The 1985 Winston Western 500
Race 28 of 28Riverside, CA -
Here were the standings coming into the event.
Code:
P # DRIVER PTS NEXT LDR
1 9 B Elliott 3807 -- --
2 5 G Bodine 3777 30 30
3 12 N Bonnett 3726 51 81
4 33 H Gant 3672 54 135
5 46 Mr. Tennessee 3667 5 140
6 3 D Earnhardt 3315 352 492
7 11 D Waltrip 3311 4 496
8 15 R Rudd 3169 142 638
9 44 T Labonte 3126 43 681
10 7 K Petty 3124 2 683
11 71 D Marcis 3027 97 780
12 27 T Richmond 3008 19 799
13 90 K Schrader 2986 22 821
14 75 L Speed 2946 40 861
15 2 R Wallace 2882 64 925
The final race of the season had finally arrived. Bill was nursing a 30 point lead and was looking to eek out a championship. Bodine was eying his first title as well and wanted
go give start up owner Rick Hendrick a coveted Winston Cup trophy.Neil was only 81 points back but had a chance if Bill stumbled and Geoff had trouble. Neil got 1 of 2 of his
wishes. As for Mr. T and Harry Gant, they were battling out for who would finish fourth.
And we're off! (Yay it's the 1985 season finale)
The race started out with Neil taking the lead and holding it for ~4 nanoseconds when Benny Parsons ran around him and got the lead. Benny led 5 laps and was lucky to have
missed the first caution that came out on the second lap.
Kyle Petty got over agressive and spun out Mr. T and this caused such chaos that it took out Bill Elliott and put him
two laps down and officially out of the race and
championship. Geoff Bodine and Neil Bonnett avoided the wreck and so it appeared that it would come down to these two drivers for the title. The good thing there was Mr. T took on gas and tires and wound up leading after the other cars pitted from laps 29-32. Mr. T wanted to stretch the gas and tires to at least half way because he figured he'd make it on one stop if he did that. Would it work out would be the question.
Joe Ruttman took advantage of this after Geoff lead a lap and Terry led for 6 laps and would lead for 11 laps. This was a welcome site to the Folgers team as they haven't been up front very often this year. This was their third race of the season that Joe had the Folgers Chevy out front.
There wouldn't be anymore cautions till lap 56. There were green flag pit stops again on lap 45-48. Mr. T took the lead on lap 49 and had a huge lead thanks to not pitting. He would manage to hold on thanks to Kyle Petty hitting Dave Marcis and that led to Earnhardt hitting Dave and Richard Petty hitting his son.
This caution let Mr. T score his seventh win of the season but would not secure his second championship. That honor went to 1 win Geoff Bodine who edged out Neil by 47 and Bill fell to third finishing 66 points behind Geoff.
Winner!
CHAMPION!!!
Mr. T had this to say after the race. "Glad that caution came out. Terry was gaining ground on me at a ridiculous rate, he would of had the win if we had been green the rest of the way. So needless to say I'm glad to get another victory. The car was perfect and the crew was on the money. We'll just have to give even more effort next year to get that elusive second title."
Code:
FINISH START # DRIVER INTERVAL LAPS LED PTS QUAL STATUS
1 4 46 Mr. Tennessee 99.66 60 18 180 01:26.54 Running
2 14 44 T Labonte -3.15 60 21* 180 01:26.98 Running
3 10 15 R Rudd -5.25 60 0 165 01:26.84 Running
4 6 27 T Richmond -6.8 60 3 165 01:26.66 Running
5 1 12 N Bonnett -7.3 60 0 155 01:26.18 Running
6 19 4 J Ruttman -8.73 60 11 155 01:27.50 Running
7 5 5 G Bodine -10.03 60 1 151 01:26.58 Running
8 7 33 H Gant -10.44 60 1 147 01:26.69 Running
9 11 14 A Foyt -10.84 60 0 138 01:26.84 Running
10 16 43 R Petty -12.01 60 0 134 01:27.33 Running
11 21 90 K Schrader -12.81 60 0 130 01:27.55 Running
12 15 47 R Bouchard -13.64 60 0 127 01:27.15 Running
13 31 22 B Allison -14.08 60 0 124 01:28.12 Running
14 26 88 B Baker -14.52 60 0 121 01:27.85 Running
15 9 8 B Hillin Jr -14.98 60 0 118 01:26.77 Running
16 17 75 L Speed -15.46 60 0 115 01:27.38 Running
17 3 7 K Petty -20.15 60 0 112 01:26.32 Running
18 38 64 C Dwyer -21.01 60 0 109 01:28.46 Running
19 12 67 B Arrington -1L 59 0 106 01:26.92 Running
20 23 74 B Wawak -1L 59 0 103 01:27.58 Running
21 27 95 S Marlin -1L 59 0 100 01:27.91 Running
22 30 6 E Bierschwale -1L 59 0 97 01:28.07 Running
23 18 77 G Sacks -1L 59 0 94 01:27.47 Running
24 2 55 B Parsons -1L 59 5 96 01:26.31 Running
25 35 80 T Brooks -1L 59 0 88 01:28.30 Running
26 20 49 D Hume -1L 59 0 85 01:27.51 Running
27 29 25 B Gerhart -1L 59 0 82 01:28.06 Running
28 8 3 D Earnhardt -1L 59 0 79 01:26.76 Running
29 43 16 M Shepherd -1L 59 0 76 01:31.47 Running
30 25 52 J Means -1L 59 0 73 01:27.83 Running
31 13 11 D Waltrip -1L 59 0 70 01:26.95 Running
32 32 1 D Brooks -2L 58 0 67 01:28.13 Running
33 41 51 C Gordon -2L 58 0 64 01:29.04 Running
34 24 28 C Yarborough -2L 58 0 61 01:27.68 Running
35 22 0 M Davis -2L 58 0 58 01:27.56 Running
36 34 9 B Elliott -2L 58 0 55 01:28.20 Running
37 40 84 M Alexander -3L 57 0 52 01:28.82 Running
38 28 2 R Wallace -3L 57 0 49 01:28.01 Running
39 33 71 D Marcis -3L 57 0 46 01:28.14 Running
40 37 21 D Pearson -4L 56 0 43 01:28.39 Running
41 36 70 J McDuffie -4L 56 0 40 01:28.30 Running
42 39 41 R Thomas -4L 56 0 37 01:28.77 Running
43 42 18 T Ellis -5L 55 0 34 01:29.36 Running
Caution Flags: 2 (5 laps)
Lead Changes: 11 (7 drivers)
Weather: Clear, 81 °F, Northeast 18 mph
Notes :
It was a close Championship race from what was shown for the 1985 season. We're sure Bill is rather disappointed to have the lead and get caught up in the wreck like that due to being in the back of the pack. It wasn't the time to qualify 34th with so much riding on this race. We'll see how he responds next year.
Here is the top 10 after the race
Code:
P # DRIVER PTS NEXT LDR
1 5 G Bodine 3928 -- --
2 12 N Bonnett 3881 47 47
3 9 B Elliott 3862 19 66
4 46 Mr. Tennessee 3847 15 81
5 33 H Gant 3819 28 109
6 3 D Earnhardt 3394 425 534
7 11 D Waltrip 3381 13 547
8 15 R Rudd 3334 47 594
9 44 T Labonte 3306 28 622
10 7 K Petty 3236 70 692