|| *Comments on the 1986 Valleydale 500:* View the most recent comment <#28> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Homedepotkid posted: 11.29.2004 - 12:20 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) This here was the first win of 55(at this time) for Rusty Wallace. Now, he's one of the greatest. Ever. 2. Miller4Prez6 posted: 05.06.2006 - 9:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rusty's first win of 55. :) Also his first of an incredible 9 Bristol wins. 3. Steve posted: 07.20.2006 - 6:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rusty's first win was also the first time he led the most laps in a Winston Cup race. 1986 was defintely the year Rusty Wallace became a force to reckon with. 4. Bufford posted: 09.17.2006 - 11:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Earnhardt was making a strong push for the win late in this race, when his engine started to fail. The start of the race was delayed due to rain. 5. biffle16 posted: 01.03.2007 - 2:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) At Bristol, you definitely have to be the master of avoiding disaster to win. And what a master he was. 6. myself posted: 02.15.2007 - 5:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Didn't this race acutally end under the lights? I think I remember this occurring. 7. Bill posted: 03.14.2007 - 5:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) it did not. i watched this recently. 8. myself posted: 03.15.2007 - 2:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Thanks, Bill. I could've sworn that Rusty won a night race in the blue Alugard car! 9. Mikey posted: 05.09.2007 - 5:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rusty's first win and the first race I ever went to. Was a wet day, the race was delayed due to rain. I believe DW was also looking good till he lost a gear late in the race, but still brought it home in 3rd. 10. Mark O. posted: 03.05.2010 - 12:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Some numbers for the DNQ...McDuffie-#70, Hylton-#48, Means-#52. 11. Goernie28 posted: 04.09.2013 - 12:54 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Interesting start to the season with the first five races each being won by a different make of car: Chevrolet (Daytona), Ford (Richmond), Oldsmobile (Rockingham), Buick (Atlanta) and Pontiac (Bristol). 12. SRT posted: 10.25.2013 - 6:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Another DNQ is Willy T Ribbs, no idea about the car #. An article I read said that he crashed in a practice session and couldn't go out in the first qualifying session(where the top 15 qualifiers were determined). He did make the second qualifying session but wasn't fast enough to get in the field. 13. SRT posted: 12.03.2013 - 9:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) btw at my previous comment, I saw the race on youtube and Bob Jenkins does indeed confirm that Ribbs was a DNQ. Car # was 30 and it was a Chevrolet 14. b4il3y posted: 12.12.2013 - 2:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) First race I ever went to. I remember cheering for Labonte because I like the color of his car :) 15. Nascar Lead Lap Points posted: 07.18.2014 - 2:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DNQ Updates #52 was owner by Jimmy Means (Sponsor was Means Racing and car was a Pontiac) #70 was owner by J.D. McDuffie (Sponsor was Rumple Furniture and car was a Pontiac) #48 was owner by James Hylton (Sponsor was Fleet Service and car was a Chevy) #30 was owner by DiGard (Sponsor was Red Roof Inns) Jonathan Lee Edwards drove a #92 and owner Jonathan Lee Edwards (Sponsor was Edwards Racing) Earle Canavan drove #01 and was owner by Earle Canavan (Spomsor was Gates Rubber and Car was a Pontiac 16. saltsburgtrojanfan posted: 04.15.2015 - 1:02 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Caution 1: Lap 1-11: green/yellow start Caution 2: Lap 76-82: #12 accident turn 1 Caution 3: Lap 105-112: #8,71,94 accident turn 1 Caution 4: Lap 160-170: #41 accident turn 3 Caution 5: Lap 193-202: ambulance Caution 6: Lap 308-312: #3,35,44 accident turn 2 Caution 7: Lap 360-363: #17 spun backstretch 17. Jim posted: 09.15.2016 - 10:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also 1st win for the new Pontiac 2 + 2 Fastback. 18. The Great Dave posted: 12.07.2016 - 12:00 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Bill Elliot ran the IMSA GTO Race the day before 19. The Great Dave posted: 12.07.2016 - 12:02 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Niel Bonnett lead after the restart on lap 11 but took a nasty shot in turn two. 20. The Great Dave posted: 12.07.2016 - 12:07 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Morgan Shepard goes from winning in Jack Beebe's #47 to racing Elmo Langley's second hand #64 ford. 21. The Great Dave posted: 12.07.2016 - 12:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor Update #41 Wade's Foods #71 Helen Rae Special / Transmissions Unlimited #95 Martha Washington Inn 22. The Great Dave posted: 12.07.2016 - 12:42 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Neil Bonett had likely a concussion and Ronnie Thomas had a Leg injury in this race. Bobby Hillin also took a big lick 23. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 07.25.2018 - 4:26 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Geoff Bodine got a terrible start when they initially took the green flag after the green/yellow start. He dropped back to about 4th/5th and stacked the whole inside line up behind him as Neil Bonnett powered to the lead on the outside. Bodine would later have tire problems that forced him to pit under green and later went out with engine failure. Jody Ridley replaced Lake Speed in the RahMoc #75 and hoped to impress with a good run, but his chances for that ended early after the green when he had to pit for a flat tire after contact. Morgan Shepherd (who had won the previous race at Atlanta driving for Jack Beebe but had to drive Elmo Budget's low-budget #64 this week) and Michael Waltrip blew up almost simultaneously shortly after the initial green and were the first retirees. Bonnett led handily until lap 75 when going into the first corner his throttle hung wide open and he sailed dead straight into the outside wall, scraping along it all the way until halfway down the backstretch, the right side of his car totally flattened. Neil was very groggy after the accident and likely had a concussion-he was also very critical of NASCAR when interviewed afterwards for the medics taking their sweet time getting to his car. With Bonnett out of the race, Dale Earnhardt took over the lead and dominated the race up until about lap 200. Another crash occurred on the frontstretch when Tim Richmond and Ron Bouchard tangled off turn 4 just past the 100th lap and Bouchard bumped the wall. Bobby Hillin went to the inside of the frontstretch to avoid them but that part of the track was still damp from the earlier rain and Hillin slid hard into the inside wall. Hillin's #8 momentarily caught fire and slid back up into the turn 1 wall. Dave Marcis also spun and slid down to the inside of the track in turn 1, leaving Eddie Bierschwale with nowhere to go. Bierschwale wound up t-boning Marcis' #71 hard and all 3 cars were knocked out of the race. Bouchard also soon dropped out with a broken axle. Ronnie Thomas blew a tire in turn 3 and pounded the wall hard, injuring his leg in the process. He was unable to hit the brakes in his car and his badly damaged #41 skidded along the outside wall all the way to the end of turn 2. Thomas was taken to the hospital as an emergency precaution and the yellow flag was brought out again so the ambulance could leave the track. After these three heavy crashes early in the race the event went green most of the way to the end, and the sun even came out for a while through the middle stages. Rusty Wallace had confidently stated before the race that he felt he would not only win this race, but dominate it, and took the lead for the first time from Terry Labonte just prior to the halfway point. He proceeded to pull away, gapping the next few cars by well over a straightaway during the long green flag run. Dale Earnhardt was running a solid second when just past the 300 lap mark he tangled with the lapped car of Alan Kulwicki coming off turn 2. Kulwicki slid up and slapped the outside wall while the #3 went pirouetting around down the backstretch. Terry Labonte in 3rd also spun his car out trying to avoid the incident. Both Dale and Terry got going again but lost a lap in the process. During the caution pit stops Rusty got a bad set of tires that allowed DW to take the lead for awhile. One final caution came out when Doug Heveron blew an engine and spun down the backstretch, allowing Rusty to put on better tires and eventually pull past DW for the lead. The race went green all the way to the end with Rusty easily pulling away from the field and dominating en route to his first Cup Series victory and the first of 10 for him at Thunder Valley. Dale Earnhardt got his lap back on the Heveron caution and raced his all the way back up to second place under green. He was never a threat to catch Rusty but it looked like he had the runner-up position all sewn up until coming off turn 4 with about 4-5 laps to go the #3 blew an engine. With smoke trailing from the exhaust, the Intimidator limped around the track for the final laps at an extremely reduced pace, losing 3 laps in the process and dropping all the way down to 10th but still (just barely) taking the checkered flag. 24. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 07.25.2018 - 5:09 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Actually Rusty won here 9 times...my bad. Miscounted. Despite blowing up early Shepherd did get in more laps in this race as around the halfway point he relieved the King and drove the #43 for the rest of the race. 25. SweetRich posted: 02.27.2020 - 5:43 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) The commentators for the race were Bob Jenkins and Benny Parsons with the sole pit road reporter being Jack Arute. 26. JSPorts posted: 02.27.2020 - 5:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bob Jenkins & BP were a great pairing. 27. SweetRich posted: 02.27.2020 - 10:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Any combo from '81 to 2000 was great on ESPN. For me, though, Bob, Ned and Benny was the best of them all. 28. NewGuyOnTheBlock posted: 05.09.2020 - 9:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ESPN broadcast this race. Bob Jenkins and Benny Parsons were in the booth with Jack Arute in the pits. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. 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