Just a couple of days and NASCAR rolls out its fullest fury at the LA Coliseum, unofficially kick-starting the season and getting the fans ready for the official season opener at Daytona, just a week later. But did you know this race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, also known as the Busch Light Clash, isn’t even close to what it used to be when it started?
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More about that later. First, let’s take a look at the drivers who have won the highest number of Busch Clashes in the history of NASCAR.
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Dale Earnhardt
There is just one word that can possibly describe Earnhardt’s records at this historic race. Dominance. The intimidator won the race six times over his first nine starts, all of which came between 1980 and 1995. He made three more starts after 1995, where he finished third, third and second.
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Jeff Gordon
The NASCAR legend won his first Busch Light Clash in just his third year with Hendrick Motorsports in 1994. However, his win at the Busch Light Clash in 1997 was even more special for a different reason. Only six times has a driver won the Clash and also the Daytona 500. Jeff Gordon represents Chevrolet on that elite list with his 1997 triumph.
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Jimmie Johnson
The most recent inductee of NASCAR’s Hall of Fame ties Gordon in the number of victories at the Busch Light Clash. His first victory came in 2005, which was also his fourth full-time Cup Series season. Over a decade and almost a half later, he recorded his second win at this race in 2019.
Nevertheless, the Busch Light Clash today is nothing like it used to be when it hosted its first-ever event back in 1979. And here’s how.
From merely nine to a 36-car line-up, the Busch Light Clash has come a long way
Six years before introducing its coveted All-Star race, Anheuser-Busch and NASCAR joined hands to host a non-points event, featuring the fastest cars in the sport. It began as a 20-lap-long race along the 2.5-mile track. The winner received $50,000, and the event was aired by CBS on a Sunday afternoon.
The event started as a means to spark interest in the minds of the viewers regarding the Cup Series and also the Daytona 500. But the prerequisite to compete in this race was to win poles in the previous year. While the 1981 version of this event houses only seven cars, today, the sport doesn’t care about the number of entries in this race. It is open to anyone and everyone. It’s simply an exhibition race that aims to attract new fans to the sport.
The maiden race accommodated only nine drivers, eight of whom had won the pole in 1978. The ninth driver was a wildcard entry from the names of the drivers who had led the second round of the qualifying laps in the year before. Buddy Baker won the inaugural race, holding off Darrel Waltrip by a car length, registering a blazing fast speed of 193.384 mph. Interestingly, there were no cautions throughout the entire race. However, the format is much different today.
The top five drivers in each of the first four 25-lap heat races will move on to the feature.The non-qualifiers will race it out in two 50-lap races and the top three will join the previous 20 drivers in the main event. The rest of the field will be completed by the highest-finishing drivers on points in the previous Cup Series season. Indeed, a stretch from what the Light Busch Clash once used to be.
