Carolina 500

Rockingham Speedway — January 1, 1981

Darrell Waltrip

Winner

492

Laps

Entries

Leaders

Darrell Waltrip won the 1981 Carolina 500 at Rockingham Speedway on January 1, 1981, leading 13 of 492 laps. Cale Yarborough finished second; Richard Petty rounded out the podium. The race featured 10 different leaders.

Race Details

Date

Thursday, January 1, 1981

Track

Rockingham Speedway

Season

1981

Winner

Darrell Waltrip

Leaders

10 drivers

Sort by

Pos	Start	+/-	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Interval	Status	Led	Pts
1	4	+3	Darrell Waltrip	Junior Johnson & Associates		492	—	Running	13	180
2	1	-1	Cale Yarborough	M.C. Anderson Racing		492	—	Running	320	0
3	3	—	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises		492	—	Running	25	170
4	8	+4	Neil Bonnett	Wood Brothers Racing		492	—	Running	82	165
5	6	+1	Buddy Baker	Ellington Racing		491	—	Running	3	160
6	2	-4	Bobby Allison	Ranier Racing		491	—	Running	17	155
7	14	+7	Joe Millikan	RahMoc Enterprises		488	—	Running	8	151
8	26	+18	Kyle Petty	Petty Enterprises		486	—	Running	—	142
9	15	+6	Lake Speed	Lake Speed Racing		482	—	Running	—	138
10	32	+22	Elliott Forbes-Robinson	Howard & Egerton Racing		477	—	Running	—	134
11	23	+12	Ronnie Thomas	Ronnie Thomas Racing		476	—	Running	—	130
12	28	+16	Johnny Rutherford	Benfield Racing		473	—	Running	—	127
13	24	+11	Mike Alexander	Rogers Racing		470	—	Running	—	0
14	30	+16	Bobby Wawak	Wawak Racing		469	—	Running	—	121
15	17	+2	Dave Marcis	Marcis Auto Racing	Dodge	452	—	Running	—	118
16	22	+6	Tim Richmond	Ulrich Racing		450	—	Running	—	115
17	34	+17	Jody Ridley	Junior Miller Racing		443	—	DNF - Engine	—	112
18	7	-11	Harry Gant	Race Hill Farm Team		427	—	DNF - Engine	18	114
19	37	+18	Tommy Gale	Langley-Woodfield Racing		424	—	Running	—	106
20	21	+1	James Hylton	Hylton Engineering		421	—	Running	—	103
21	9	-12	Terry Labonte	Hagan Enterprises		412	—	DNF - Crash	5	105
22	16	-6	Richard Childress	Richard Childress Racing		409	—	DNF - Engine	—	97
23	35	+12	Cecil Gordon	Gordon Racing		395	—	Running	—	94
24	10	-14	Benny Parsons	Bud Moore Engineering		379	—	DNF - Crash	—	91
25	12	-13	Slick Johnson	JD Johnson Racing		298	—	DNF - Crash	—	88
26	11	-15	Dale Earnhardt	Osterlund Motorsports		285	—	DNF - Crash	—	85
27	33	+6	Glenn Jarrett	Hamby Racing		277	—	DNF	—	82
28	13	-15	Morgan Shepherd	Cliff Stewart Racing		268	—	DNF	—	79
29	29	—	Jimmy Means	Jimmy Means Racing		254	—	DNF - Crash	—	76
30	20	-10	David Pearson	Halpern Enterprises		225	—	DNF - Engine	—	73
31	5	-26	Ricky Rudd	DiGard Motorsports		224	—	DNF - Crash	1	75
32	36	+4	Rick Newsom	Newsom Racing		218	—	DNF	—	67
33	19	-14	J.D. McDuffie	McDuffie Racing		188	—	DNF	—	64
34	18	-16	Donnie Allison	Kennie Childers (Owner)		109	—	DNF	—	61
35	27	-8	Rick Wilson	Wilson Racing		97	—	DNF	—	58
36	31	-5	Stan Barrett	Mach 1 Racing		61	—	DNF - Crash	—	0
37	25	-12	Buddy Arrington	Arrington Racing	Dodge	34	—	DNF - Engine	—	52