|| *Comments on the 1987 Daytona 500:* View the most recent comment <#54> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Tony posted: 12.13.2005 - 9:45 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) The last unrestricted Daytona 500. Bill Elliott to this day says that the qualifying lap he is most proud of is his 210.364 in this race. They were haulin' the MAIL around this racetrack! 2. Steve posted: 01.24.2006 - 10:29 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) After 1986, Benny Parsons was on the verge of retirement. Then he gets the call from Rick Hendrick to drive the car with which the sidelined Tim Richmond won 7 races in 1986. "Ol' BP" responds by winning the 2nd 125 mile qualifier, finishing 2nd to Bill Elliott, and finishing 16th in points with 6 Top 5's and 9 Top 10's. Impresive for a driver who hadn't run a full schedule in 6 years. 3. CanucksAndNASCAR Fan posted: 05.15.2006 - 4:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Geoffrey Bodine had a shot to repeat his 1986 triumph, but ran out of gas late, allowing Elliott to capitalize on Bodine's misfourtune to score his second Daytona 500 win in three years. First race for Darrell Waltrip at Hendrick Motorsports, driving the Tide Ride. Also, Benny Parsons was driving in place of Tim Richmond, who had been sick since the offseason. 4. nascarman posted: 05.15.2006 - 11:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The first wreck free Daytona 500 since 1960.Surprisingly it followed a wreckfest speedweeks. 5. Steve posted: 10.07.2006 - 5:56 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I didn't notice this error until now: "(Benny) finished second to Bill Elliott" That is, in the Daytona 500. 6. Matthew Sullivan posted: 12.31.2006 - 4:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The (re)debut of Lake Speed Racing, at least using the number 83. 7. Anonymous posted: 01.26.2007 - 6:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) One of Richard Petty's last great runs. 8. myself posted: 02.16.2007 - 4:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The debut of Cale Yarborough Motorsports....Cale finished 10th in his first outing as an owner/driver. Davey Allison's debut in the #28! Ken Schrader's first Twin win. 9. Anonymous posted: 10.30.2007 - 1:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Davey broke a wheel on a pit stop and had to go to the garage. 10. Neal posted: 01.22.2008 - 4:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (4) In 20 years of watching NASCAR this was easily the single most boring Daytona 500 I've ever witnessed. The only redeeming quality is the fact that it was the last unrestricted 500. The field was spread out for most of the day and if Davey Allison hadn't lost a wheel on a pit stop or Geoff Bodine hadn't scraped the wall there would've been 2 cautions and an average speed of well over 180mph. 11. Ryan posted: 02.11.2008 - 2:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Another one that got away from Dale. Had he had a good pit stop at all he would have won. Same for Benny Parsons, his crew was a little slow on his stop and he would have won 12. RaceFanX posted: 02.21.2008 - 1:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Derrike Cope, a future Daytona 500 winner, makes his first start in the "Great American Race." He wound up 33rd after overheating put him out on lap 124 13. MegaRacer posted: 03.15.2008 - 2:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Tom Sneva's last Winston Cup start. 14. Clayton posted: 05.07.2008 - 7:44 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Awesome Bill wins the last un-restricted Daytona 500! fitting huh! Way to Go AWESOME BILL!! good job by the late Benny Parsons. Running second! he finished 2nd and Petty ran 3rd and Baker 4th! those are guys who had nice runs toward the ends of their careers! Nice job all 3! 15. Anonymous posted: 07.04.2010 - 12:29 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Neal is an idiot. 16. Zuel660 posted: 11.11.2010 - 10:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) From about lap 150 til the end there is some great racing in this event, with Elliott, Earnhardt, Parsons, Baker, Bodine, Petty, Schrader, and others all contesting for the front. Bodine gambles on fuel & comes up short, Elliott wins over a fast closing Parsons. & no wrecks in this race, which I loved to see! The last 'pure' Daytona 500! In no way was this a boring race!! 17. jessie henry posted: 02.08.2011 - 12:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) good race not best 18. RaceFanX posted: 03.06.2011 - 1:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Alan Kulwicki makes his first start in his later iconic #7. 19. b4il3y posted: 07.02.2011 - 2:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Benny was catching him. Not enough time. :( 20. 1995z71 posted: 05.17.2012 - 9:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The first time Morgan-McClure fielded two cars. 21. David posted: 10.12.2012 - 7:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Earnhardt ran out of gas with three laps to go in the 1986 Daytona 500 and finished 14th. Geoff Bodine ran out of gas with three laps to go in the 1987 Daytona 500 and finished 14th. 22. Jim4Bill posted: 01.22.2013 - 1:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bill had the car to beat the first 100 laps (almost as good as his 1985 car) - but he started to loose the handle in the closing laps. A fast final pit stop by the Melling team was the only reason he had enough of a lead to hold off Parsons for the win. Earnhardt and Parsons had the 2 best cars right before the last stop, but did not have the track position after the stop to capitalize. 23. RaceFanX posted: 01.31.2013 - 8:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DNQ cars / owners: Dick McCabe- #00 McCabe Bait Chevrolet- Dick McCabe Joe Booher- #02 Duraglass Car Care Pontiac- Joe Booher Jeff Swindell- #09 Swindell Racing Chevrolet- Jeff Swindell Tommy Ellis- #18 Freedlander Financial Chevrolet- Eric Freedlander Grant Adcox- #24 Herb Adcox Chevrolet sponsored Chevrolet- Herb Adcox Jonathan Lee Edwards- #32 Edwards Racing Chevrolet- Jonathan Lee Edwards Ronnie Thomas- #41 J & M Glass Pontiac - Ronnie Thomas Delma Cowart- #49 Clearfield Speedway Chevrolet- H.L. Waters Steve Moore- #48 Fleet Service Chevrolet- James Hylton Donnie Allison- #54 Jerzees Chevrolet- Henley Gray Steve Christman- #62 Winkle Motorsports Pontiac- Tom Winkle Phil Barkdoll- #73 Helen Rae Oldsmobile- Phil Barkdoll Bobby Wawak- #74 Wawak Racing Chevrolet- Bobby Wawak Jim Sauter- #89 Evinrude Outboards Pontiac- Mueller Brothers Ralph Jones- #92 Country Boy Waterbeds Ford- Lucky Compton Charlie Baker- #93 Salmon Chevrolet sponsored Chevrolet- Patsy Salmon David Simko- #51 Mound Steel Chevrolet- Elmer Simko 24. letmeby posted: 02.19.2013 - 7:15 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ed Pimm- #98 Curb Racing Buick- Mike Curb 25. 83andJoe posted: 07.06.2013 - 5:10 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #10 crew chief: Roland Wlodyka 26. Goernie28 posted: 08.09.2013 - 11:40 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) That second Morgan-McClure was the team's backup car. They loaned it to AJ Foyt after he wrecked his car earlier in the week. I believe AJ's poor performance in the 500 led to one of my favorite quotes of all time: "Well, we were picking our nose." 27. b4il3y posted: 11.27.2013 - 3:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I wanted Benny to win this so bad lol. 28. Walleyewhacker posted: 02.15.2014 - 3:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bill had the fastest car for half the race and pitted at the right time. A nice team win. 29. 23andJoe posted: 04.02.2014 - 9:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #29 crew chief: Jake Elder (through the TranSouth 500 at Darlington) 30. Nascarman posted: 08.13.2014 - 5:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Waddell Wilson was Darrell Waltrip's crew chief for the first 12 races of the season. 31. Dave posted: 03.16.2015 - 2:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The fact this race was run 3 years before my birth and I'm sitting here wishing BP pulled it off speaks volumes to his character. Man I miss Benny. Scrolling the top 10 is like a who's who of NASCAR greats 32. myself posted: 04.09.2015 - 11:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) You're exactly right, Dave. Minus Ken Schrader, the other 9 are either in or will be in the Hall of Fame. 33. Ryan W posted: 09.12.2015 - 12:20 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This top 10 and the 1984 top 9 was quite impressive 34. bigjohnson posted: 04.09.2016 - 3:54 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I remember the opening to either the 500 or maybe the 125s and I think Mike Joy explained how fast Bill Elliot went and he had some lap charts with him that he tossed away saying they couldn't be used because they only went down to a 43 second lap which is "only" 209.302 mph. Elliot went 42.783 secs. or 210.364 mph. 35. Nathan8848 posted: 05.22.2016 - 11:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The only race Earnhardt didn't lead the points after the race during the year. 36. cjs3872 posted: 01.18.2017 - 12:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The reasons for this race's four cautions are as follows: Caution 1 (Laps 42-45): Debris (28-D. Allison lost right rear tire in T3) Caution 2 (Laps 49-52): 67-Bierschwale blown engine Caution 3 (Laps 140-143): 19-Cope blown engine Caution 4 (Laps 155-157): 5-Bodine hit wall T4 37. oldgrandnational posted: 12.16.2017 - 7:31 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) One of the best 500's. Right there with 1969 and 1976. 38. Kentucky Wildcat posted: 02.12.2018 - 1:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) After falling out in the first 20 laps, AJ Foyt said in his interview "We were absolutely flying. Had picked up 12 positions right away from the start. I think one of the guys left a spark plug wire laying on the header or it dropped a value. It's a damn shame. I don't know what's going on with my crew, why they can't get their heads together" It was too bad because the way he came up through there, The Indy Car legend AJ Foyt would've probably been contending with the leaders later on in the race 39. Jordan posted: 02.12.2018 - 5:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hard to say if AJ Foyt would have really contended or not, he dropped out so early that even if he had stayed in longer the engine may have blown for another reason. I think the more interesting "what if" is what if the race were 5 or so laps longer, meaning Benny Parsons and Richard Petty catch Awesome Bill, boy that would have been a shootout for the ages at 200+ mph. 40. Jolly Mean Giant posted: 06.02.2018 - 11:33 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) First Daytona 500 starts for Alan Kulwicki, Rodney Combs, Michael Waltrip, Davey Allison, and Derrike Cope. Only Daytona 500 starts for David Sosebee, Mark Stahl, and Chet Fillip. Last Daytona 500 starts for Ken Ragan, Tom Sneva, and Ron Bouchard. 41. RaceFanX posted: 07.19.2018 - 10:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Richard Petty's third-place run here marked his last top-10 finish at Daytona, a track where the King won 10 points races and 12 times overall. This was Petty's only top-10 finish at the track after he recorded his final Cup win here in July 1984. 42. rm posted: 01.02.2019 - 10:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 50 crew chief - David Ifft 43. zuel660 posted: 02.07.2019 - 9:07 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) While the rest of the Ford teams ran the new '87 T-Birds, Ronnie Sanders' team still had the '83-'86 style T-Bird in this race. 44. RaceFanX posted: 02.13.2019 - 1:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Davey Allison's big debut in Harry Ranier's famous #28 sees him put the white-and-black Ford Thunderbird on the outside pole during qualifying. That had to be a major relief for Allison, this was his third attempt at the Daytona 500 and both of his previous ones ended up DNQs. Allison's first outing at Daytona may not have gone well, see above, but he would soon find success here. 45. Evan posted: 02.13.2019 - 2:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And to add to that, Davey Allison started the 1987 season without sponsorship. 46. JollyMeanGiant posted: 08.04.2019 - 12:49 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Add to DNQS: Jocko Maggiacomo, #63 Linro Motorsports Chevrolet (Owner: Jim Rosenblum) Participated in qualifying and was to start 31st in the first 125, but did not take the green flag. 47. Yahboi posted: 10.03.2019 - 6:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bill Elliott would lead the first laps of the 87 season and the final laps, something someone else would do 8 years later in 1995. Just who was that someone? Only the 1987 Champion Dale Earnhardt, who Bill Elliott finished 2nd to that year. 48. Ryan posted: 10.03.2019 - 10:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @47 What's even more ironic is that both finished second in the championship standings in those respective years. Bill should have won three titles. 49. myself posted: 01.21.2020 - 3:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Ranier team had to know Havoline was about to jump on board, considering how the car was painted for this race. 50. SweetRich posted: 02.20.2020 - 3:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Commentators For The Race Were Ken Squier, David Hobbs Ned Jarrett. The Pit Road Reporters Dave Despain, Chris Economaki And Mike Joy. 51. NewGuyOnTheBlock posted: 08.06.2020 - 6:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) CBS broadcast this race. 52. NewGuyOnTheBlock posted: 08.07.2020 - 4:09 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) For the second time in his career, Bill Elliott won the Daytona 500 in dominating fashion. Elliott led 104 of 200 laps, taking the lead for good with 3 laps to go after Geoff Bodine ran out of fuel. Unlike his first victory, Elliott was unable to pull away from the field. Rather, he had to constantly duel with the other leaders to preserve first place. Benny Parsons needed one more lap if he was to catch Bill Elliott at the end. Parsons ran a spectacular race, leading 2 laps and running inside the top-10 throughout the afternoon. Had he not overshot his pit box on the final round of pitstops, Parsons might have become a two-time winner of the 500. Instead, he had to settle for second. Richard Petty's third-place finish here was his final top-5 finish at Daytona. The King led 2 laps and ran up front all day long, but stretched his fuel a little too much at the end. Buddy Baker probably had the second fastest car, leading 45 laps while dueling for the lead with Bill Elliott. An alternate pit strategy resulted in Baker falling to fourth at the finish, though his overall race was easily his best performance of 1987. Dale Earnhardt led 16 laps and was leading when the final round of pitstops began. Earnhardt came in towards the end of the cycle, where his team struggled to get his tank full during the stop. An extended pitstop would drop Earnhardt out of the top-5, though he would battle back to finish in fifth. Bobby Allison struggled with fuel mileage throughout the many long green-flag runs that dotted this race, though he still kept up with the main pack to finish sixth. Ken Schrader had a breakout performance, leading 14 laps and battling Elliott for the lead throughout the later stages of the race. Schrader was rewarded by tieing his then career-best finish of seventh. Darrell Waltrip's first points-race for Hendrick Motorsports was quite uneventful, as he spent much of the race in the back half of the top-10. Waltrip would lead a lap during pitstops and came home in eighth. Ricky Rudd had to start this race down in 31st after problems in his qualifying race. Rudd would charge through the field to finish in ninth, a remarkable run. Cale Yarborough scored the final top-10 Daytona 500 finish of his career with a tenth-place run. Yarborough had become an owner-driver in the offseason and had done little to impress during speedweeks, which made his top-10 finish all the more impressive. Phil Parsons took over the #55 Jackson Brothers Oldsmobile after brother Benny was signed to Hendrick Motorsports during the offseason. Now the lead driver for his team, young Phil would put in a solid effort in the 500, finishing eleventh, the last car on the lead lap. Neil Bonnett reunited with RahMoc Enterprises for the first time since 1983 and spent no time at all getting acquainted with them. Bonnett led 5 laps and could've finished inside the top-10 had he not pitted way later than the rest of the leaders. Bonnett was forced to settle for twelfth, 1 lap down. Bobby Hillin Jr. was his usual quiet self during this race, spending much of the afternoon inside the top-15 and finishing a lap down in thirteenth. Geoffrey Bodine was right up there with Elliott and Baker as one of the strongest cars throughout the race. Bodine led 10 laps and was leading with 3 to go when he ran out of fuel across the start-finish line. Bodine fell a lap down as he limped back to the pits, eventually crossing the line in fourteenth. Alan Kulwicki made his first Daytona 500 after failing to qualify the previous year. Kulwicki fell off the pace early but toughed it out to finish 2 laps down in fifteenth. Morgan Shepherd joined forces with Kenny Bernstein's King Racing for 1987, replacing the now ride-less Joe Ruttman. Shepherd struggled throughout speedweeks, finishing the 500 2 laps down in sixteenth. Still, it was his first race finish since Richmond in 1986. Ken Ragan made the 500 for the final time in his career, and he made the most of it. Despite a brief brush with the wall, Ragan would come across the line in seventeenth, 3 laps off the pace. It would end up being his best (and only) finish of the season. Terry Labonte was running well in the early stages before a mechanical issue brought him into the pits. Labonte would manage to finish the race in eighteenth, 3 laps down. Rodney Combs would end up being the highest finishing rookie in the 500, finishing 3 laps down in nineteenth. Combs was expected to run the full schedule with DiGard for 1987, but the team's financial struggles would mean that this was Combs' only start in the first 4 races of 1987. Greg Sacks started dead last after a crash in the Twin 125s on Thursday. The veteran managed to come home twentieth but was 4 laps off the pace thanks to engine woes. Ronnie Sanders made the second start of his Winston Cup career in a year-old Ford, finishing 5 laps down in twenty-first. Sanders had previously started the 1981 Daytona 500, and he would make just one more start after this race (which also came at Daytona). Michael Waltrip's Daytona 500 debut saw him struggle with pace all race long, coming across the line 7 laps down in twenty-second. Trevor Boys was brutally slow throughout the event, finishing 9 laps off the pace in twenty-third. Jimmy Means picked up major sponsorship for 1987 with Car & Driver Magazine joining his #52 Pontiac. Despite the new sponsorship, Means would still struggle with speed throughout the race, finishing 9 laps down in twenty-fourth. J.D. McDuffie was off the pace from the drop of the green flag, coming home 9 laps down in twenty-fifth. Lake Speed's first race as an owner-driver saw the Mississippi-native run inside the top-10 for much of the afternoon. Speed was headed towards a solid finish when he blew his motor exiting the pits on his last pitstop, forcing him out after 188 laps. Davey Allison started from the outside of the front row and ran inside the top-10 in the opening stages of the race. But a mistake on his first pitstop cost Allison a chance at victory, as his team failed to secure the lug nuts on the right-rear tire. Allison would limp back to the pits after the tire fell off, eventually returning to the track 16 laps down. He would have to settle for twenty-seventh at the finish. David Sosebee was off the pace from the get-go, finishing 16 laps down in twenty-eighth. This would be Sosebee's only appearance in the Great American Race. Tom Sneva's final career start in NASCAR saw him struggle to handle his Oldsmobile throughout the race, eventually dropping out with engine failure after 182 laps. Sterling Marlin made the switch to Hagan Racing in the offseason and immediately showed that he would be a contender, leading a lap during the 500. Marlin would, unfortunately, come up short in the race, dropping out with a broken clutch after 167 laps. Harry Gant's season from hell started off with a solid run in the early stages of the 500, as Gant ran up as high as sixth. But a transmission issue would force him to the sidelines after 156 laps. This was the first of 21 DNFs for Gant during the 1987 campaign. Ron Bouchard joined Hoss Ellington's team for his final Daytona 500 appearance. While the team was expecting to run well considering their previous success on the superspeedway, Bouchard would struggle with speed all afternoon, eventually dropping out after 125 laps with an engine failure. Derrike Cope moved up from the Winston West ranks to compete for Rookie of the Year honors in 1987. In his first 500 appearance, the future winner of the race would drop out after 124 laps with an overheating engine. Dave Marcis was running well inside the top-20 when an oil leak sidelined him just after halfway. Kyle Petty made his way into the top-10 and was just outside the lead pack of cars when a valve broke on his #21 Ford, ending his 500 after 72 laps. Eddie Bierschwale took over the driving duties of the #67 Ford following Buddy Arrington's retirement. In his first race with the team, Bierschwale was running well when his engine expired after 44 laps. Rick Wilson may have had a top-5 car. We'll never know, as he was running inside the top-10 when his clutch burnt out after just 37 laps. Rookie Mark Stahl's only Daytona 500 appearance saw him woefully off the pace in the opening laps before retiring with engine failure after 36 circuits. Chet Fillip made his first start since shattering his kneecap in a crash at Charlotte back in 1986. Fillip would make it 19 laps into the race before his engine let go, ending his only 500 start. Connie Saylor was another early exit, dropping out after 12 laps with engine failure. Rusty Wallace had a poor qualifying effort but was working with Ricky Rudd to move through the field when a piston broke on his Pontiac, putting him out after just 10 laps. A.J. Foyt was injured in his Twin 125 but recovered in time to start the 500 in Rick Wilson's backup car. Foyt was charging his way through the field in the opening laps when a spark plug broke, resulting in Foyt finishing last. 53. Rich posted: 01.03.2021 - 7:45 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The studio host was Chris Economaki along with being on pit road. 54. myself posted: 02.17.2021 - 1:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Holy Shit! What a summary!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: