1975 Champion Spark Plug 400

The 1975 Champion Spark Plug 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on August 24, 1975, at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan.
Programs were sold for this race at a price of $1.50 per copy. The cost of admission to this race was relatively cheap; children got in for US$5 while adults got decent seats for US$10.
This was the first Cup race at Michigan International Speedway to have a corporate title sponsor. In all prior years, the August Michigan Cup race had been called the Yankee 400.

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.

Race report

Two hundred laps were completed in three hours and forty-five seconds on the paved oval track spanning. All of the 36 drivers who qualified for this race were born in the United States of America. Henley Gray started 374 races in Cup, but this is the only race where he led laps - two of them right after Coo Coo Marlin's wreck.
Six yellow flags slowed the race for 63 laps while the lead changed 25 times among twelve drivers. Richard Petty would defeat David Pearson by a distance of five feet as the lead changed four times between them in the final four laps in front of 47,000 audience members. This race was considered to be one of MRN's finest broadcasts; with interesting commentary during a long rain delay.
Pearson would win the pole position with a speed of while the average speed of the race would be. Even with David Pearson finishing in second place, he managed to keep his finishing streak going with victories at the 1976 Cam 2 Motor Oil 400 and the 1976 Champion Spark Plug 400.
Jackie Rogers would receive the last-place finish for owner Lou Viglione and his 1975 Chevrolet team; he would match his career-best qualifying effort with a ninth-place starting spot but the motor on his #60 Chevrolet failed in the opening laps. The race saw A. J. Foyt lead sixty-eight laps before falling out with engine failure after 117 laps. Independent driver David Sisco led 28 laps en route to finishing 11th.
Prize winnings would range from $15,140 for the winner to $700 for the last-place finisher. There were 36 cars on the official racing grid; most of them were Chevrolets. Terry Bivins would make his NASCAR debut in this race. Maynard Troyer would record his only top ten on his career. Richard Petty would keep his championship lead after this race. However, Dave Marcis would only be 573 points behind.

Finishing order

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POS	ST	#	DRIVER	SPONSOR / OWNER	CAR	LAPS	MONEY	STATUS	LED	PTS
1	4	43	Richard Petty	STP	'74 Dodge	200	18140	running	45	180
2	1	21	David Pearson	Purolator	'73 Mercury	200	10735	running	33	175
3	8	11	Cale Yarborough	Holly Farms	'75 Chevrolet	200	9385	running	0	165
4	5	16	Bobby Allison	Coca-Cola / AMC	'75 Matador	200	4060	running	9	165
5	21	71	Dave Marcis	K & K Insurance	'74 Dodge	199	6310	running	3	160
6	2	15	Buddy Baker	Bud Moore Engineering	'75 Ford	198	5710	running	2	155
7	11	88	Darrell Waltrip	Terminal Transport	'75 Chevrolet	198	4610	running	3	151
8	14	47	Bruce Hill	Dixie 500	'75 Chevrolet	197	2510	running	1	147
9	25	63	Terry Bivins	Moyer Chevrolet	'75 Chevrolet	196	1910	running	0	138
10	16	7	Dean Dalton	Belden Asphalt	'73 Ford	196	1810	running	0	134
11	24	30	Walter Ballard	Clyde Lynn Auto Parts	'75 Chevrolet	196	2210	running	1	135
12	18	05	David Sisco	Reliable Plumbing	'75 Chevrolet	196	2110	running	28	132
13	12	24	Cecil Gordon	Bob Stott Motors	'75 Chevrolet	195	1905	running	0	124
14	27	41	Grant Adcox	Adcox-Kirby	'75 Chevrolet	195	1285	running	0	121
15	34	37	Bruce Jacobi	Opal's Truck Stop	'75 Chevrolet	195	1185	running	0	118
16	33	82	Ferrel Harris	Dan Walters Forever	'74 Dodge	194	1100	running	0	115
17	13	48	James Hylton	Nitro 9	'74 Chevrolet	194	1575	running	0	112
18	31	64	Elmo Langley	Independent Auto Salvage	'73 Ford	194	1550	running	0	109
19	36	33	Dick May	Joli Boutique	'75 Chevrolet	193	1025	running	0	106
20	7	90	Dick Brooks	Truxmore Industries	'73 Ford	192	1500	running	0	103
21	28	40	D.K. Ulrich	Garden State Auto Body	'75 Chevrolet	192	975	running	0	100
22	29	67	Buddy Arrington	Pagoda Motel	'73 Plymouth	192	1450	running	0	97
23	35	25	Jabe Thomas	Thomas Racing	'74 Chevrolet	190	925	running	0	94
24	30	91	Harold Miller	Miller Racing	'75 Chevrolet	187	900	running	0	91
25	23	98	Richie Panch	Grey-Rock Brake Products	'75 Chevrolet	183	1375	engine	0	88
26	19	79	Frank Warren	John 3:16	'74 Dodge	154	1350	running	0	85
27	17	19	Henley Gray	Gray Racing	'74 Chevrolet	142	825	rear end	2	87
28	22	70	J.D. McDuffie	Butler's / Glenn's Landscaping	'75 Chevrolet	132	1300	engine	0	79
29	26	65	Carl Adams	Adams Racing	'73 Ford	119	785	engine	0	76
30	3	28	A. J. Foyt	Gilmore Enterprises	'75 Chevrolet	117	940	engine	69	83
31	15	96	Richard Childress	L.C. Newton Trucking	'75 Chevrolet	96	1250	engine	2	75
32	32	01	Earle Canavan	Kava Instant Coffee	'74 Dodge	61	740	engine	0	67
33	20	8	Ed Negre	10,000 RPM Speed Equipment	'74 Dodge	58	1230	engine	2	69
34	10	72	Benny Parsons	King's Row Fireplace	'75 Chevrolet	46	3220	engine	0	61
35	6	14	Coo Coo Marlin	Cunningham-Kelley	'75 Chevrolet	17	1210	engine	0	58
36	9	60	Jackie Rogers	Viglione Racing	'75 Chevrolet	6	700	engine	0	55

Timeline

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Start: David Pearson was leading the starting grid as the first official lap commenced.
Lap 6: Jackie Roberts fell out with engine failure.
Lap 20: Coo Coo Marlin fell out with engine failure, causing a lengthy caution for repairs.
Lap 48: Benny Parsons fell out with engine failure.
Lap 58: Ed Negre fell out with engine failure.
Lap 61: Earle Canavan fell out with engine failure.
Lap 67: Caution due to rain, ended on lap 87.
Lap 97: Richard Childress fell out with engine failure.
Lap 117: A. J. Foyt fell out with engine failure.
Lap 119: Carl Adams fell out with engine failure.
Lap 132: J. D. McDuffie fell out with engine failure.
Lap 142: The rear end came off of Henley Gray's vehicle in an unsafe manner.
Lap 183: Richie Panch fell out with engine failure.
Lap 192: Caution due to Cale Yarborough and Dave Marcis spinning into the frontstretch, ended on lap 195.
Finish: Richard Petty was officially declared the winner of the event.