1978 in motorsport explained

The following is an overview of the events of 1978 in motorsport including the major racing events, motorsport venues that were opened and closed during a year, championships and non-championship events that were established and disestablished in a year, and births and deaths of racing drivers and other motorsport people.

Annual events

The calendar includes only annual major non-championship events or annual events that had significance separate from the championship. For the dates of the championship events see related season articles.

Date	Event	Ref
4–5 February	16th 24 Hours of Daytona	^[1]
12 February	1978 NHRA Winternationals	^[2]
19 February	20th Daytona 500	^[3]
7 May	36th Monaco Grand Prix	^[4]
28 May	62nd Indianapolis 500	^[5]
1–9 June	60th Isle of Man TT	^[6]
10–11 June	46th 24 Hours of Le Mans	^[7]
16 July	1978 NHRA Summernationals	^[8]
22–23 July	30th 24 Hours of Spa	^[9]
30 July	1st Suzuka 8 Hours	^[10]
1 October	19th Hardie-Ferodo 1000	^[11]
7–8 October	7th 24 Hours of Nurburgring	^[12]
19 November	25th Macau Grand Prix	^[13]

Births

Date	Month	Name	Nationality	Occupation	Note	Ref
22	June	Dan Wheldon	British	Racing driver	Indianapolis 500 winner (2005, 2011).	^[14]
14	July	Mattias Ekström	Swedish	Racing driver	FIA World Rallycross champion .	^[15]

Deaths

Date	Month	Name	Age	Nationality	Occupation	Note	Ref
11	September	Ronnie Peterson	34	Swedish	Racing driver	10-time Grand Prix Winner
20	October	Gunnar Nilsson	29	Swedish	Racing driver	1977 Belgian Grand Prix winner.	^[16]

See also

• List of 1978 motorsport champions

Notes and References

1. Web site: Daytona 24 Hours 1978 - Racing Sports Cars. racingsportscars.com. 16 April 2017.
2. http://www.ultimateracinghistory.com/racelist.php?year=1978 Ultimateracinghistory
3. Web site: 1978 Daytona 500. racing-reference.info. Racing Reference. 16 April 2017.
4. Web site: 1978 Grand Prix of Monaco. racing-reference.info. Racing Reference. 15 April 2017.
5. Web site: 1978 Indianapolis 500. racing-reference.info. Racing Reference. 15 April 2017.
6. Web site: TT 1978. iomtt.com. Isle of Man TT. 15 April 2017.
7. Web site: Le Mans Register - 1978. formula2.net. 16 April 2017.
8. Burgess, Phil, National Dragster editor. "Summernationals Time Machine", written 2 June 2017, at NHRA.com (retrieved 16 September 2018); Ultimateracinghistory (retrieved 20 September 2018)
9. Web site: 24 h Spa-Francorchamps. touringcarracing.net. 16 April 2017.
10. Web site: Suzuka 8 Hours 1978 results. Moto Racing JAPAN. 24 April 2017. 8 October 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171008180718/http://www.motoracing-japan.com/result/spl/788h.html. dead.
11. Web site: 1978 Bathurst 1000. Unique Cars & Parts. 22 April 2017.
12. Web site: Nurburgring 24 hours. touringcarracing.net. 23 April 2017.
13. Web site: 1978 Macau Grand Prix. motorsportmagazine.com. Motor Sport Magazine. 22 April 2017.
14. Web site: Dan Wheldon. motorsportmagazine.com. Motor Sport Magazine. 18 April 2018.
15. Web site: Mattias Ekström. motorsportmagazine.com. Motor Sport Magazine. 17 April 2018.
16. Web site: Gunnar Nilsson. en.espn.co.uk. ESPN. 16 April 2018.