1985 Daytona 500

1985 Daytona 500 highlights of the famous number nine Thunderbird driven by Bill Elliott of Dawsonville Georgia

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• 1985
• Daytona
• 500
• Bill
• Elliott
• number
• nine
• Ford
• Thunderbird

[BSNFabricating]

The thing about the Elliotts is that in 1984 they had won some races, but NOBODY was ready for what they would do in '85. If it happened today...well it couldn't. NASCAR wouldn't let it happen.

This was real racing.

[jamespic]

RIP: BP!!!!!

[cjs3872]

@chuckflynnjr

After all, it wouldn't be very exciting to see most of those capable of winning out of the race by halfway, as was the case in 1984-'85. In fact, I've got the 1984 race on my channel, and there were quite a number of contenders that didn't even make it to halfway, and the attrition was even worse in 1985. And let's remember that many fel the phantom cautions to tighten up the field began in 1985, when Bill Elliott dominated the important races that year.

[cjs3872]

@chuckflynnjr

As a matter of fact, I've got the 1980 Daytona 500 on now, and that race wasn't the most exciting ever, except for the speeds, as everyone spent the day content on following Buddy Baker, and only two cars finished on the lead lap in that race. So I guess you'd like to see Daytona 500s like 1975-'77, when only 14-17 cars finished and the competition wasn't that fierce (it was in 1976, but not in '75 and '77), rather than the competitveraces of the 1980s and early 90s.

[chuckflynnjr]

@cjs3872 we can agree to disagree then. I sat in the stands at Daytona last year and was bored out of my mind until the last 2 restarts. Not my idea of better. I would rather see the old days of 3 - 5 cars finishing on the lead lap than having the traffic jams that have resulted in the restrictor plate / lucky dog / wave around era.

[cjs3872]

@chuckflynnjr

The only problem I have with what you had last year was the premeditiated partners. To me, that was wrong, but it was much better than in years past, where, if you were in the top five, but not leading, you were effectively stuck where you were running, because the draft was actually working in reverse, hindering the trailng car, instead of aiding it. But the way to get rid of the push-draft is to shorten the rear spoilers, which NASCAR is apparently doing.

[cjs3872]

@chuckflynnjr

I actually believe what we had last year is much better than what we've had in the past, because you could actually pass. In previous years, what you had was a situation where you could often predict who the winner was going to be, and that was whoever was in front after the final pit stops, because you simply couldn't pass. Also, the two-car tandem draft eliminated blocking, which was the root cause of many of the huge wrecks you had in the past.

[chuckflynnjr]

@cjs3872 Friend I don't need the history lesson. What is your solution to the boring racing that has been at the plate tracks in the recent past? If people don't feel safe sitting in the stands then either stay home or go to the go-cart track!

[cjs3872]

@chuckflynnjr

Well, after Bobby Allison's crash at the 1987 Winston 500, they actually tried smaller carburetors before going back to the resrtictor plates. But when Ken Schrader's car got airborne at the end of the 1987 Firecracker 400, NASCAR realized that they were still going too fast (Bill Elliott's 204 MPH qualifying lap at Talladega for the Talladega 500 proved that), so the restrictor plates returned. They had been used to slow down the big 429 CI engines in the early 70s.

[chuckflynnjr]

@cjs3872 Anything can happen at anytime, at any track. In 1979 at a 1/2 mile in CT (Stafford) a modified launched into the fourth turn grandstands, and took out some people. I was there that night and in fact that modified was going about 73 mph, not 190. My point is not to let the cars go as fast as possible, it's to restrict them in other ways (smaller engines ect) so they may not be going as fast, but you would still have good racing.

[cjs3872]

@chuckflynnjr

And let's not forget Geoff Bodine's crash in the Truck race at Daytona in 2000, exactly one year before Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash there. And as close as the cars run at Daytona and Talladega, and with the way the cars get airborne, even at 185-190, the cars can literally go over top of each other, as was the case with Neil Bonnett's and Carl Edwards' crashes in front of the grandstands at Talladega, which caused them to get into the catch fencing.

[cjs3872]

@chuckflynnjr

And let's not forget the incidents at Talladega in the mid 1990s where the cars actually got OVER the fence in the first turn. In 1993, Jimmy Horton flew out of the racetrack, so catch fencing was built above the wall after that, and Ricky Craven actually flew higher than did Horton, but was kept inside the track due to the catch fencing. Then in 2010, a simliar incident happened in turns 3 and 4 at Talladega at the end of a Nationwide Series race there.