1982 Champion Spark Plug 400
The 1982 Champion Spark Plug 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event held on August 22, 1982, at Michigan International Speedway in the American community of Brooklyn, Michigan. While the glory days of Richard Petty ended before this race, he was still more recognized to the general public than Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip during the early 1980s. Between 1974 and 1982, the troika of Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, and Richard Petty were considered to be the "elite three drivers" of the NASCAR scene. The rest of 1982 would see a NASCAR Winston Cup  Championship slip out of Richard Petty's grasp and into the hands of a young Darrell Waltrip for the second time in his entire career. During the early 1980s, the NASCAR Winston Cup Series was plagued with top teams running big engines and finishing in third place to avoid inspection. Background. Michigan International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is long. Groundbreaking took place on September 28, 1967. Over of dirt were moved to form the D-shaped oval. The track opened in 1968 with a total capacity of 25,000 seats. The track was originally built and owned by  Lawrence H. LoPatin, a Detroit-area land developer who built the speedway at an estimated cost of $4–6 million. Financing was arranged by Thomas W Itin. Its first race took place on Sunday, October 13, 1968, with the running of the USAC 250 mile Championship Car Race won by Ronnie Bucknum. Summary. It took two hours and forty-five minutes to complete this event. 38 American-born drivers competed on this 200-lap event; Joe Ruttman would become the last-place finisher due to a problem with his vehicle's oil pump on the second lap. Bill Elliott would  end up finishing the race 96 laps behind the leaders while Tim Richmond would see the conclusion of his racing weekend by inflicting some damage to the back of his stock car on lap 161. This was the debut race for the Chrysler Imperial car of Buddy Arrington. Buicks, Pontiacs and Ford vehicles would rule the racing grid on this day. Thirty thousand people would come to the race live to watch Bobby Allison best Richard Petty by two car lengths. Bill Elliott brought some fast thrills to the solo qualifying position by driving at speeds up to . While a  wide variety of drivers would lead the opening 50 laps, the final 50 laps would be monopolized by three different drivers (Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison). Terry Labonte would keep a close lead in championship points after this race; trailing by a mere 50 points to Bobby Allison. Drivers in the actual race drove an average speed of . Ronnie Thomas and Al Loquasto did not qualify on time but were added to the field through what would come to be known as provisionals. Tony Bettenhausen, Jr. and Robin McCall would make their respective departures from the NASCAR Winston  Cup Series after the conclusion of this event. Notable crew chiefs to actively participate in the race were Buddy Parrott, Junie Donlavey, Joey Arrington, Elmo Langley, Darrell Bryant, Jake Elder, Travis Carter, Waddell Wilson, Tim Brewer, Bud Moore, Jeff Hammond, and Larry McReynolds. Individual race earnings ranged from the winner's share of $26,900 ($ when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's share of $1,850 ($ when adjusted for inflation). NASCAR officials on the track were authorized by the board of directors to hand out a grand total of $222,875 to all the qualifying  drivers of this racing event ($ when adjusted for inflation).