American 500

Rockingham Speedway — January 1, 1981

Darrell Waltrip

Winner

492

Laps

Entries

Leaders

Darrell Waltrip won the 1981 American 500 at Rockingham Speedway on January 1, 1981, leading 163 of 492 laps. Bobby Allison finished second; Harry Gant rounded out the podium. The race featured 11 different leaders.

Race Details

Date

Thursday, January 1, 1981

Track

Rockingham Speedway

Season

1981

Winner

Darrell Waltrip

Leaders

11 drivers

Sort by

Pos	Start	+/-	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Interval	Status	Led	Pts
1	1	—	Darrell Waltrip	Junior Johnson & Associates		492	—	Running	163	185
2	14	+12	Bobby Allison	Ranier Racing		492	—	Running	31	175
3	2	-1	Harry Gant	Mach 1 Racing		492	—	Running	125	170
4	12	+8	Richard Petty	Petty Enterprises		492	—	Running	92	165
5	16	+11	Joe Ruttman	Jim Stacy Racing		492	—	Running	3	160
6	24	+18	Benny Parsons	Bud Moore Engineering		491	—	Running	—	150
7	10	+3	Terry Labonte	Hagan Enterprises		490	—	Running	—	146
8	22	+14	Bill Elliott	George Elliott Racing		490	—	Running	17	147
9	5	-4	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing		489	—	Running	16	143
10	19	+9	Jody Ridley	Donlavey Racing		487	—	Running	—	134
11	37	+26	Ron Bouchard	Race Hill Farm Team		485	—	Running	—	130
12	26	+14	Dave Marcis	Marcis Auto Racing		483	—	Running	2	132
13	27	+14	Tommy Gale	Langley-Woodfield Racing		475	—	Running	—	124
14	31	+17	Buddy Arrington	Arrington Racing	Dodge	470	—	Running	—	121
15	34	+19	Cecil Gordon	Gordon Racing		457	—	Running	—	118
16	4	-12	Buddy Baker	Ellington Racing		445	—	DNF	2	120
17	32	+15	D.K. Ulrich	Ulrich Racing		435	—	DNF - Engine	—	112
18	3	-15	Ricky Rudd	DiGard Motorsports		434	—	Running	16	114
19	17	-2	Joe Millikan	Cliff Stewart Racing		425	—	Running	—	106
20	36	+16	Jimmy Means	Jimmy Means Racing		404	—	Running	—	103
21	23	+2	Dick Brooks	Bobby Hawkins (Owner)		379	—	DNF - Engine	—	0
22	13	-9	Tim Richmond	Rogers Racing		334	—	DNF - Crash	—	97
23	35	+12	Joe Fields	Fields Racing		262	—	DNF - Crash	—	0
24	29	+5	John Anderson	Hamby Racing		226	—	DNF	—	0
25	8	-17	Cale Yarborough	M.C. Anderson Racing		214	—	DNF - Crash	—	88
26	25	-1	James Hylton	Hylton Engineering		214	—	DNF	—	85
27	15	-12	Morgan Shepherd	Benfield Racing		205	—	DNF - Crash	25	87
28	28	—	Chuck Bown	Bown Racing		193	—	DNF - Engine	—	79
29	11	-18	Johnny Rutherford	Benfield Racing		172	—	DNF - Crash	—	76
30	30	—	J.D. McDuffie	McDuffie Racing		165	—	DNF - Engine	—	73
31	18	-13	Lake Speed	Lake Speed Racing		162	—	DNF - Engine	—	70
32	21	-11	Gary Balough	RahMoc Enterprises		117	—	DNF - Crash	—	67
33	33	—	Don Hume	Ulrich Racing		101	—	DNF - Crash	—	0
34	7	-27	Dean Combs	Irv Sanderson (Owner)		89	—	DNF - Crash	—	0
35	9	-26	Neil Bonnett	Wood Brothers Racing		55	—	DNF - Crash	—	58
36	20	-16	Lennie Pond	Lennie Pond (Owner)		54	—	DNF - Crash	—	55
37	6	-31	Kyle Petty	Petty Enterprises		19	—	DNF - Engine	—	52