|| *Comments on the 1986 Miller High Life 500:* View the most recent comment <#19> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Bill posted: 04.14.2007 - 1:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race inspired the scene in Days of Thunder when Tom Cruise got involved in an accident, drove his car backwards down pitroad, repaired it, and then won the race. In this case, Tim Richmond was Tom Cruise (though technically Tom played a loose variation of Tim in DoT). 2. MegaRacer posted: 08.05.2007 - 4:53 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfzbO9IogK4 3. Bill posted: 08.08.2007 - 4:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I stand corrected....it was actually the SECOND Pocono race 4. Steve.M. posted: 08.22.2007 - 4:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) looks like it HAD been a rainy day there 5. Anonymous posted: 09.14.2007 - 7:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harry Gant suffered a bruised heart (yes, heart) in his crash. 6. Destiny posted: 09.19.2007 - 12:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) By the way, Bill, it was the first, not second. Buddy Arrington had messed up crash while Tim Richmond took the checkered flag. 7. rip posted: 10.31.2007 - 3:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last start for Rick Newsom who died in a plane crash in 1988. 8. Steve posted: 01.05.2008 - 6:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) If you watch the video, you'll see that Buddy Arrington made a stupid move after he spun. He would have been very lucky to get going again AND avoid causing futher mayhem. 9. RaceFanX posted: 09.26.2008 - 1:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was the last race Buddy Arrington ever led 10. myself posted: 08.24.2009 - 2:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) After watching that idiot move, it should've been the last race Buddy Arrington ever led. 11. JSSIE HENRY posted: 10.22.2009 - 9:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) valvoline ford 06 12. Mark O. posted: 05.28.2010 - 9:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) myself, don't pretend that your favorite driver hasn't ever made a bad decision! 13. sk posted: 10.08.2011 - 12:59 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) If Arrington's lapse in judgment wasn't egregious enough of its own merit, its ramifications would extend to include one more unfortunate soul. Having been injured himself when Harry Gant plowed into the #67's driver door, Buddy was unable to race at Michigan the following week and tabbed ARCA regular Rick Baldwin to run in his stead. Five days after the Arrington accident, Baldwin lost control while attempting to qualify the car and struck the outside retaining wall flush on the driver's side, shattering the youngster's helmet and leaving him with massive internal injuries. Slipping into a coma, he would die eleven years later, never having regained consciousness. 14. 83andJoe posted: 09.17.2013 - 5:39 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #07 owner: Kaj Snellman #07 crew chief: Bob Johnson 15. 83andJoe posted: 09.17.2013 - 5:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #07 sponsor: Snellman Construction 16. Mike posted: 09.20.2015 - 8:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Webmaster: The caution listing for this race is not right. For one, the caution list says the last 85 laps were run under green, but the MOV says the race ended under caution. Second, the caution list says the first caution was for an engine failure for car #2 - there was no car #2 in this race. Third, there are several drivers listed as failing to finish due to crashes (Buddie Boys, Eddie Bierschwale, Harry Gant, Buddy Arrington, Morgan Shepherd), but all of the listed cautions are for either engine failures or debris. 17. webmaster posted: 09.20.2015 - 10:10 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike, You're right, that data was for a different race and has been removed from this one; we don't have the cautions for this race yet. 18. Joshua posted: 01.17.2019 - 1:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Arrington/Shepherd/Gant crash is on a crash VHS I used to have. It looked like if Arrington had turned the wheel to the right and used the grass to get up some speed before getting back on the track everything would have been all right, but he elected to whip it around against traffic and ended up stalled out on the banking perpendicular to oncoming traffic. All three drivers received some extent of injuries but recovered and went on to race again. I believe there was a rain delay that delayed the start of this one a while, and then a lengthy caution for rain in the middle of the race. The race finishes pretty much under late afternoon/dusk sunlight. 19. NewGuyOnTheBlock posted: 05.25.2020 - 3:41 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) SETN broadcast this race. Mike Joy and Jerry Punch were in the booth with Dick Berggren in the pits. After a brief rain delay that pushed back the start, the field took the green flag under threatening skies. Polesitter Geoff Bodine, driving the same car that he had won Dover with (affectionately called Alexis), took an early lead ahead of teammate Tim Richmond. Outside polesitter Benny Parsons fell back to third at the start, fighting back to take second from Richmond on lap 2. The day's first caution came early when Dale Earnhardt got into the back of Neil Bonnett sending the #12 spinning up into the turn 1 wall. Darrell Waltrip, Bonnett's teammate, had nowhere to go, slamming into the rear of the spinning #12. Both cars came into the pits with significant damage, though Bonnett was able to continue after lengthy repairs. Waltrip wasn't as lucky; Junior Johnson and crew believed that the #11 simply needed a radiator change. But when they opened the hood, they found that the entire engine had been damaged beyond repair. A rejected DW would come home 40th and last. Bodine led the field back to green, steadily pulling away from Benny Parsons in second. The race wouldn't remain green for long: On lap 12, Morgan Shepherd spun into the side of Terry Labonte while attempting to pass the #44 on the outside of turn 2. The two cars slid into the infield, joined by Rusty Wallace who had swerved to avoid a head-on collision. While Wallace and Shepherd would recover, Labonte would struggle the rest of the day with handling, eventually falling out with engine issues after 60 laps. The leaders hit the pits for fuel and tires under the caution, with Tim Richmond winning the race off of pit road. Richmond and Bodine pulled away on the restart, while Shepherd began a furious drive back towards the front. As the Hendrick Chevys battled for first, Ricky Rudd moved into third place ahead of Bobby Allison. Chet Fillip brought out another yellow when his Ford spun in turn 1. The car ended up sliding through a massive puddle in the infield, turning Fillip's bright blue #81 into a muddy mess. Richmond and the rest of the leaders pitted for tires and fuel, with Ricky Rudd inheriting the lead. Meanwhile, the skies overhead began to darken. Rudd and Bobby Allison led the field back to green but found themselves looking at the rear bumper of Tim Richmond after just one lap as the #25 peeled past on the restart. It didn't take long for another caution to interrupt the race, as Richard Petty turned the lapped car of Buddie Boys into the wall on lap 48. Richmond's crew chief Harry Hyde decided to call Richmond in for tires, as he reasoned that rain was imminent and they would most likely be racing to the halfway point of the race. Bodine stayed out, leading the field back to green while his Hendrick Motorsports teammate charged from the rear of the field. Finally, a green flag run began to develop, with Bodine pulling away from the field. Rusty Wallace, despite having spun earlier, came alive, charging up to second place. As light sprinkles of rain began to hit the track, Wallace found himself in the lead when Bodine pitted under green on lap 74. Wallace's time at the front was shortlived, as Eddie Bierschwale spun to bring out another caution. Wallace and the rest of the leaders pitted, giving Bodine and Richmond the top two spots on the restart. Bodine and Richmond pulled away yet again on the restart, as a light rain began to fall around the track. Richmond managed to wrestle the lead away from his teammate on lap 89, but 5 laps later Bodine was back in front. Meanwhile, Benny Parsons, who had run very well early in the event, dropped out with a broken valve. As Bodine and Richmond continued to battle, neither noticed Dale Earnhardt creeping up on the pair. As the caution came out for rain on lap 96, Earnhardt caught Richmond, dropping down to the bottom of the racetrack as he tried to pass the #25 for second. Richmond would hold the position as NASCAR red-flagged the event. After an hour of heavy rain, the sun finally came out, allowing NASCAR to begin drying the track. The red flag was lifted to allow the drivers to log some caution laps and assist with the track-drying efforts. Under this extended caution, Buddy Arrington and Bill Elliott each took turns at the point as the leaders pitted for fresh rubber. The field returned to green flag racing on lap 119 with Kyle Petty in the lead. The Hendrick teammates quickly resumed their dominance up at the front, with Bodine going to the point ahead of Richmond. The heavy rains had turned the track into an ice rink, as the rubber that had been laid down on the track had been washed away. Tommy Ellis became the first victim of this green surface as he slid out of turn 3 following the restart. Joe Ruttman would inherit the lead under yellow as the leaders pitted. Dale Earnhardt launched past Ruttman into the lead on the restart, followed closely by Tim Richmond. Eddie Bierschwale's day went from bad to worse, as he blew a tire entering turn 1, slid right through the infield, and slammed head-on into the turn 1 wall. Thankfully Bierschwale was ok, and the field returned to green after a brief caution. Richmond moved around Earnhardt through the tunnel turn to take the lead back, while Bodine, who had restarted deep in the field after a slow pitstop, charged through the field. Richmond checked out on the field, despite having lost two-way radio communications with his crew. Richmond's crew could hear Richmond, but he couldn't hear them, prompting the use of a pit board for communications. This proved to not be an issue, as Richmond continued to pull away from Earnhardt. Morgan Shepherd became the man to watch; after his early spin with Terry Labonte, he had managed to claw his way back into the top 5, briefly taking the lead during a cycle of green-flag pitstops. As the laps wound down, Shepherd managed to pass Bodine for third, and set his sights on Earnhardt in second. With five laps to go, Earnhardt had managed to close the gap by several seconds, as Richmond was trying to conserve fuel. Suddenly, a massive accident occurred in turn 1: Buddy Arrington spun down to the apron. Getting the car restarted, Arrington pulled up onto the low groove of the track, right in front of the third-place battle between Morgan Shepherd and Geoff Bodine. With nowhere to go, Shepherd slammed into the rear of Arrington's car, Bodine also clipping the stricken Ford. Harry Gant peeled down into the grass to avoid the wreck, but Arrington's car whipped around right into his path. Gant piled into the wreck, violently spinning down into the infield where his mangled car came to a rest. All three drivers suffered minor injuries in the accident, the most serious being Gant's bruised heart. With a lengthy clean-up required, Tim Richmond would take the checkered flag under caution for his first win of the season. Dale Earnhardt came home second, while Cale Yarborough inherited third due to Shepherd and Bodine being eliminated in the accident. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: