[mstets]

I wish I could remember more about the race. I remember Ricky Rudd being introduced as the pole winner because he was a new name to me at the time. Looking at the results I am surprised to see Tom Sneva, Elliott Forbes-Robinson and Kyle Petty. I remember being disappointed in Waltrip's pace early on (as I was a Junior Johnson fan) and him crashing in turn 2 (IIRC). I think the car was sponsored by Pepsi. In the video you posted (thanks for that) it shows a #7 in 7-11 colors. What team was that? Kyle was #7 in the race but the car in the video doesn't look like a Grand Prix to me. The Pontiacs appear to be more aerodynamic than the Monte Carlos but I'm aware that you can't quantify aero by eye. The Cale crash in qualifying reminds me of Mario's testing crash at Laguna Seca in 1987. Cale jumped out of the car and asked: how was that first lap? When the team got to Mario after the rear wing came adrift and he crashed heavily in turn 2 and the car was evidently broken in half, (see pages 91-92 of Adrian Newey's "How to Build a Car"), Mario's first words were reported to be "my Goddamn watch has stopped". Another interesting thing in the Daytona results that I would have bet money against is two Chrysler products in the race: a Dodge Mirada driven by Rick Baldwin and a Chrysler Imperial (!) driven by Buddy Arrington.
Looking again at the video you posted I am struck by how much smaller in frontal area the Wood Brothers #21 appears to be in comparison the Cale's Pontiac.



Sorry about the thread drift.