1985 Winston 500

1985 Winston 500

Race details
Race 9 of 28 in the 1985 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Bill Elliott (in victory circle) after winning the 1985 Winston 500
Date	May 5, 1985 (1985-May-05)
Location	Alabama International Motor Speedway (Talladega, Alabama)
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.660 mi (4.280 km)
Distance	188 laps, 500.1 mi (804.8 km)
Weather	Temperatures reaching up to 81 °F (27 °C); average wind speeds of 4.1 miles per hour (6.6 km/h)[1]
Average speed	186.288 miles per hour (299.801 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Bill Elliott	Melling Racing
Most laps led
Driver	Cale Yarborough	Ranier-Lundy Racing
Laps	97
Winner
No. 9	Bill Elliott	Melling Racing
Television in the United States
Network	NBC
Announcers	Paul Page Gary Gerould Johnny Rutherford

The 1985 Winston 500 is a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on May 5, 1985 at Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega, Alabama, U.S..

Prior to this event, two-time Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip complained to NASCAR about how Bill Elliott was ruining the parity of the sport and he needed to be slowed down.^[2] As a result, NASCAR raised the height of the Ford vehicles by half an inch.^[2] The roof of the GM race cars was lowered by the same amount in order to improve their speed performance.^[2]

Road visibility for people who were driving to this race was an impressive 12.6 miles (20.3 km).^[1] The average sea level pressure in the area of the racing event was 30.2 inches (77 cm).^[1]

Summary

There were 39 drivers who qualified for this race; the pole position winner was Bill Elliott who qualified at the break-neck speed of 209.398 miles per hour (336.993 km/h) in a Ford Thunderbird.^[2][3][4] He would go on to beat Kyle Petty by nearly two seconds while racing at speeds up to 186.288 miles per hour (299.801 km/h) during the race;^[3][4] even though the record would broken again at the 1997 Winston 500 by Mark Martin. A broken oil fitting, however, would knock Elliott two laps out of the lead laps before he managed his comeback.^[5] At the end of the year, Elliott would go on to become the first Winston Million winner.^[6]

More than 100,000 live spectators would see more than two and a half hours of racing with two cautions periods (lasting for only eight laps).^[3] This relatively clean race would see 28 different lead changes.^[3][4] Canadian driver Trevor Boys would finish in last place due to a problem with the engine on lap 6 of this 188-lap race.^[3][4] Out of the drivers on the grid, only Terry Labonte is active in today's NASCAR. Bosco Lowe and Dick Skillen would exit NASCAR after this race while Geoff Bodine would lose the championship points lead to Terry Labonte.^[4] The cars being used for NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing back then were closer to the production models and no common templates were used.

Despite leading the NASCAR Winston Cup Series with 11 hard-earned wins on superspeedways, Darrell Waltrip would end up winning the championship that year.^[7]

Restrictor plate conspiracy

This race was proof that NASCAR didn't implement the restrictor plate as a safety measure, but to cause a major disadvantage to then-dominant driver Bill Elliott. While restrictor plate proponents would cite the potential legal liabilities of a stock car weighing 3,500 pounds or 1,600 kilograms flying into the grandstands at 210 miles per hour or 340 kilometres per hour as a valid reason, a car going airbone into the stands was a real possibility even before restrictor plates were introduced.

The best team in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series from 1985 to 1990 was Melling Racing. Not only they had excellent drivers, the crew chiefs were great at responding to tricky situations. They wanted all drivers to have parity with each other and the "balance of power" was too balanced towards Bill Elliott and Melling Racing during the late 1980s. One of the reasons was team owner Harry Melling became one of NASCAR's first corporate owner in the sport ans spent large amounts of money from his corporation (Melling Engines) and heavy sponsorship from Coors had invested in this team. Only few teams at the time could match the success that Melling and Elliott were having. Team engine builder Ernie Elliott also has said that he found a way to let the air through the engine and give them a 100 extra horsepower that day. Bobby Allison's 1987 wreck and Ken Schrader's flip at the 1987 Pepsi Firecracker 400 put carburetor restrictor plates on the cars starting with the 1988 Daytona 500.

NASCAR had the restrictor plates planned before the accident due to Bill Elliott's dominance. They didn't want Bill Elliott to be dominant over the other drivers. ^{[citation needed]} The restrictor plate would eventually even the competition level at the restrictor plate tracks. Because of this, there have been unexpected and first-time winners at Talladega like Bobby Hillin, Jr., Phil Parsons, and David Ragan. In the case of Hillin, Jr. and Parsons, they earned their only career Sprint Cup series wins at Talladega. Brad Keselowski also earned his first career Cup win at Talladega in 2009, driving for Phoenix Racing.

Top ten finishers

1. #9 - Bill Elliott
2. #7 - Kyle Petty
3. #28 - Cale Yarborough
4. #22 - Bobby Allison
5. #15 - Ricky Rudd
6. #88 - Buddy Baker
7. #44 - Terry Labonte
8. #71 - Dave Marcis
9. #8 - Bobby Hillin, Jr.
10. #75 - Lake Speed

References