Re: Rewriting the history of NASCAR (Starting in 1980)
This the first of 5 posts to kick off the 1981 season. After these 5 posts then the actual races will start and the second thread will be posted for the BGN offline league when the first race here is posted. The real life stuff I post is from what I read and heard throughout doing this and if there is errors in it I didn't know lol.
"NASCAR Winston Cup Series"
"1981 NASCAR Winston Cup Silly Season"
Simulation Life: With winning the championship comes a nice pay day and M.C Anderson thought the best driver to have would be the guy that gave them their first championship. Like in his first championship season Benny only won 1 race in the spring Darlington race, but was able to keep the car clean and on the track at the finish with his 13 top 10's and 13.6 average finish. It is his 9th strait year he finished in the top 5 in season points.
Real Life: Benny Parsons went on to drive for Bud More in the #15 Ford in what would be one of his last full seasons as a driver and last season where he would finish in the top 10 in points.
Simulation Life: Coming up 2nd in the points championship after leading for nearly the entire year Dale Earnhardt got Wrangler as a sponsor and is looking to get over the hump and win his first championship in 1981. Dale had a season leading 5 victories including 2 in a row to start the year at Riverside and his first Daytona 500 victory and followed those up with a 2nd place finish at Richmond to put himself firmly in the point lead, but late season problems seen him fall to 2nd where he had a chance in the final race of the season, but fell out of the race due to an accident. Dale finished with a season leading 15 top 10's, but the DNF's even if only 4 was the undoing of his season.
Real Life: Dale Earnhardt won the 1980 championship in just his 2nd full year. Rod Osterlund would sell the team nearing the end of the 1981 season to J.D. Stacy and after a couple starts Dale left to finish the season with Richard Childress.
Simulation Life: The 1980 Rookie of the Year might have had a chance at the season championship if hadn't crashed in his Twin 125 qualifier and miss out at starting in the Daytona 500 finishing just 141 points out of 1st place while only running in 30 of the 31 races. Jody was the model of consistency with a season leading 15 top 10's and also having a 14.2 average finish. Just one week after not qualifying for the Daytona 500 with a bad wreck he went on to win at Richmond and followed that up with an amazing come from behind victory at Texas for become the 1st rookie to win 2 or more races in his rookie season only to be out done by Bryan Dehn and Rusty Wallace later in the season.
Real Life: Jody did win the 1980 Rookie of the Year, but was without any victories and did stay in the #90 Ford for Junie Dunlavey.
Simulation Life: Dave Marcis enjoyed a bit of a resurrection season in 1980 winning for the first time since 1976 coming home with 3 victories at Rockingham, Martinsville and Dover early in the season to firmly put him into the top 5 in the final season point standings, but a not so great 2nd half of the season proved that a championship was still out of his grasp. Marcis had a season leading 12 top 5's along with 13 top 10's.
Real Life: Nothing has changed for Marcis in the 1981 season driving a car owned by himself and in his familiar blue #71.
Simulation Life: Cale Yarborough thought about slowing down to run a limited schedule in 1981 and told his car owner Junior Johnson to go after Darrell Waltrip as his replacement in the #11 car, but Johnson convinced Cale that he would field second team and wanted him to give it one more shot at his 4th season championship. Cale agreed late in the season and is now the driver of the #10 Burger King Buick with limited support from Pepsi which will the fans will be seeing double at select races with both the #10 and #11 cars running green and white Mountain Dew paint. Cale tied Bobby Allison for the modern day pole record of 11 and brought home 2 point victories at Michigan and Dover, both from the pole. Cale also won the Winston All-Star race and finished 5th in the final season points championship. He would have done better, but car issues throughout the season took him out of contention early.
Real Life: Cale slowed down a bit and ran a limited schedule in 1981 driving for M.C. Anderson in the #27 car.
Simulation Life: The runner up to the 1981 Rookie of the Year still did things no other rookie has done like winning 3 races late in the year at Bristol, Martinsville and Atlanta. Bryan finished 6th in the final season points championship which is amazing in it's self if not for Jody Ridley doing that much better. Bryan finished the season with 10 top 5's and 12 top 10's, but consistency issues and the lack of experience at the bigger tracks lead to his coming up short in his bid for Rookie of the Year.
Real Life: Yeah, didn't have a real life in NASCAR.
Simulation Life: Bobby Allison struggled big time in 1980 and was really unhappy driving for Bud Moore in a Ford. He did win 2 poles, but went the season winless after starting out the season winning the Busch Clash. The most telling stat for Allison in 1980 was the 18 lead lap finishes. Barely half the season. This season though Bobby will give Harry Ranier and the #28 team a full time driver in his bid to win his first season championship in a car known for it's speed.
Real Life: Fast is an understatement for this car and team. In the 11 years of existence between 6 different drivers they had 24 wins and 39 poles including 7 front row starts at the Daytona 500 from 1979 to 1988 with 3 Daytona 500 victories and two 2nd place finishes. In 1981 Bobby Allison won the pole and finished 2nd only due to smart pit strategy by Richard Petty.
Simulation Life: DiGard wasn't happy with Darrell Waltrips mouth throughout the 1980 season saying he deserved to be in better equipment and to be paid more than what he is getting so when Junior Johnson came calling to drive the car that had won the season championship 3 years in a row with Cale Yarborough it was a no brainer. Darrell finished up the 1980 season with a victory at Ontario which would be the last race held there giving him three on the season. The others at Riverside and North Wilkesboro. 1980 wasn't quite the season he had hoped for as his win totals dropped, but he came on towards the end of the season to finish 8th in points and looks to be a front runner for the championship in 1981.
Real Life: No changes to what really happened in real life.
Simulation Life: Not much to say about Buddy Arrington. He was sitting back each and every race waiting for everyone else to put it behind the pit wall while keeping the only Dodge for 1981 on the track and was rewarded with a top 10 season championship finish. Only lead 45 laps throughout 1980, but finished with 4 top 5's and 13 top 10's.
Real Life: No changes to what really happened in real life.
Simulation Life: Harry Gant won his 1st career race at the fall Richmond race and was able to sneak into the top 10 in the season championship with a 2nd place effort at Ontario. Harry moves on from the #47 car owned by Jack Beebe to drive for new owners Hal Needham and Burt Reynolds along with rookie and Hollywood stuntman, Stan Barrett whom also won a race in 1980 to form what could turn out to be a formidable team.
Real Life: Harry Gant wouldn't actually join the #33 team until the 8th race of the season at Darlington, but with Ron Bouchard taking over and actually winning Rookie of the Year the move was made early to give Bouchard a full season.
This the first of 5 posts to kick off the 1981 season. After these 5 posts then the actual races will start and the second thread will be posted for the BGN offline league when the first race here is posted. The real life stuff I post is from what I read and heard throughout doing this and if there is errors in it I didn't know lol.
"NASCAR Winston Cup Series"
"1981 NASCAR Winston Cup Silly Season"
Simulation Life: With winning the championship comes a nice pay day and M.C Anderson thought the best driver to have would be the guy that gave them their first championship. Like in his first championship season Benny only won 1 race in the spring Darlington race, but was able to keep the car clean and on the track at the finish with his 13 top 10's and 13.6 average finish. It is his 9th strait year he finished in the top 5 in season points.
Real Life: Benny Parsons went on to drive for Bud More in the #15 Ford in what would be one of his last full seasons as a driver and last season where he would finish in the top 10 in points.
Simulation Life: Coming up 2nd in the points championship after leading for nearly the entire year Dale Earnhardt got Wrangler as a sponsor and is looking to get over the hump and win his first championship in 1981. Dale had a season leading 5 victories including 2 in a row to start the year at Riverside and his first Daytona 500 victory and followed those up with a 2nd place finish at Richmond to put himself firmly in the point lead, but late season problems seen him fall to 2nd where he had a chance in the final race of the season, but fell out of the race due to an accident. Dale finished with a season leading 15 top 10's, but the DNF's even if only 4 was the undoing of his season.
Real Life: Dale Earnhardt won the 1980 championship in just his 2nd full year. Rod Osterlund would sell the team nearing the end of the 1981 season to J.D. Stacy and after a couple starts Dale left to finish the season with Richard Childress.
Simulation Life: The 1980 Rookie of the Year might have had a chance at the season championship if hadn't crashed in his Twin 125 qualifier and miss out at starting in the Daytona 500 finishing just 141 points out of 1st place while only running in 30 of the 31 races. Jody was the model of consistency with a season leading 15 top 10's and also having a 14.2 average finish. Just one week after not qualifying for the Daytona 500 with a bad wreck he went on to win at Richmond and followed that up with an amazing come from behind victory at Texas for become the 1st rookie to win 2 or more races in his rookie season only to be out done by Bryan Dehn and Rusty Wallace later in the season.
Real Life: Jody did win the 1980 Rookie of the Year, but was without any victories and did stay in the #90 Ford for Junie Dunlavey.
Simulation Life: Dave Marcis enjoyed a bit of a resurrection season in 1980 winning for the first time since 1976 coming home with 3 victories at Rockingham, Martinsville and Dover early in the season to firmly put him into the top 5 in the final season point standings, but a not so great 2nd half of the season proved that a championship was still out of his grasp. Marcis had a season leading 12 top 5's along with 13 top 10's.
Real Life: Nothing has changed for Marcis in the 1981 season driving a car owned by himself and in his familiar blue #71.
Simulation Life: Cale Yarborough thought about slowing down to run a limited schedule in 1981 and told his car owner Junior Johnson to go after Darrell Waltrip as his replacement in the #11 car, but Johnson convinced Cale that he would field second team and wanted him to give it one more shot at his 4th season championship. Cale agreed late in the season and is now the driver of the #10 Burger King Buick with limited support from Pepsi which will the fans will be seeing double at select races with both the #10 and #11 cars running green and white Mountain Dew paint. Cale tied Bobby Allison for the modern day pole record of 11 and brought home 2 point victories at Michigan and Dover, both from the pole. Cale also won the Winston All-Star race and finished 5th in the final season points championship. He would have done better, but car issues throughout the season took him out of contention early.
Real Life: Cale slowed down a bit and ran a limited schedule in 1981 driving for M.C. Anderson in the #27 car.
Simulation Life: The runner up to the 1981 Rookie of the Year still did things no other rookie has done like winning 3 races late in the year at Bristol, Martinsville and Atlanta. Bryan finished 6th in the final season points championship which is amazing in it's self if not for Jody Ridley doing that much better. Bryan finished the season with 10 top 5's and 12 top 10's, but consistency issues and the lack of experience at the bigger tracks lead to his coming up short in his bid for Rookie of the Year.
Real Life: Yeah, didn't have a real life in NASCAR.
Simulation Life: Bobby Allison struggled big time in 1980 and was really unhappy driving for Bud Moore in a Ford. He did win 2 poles, but went the season winless after starting out the season winning the Busch Clash. The most telling stat for Allison in 1980 was the 18 lead lap finishes. Barely half the season. This season though Bobby will give Harry Ranier and the #28 team a full time driver in his bid to win his first season championship in a car known for it's speed.
Real Life: Fast is an understatement for this car and team. In the 11 years of existence between 6 different drivers they had 24 wins and 39 poles including 7 front row starts at the Daytona 500 from 1979 to 1988 with 3 Daytona 500 victories and two 2nd place finishes. In 1981 Bobby Allison won the pole and finished 2nd only due to smart pit strategy by Richard Petty.
Simulation Life: DiGard wasn't happy with Darrell Waltrips mouth throughout the 1980 season saying he deserved to be in better equipment and to be paid more than what he is getting so when Junior Johnson came calling to drive the car that had won the season championship 3 years in a row with Cale Yarborough it was a no brainer. Darrell finished up the 1980 season with a victory at Ontario which would be the last race held there giving him three on the season. The others at Riverside and North Wilkesboro. 1980 wasn't quite the season he had hoped for as his win totals dropped, but he came on towards the end of the season to finish 8th in points and looks to be a front runner for the championship in 1981.
Real Life: No changes to what really happened in real life.
Simulation Life: Not much to say about Buddy Arrington. He was sitting back each and every race waiting for everyone else to put it behind the pit wall while keeping the only Dodge for 1981 on the track and was rewarded with a top 10 season championship finish. Only lead 45 laps throughout 1980, but finished with 4 top 5's and 13 top 10's.
Real Life: No changes to what really happened in real life.
Simulation Life: Harry Gant won his 1st career race at the fall Richmond race and was able to sneak into the top 10 in the season championship with a 2nd place effort at Ontario. Harry moves on from the #47 car owned by Jack Beebe to drive for new owners Hal Needham and Burt Reynolds along with rookie and Hollywood stuntman, Stan Barrett whom also won a race in 1980 to form what could turn out to be a formidable team.
Real Life: Harry Gant wouldn't actually join the #33 team until the 8th race of the season at Darlington, but with Ron Bouchard taking over and actually winning Rookie of the Year the move was made early to give Bouchard a full season.
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