SEASON IN REVIEW
Sanford, North Carolina driver J.D. McDuffie picked up his third LASTCAR Cup Series title in 1984, scoring two last-place finishes in sixteen starts during a thirty-race-season. McDuffie won a close bottom-five tiebreaker over Clark Dwyer and David Pearson, 6-5. At Rockingham, North Carolina on October 21, Dwyer briefly tied McDuffie and Pearson’s bottom-five total when an engine failure dropped him to 38th in the 40-car field, but McDuffie retook the lead that day when his own engine left him 36th. The three drivers made one more start before season’s end, but when none of them finished in the Bottom Five, McDuffie became the first three-time LASTCAR Cup Series Champion.
The 1984 season was McDuffie’s twentieth season on the Cup Series tour. Unfortunately, his sixteen starts that year were the fewest races he made in a season since 1967. He failed to qualify for seven races that season, including the Daytona 500, and scored ten DNFs. His best finish of the season came at Bristol, Tennessee on August 25, when his #70 Wilder’s Pontiac finished 12th in the 30-car field. With two last-place finishes, however, he struggled to finish 34th in points, his worst ranking since his first season in 1963.
McDuffie’s first last-place finish of the year, the 24th of his career, came in Long Pond, Pennsylvania on June 10, where his #70 Wilder’s Pontiac was taken out in a crash five laps into the Van Scoy Diamond Mines 500. The other finish came thirteen races later in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina on October 14, where his #70 Rumple Furniture Pontiac broke an axle after 21 laps of the Holly Farms 400. North Wilkesboro was one of the first races where McDuffie’s car carried Rumple’s logos, and the sponsor would stay with McDuffie for the rest of his career.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
Richard Petty raced his way to history on July 4, scoring his 200th and final Cup Series victory in the Firecracker 400. Finishing last that day was Lake Speed, who scored the third last-place run of his career when his #1 Bull Frog Knits Chevrolet qualified 11th only to lose the engine on the opening lap. The car was owned by Hoss Ellington, whose Oldsmobile driven by Donnie Allison nearly won the Daytona 500 five years earlier before his famous crash with Cale Yarborough.
Sam Ard finished last in his first and only Cup Series start the same year he scored his second consecutive NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Championship. The race was the Goody’s 500 in Martinsville, Virginia on September 23, where he completed just one lap in the #02 Zervakis Enterprises Chevrolet due to steering trouble. Sadly, Ard’s NASCAR career ended later that fall when he was injured in a hard wreck while leading in the next-to-last race of the 1984 Busch Series season at Rockingham, North Carolina. The next day in the Cup race, Emanuel Zervakis’ team made its final Cup Series start with Dale Jarrett finishing 37th in the #02.
On November 18, Phil Parsons scored his first last-place finish in the 1984 finale at Riverside, California. Parsons’ #66 Skoal Bandit Chevrolet broke a shock after fifteen laps. Finishing next-to-last that day was 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, who made his only Cup Series start that day driving the Wood Brothers’ #21 7-Eleven Ford. Rahal busted the rear end on the Ford after 44 laps.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Clark Dwyer [5 B5s], J.D. McDuffie [6 B5s], Jimmy Means [3 B5s],
David Pearson [5 B5s] (2)
2nd) Grant Adcox, Mike Alexander, Sam Ard, Dick Brooks, Dean Combs, A.J. Foyt, Jimmy Ingalls, John Krebs, Dave Marcis, Sterling Marlin, Benny Parsons, Phil Parsons, Donny Paul, Lennie Pond, Mike Potter, Maurice Randall, Ricky Rudd, Joe Ruttman, Morgan Shepherd, Lake Speed, Ronnie Thomas, Blackie Wangerin (1)
