The Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 (formerly the Pennsylvania 500) is the second of two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car races held at the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, the other being the Pocono 500. Starting in 2007, the race was moved from its traditional July date into August, swapping dates with the Allstate 400 at The Brickyard.
In 2008, Sunoco, the official NASCAR fuel supplier, based in Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia region of the American Red Cross, agreed to sponsorship of the race and charity events to benefit the American Red Cross South Pennsylvania-Philadelphia region.[1] It marked the first time since 1996 that the event carried a title sponsor.
[edit] Past winners
NASCAR/USAC Acme Super Saver 500 (exhibition race)
- 1974: Race shortened to 192 laps / 480 miles due to rain.
- 1986: Race shortened to 150 laps / 375 miles due to rain.
- 1991: Race shortened to 179 laps / 447.5 miles due to rain.
- 2002: Race shortened to 175 laps / 437.5 miles due to darkness after two lengthy red flags.
- 2005: Race extended to 203 laps / 507.5 miles due to Green-white-checker finish.
- 2009: Race postponed from Sunday to Monday due to rain.
[edit] Notable Moments
- The 1973 ACME Super Saver 500 was one of four stock car races (1971-4) at Pocono under USAC sanction.
- The 1974 ACME Super Saver 500 was run on April 24, 1974. Buddy Baker won the pole and Ron Keselowski won the race. Keselowski is the brother of Bob and uncle of Brad (Bob's son).
- NASCAR shortened its races in the first half of 1974 due to the energy crisis; the crisis had passed and in July races, including Pocono, were put back to their full distance.
- Pocono was not listed on the original 1974 NASCAR schedule; a 300 mile race at Trenton Speedway was listed in several issues of Stock Car Racing magazine, notably the magazine's June 1974 issue. The Trenton date was subsequently switched to Pocono.
- Pocono broke 40 official lead changes in seven of the first nine NASCAR-sanctioned Pennsylvania 500s (1975-7, 1979-80, 1982-3).
- David Pearson's 1975 win came amid controversy; his Mercury, sponsored by race sponsor Purolator filters, was leaking oil in the form of smoke throughout the race's final ten laps but NASCAR waited until two laps to go to wave a black flag at him, by which time it was too late, since drivers are allowed to stay out for three laps before heeding a black flag. Under current NASCAR rules, if a black flag is waved within the final five laps (offside, cutting a chicane, or going out of bounds, but also inappropriate driving), and the driver does not respond, he will be assessed a time penalty that will be calculated into final results (often a penalty that moves the driver to the last car on the lap they were running, or a lap penalty).
- The next year, 1976, Pearson led 14 times for 124 laps but blew a tire with two to go, giving Petty the win.
- Darrell Waltrip pitted under a late yellow in 1979 for tires, dropping him from third to seventh; the race never restarted and Waltrip's pitstop cost him 19 points; he would lose the 1979 season championship by 11 points. (Currently, if a late-race caution will put the race past the scheduled distance, the race will resume with a two-lap sprint.)
- Petty broke his neck in a huge crash in Turn Two in 1980 with Waltrip and Chuck Bown.
- Richmond won the Pennsylvania 500 in 1983 and 1986; in 1986 he was involved in a crash in Turn Two with Richard Petty; he drove backwards to pit road and lost a lap, then got it back when Earnhardt crashed twice in a span of ten laps; he got four tires with five to go, then passed six cars before winning in a wild three-abreast finish with Ricky Rudd and Geoff Bodine.
- The track's boilerplate wall was pierced three times in 1989 - in June Geoff Bodine broke his leg (and didn't find this out until days later) in Turn One; in July Jimmy Horton pierced the wall in Turn Two, then in One Greg Sacks and Lake Speed hammered the wall in One and Sacks took a wild tumble. The boilerplate was replaced by concrete in 1990.
- Bill Elliott became Pocono's first five-time winner in 2002's Pennsylvania 500.
[edit] References
- ^ Contacts:
