Bill Elliott emerged as a bona fide superspeedway hero in the 1985 NASCAR Winston Cup season. Elliott won 11 superspeedway races in 1985, still a single-season record. He gobbled up every laurel and post-season award possible, yet didn't win the NASCAR Winston Cup championship. That honor went to Darrell Waltrip, who won three races. The intricacies of the NASCAR points system rewarded consistency in 1985.


The 1985 All-Star race was a big bonus to the drivers and fans of NASCAR Winston Cup racing. The inaugural running of the event, which was open to all drivers who won races in 1984, was staged at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The event was "on the house" for NASCAR enthusiasts who had paid to see a race the day before.  Darrell Waltrip won the event, as well as winning the World 600 race the following day pocketing $290,733 for his back-to-back wins.
  

In one of the most miraculous comebacks in NASCAR history, Bill Elliott rallied from a five-mile deficit without the aid of a caution flag and won the Winston 500 at Talladega. A broken oil fitting had knocked Elliott nearly two laps off the pace early.  1985 also saw unheralded Greg Sacks stun the favorites by winning the Pepsi Firecracker 400 at Daytona. Sacks drove an unsponsored car to a 23.5-second triumph over runner-up Bill Elliott. It is not only Sacks' first NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National victory, but also his first top-five finish.  Both are feats that would probably almost never occur in the era of post-modern racing.
  

The NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National points system came under fire in 1985 as Bill Elliott, who won a record 11 superspeedway races, was blown away in the points race by three-time winner Darrell Waltrip.  Waltrip, who won the title for the third time, also questioned the points system.

    "There's not enough incentive for winning the race," said Waltrip. "This     year I was the beneficiary of the points system. I've been on the other     end of it, too. I will be the first to admit that with the year Bill had, he     deserved to be the champion." 
     

Elliott led virtually every category, but lost the championship to Waltrip by 101 points. It was the biggest margin of victory since 1978.
   
Dale Earnhardt, NASCAR's darling youngster in the early 1980s, rebounded during the 1986 NASCAR Winston Cup season from a few sluggish years after his electrifying championship as a sophomore in 1980. Earnhardt's Wrangler Jeans machine ran up front every week. Along the way, Earnhardt ruffled a few feathers, crumpled some sheet metal, shoved rivals out of the way, and acquired the nickname "The Intimidator." Earnhardt's thrilling driving style made the 1986 NASCAR Winston Cup season a joy to watch.
    

Following an announcement in late 1985, NASCAR changed the names of its premier stock car racing series and its second-ranked division. "Grand National" has been dropped from the Winston Cup Series and shifted to the old Late Model Sportsman division.  "We feel our friends at Winston deserve a name of their own," says NASCAR president Bill France, Jr. The official titles of NASCAR's two leading stock car racing series become NASCAR Winston Cup and NASCAR Busch Grand National.
  
Dale Earnhardt grabbed his second NASCAR Winston Cup champion ship in 1986, finishing a comfortable 288 points ahead of runner-up Darrell Waltrip. The determined Richard Childress Chevrolet driver never let anybody challenge his healthy advantage for the remainder of the season. He held a lead of at least 100 points the entire second half of the season.
  

Meanwhile, Tim Richmond compiled the biggest numbers during the season, winning seven races and eight poles. But Richmond's slow start to the season made it impossible for him to overtake Earnhardt. Waltrip won three races and edged Richmond for second place by only six points. Bill Elliott and Ricky Rudd rounded out the top five.
  

Like the 1986 season, Dale Earnhardt was at center stage during the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup campaign. Many of Earnhardt's adversaries claimed his aggressive driving style led to unnecessary incidents -- and there was plenty of damaged sheet metal along the way. The season-long controversy came to a head during The Winston, NASCAR's all-star race, on May 17, 1987. Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, and Geoff Bodine bumped, scraped, and blocked each other to the end in one of the most memorable finishes in stock car racing history.  All three drivers were all fined and placed on probation after the fracas. The Winston of 1987 is still regarded as one of the most energized and spectacular thrill shows in NASCAR Cup Series history, though cooler heads prevailed for the remainder of the year
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1987 started out with driver Tim Richmond announcing he will miss the first part of the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup season with an illness he says is "double pneumonia." Team owner Rick Hendrick announces Benny Parsons will replace Richmond until he can return. Also, Davey Allison
  

1987 also saw Bill Elliott win the pole for the Winston 500 at Talladega with a record run of 212.809 mph. Rookie Davey Allison won the race in his 14th career NASCAR Winston Cup start. The event was marred by a scary crash when Bobby Allison blew a tire and sailed into the catch fence. The race was halted for three hours while the fence was repaired.
  

Dale Earnhardt blasted out of the starting blocks by winning six of the first eight races in the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup season and coasted to his third championship. By September, Earnhardt had built up a hefty 608-point lead.  On the strength of 11 victories in his 29 starts, Earnhardt finished 489 points in front of runner-up Bill Elliott, who won six races. Earnhardt finished out of the top five in only eight races. The outcome of the championship was never in doubt past April.
  

By the end of the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup season, a number of time-honored icons were hanging up their helmets. NASCAR Winston Cup champions Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, Benny Parsons, and Bobby Allison retired -- Allison due to debilitating injuries suffered at Pocono in the 1988 Miller High Life 500. The retirement of these legends made way for a new generation of leaders.


The stage was set, though, at the beginning of the year, when the "Allison Wonderland" father-son combo of Bobby and Davey Allison graced the finish line 1-2 first and second in NASCAR's most prestigious event. Richard Petty survived a wild tumble just past the halfway point of the race, and NASCAR's "tire wars" began as ten teams used Hoosier tires at Daytona.


Rusty Wallace, one of NASCAR's finest road racers, tamed the field to win the Budweiser 400 at Riverside International Raceway. The event was the final NASCAR Winston Cup race staged at the venerable Southern California road course. Other last events included Bobby Allison being critically injured in an opening-lap crash in Pocono's Miller High Life 500, when Allison's Buick suffered a flat tire and spun in the "tunnel turn"; it was then hit in the driver's door by Jocko Maggiacomo.  Also, the Talladega DieHard 500 race is Buddy Baker's last, as he is forced to retire when a blood clot is discovered in his brain.
  

Bill Elliott overcame challenges by Rusty Wallace and Dale Earnhardt to win the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup championship. After leading the standings from June until late August, Wallace stumbled in September and was 124 points behind with five races remaining.  Wallace won four of the final five races, but Elliott performed well enough in those events to wrap up his first title. He finished 24 points ahead of Wallace. Earnhardt led the standings from March through early June, but fell off the pace in the second half of the season and placed third, 232 points behind Elliott.
   

The 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup season was in the midst of an upsurge. As the 1980s drew to a close, the popularity of NASCAR stock car racing was spiraling upward dramatically. Sponsorship from corporate America was strong, the dynamic heroes behind the wheel were becoming household names, and all of the NASCAR Winston Cup events were being televised live. Trackside attendance was running at record levels and promoters were adding new grandstands to accommodate the demand for tickets.
  

On a sad note, Tim Richmond, an energized and immensely popular driver, had electrified the audience with his brazen displays of courage only to die prematurely of the AIDS virus in 1989. Richmond was Winston Cup racing's top winner in 1986, but had to sit out most of the 1987 campaign as he concealed the identity of his illness.
  

In his 17th Daytona 500 start, Darrell Waltrip prevails in an economy run. Waltrip runs the final 132.5 miles without a pit stop and coasts across the finish line 7.64 seconds ahead of runner-up Ken Schrader. Most of the field runs on Hoosier tires as Goodyear pulls out of the race due to safety concerns with its new radial tire.  Goodyear did gain redemption later that year however, when Dale Earnhardt ran away from Alan Kulwicki to win the First Union 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway as the new Goodyear radial tire made its NASCAR Winston Cup debut. "The more I drove on them, the better I liked the radials," said Earnhardt.
  

Bob Newton, president of Hoosier Tire Co., announced he would withdraw from NASCAR competition following the 1989 season. Newton's 18-employee Indiana-based company began making tires for NASCAR Winston Cup cars in 1988. Hoosier stood toe-to-toe with corporate giant Goodyear for two seasons, and registered more than a dozen victories. Facing impossible odds, Newton finally tossed in the towel. "Even though we are considered to be the world's smallest tire manufacturer, we competed with the world's largest to demonstrate that the small guy can also be a winner," said Newton.
  

Rusty Wallace took the lead from Dale Earnhardt with five races remaining to win the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup championship.  Wallace and Earnhardt engaged in a hard-fought battle for supremacy during the season. While racing side-by-side at Rockingham in the 27th race of the 29-race campaign, Wallace slid into Earnhardt, forcing him into a spin. Earnhardt left Rockingham trailing by 109 points, but he staged a furious rally in the final two events.
  

Needing only to finish 18th in the season finale at Atlanta, Rusty nursed his Pontiac to a 15th-place finish as Earnhardt dominated the race. Wallace squeaked out a narrow 12-point decision over Earnhardt to take his first NASCAR Winston Cup title

Once again, another race is marred by the instability and poor handling of Goodyear tires.  According to Ryan Pemberton, crew chief for the #83 Toyota, drivers were only getting about 7-8 quality laps on tires before the handling started going away.  The 15 caution flags were testimony to the poor handling caused by tire problems, as cars seemed to bobble all around the track, with nobody ever having a clear edge over anybody else. 

There were no comments given by any officials from Goodyear, nor anyone representing NASCAR, either.  But, one thing was very clear, Goodyear will be facing even more severe scrutiny as the Twin 125's and The Great American Race loom large next week.  One would think that Goodyear officials would have adjusted their compounds accordingly after the fiasco in last year's race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but apparently, Goodyear race officials still don't seem to grasp the major problems concerning tires and handling with the new model stock cars.

At the rate of tire wear described by Pemberton, race teams will need to have 25 sets of tires for the Daytona 500, alone.  At $2500/ set, that means that teams will spend about $62,500 just in tires alone next Sunday.  These figures do not include the sets that will be needed for the Twin 125's and any extra laps run between next Thursday and Sunday's race.  Apparently, nobody has told Goodyear officials that the country is in a depression, and that future layoffs and race team closures could result if there isn't tighter control on expenditures.  Goodyear seems to see no reason why race teams shouldn't be able to shell out $62,500/ race.  Of course, $62,500 x 36 races x 42 race teams comes out to $94,500,000, which might be one reason Goodyear seems to be monetarily tone deaf.

The 1980 NASCAR Winston Cup season began with a refreshing outlook for a sport that had endured a tumultuous trek through peaks and valleys in the preceding 10 years. Through a complex, shifting panorama, NASCAR overcame innumerable obstacles in the 1970s, and emerged in 1980 with one of the most thrilling championship chases in NASCAR history, between sophomore Dale Earnhardt and veteran Cale Yarborough.

      
Buddy Baker started out the year by driving his Ranier Racing Oldsmobile to an impressive victory after many years of hard luck in The Great American Race. It was Baker's 18th Daytona 500 start, for which he won $102,175, the first time a NASCAR winner took home more than $100,000 in a single event. 1980 also saw Rusty Wallace make his NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National debut in a Chevrolet owned by Roger Penske.  And, David Pearson snatched his 105th career NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National victory, raising his all-time position for wins to 2nd behind Richard Petty; the record still stands today.


Dale Earnhardt took the champion ship points lead in the Daytona 500 and staved off challenges by Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough to capture the 1980 NASCAR Winston Cup title by 19 points over Yarborough. Earnhardt became the first driver to win Rookie of the Year and championship honors in back-to-back seasons. Petty was within 48 points of Earnhardt in late July, but he broke his neck in a crash at Pocono. Petty concealed the injury from NASCAR so he could continue racing and other relief drivers assisted Petty, but he eventually fell from contention.
  

The 1976 NASCAR Winston Cup season was filled with heart-stopping moments, from a last-lap crash between Richard Petty and David Pearson in the Daytona 500 to one between Dale Earnhardt and Dick Brooks at Atlanta International Raceway. The season was filled with triumph as well: Not only did veteran Cale Yarborough win his first NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National championship, but NASCAR also welcomed female driver Janet Guthrie, who finished 15th at the World 600.
 

The 1976 Daytona 500 started out with NASCAR disallowing the speeds of the three fastest qualifiers for the Daytona 500, leaving unheralded Ramo Stott on the pole. A.J. Foyt, Darrell Waltrip, and Dave Marcis have to re-qualify after NASCAR officials found evidence that Foyt and Waltrip used nitrous oxide (so-called laughing gas) to enhance the performance of the engines and add horsepower.  Waltrip admitted concealing his bottle of nitrous oxide, but Foyt was furious at NASCAR's decision. He was seen angrily lecturing NASCAR president Bill France Jr. before Bill France Sr. showed up.   

France Sr. had retired in 1972, but he still was rough and tough "Big Bill" to everyone in the garage area. Few people had the guts to confront Foyt one-on-one, but France Sr. was one of them.  When Foyt and France Sr. walked out from behind closed doors, France had his arm around Foyt's neck and Foyt was saying, "Yes, sir, Mr. France."  Dave Marcis, the third-fastest qualifier, also had his lap disqualified, in his case because of an illegal blockage of the radiator.
 
In one of the most memorable moments in stock car racing, David Pearson crept across the finish line at 20 mph after crashing with Richard Petty on the final lap, in a stunning finish to the Daytona 500. Pearson and Petty swapped the lead four times on the final lap and tangled off the fourth turn. This was nothing new between these two however, as they had finished first and second, 57 times prior to this event.  Pearson hit the wall off of Turn 4 and spun Petty into the infield grass.  Petty looked like he was going to win the race spinning across the finish line, but his car came to rest just feet from the checkers.  Meanwhile, Pearson got his Mercury re-fired and motored across the grass, past Petty for the win.
 

Cale Yarborough broke out of a close points race with Benny Parsons at midseason to score his first NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National championship. Yarborough won nine races and finished 195 points in front of runner-up Richard Petty. Yarborough took the points lead for keeps with a 26th-place finish at Talladega in August. Parsons finished 39th after his engine let go in the early laps. Petty passed Parsons in the points race in September and held on for the runner-up spot.
   
   
By 1977, the NASCAR Winston Cup organization was pulling itself out of the shackles of the post-factory days. Corporate sponsors were jumping on the bandwagon, new team owners found the NASCAR scene appealing, and a few of the surviving independent teams had beefed up their operations. The starting fields were full again, the grandstands were close to capacity, competition was closer, and television ratings were climbing steadily.

  
1977 saw Janet Guthrie net her best NASCAR Winston Cup finish at the Bristol Volunteer 400 by finishing 6th.  This was also the year that Darrell Waltrip earned his famous nickname, "Jaws".  Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, and D.K. Ulrich are involved in a 227th-lap crash at the Southern 500 at Darlington. In response to Ulrich's inquiry as to what happened, Yarborough says, "That Jaws ran into you."  The name stuck.

   


Cale Yarborough was running at the finish in all 30 NASCAR Winston Cup races as he dominated the 1977 season to wrap up his second consecutive title. Yarborough won nine races in 30 starts and finished 386 points ahead of runner-up Richard Petty. Petty captured the points lead briefly at midseason, taking first place after the July 31 race at Pocono. But a runner-up finish the following week at Talladega lifted Yarborough atop the standings again, a lead that he never relinquished.

  
The 1978 NASCAR Winston Cup season was filled with hotly contested races and surprise upset victories. In the Talladega 500 alone, there were 67 lead changes before Lennie Pond drove his Oldsmobile around Benny Parsons with five laps to go and scored his lone NASCAR Winston Cup career victory by a narrow margin. And, Oldsmobile got its first win since 1959, when Cale Yarborough piloted his car to a close decision over Benny Parsons to win the Winston Western 500 on the road course at Riverside International Raceway.


Race teams were not immune from infractions and suspensions in the 70's either, as car owner Harold Miller and driver Keith Davis are suspended for 12 weeks when NASCAR officials discover an illegal bottle of nitrous oxide in the car in prerace inspections.  1978 also the first appearance of Dale Earnhardt after Willy T. Ribbs, America's leading African-American race driver, failed to appear for two special practice sessions in preparation for the upcoming World 600 at Charlotte. Team owner Will Cronkrite, irked with Ribbs' absence, replaced him with relatively unknown short-track racer, Dale Earnhardt.
      
  
More controversy flared at Atlanta International Raceway as Donnie Allison is declared the winner of the Dixie 500 after the crowd of 40,000 thought Richard Petty had nipped Dave Marcis in a race to the finish. NASCAR scorers failed to notice that Allison had passed both Petty and Marcis with three laps remaining. Rookie Dale Earnhardt finished fourth in his first start with the Rod Osterlund team.
   
Cale Yarborough motored to his record-setting third consecutive NASCAR Winston Cup championship with another season-long sparkling effort. Yarborough's Junior Johnson team won 10 races and finished a comfortable 474 points ahead of runner-up Bobby Allison. Yarborough clinched the 1978 title at Rockingham in October.  Yarborough's record of 3 consecutive champions would go unbroken and untied until Jimmie Johnson wins his 3rd consecutive title in 2008.
   

The 1979 NASCAR Winston Cup season was one of record speeds and legendary brawls. At the Daytona 500 alone, thanks to a newly-resurfaced track, Buddy Baker reached a record qualifying speed of 196.049 mph to top Cale Yarborough's nine-year-old record of 194.015. The race itself didn't disappoint, either.  The 21st annual Daytona 500 was spectacular from start to finish, with thrilling action and many lead changes. During the final lap, leaders Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison (who had been jostling for the lead) slid together into the concrete wall, clearing the way for Richard Petty to take the win.
  
Immediately, Yarborough and Allison began to fight on the field, and the whole fracas was televised live on CBS, which only served to increase ticket sales.
  


Outstanding rookie driver Dale Earnhardt saw his share of ups and downs in the '79 season. On the "up" side, he grabbed his first career NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National victory in Bristol's Southeastern 500 by scooting around Darrell Waltrip with 27 laps to go.  On the "down" side, he fractured both collar bones in a hard crash on the 99th lap of a crash-marred Coca-Cola 500 at Pocono International Raceway.  David Pearson substituted for Earnhardt and wound up winning his 3rd Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
 
   

Richard Petty won an unprecedented seventh NASCAR Winston Cup championship as he posted a furious rally late in the 1979 season. Petty trailed Darrell Waltrip by 187 points with just seven races to go. From that point on, Petty never finished lower than sixth. Waltrip led the points chase most of the season, assuming command in May and building a healthy lead until his big advantage began to slip away. The lead in the standings changed in each of the last four races. Waltrip led after the 28th race at North Wilkesboro in October. Petty won at Rockingham the following week and took an eight-point lead. Waltrip finished one spot ahead of Petty at Atlanta and carried a two-point lead into the season finale at Ontario Motor Speedway in California.
  
In the final race, Waltrip spun out while trying to avoid another spinning car and was trapped a lap behind. Unable to make up the lost lap, Waltrip finished eighth, while Petty came home fifth and won the title by 11 points.  In spite of missing 4 races due to his injury, Earnhardt still manages a remarkable 7th place finish in the final standings.