The 1993 DieHard 500 was the 18th stock car race of the 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 25th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, July 25th, 1993, before an audience of 100,000 in Lincoln, Alabama at Talladega Superspeedway, a 2.66 miles (4.28 km) permanent triangle-shaped superspeedway. The race took the scheduled 188 laps to complete. In one of the closest finishes in NASCAR Winston Cup Series history, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would manage to best out a last-lap challenge against Morgan–McClure Motorsports driver Ernie Irvan by 0.005 seconds at the finish line, with Earnhardt managing to extend his dominant driver's championship lead over the rest of the field with the victory.[1][2] The victory was Earnhardt's 59th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his sixth and final victory of the season. To fill out the top three, Roush Racing driver Mark Martin would finish third.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 18 of 30 in the 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1993 DieHard 500 program cover, featuring Ernie Irvan. | |||
| Date | July 25, 1993 | ||
| Official name | 25th Annual DieHard 500 | ||
| Location | Lincoln, Alabama, Talladega Superspeedway | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 2.66 mi (4.28 km) | ||
| Distance | 188 laps, 500.08 mi (804.8 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 188 laps, 500.08 mi (804.8 km) | ||
| Average speed | 153.858 miles per hour (247.610 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 100,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Junior Johnson & Associates | ||
| Time | 49.772 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Laps | 59 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | CBS | ||
| Announcers | Ken Squier, Ned Jarrett, Neil Bonnett | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||
The race was marred by two separate major incidents throughout the race. On lap 70, a five-car incident featured Active Motorsports driver Jimmy Horton flipping over the protective outside wall in turn one, meant to keep cars within the track. While Horton wasn't seriously hurt, in the same accident, owner-driver and Birmingham, Alabama native Stanley Smith would suffer a basilar skull fracture and partial paralysis of the right side of his body after slamming his car into the turn one wall, spilling blood on most of his racing firesuit.[3][4]
After being taken to a Birmingham hospital, Smith would recover for 40 days until he was eventually discharged.[5] The second major crash would occur on lap 132, when Neil Bonnett's car would go airborne, flip over the damaged car of Ted Musgrave, and smash into the protective catch-fence on the track's front-stretch that was meant to protect spectators. Nine fans would be injured due to the crash. Bonnett, making a one-off appearance since retiring in 1990, was uninjured and would eventually decide to commentate the rest of the race for CBS.[6]
Background
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Talladega Superspeedway, originally known as Alabama International Motor Superspeedway (AIMS), is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base in the small city of Lincoln. The track is a tri-oval and was constructed in the 1960s by the International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France family. Talladega is most known for its steep banking and the unique location of the start/finish line that's located just past the exit to pit road. The track currently hosts the NASCAR series such as the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and the Camping World Truck Series. Talladega is the longest NASCAR oval, a 2.66-mile-long (4.28 km) tri-oval like the Daytona International Speedway, which also is a 2.5-mile-long (4.0 km) tri-oval.
Entry list
edit- (R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
editQualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, July 22, at 4:00 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 20 drivers in the round would be guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Saturday, July 23, at 11:30 AM EST.
As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-40 would be decided on time,[7] and depending on who needed it, a select amount of positions were given to cars who had not otherwise qualified but were high enough in owner's points; up to two provisionals were given. If needed, a past champion who did not qualify on either time or provisionals could use a champion's provisional, adding one more spot to the field.
Bill Elliott, driving for Junior Johnson & Associates, would win the pole, setting a time of 49.772 and an average speed of 192.397 miles per hour (309.633 km/h) in the first round.[8]
Five drivers would fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results
editRace results
editMedia
editTelevision
editThe Diehard 500 was covered by CBS in the United States. Ken Squier, two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Ned Jarrett and 1980 race winner Neil Bonnett called the race from the broadcast booth, Bonnett was driving in this race and reported from the car in the race but returned to the booth after his accident. Mike Joy and David Hobbs handled pit road for the television side. This would be the last race Neil Bonnett would call for CBS as he was scheduled to be with CBS for 1994 but was killed practicing for the 1994 Daytona 500. Due to the two hour red flag caused by Bonnett flipping his car and damaging the fence, CBS left during the red flag to air some of their same day coverage of the Tour de France but returned to Talladega to live coverage of the rest of the race.
| CBS | ||
|---|---|---|
| Booth announcers | Pit reporters | |
| Lap-by-lap | Color-commentators | |
| Ken Squier | Ned Jarrett Neil Bonnett |
Mike Joy David Hobbs |
Standings after the race
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References
edit- ^ Harris, Mike (July 26, 1993). "DieHard 500 turns tragic". Rocky Mount Telegram. p. 11. Retrieved January 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (July 26, 1993). "Earnhardt wins violent DieHard 500 by inches". Centre Daily Times. p. 17. Retrieved January 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (July 26, 1993). "Violent crashes overshadow race". Muncie Evening Press. p. 16. Retrieved January 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Pearce, Al (July 25, 1993). "Journeyman driver crashes at Talladega". Daily Press. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
- ^ Zenor, John (June 9, 2001). "Former Winston Cup driver Smith leaves horrid accident in past". Arizona Daily Sun. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
- ^ "Crash ruins Bonnett return". The Jackson Sun. July 26, 1993. p. 20. Retrieved January 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "NASCAR today". The Charlotte Observer. July 22, 1994. p. 17. Retrieved January 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Harris, Mike (July 24, 1993). "Elliott steals spotlight from Gordon, Bonnett". Tallahassee Democrat. p. 44. Retrieved January 12, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
