SEASON IN REVIEW
Kernersville, North Carolina driver John Linville picked up his second LASTCAR Busch Grand National Series Championship in 1983, scoring three last-place finishes in twenty-six starts during a thirty-five race season. In doing so, Linville became the series’ first back-to-back LASTCAR champion.
Linville continued to run his #62 Pontiac through all but one of his starts, taking a turn in the #91 One Stop Food Shop Pontiac at Darlington on September 4, where he finished 28th out of 37 cars. Finishing last for the first time that day was that year’s Sprint Cup Champion Bobby Allison. Allison’s #22 Miller High Life Pontiac started fifth in the Darlington 250, but engine trouble took him out after just six laps.
The first of Linville’s three last-place finishes came at Rockingham on March 5, where his #62 broke an oil pump after three laps of the Coca-Cola 200. That race was shortened to 148 of 197 scheduled laps due to a turn two crash that severely injured driver Bubba Nissen. The next finish came three races later at North Wilkesboro on April 3, where Linville fell out after the opening lap of the Holly Farms 200. The third finish was sixteen races later at the Langley Speedway in Hampton, Virginia, where he again pulled behind the wall after the opening lap. At the end of the year, however, Linville improved to finish 17th in points.
Linville continued to race in the series through 1992, scoring three top-ten finishes in 136 starts. His best career finish came at Martinsville in 1987, where his #62 finished 8th in the Nationwise 150. He scored ten last-place finishes in his Busch Grand National Series career, holding the series lead in last-place finishes from 1982 through 1992. He passed away on November 1, 2005.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
Pete Silva became the first Busch Grand National Series driver to finish last in back-to-back races, both while driving his #1 Pontiac. Silva first fell out after 69 laps of the Mello Yello 200 at the Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, North Carolina on July 9, then followed it up with a 49-lap run in the Coca-Cola 200 at South Boston Speedway on July 23.
Also scoring two last-place runs in 1983was future NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year Jimmy Hensley. Hensley’s finishes came in the season’s other two races at South Boston. The first came in the June 25 running of the Roses Stores 200, where his #55 Pontiac stopped after twenty laps, and the other fourteen races later in the Miller 300 on September 17, where his family-owned #63 Pontiac stopped running after 26 laps.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) John Linville (3)
2nd) Eddie Falk, Jimmy Hensley, Jimmy Lawson, Bosco Lowe, Pete Silva (2)
3rd) Bobby Allison, Jeff Berry, Jack Bland, Wayne Broome, Mitchell Clark, Bobby Cox, Ronnie Davidson, Joe Harrison, Bob Hatley, Billy Hess, Al Hylton, Glenn Jarrett, Butch Lindley, Dickie Linville, Charlie Luck, Mike Porter, Mike Riley, Darryl Sage, Bob Shreeves, Paul Shull, Lowe Smith, Joe Thurman (1)
