace | 88 | 14 | $4,675 | 491 | 0 | running | Gatorade |
| 16 | Phil Parsons | 66 | 30 | $2,400 | 489 | 0 | running | Skoal Bandit |
| 17 | Greg Sacks | 51 | 27 | $1,375 | 489 | 0 | running | Uniden Force |
| 18 | Ricky Rudd | 15 | 9 | $7,950 | 487 | 0 | running | Wrangler Jeans |
| 19 | Dave Marcis | 75 | 23 | $8,125 | 484 | 0 | rear end | RahMoc Enterprises |
| 20 | Jimmy Hensley | 64 | 28 | $3,850 | 481 | 0 | running | Sunny King Ford & Honda |
| 21 | Clark Dwyer | 17 | 31 | $3,230 | 479 | 0 | running | Hesco Exhaust Systems |
| 22 | Trevor Boys | 48 | 25 | $3,060 | 433 | 0 | running | Hylton-McCaig |
| 23 | Tim Richmond | 27 | 13 | $5,270 | 425 | 0 | engine | Old Milwaukee |
| 24 | Terry Labonte | 44 | 3 | $3,750 | 425 | 0 | running | Piedmont Airlines |
| 25 | Buddy Arrington | 67 | 21 | $2,830 | 380 | 0 | valve | Arrington Racing |
| 26 | Morgan Shepherd | 26 | 10 | $1,040 | 306 | 0 | running | Food Country USA |
| 27 | Dean Combs | 97 | 29 | $1,030 | 293 | 0 | oil leak | Best Products |
| 28 | Doug Heveron | 1 | 26 | $1,020 | 257 | 0 | brakes | Syracuse Classic |
| 29 | Tommy Ellis | 4 | 11 | $2,310 | 241 | 0 | valve | Morgan-McClure |
| 30 | Ronnie Thomas | 41 | 20 | $2,670 | 241 | 0 | engine | Thomas Racing |
| 31 | Mike Alexander | 71 | 19 | $2,660 | 1 | 0 | crash | Action Vans |


