|| *Comments on the 1986 Champion Spark Plug 400:* View the most recent comment <#20> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Chicago posted: 03.28.2005 - 1:52 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) David Pearson's last career start -- finishing tenth, only one lap down! 2. dalejrrules14 posted: 04.22.2006 - 4:08 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) he had a few more years left 3. McMurrayFan26 posted: 04.05.2007 - 11:14 pm Rate this comment: (4) (0) Everyone asks who the greatest ever was some say Petty, some say Watrip,some say Earnhardt. not me i say it was the Silver Fox Little David the Giant Killer! 4. Destiny posted: 04.13.2007 - 6:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) That's David Pearson's last top ten since Dick Brooks in 1985. 5. SK posted: 12.16.2007 - 7:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Benny Parsons' last career pole. 6. Clayton posted: 06.09.2008 - 10:44 am Rate this comment: (3) (0) Even though my favorite Driver of all time won this race, (AWESOME BILL!!) David Pearson is the greatest to ever live!! 105 wins in only 574 starts!!!! That is incredible!! 7. Jim posted: 08.17.2009 - 6:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I have this race on vhs. Benny Parsons blew a motor about halfway through the race coming out of 2. Those 86 Oldsmobiles were some of the best looking cars ever. 8. Mattswad posted: 03.21.2010 - 9:50 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Apparently Norm Benning was supposed to attempt this race in a Buick owned by Fred Wallace. No idea if they actually made it to the track, made an attempt, withdrew or whatever happened? http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=I4sfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IWMEAAAAIBAJ&dq=norm-benning&pg=6651%2C7987829 9. Steve posted: 04.12.2011 - 8:56 pm Rate this comment: (5) (0) Thanks to Richard, David, Bobby, Darrell, and Cale, and other legends like Dale, Neil, Benny, and Buddy, this may be the most accomplished field in Winston Cup history. Before the green flag, all drivers in the field had 672 combined wins (an average of 16 wins for each driver) and 20 Winston Cups. Besides the also-rans and independants, this was an all-star field! 10. CBASS posted: 01.11.2013 - 7:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor updates #27 Alugard Anti-Freeze #15 Motorcraft Quality Parts #67 Pannill Sweatshirts #70 Rumple/ Winkle Pontiac #55 Copenhagen Snuff #51 Mound Steel & Supply #08 Classic Chevrolet #18 Freelander American Dream Team http://mwphoto.smugmug.com/Cars/NASCAR/1986-MIS-NASCAR/79655_bzhrmW 11. b4il3y posted: 07.11.2013 - 3:50 am Rate this comment: (0) (4) Too bad that oversized engine won :) 12. David posted: 12.06.2013 - 2:21 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) "Everyone asks who the greatest ever was some say Petty, some say Watrip,some say Earnhardt." Anyone who actually says that Waltrip is the greatest ever is either joking or hopelessly misguided. 13. Walleyewhacker posted: 02.16.2014 - 12:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) b4il3y posted: >Too bad that oversized engine won :) That makes zero sense what so ever. MIS has been a Ford dominated track starting in 1984, and a Mercury track before that from 1969-78. It also is a track that suits a smooth driver or a driver that could change his driving tactics for MIS. Earnhardt Sr. only won twice (and one of those was a gift in 1990) at MIS because he wouldn't adapt his driving style to win at MIS. Cale and Richard Petty could win at MIS not driving a Ford or Mercury because they could be a smooth driver when the track called for it. Earnhardt due to his stubborn nature wouldn't at MIS or at Dover, and it's a big knock on him as a driver. 14. wrongwaywillie posted: 06.22.2014 - 11:26 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Walleye who gives a crap about all that nonsense! He won 7 titles. He didn't need to change his driving style. All the Earnhardt haters can say, if Allison, Richmond, Kulwicki or Irvan Wouldn't have died or got injured, Earnhardt wouldn't have won 7. But we will never know that. But I would have loved to have seen those guys go at it, for another 20 years. It would have been amazing. 15. The Great Dave posted: 06.01.2015 - 7:13 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Fin 42 St 42 # 79 Driver Derrike Cope Sponsor / Owner Western Peterbilt (Warren Razore) Car Ford Laps 0 Money Status Did Not Start Led 0 Pts http://www.fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dll/detailfs?userid={3F6A27F5-EDBE-4840-913B-9C7F5BD793B3}&ndx=67&slideshow=0&AlbumId={412D36BA-31DB-428F-93A7-F02F0D5541EC}&GroupId={9DB564E6-DD27-48C0-B068-61ADC0843817}&screenheight=1080 16. saltsburgtrojanfan posted: 06.12.2016 - 12:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Caution 1: Lap 26-29: competition Caution 2: Lap 62-67: #10 accident Caution 3: Lap 81-86: #47 accident Caution 4: Lap 172-185: #7,17 accident turn 2 Caution 5: Lap 187-194: #55 accident turn 2 17. Ryan posted: 08.04.2018 - 9:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It takes a great engine to win at Michigan. Everyone knows that. And most of the time Bill had the best engine from 1985-1988. it had nothing to do with driving style or "finesse". 18. NewGuyOnTheBlock posted: 06.29.2020 - 11:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) ESPN broadcast this race. Jack Arute and Jerry Punch were in the booth with Dick Berggren in the pits. Interesting to note: ESPN broadcast all of the big 3 auto racing series that day. Formula One in Austria was shown in the morning with Larry Nuber and Jackie Stewart in the booth. Then this race was shown in the afternoon. Finally, the IndyCar race from Pocono was shown via tape delay that evening, with Bob Jenkins and Derek Daly on the call. 19. NewGuyOnTheBlock posted: 06.30.2020 - 10:42 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) Bill Elliott looked like his 1985 self, leading 125 of 200 laps and claiming his second victory of the season. The win was his fourth consecutive victory at Michigan and his fifth victory in six races at the speedway. Between 1984 and 1987, Elliott won all but two races at Michigan. Now that's domination. Tim Richmond continued his hot streak across the summer stretch, leading five laps and finishing in second place. Richmond charged from the tail-end of the lead pack to second on the final restart after being penalized by NASCAR for pitting too early under caution. After getting his lap back, Richmond charged through the field to take second. Darrell Waltrip ran a clean race, staying inside the top-5 for most of the afternoon and leading 3 laps. He was rewarded with a third-place finish. Geoff Bodine led 21 laps en route to a fourth-place finish. Bodine easily had the best car before the competition caution NASCAR scheduled to check tire wear. After the CC, Bodine was unable to find the top spot for the rest of the afternoon. Dale Earnhardt finished a lap down in fifth place. Earnhardt was the only driver able to keep up with Bill Elliott, leading 34 laps throughout the day. After getting caught a lap down during a round of green-flag pitstops, Earnhardt settled for a top-5. Rusty Wallace managed to lead a lap and came home in sixth, one lap down. Wallace was driving on the edge for most of the race, nearly spinning out at one point while battling with Morgan Shepherd for position. Cale Yarborough recovered from a terrible qualifying effort to finish seventh, one lap down. Yarborough drafted with Bobby Allison into the top-10 by lap 20 and was challenging the leaders at one point before falling a lap down. Harry Gant finished a lap down in eighth, ending what had been a brutal four-race stretch in which he suffered engine failure at Daytona, crashed hard at Pocono and Talladega, and blown his motor at Watkins Glen. Phil Parsons nabbed his third top-ten finish of the season with a ninth-place run, though he was a lap down. Like many others, Parsons was caught out by a caution during green-flag pitstops, which is why so many drivers in the top-10 were a lap down at the finish. In the final start of his legendary career, David Pearson showed that he could still be competitive, running as high as third and finishing in tenth place, one lap off the pace. Ken Schrader had one of his best races of 1986, leading a lap and finishing one lap down in eleventh. Terry Labonte struggled all race, blowing his engine on the final lap and failing to finish. Because of the high attrition, Labonte was credited with twelfth, two laps down. Bobby Hillin Jr. managed to lead 7 laps on a differing pit strategy, but it, unfortunately, backfired as he fell two laps down and finished thirteenth. Alan Kulwicki led two laps in route to a fourteenth-place finish. Despite begin two laps down, Kulwicki put together one of his best performances on a superspeedway all season. Rookie Chet Fillip had a great race, finishing three laps down in fifteenth. This was his second-best result of the season and just his third top-20 finish. Eddie Bierschwale and the Elmo Langley team managed to not be the slowest car on track, finishing three laps down in sixteenth. Ken Ragan scored his second-straight top-20 finish, coming home four laps down in seventeenth. Richard Petty struggled with blistering tires early on, eventually dropping out of the race with just six laps left with engine issues. He would place eighteenth. Buddy Arrington returned to the scene of the track where rookie Rick Baldwin, driving Arrington's #67, had suffered fatal injuries in a crash during qualifying for the June event. Arrington would finish six laps down in nineteenth. D.K. Ulrich completed the top-20, finishing seven laps down in twentieth. Ricky Rudd struggled with mechanical issues throughout the race, finishing nine laps down in twenty-first. Bobby Gerhart made a rare start outside of Pocono, finishing nine laps down in twenty-second. Jim Hull made his second and final career start, replacing Pancho Carter in Roger Hamby's #17 Oldsmobile. Hull managed to wreck his car in qualifying, then caused a crash that sent Kyle Petty to the hospital. He would finish nine laps down in twenty-third. Bobby Allison looked to be a contender early on until an oil pump broke. He spent the rest of the race struggling with pace, finishing ten laps down in twenty-fourth. Jimmy Means lost a wheel during a round of pitstops, limping home to a twenty-fifth place finish, ten laps off the pace. Benny Parsons won the pole and led for a lap. Despite a fast car and good track position, Parsons ran out of luck yet again as he lost his engine on a late-race restart and crashed, finishing in twenty-sixth. ARCA regular David Simko made his first start of the season, only to blow his motor shortly after halfway. Incredibly, his team was able to fix the engine and sent him back out. Simko finished 30 laps down in twenty-seventh. Kyle Petty had a very bad race. After mechanical issues caused him to go many laps down early on, Petty was sent to the hospital following a violent crash in turn 1 (courtesy of Jim Hull). Thankfully, Petty did not suffer any major injuries. Rodney Combs suffered transmission issues after having run a good race inside the top-20, coming home in thirtieth. Joe Ruttman ran as high as second and looked to be a contender for the win. Unfortunately, engine woes would force him into retirement after 142 laps. J.D. McDuffie was in and out of the pits all day with engine trouble, finally retiring after 129 laps. Michael Waltrip suffered major mechanical malfunctions throughout the day, yet somehow was allowed to remain on track despite being woefully off the pace. He finished in thirty-third, an incredible 76 laps down. ASA regular Butch Miller made a rare start on a non-short track. He retired after 122 laps with a broken camshaft. Neil Bonnett had a top-5 car and was running with the leaders until handling issues put him behind the wall after 84 laps. Dave Marcis struggled all weekend, qualifying poorly and finishing in thirty-fifth with ignition issues. Morgan Shepherd made his penultimate start for the Race Hill Farm Team, crashing out of the race after 60 laps. The #47 would make one more appearance in 1986 with Shepherd at Darlington, but by this point sponsorship woes had pretty much killed the team. Jim Sauter returned to the #75 Pontiac after a week off, running well inside the top 20 until his transmission broke after 79 laps. Greg Sacks and the DiGard team actually showed up for this race despite major monetary issues. Sacks was off the pace the entire time he was on track, eventually blowing a tire and crashing into the wall after 60 laps. Tommy Ellis suffered a blown engine after just 50 laps, finishing down in thirty-ninth. Rick Wilson, usually a good performer on the superspeedways, was never able to show his stuff as a broken valve sidelined him after 37 laps. Buddy Baker came home in last place, pulling off track during the competition caution with rear end issues on his car. 20. RaceFanX posted: 06.30.2020 - 10:54 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Ah, the fun of racing. Every starter tells a story. Nice writeup. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: