|| *Comments on the 1986 Southern 500:* View the most recent comment <#14> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Darrell posted: 12.28.2005 - 8:08 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Alan Kulwicki's first race as an owner/driver. What happened to Bill Terry? 2. Matt posted: 09.18.2006 - 2:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The track was damp from multiple showers and the race ended at dusk. Richmond was practically dirt tracking it around the "Lady in Black". Nobody could hang with him in those conditions, and this race cements in my mind that Tim was one of the greatest ever. 3. most posted: 01.06.2007 - 10:32 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Yeah, this was probably my favorite Tim Richmond memory, I remember how he got treated the year before so sweet redemption was his. 4. SK posted: 08.31.2007 - 3:08 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The last Winston Cup start for team owner Jack Beebe and the #47 Race Hill Farm Buick that helped drivers such as Geoff Bodine, Harry Gant and Ron Bouchard get their starts in the division. Impressively, Morgan Shepherd wheels the car home to a 4th-place finish in this final race. 5. Anonymous posted: 10.30.2007 - 1:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Alan bought the team out from Terry completely. 6. Doc posted: 03.27.2010 - 3:10 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last lap led by H.B. Bailey. 7. cbtbartley09@gmail.com posted: 06.01.2012 - 11:04 pm Rate this comment: (5) (0) I WAS AT THIS RACE IN DARLINGTON THAT DAY AS I WAS FOR ABOUT THIRTY RACES IN A ROW FROM 1980 TRU 1994 IN THE OLD TURN 3 TURN 4 AREA. AFTER THE RACE WE LIT THE GRILL AND COOKED HAMBURGERS AND HOTDOGS WHILE THE CROWD THINNED OUT. ABOUT AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER AS WE WERE GETTING READY TO LEAVE A GOLF CART CAME PULLING UP AND STOPPED TO SEE WHAT WAS GOING ON AND IT WAS THE RACE WINNER TIM RICHMOND. HE SAID HE WAS OUT SEEING AND THANKING ALL THE RACE FANS HE COULD BEFORE HE LEFT THE TRACK. HE ATE A HOTDOG AND DRANK A BEER WITH US BEFORE HE LEFT AND WE ALL HAD A GREAT TIME TALKING TO HIM. THOSE WERE TO GOOD DAYS OF RACING TO ME. RIP TIM 8. saltsburgtrojanfan posted: 08.16.2014 - 1:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lap 6-25: #43 accident frontstretch/rain Lap 32-36: #81 accident turn 2 Lap 57-62: #17 accident backstretch Lap 66-69: #23,66,75 accident frontstretch Lap 89-95: #70 accident turn 2 Lap 152-157: #27 accident backstretch Lap 179-182: #75 spin turn 2 Lap 190-193: debris Lap 196-202: Lap 221-225: #36 accident turn 2 Lap 271-274: debris Lap 330-336: #66 engine failure 9. Jim posted: 08.21.2014 - 6:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I just watched this race on You Tube . I am so glad we have footage of races back then and Tim Richmond , Wow what a driver. 10. saltsburgtrojanfan posted: 09.17.2014 - 6:40 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) the 1st caution was for #43 accident on the frontstretch 11. Ryan W posted: 09.24.2015 - 8:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Good stuff @7 12. Jim4Bill posted: 12.26.2017 - 1:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bill probably should have won - got into the wall late and lost a couple spots with less than 10 to go. He had enough lead to win if he stays out of the wall. 13. NewGuyOnTheBlock posted: 07.07.2020 - 7:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) ESPN broadcast this race. Bob Jenkins and Jack Arute were in the booth with Jerry Punch and Dick Berggren in the pits. Rick Wilson and Rusty Wallace carried onboard cameras. 14. NewGuyOnTheBlock posted: 07.07.2020 - 8:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Tim Richmond was unstoppable during the summer of '86, with this victory being his fifth in nine races. Richmond used an excellent pit strategy by crew chief Harry Hyde, a mastery of the slick Darlington surface that never fully dried after two rain delays, and a race-high 168 laps led to claim the biggest win of his career. Bobby Allison picked up a surprise second-place finish after spending much of the race running outside the top-10. Allison led two laps early by staying out under caution but was mostly a non-factor until the final green-flag run when he charged to the front. Bill Elliott looked to be en route to a second straight Southern 500 crown until he hit the wall in turn 4 with six laps to go, giving the lead to Tim Richmond. Elliott, who led 8 laps, would fall to third at the finish. Morgan Shepherd gave Jack Beebe's #47 a fantastic send-off, leading for 4 laps and finishing in fourth. This was the final race for the Race Hill Farm Team, which had been bought out by Cale Yarborough for 1987. The team's final season was quite the memorable one, with Shepherd winning at Atlanta and putting together competitive drives wherever he went. Darrell Waltrip, knowing that points were crucial this late into the season, spent the day driving conservatively. He came away with yet another top-5 finish in fifth, closing in on Dale Earnhardt in the points chase. Ricky Rudd turned in another solid performance, coming home in sixth. Bobby Hillin Jr. also opted for a conservative approach to Darlington, keeping his #8 Buick clean and coming home with a well deserved seventh-place finish. Geoff Bodine was easily the fastest car of the entire field, leading 162 laps and spending most of the day running in the top-2. Unfortunately, he ran out of fuel while leading late, but would recover to finish eighth. Dale Earnhardt destroyed his car in qualifying, then spent Sunday fighting back to the front from 21st on the grid. Despite having run-ins on track with Richard Petty and Bill Elliott, Earnhardt ground it out to finish a lap down in ninth, leading 17 laps along the way. Cale Yarborough's quest to win yet another Southern 500 would come up short, despite an excellent run. Yarborough came home a lap down in tenth, his final top-10 finish with Rainer Racing. Dave Marcis came just short of his second top-10 of the season, finishing 3 laps down in eleventh. Alan Kulwicki's new team AK Racing made its NASCAR debut after previous car owner Bill Terry pulled out of the season. In his first race as an owner-driver, Kulwicki finished 7 laps down in twelfth. Jim Sauter made his final start of the 1986 season, coming home 11 laps down in thirteenth place. Sauter was involved in two separate accidents during the event: Early on he hit the wall that caused a stack-up, and he later spun out late in the running. Kyle Petty was never a factor, running outside the top-10 throughout the event and finishing 11 laps down in fourteenth. Jimmy Means capitalized on the high attrition to score a rare top-15 finish, coming home 13 laps down in fifteenth. Michael Waltrip escaped an early crash to finish 13 laps down in sixteenth place. H.B. Bailey led the final lap of his career under an early caution but was pretty much a non-factor afterward. He briefly brushed the wall to bring out a caution himself and would finish 15 laps down in seventeenth. D.K. Ulrich gets the 'Snail Award' for the slowest car on track without mechanical issues or crash damage, finishing 17 laps down in eighteenth. (The 'Snail Award' is something I came up with for these driver breakdowns I've started doing.) Buddy Baker ran inside the top-5 for much of the day, leading a lap in the process. A late engine failure would force him to drop out after 340 laps, though he still came away with a top-20 finish. Buddy Arrington was pretty much a non-factor, getting into the wall at one point and smashing up the rear of his car. He would end up 28 laps down in twentieth. Terry Labonte had a brutal day, struggling with tire issues throughout the event and hitting his crew chief on pit road (He was ok). Labonte ultimately finished 30 laps down in twenty-first. This was the final start for the #44 Chevrolet, with Hagan Racing returning to Oldsmobiles for the next race. Phil Parsons suffered major damage to his Olds in an early pileup, eventually dropping out with engine failure after 326 laps. Rusty Wallace was bad fast early on but would fall out of contention when he spun and crashed on the frontstretch. He would crawl home to a twenty-third-place finish, 41 laps down. Neil Bonnett had a great run going, leading 4 laps and running inside the top-5 for much of the first half of the race. But a broken valve would sideline the #12 after 261 laps. Eddie Bierschwale pretty much just ran around on the apron after suffering damage in a crash, finishing 106 laps off the pace in twenty-fifth. Connie Saylor would spend his track time off the pace until he retired with engine failure after 254 laps. Harry Gant broke a distributor valve early on, pretty much ruining his year. He would end up falling out due to engine issues after 235 laps. Rick Wilson ran well after three weeks of poor runs until overheating issues put him in the garage after 232 laps. Jonathan Lee Edwards actually managed to qualify for a race, but barely got to the finish as his car wouldn't start on the grid. He would eventually get going and made it to lap 232 before a broken rear end put him behind the wall. Ron Bouchard made his final start for Mike Curb's #98 team and made the best of it. Bouchard was running inside the top-10 when engine issues put him out after 177 laps. Benny Parsons struggled with transmission issues all race, finally retiring after 167 laps. Mark Stahl managed to qualify for his second race of the season, only to be so slow that he was flagged and parked by NASCAR. Donnie Allison made the penultimate start of his career, driving Henley Gray's #54 Chevrolet. He would pull off track with overheating issues after 131 laps. J.D. McDuffie showed up with a shiny white and red paint scheme for Labor Day. His day would, unfortunately, end with a crash and a broken tie rod after 85 laps. Chet Fillip suffered an early crash that smashed up the front of his car. The damage would eventually put him out after 81 laps. Ken Schrader had an early exit after engine failure on lap 46. Sterling Marlin hoped to capture some superspeedway magic, but battery issues on pit road forced him to retire after 35 laps. Joe Ruttman lasted just 32 laps before a valve broke. James Hylton was the slowest qualifier and probably the slowest car on the track, dropping out after just 29 laps with engine failure. Richard Petty was running well in the opening laps when Dale Earnhardt gave him a shove down the frontstretch on lap 6, sending the King into the inside wall. Petty had some strong words for Earnhardt during the first rain delay. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: