1985 Winston 500
The 1985 Winston 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on May 5, 1985, at Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega, Alabama as race number 9 of 28 of the 1985 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season.
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. As a result, NASCAR raised the height of the Ford vehicles by half an inch. The roof of the GM race cars was lowered by the same amount in order to improve their speed performance.
Background
Talladega Superspeedway, originally known as Alabama International Motor Superspeedway , is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base in the small city of Lincoln. The track is a Tri-oval and was constructed by International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France Family, in the 1960s. Talladega is most known for its steep banking and the unique location of the start/finish line - located just past the exit to pit road. The track currently hosts the NASCAR series such as the Sprint Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and the Camping World Truck Series. Talladega Superspeedway is the longest NASCAR oval with a length of, and the track at its peak had a seating capacity of 175,000 spectators.Bill Elliott dominated the early part of the 1985 season, including winning the Daytona 500, the first race of the Winston Million promotion. The Winston 500 was the second.
Race report
There were 40 drivers who qualified for this race with 1 driver withdrawing ; the pole position winner was Bill Elliott who qualified at a then-track record speed of in a Ford Thunderbird. He would go on to beat Kyle Petty by nearly two seconds at a then-record average speed of for the race; even though the record would broken at the 1997 Winston 500 by Mark Martin.Some of the drivers were complaining about how it was difficult to draft off the back end of the Thunderbirds in 1985 and especially Elliott where he had more speed that year. They commented that they felt the shape of the back end of the car was the reason why the average NASCAR driver could hardly draft off of Elliott. Tires were less efficient on the vehicles in this race as opposed to the current compound of tires that NASCAR uses and cars wore down more dramatically over the period of a race. Drivers actually drove stock cars that they tried to make more competitive.
Early in the race, a broken oil fitting would put Elliott nearly two laps out of the lead before he managed his comeback. Elliott would return to the track and begin consistently running laps near 205 mph. He would make up the two laps lost due to the broken oil fitting without the aide of a yellow flag or the draft. Later in the season at the Southern 500, Elliott would go on to become the first Winston Million winner.
More than 100,000 live spectators would see more than two and a half hours of racing with two cautions periods. This relatively clean race would see 28 different lead changes. Canadian driver Trevor Boys would finish in last place due to a problem with the engine on lap 6. Bosco Lowe and Dick Skillen would exit NASCAR after this race while Geoff Bodine would lose the championship points lead to Terry Labonte. The cars being used for NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing back then were closer to the production models and no common templates were used.
The Ford Thunderbirds place 1-2-3 with Kyle Petty beating Cale Yarborough in a photo finish for second place behind Elliott. The Ford trio were the only drivers to finish on the lead lap. Bill Elliott, despite leading the NASCAR Winston Cup Series with 11 wins on superspeedways, would end up losing the championship that year to Darrell Waltrip.
Waltrip commented that was difficult all year to compete with Elliott and that he had to make up a lot of ground on the short tracks to beat Elliott in the standings. Ultimately, that's what he did.
Full Results
Average speed:Pole speed:
Attendance: 122,000* - Includes 5 bonus points for leading at least 1 lap.
** - Includes additional 5 bonus points for leading the most laps.2 for 8 laps
| Start Lap | End Lap | # of laps | Reason |
| 160 | 163 | 4 | Geoffrey Bodine accident, turn 4 |
| 174 | 177 | 4 | Eddie Bierschwale accident, turn 4 |
| Driver | From Lap | To Lap | # of Laps |
| Cale Yarborough | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Kyle Petty | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Bill Elliott | 6 | 27 | 22 |
| Dale Earnhardt | 28 | 33 | 6 |
| Bill Elliott | 34 | 36 | 3 |
| Terry Labonte | 37 | 37 | 1 |
| Dale Earnhardt | 38 | 39 | 2 |
| Kyle Petty | 40 | 42 | 3 |
| Dale Earnhardt | 43 | 43 | 1 |
| Cale Yarborough | 44 | 47 | 4 |
| Dale Earnhardt | 48 | 48 | 1 |
| Richard Petty | 49 | 49 | 1 |
| Kyle Petty | 50 | 53 | 4 |
| Cale Yarborough | 54 | 70 | 17 |
| Neil Bonnett | 71 | 71 | 1 |
| Benny Parsons | 72 | 73 | 2 |
| Bobby Allison | 74 | 75 | 2 |
| Cale Yarborough | 76 | 102 | 27 |
| Bobby Allison | 103 | 103 | 1 |
| Darrell Waltrip | 104 | 104 | 1 |
| Terry Labonte | 105 | 105 | 1 |
| Cale Yarborough | 106 | 131 | 26 |
| Dale Earnhardt | 132 | 133 | 2 |
| Kyle Petty | 134 | 134 | 1 |
| Cale Yarborough | 135 | 144 | 10 |
| Bill Elliott | 145 | 159 | 15 |
| Cale Yarborough | 160 | 168 | 9 |
| Bill Elliott | 169 | 188 | 20 |