1982 Valleydale 500 - NASCAR Race
| Name of Race: | 1982 Valleydale 500 |
| Name of Track: | Bristol Motor Speedway |
| Date: | March 14th |
Bristol Motor Speedway could very easily have opened in 1961 under a different name. The first proposed site for the speedway was in Piney Flats but, according to Carl Moore, who built the track along with Larry Carrier and R.G. Pope, the idea met local opposition. So the track that could have been called Piney Flats International Speedway, was built five miles down the road on Highway 11-E in Bristol.
A Smaller Charlotte Motor SpeedwayThe land, upon which Bristol Motor Speedway is built, used to be a dairy farm. Larry Carrier and Carl Moore traveled to Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1960 to watch a race and it was then that they decided to build a speedway in northeast Tennessee. However, they wanted a smaller model of CMS, something with a more intimate setting and opted to erect a half-mile facility instead of mirroring the 1.5-mile track in Charlotte.
Work began on what was then called Bristol International Speedway in 1960 and it took approximately one year to finish. Carrier, Moore and Pope scratched many ideas for the track on envelopes and brown paper bags.
Purchase of the land on which Bristol Motor Speedway now sits, as well as initial construction of the track, cost approximately $600,000. The entire layout for Bristol Motor Speedway covered 100 acres and provided parking for more than 12,000 cars. The track itself was a perfect half-mile, measuring 60 feet wide on the straightaways, 75 feet wide in the turns and the turns were banked at 22 degrees.
See Wikipedia for more info.
1982 Valleydale 500 NASCAR Race Results
Below are the race results for 1982 Valleydale 500, in order of finishing place.
| Fin | Driver | Num | Start | Money | Laps | Pts | Status | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darrell Waltrip | 11 | 1 | $26,520 | 500 | 0 | running | Mountain Dew |
| 2 | Dale Earnhardt | 15 | 9 | $18,480 | 500 | 0 | running | Wrangler Jeans |
| 3 | Morgan Shepherd | 98 | 4 | $6,705 | 500 | 0 | running | Levi Garrett |
| 4 | Terry Labonte | 44 | 10 | $6,575 | 499 | 0 | running | J.D. Stacy |
| 5 | Bobby Allison | 88 | 6 | $7,680 | 498 | 0 | running | Gatorade |
| 6 | Harry Gant | 33 | 8 | $4,950 | 498 | 0 | running | 7-Eleven / Skoal Bandit |
| 7 | Richard Petty | 43 | 16 | $9,430 | 497 | 0 | running | STP |
| 8 | Ron Bouchard | 47 | 13 | $7,630 | 497 | 0 | running | J.D. Stacy |
| 9 | Benny Parsons | 28 | 3 | $8,430 | 496 | 0 | running | J.D. Stacy |
| 10 | Dave Marcis | 71 | 5 | $4,180 | 495 | 0 | running | J.D. Stacy |
| 11 | Kyle Petty | 42 | 19 | $3,570 | 489 | 0 | running | STP |
| 12 | Brad Teague | 26 | 23 | $1,830 | 487 | 0 | running | Food Country USA |
| 14 | Mark Martin | 2 | 17 | $1,230 | 482 | 0 | running | Apache Stove |
| 15 | Buddy Arrington | 67 | 18 | $3,100 | 480 | 0 | running | Hills Racing |
| 17 | Tommy Gale | 64 | 27 | $2,730 | 473 | 0 | running | Sunny King Ford & Honda |
| 18 | Joe Ruttman | 2 | 2 | $2,570 | 457 | 0 | running | J.D. Stacy |
| 20 | Jody Ridley | 90 | 15 | $8,230 | 431 | 0 | running | J.D. Stacy |
| 21 | Slick Johnson | 48 | 24 | $2,200 | 413 | 0 | running | Palatine Auto Parts |
| 22 | Neil Bonnett | 37 | 14 | $1,855 | 400 | 0 | a frame | Warner Hodgdon / National Eng. |
| 23 | Gary Balough | 75 | 12 | $1,830 | 391 | 0 | crash | RahMoc Enterprises |
| 25 | Ronnie Thomas | 25 | 30 | $630 | 307 | 0 | ignition | Thomas Racing |
| 27 | Ricky Rudd | 3 | 7 | $1,110 | 217 | 0 | valve | Piedmont Airlines |
| 28 | Dick Brooks | 13 | 11 | $600 | 109 | 0 | crash | Carolina Tool & Equipment |
| 29 | Lake Speed | 17 | 22 | $1,090 | 68 | 0 | oil pump | Yazoo Mowers |


