1976 Firecracker 400 - NASCAR Race

Name of Race:	1976 Firecracker 400
Name of Track:	Daytona International Speedway
Date:	July 4th

Daytona International Speedway

Daytona International Speedway is a superspeedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is a 2.5 mile (4 km) tri-oval race track facility with a seating capacity of 168,000 spectators.

It hosts races of motor vehicles of various kinds, including go-karts, dirt bikes, motorcycles, sports cars, modified pickup trucks, and stock cars. The facility also includes a 3.56 mile (5.7 km) road course and a 180-acre infield, including the 29 acre Lake Lloyd.

NASCAR Begins At Daytona

NASCAR was founded by William France Sr. at Daytona Beach, Florida in 1947. The original premiere event in the series was held at the Daytona Beach Road Course. France began planning a new track for the premiere event in his fledgling series in 1953. On August 16, 1954 he signed a contract with city officials to create this new track that would become famous as the Daytona International Speedway. Ground was broken on November 25, 1957 The soil underneath the banked corners was dug from the infield of the track, and the large hole in the infield was filled with water and is now known as Lake Lloyd. The speedway opened on February 22, 1959 to a crowd of 41,000 people.

Daytona 500

The NASCAR Championship's most important race, the Daytona 500, is held annually at Daytona International Speedway. It is a 200-lap, 500 mile (805 km) stock car race. The list of Daytona 500 winners is very long dating back to the inaugural race in 1959, and includes "The King" Richard Petty, and Dale Earnhardt.

More Daytona Races

NASCAR, the premier stock car organization in the United States, holds some of its most important races on this track. These include competitions in its Craftsman Truck Series (where pickup trucks are raced), Busch Series (the stock car junior league), and Nextel Cup series. The Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona is also held at Daytona.

The racing season begins at Daytona starting with the testing sessions. The year's racing begins with the 24 Hours of Daytona race in the Grand American Sports Car series. Then the racing begins for the Nextel Cup with the Budweiser Shootout and the Gatorade Duel. The Craftsman Truck Series begins with the GM Flex Fuel 250. The Busch Series begins with the Hershey's Kissables 300, and then it is back to the Nextel Cup in "The Great American Race," the Daytona 500. The Nextel Cup also features the Pepsi 400 in July at Daytona.

Daytona International Speedway Under The Lights

Lights were installed in 1998 so that the Pepsi 400 could be held at night. However, the race was delayed until October that year due to thick smoke from wildfires that summer. The Pepsi 400 has been held under lights ever since.

It also contains an attraction called Daytona USA The winning car from the Daytona 500 is placed in front of the attraction building each year.

Courtesy of Wikipedia.

1976 Firecracker 400 NASCAR Race Results

Below are the race results for 1976 Firecracker 400, in order of finishing place.

Fin	Driver	Num	Start	Money	Laps	Status	Sponsor
1	Cale Yarborough	11	2	$22,215	160	running	Holly Farms
2	David Pearson	21	7	$13,615	160	running	Purolator
3	Bobby Allison	2	4	$13,245	160	running	CAM 2
4	A.J. Foyt	28	1	$7,440	159	running	Gilmore
5	Dave Marcis	71	6	$7,810	157	running	K & K Insurance
7	Benny Parsons	72	5	$6,630	156	running	King's Row Fireplace
8	Dick Brooks	90	30	$5,170	156	running	Truxmore
10	Ricky Rudd	22	22	$2,590	152	running	Al Rudd Auto Parts
12	Richard Childress	3	34	$4,150	148	running	Kansas Jack
15	Janet Guthrie	68	33	$1,570	147	running	Kelly Services
19	Bill Elliott	10	38	$3,070	141	running	Bill Champion
20	Johnny Rutherford	77	21	$1,740	139	rear end	Hy Gain
21	Jimmy Lee Capps	26	25	$1,290	132	running	Sellers Automotive
22	Richard Petty	43	3	$5,960	126	engine	STP
25	Bruce Hill	47	13	$1,990	110	drive shft	Howson Algraphy
26	James Hylton	48	10	$1,815	102	engine	Hylton Engineering
28	Ferrel Harris	82	26	$1,015	75	rear end	Rossmeyer
29	Tommy Gale	19	18	$990	70	electrical	Belden Asphalt
30	Grant Adcox	41	9	$965	67	engine	Adcox-Kirby
31	Skip Manning	92	35	$940	60	electrical	Stratagraph
32	Lennie Pond	54	14	$1,415	48	engine	Pepsi-Cola
33	Neil Bonnett	12	11	$890	39	w bearing	Hawaiian Tropic
34	Cecil Gordon	24	16	$1,360	33	crash	Burger King
35	Buddy Baker	15	12	$3,835	32	engine	Norris Industries
36	Buck Baker	18	24	$830	32	crash	Excuse Lounge
39	Darrell Waltrip	88	17	$3,815	9	engine	Gatorade
40	Buddy Arrington	67	27	$1,310	0	ignition	Sub-Tropic