1985 Southern 500

Auto race held at Darlington Raceway in 1985 February 2025 CUST Race 20 of 28 in the 1985 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season Southern 500 1985 Southern 500 weather conditions at The Old Farmers' Almanac 1985 09 1 1985 20 28 1985_Southern_500_program_cover_and_logo.jpg 1985 Southern 500 program cover Temperatures of 84 F C;wind speeds of 5.87 mph km/h Southern 500 Darlington Raceway, Darlington, South Carolina 1.366 2.198 367 501.322 806.500 121.254 mph km/h on4 hours, 8 minutes, 02 seconds 80,000 http://www.racing-reference.info/driver/harrife01 Ferrel Harris racing information Racing Reference 2011-05-26 Bill Elliott31.3941 seconds156.641 mph km/h on Melling Racing Dale Earnhardt Richard Childress Racing 147 9 Bill Elliott Melling Racing ESPN Lap-by-lap: Larry NuberPit Reporter: Jack Arute MRN Barney Hall, Mike Joy Turns 1 and 2: Eli Gold Turns 3 and 4: Mark Garrow The 1985 Southern 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on September 1, 1985, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. It was race number 20 of 28 of the 1985 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. Bill Elliott made history by winning the race and with it the Winston Million bonus; it was then the richest single race payday in motorsports history. Background Darlington Raceway, nicknamed by many NASCAR fans and drivers as "The Lady in Black" or "The Track Too Tough to Tame", is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina.Turner Jared Every Driver Dreams About a Date with the Lady in Black https://www.darlingtonraceway.com/Articles/2010/04/Lady-In-Black.aspx Darlington Raceway April 7, 2010 January 24, 2020 March 5, 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210305124732/https://www.darlingtonraceway.com/Articles/2010/04/Lady-In-Black.aspx dead It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, altered to accommodate the resident landowner who didn’t want his nearby minnow pond disturbed. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that will be effective at both ends. The track is a four-turn 1.366 mi km oval.http://www.cbssports.com/nascar/tracks/page/darlington/darlington-raceway Darlington Raceway CBS Sports 2013-05-07 The track's first two turns are banked at twenty-five degrees, while the final two turns are banked two degrees lower at twenty-three degrees. The front stretch (the location of the finish line) and the back stretch is banked at six degrees. Darlington Raceway can seat up to 60,000 people. thumb|left|Layout of Darlington Raceway, the track where the race was held. Darlington has something of a legendary quality among drivers and older fans; this is probably due to its long track length relative to other NASCAR speedways of its era and hence the first venue where many of them became cognizant of the truly high speeds that stock cars could achieve on a long track. The track allegedly earned the moniker The Lady in Black because the night before the race the track maintenance crew would cover the entire track with fresh asphalt sealant, in the early years of the speedway, thus making the racing surface dark black. Darlington is also known as "The Track Too Tough to Tame" because drivers can run lap after lap without a problem and then bounce off of the wall the following lap. Racers will frequently explain that they have to race the racetrack, not their competition. Drivers hitting the wall are considered to have received their "Darlington Stripe" thanks to the missing paint on the right side of the car. Race summary Dale Earnhardt had the dominant car of the race but on lap 317 he spun which not only brought out the caution flag but also damaged his engine which led to him dropping out of the race. Cale Yarborough led until his car started billowing smoke from his power steering leading to one of the race's last caution flags leaving Bill Elliott in the lead and claiming the Winston Million. This race was the first start for Pancho Carter and the last Cup race for NASCAR Busch Series legend Tommy Houston. Full results Failed to qualify Failed to qualify, withdrew, or driver changes:1985 Southern 500 https://www.racing-reference.info/race/1985_Southern_500/W Racing-Reference September 1, 1985 DriverCarno.Car Make Jonathan Lee Edwards Ferrel Harris Rick Newsom Connie Saylor Bobby Wawak J.D. McDuffie 70 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Box score Fin.GridCarno.DriverCar MakeStatusLapsLapsLedPoints 1 1 9 Bill Elliott Ford Thunderbird 4:08:02 367 100 180 (5) 2 22 28 Cale Yarborough Ford Thunderbird -.6 seconds 367 25 175 (5) 3 17 5 Geoffrey Bodine Chevrolet Monte Carlo Running 367 5 170 (5) 4 21 12 Neil Bonnett Chevrolet Monte Carlo -1 lap 366 0 160 5 19 47 Ron Bouchard Buick Regal -1 lap 366 1 160 (5) 6 11 15 Ricky Rudd Ford Thunderbird -1 lap 366 0 150 7 9 44 Terry Labonte Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme -2 laps 365 0 146 8 3 55 Benny Parsons Chevrolet Monte Carlo -2 laps 365 0 142 9 4 4 Joe Ruttman Chevrolet Monte Carlo -3 laps 364 0 138 10 25 7 Kyle Petty Ford Thunderbird -3 laps 364 0 134 11 8 27 Tim Richmond Pontiac Grand Prix -3 laps 364 0 130 12 24 43 Richard Petty Pontiac Grand Prix -3 laps 364 0 127 13 20 8 Bobby Hillin Jr. Chevrolet Monte Carlo -5 laps 362 1 129 (5) 14 32 90 Ken Schrader Ford Thunderbird -5 laps 362 0 121 15 16 88 Buddy Baker Oldsmobile Engine 358 2 123 (5) 16 18 75 Lake Speed Pontiac Grand Prix -9 laps 358 0 115 17 7 11 Darrell Waltrip Chevrolet Monte Carlo -12 laps 355 0 112 18 33 67 Buddy Arrington Ford Thunderbird -14 laps 353 0 109 19 5 3 Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet Monte Carlo Engine 349 147 116 (10) 20 39 17 Ken Ragan Chevrolet Monte Carlo -18 laps 349 0 103 21 6 33 Harry Gant Chevrolet Monte Carlo Engine 336 84 105 (5) 22 29 1 Pancho Carter Chevrolet Monte Carlo -31 laps 336 0 97 23 27 71 Dave Marcis Chevrolet Monte Carlo Vibration 271 2 99 (5) 24 35 23 Michael Waltrip Chevrolet Monte Carlo Engine 266 0 91 25 26 14 A.J. Foyt Oldsmobile Brakes 248 0 88 26 37 64 Clark Dwyer Ford Thunderbird Crash 237 0 85 27 36 52 Jimmy Means Chevrolet Monte Carlo Camshaft 236 0 82 28 40 68 Mike Potter Ford Thunderbird Engine 186 0 79 29 38 51 Slick Johnson Ford Thunderbird Oil pressure 184 0 76 30 23 22 Bobby Allison Ford Thunderbird Engine 162 0 73 31 30 49 Trevor Boys Chevrolet Monte Carlo Crash 134 0 70 32 34 6 Eddie Bierschwale Chevrolet Monte Carlo Engine 108 0 67 33 12 18 Tommy Ellis Chevrolet Monte Carlo Transmission 101 0 64 34 31 36 H.B. Bailey Pontiac Grand Prix Crash 94 0 61 35 10 77 Greg Sacks Buick Regal Crash 60 0 58 36 28 32 Tommy Houston Chevrolet Monte Carlo Engine 47 0 55 37 15 16 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet Monte Carlo Engine 22 0 52 38 14 2 Rusty Wallace Pontiac Grand Prix Crash 21 0 49 39 13 66 Phil Parsons Chevrolet Monte Carlo Crash 21 0 46 40 2 21 David Pearson Ford Thunderbird Engine 17 0 43Source: (5) Indicates 5 bonus points added to normal race points scored for leading 1 lap(10) Indicates 10 bonus points added to normal race points scored for leading 1 lap & leading the most laps Cautions Cautions: 14 for 70 laps FromLapToLap TotallapsReason 23 30 8 Car #'s 2 (Wallace) & 66 (P.Parsons), accident turn 4 36 39 4 Rain 61 64 4 Debris 100 107 8 Car # 36 (Bailey), accident turn 2 148 154 7 Car # 49 (Boys), accident 169 173 5 Oil on track 189 193 5 Car # 51 (Johnson), Accident 267 271 5 Car # 64 (Dwyer), accident frontstretch 294 297 4 Debris, backstretch 318 322 5 Car # 3 (Earnhardt), spun turn 4 325 329 5 Car # 28 (Yarborough) smoking 333 334 2 Debris 338 341 4 Oil on track 351 354 4 Debris Lap leaders DriverFromLapToLapTotalLaps Bill Elliott 1 14 14 Dale Earnhardt 15 23 9 Buddy Baker 24 24 1 Dave Marcis 25 26 2 Geoffrey Bodine 27 31 5 Dale Earnhardt 32 61 30 Bobby Hillin, Jr. 62 62 1 Bill Elliott 63 100 38 Harry Gant 101 115 15 Dale Earnhardt 116 148 33 Ron Bouchard 149 149 1 Dale Earnhardt 150 155 6 Harry Gant 156 169 14 Buddy Baker 170 170 1 Harry Gant 171 190 20 Dale Earnhardt 191 259 69 Harry Gant 260 294 35 Cale Yarborough 295 318 24 Bill Elliott 319 322 4 Cale Yarborough 323 323 1 Bill Elliott 324 367 44Source: Standings after the race Pos Driver PointsDifference 1 Bill Elliott 3176 0 2 Darrell Waltrip 2970 -206 3 Neil Bonnett 2880 -296 4 Harry Gant 2760 -416 5 Geoffrey Bodine 2742 -434 6 Kyle Petty 2699 -477 7 Ricky Rudd 2698 -478 8 Terry Labonte 2634 -542 9 Bobby Allison 2497 -679 10 Lake Speed 2494 -682 References 1985 Busch 500 1985 Wrangler Sanfor-Set 400 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Season 1985 1984 1986 Southern 500 races 1985 Southern 500 Southern 500 Southern 500 Category:NASCAR races at Darlington Raceway