|| *Comments on the 1987 First Union 400:* View the most recent comment <#22> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. jay posted: 12.13.2005 - 11:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Brett Bodine relieved Terry Labonte early in the race because Labonte had a broken left arm after a hard multi-car wreck on lap 144 the previous week at Darlington. 2. most posted: 12.09.2006 - 11:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also the last race for the great DiGard team :( 3. RaceFanX posted: 02.15.2008 - 6:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Replacing Tommy Ellis in Eric Freelander's #18 Chevy, Dale Jarrett officially becomes a Winston Cup regular in this event. From the exception of a limited period of time at the start of the 1990 season, he's been one ever since. 4. RaceFanX posted: 09.19.2009 - 11:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ...until his 2008 retirement. Bobby Baker's lone NASCAR start 5. Shift into Top Gear posted: 09.19.2009 - 11:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jesse Samples, Jr's second and final Cup start produces his best finish, 29th 6. Dan posted: 05.22.2012 - 1:08 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Sprint Car star Doug Wolfgang qualified the #12 for Roger Hamby, but decided not to race and handed the wheel over to Slick Johnson. 7. 83andJoe posted: 07.06.2013 - 5:10 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #10 crew chief: Roland Wlodyka 8. saltsburgtrojanfan posted: 02.05.2017 - 5:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Caution 1: #8 spun turn 3 Caution 2: #5,17 accident turn 3 Caution 3: #55 spun frontstretch Caution 4: #62 accident turn 4 Caution 5: #71 spun turn 4 Caution 6: #5 engine Caution 7: #16,26,30 accident turn 4 Caution 8: #16 spun backstretch 9. Thomas posted: 02.05.2017 - 10:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) To the rear: 11-Terry Labonte (driver change, Brett Bodine got in the car after 1 pace lap under 1987 rules that was all that was needed for Terry to get the points) Cautions: 12-14(#8 spin turn 3) 19-24 (#5, 15, 17 accident turn 3) 49-52 (#55 spin frontstretch) 68-77 (#62 accident turn 4) 122-126 (#71 spin turn 4) 241-247 (#5 engine) 260-266 (#16, 26, 30 accident turn 3) 367-373 (#16 spin backstretch) Source: Youtube video of the whole race 10. RaceFanX posted: 03.27.2019 - 3:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle Petty's runner-up performance was the first of six top-5 finishes for him this season in the Wood Brothers' Citgo #21 Ford. 11. RaceFanX posted: 03.27.2019 - 3:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Driver Change Listing- Doug Wolfgang (Born: July 26, 1952, Home: Sioux Falls, SD)- #12 Hesco Exhaust Systems Oldsmobile owned by Roger Hamby 12. Shawn posted: 10.25.2019 - 7:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was one of the 7 races this season Davey Allison would not race. I saw that his deal was to run the full schedule, anyone know why he missed 7 races? 13. Spen posted: 10.26.2019 - 12:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsorship, or rather the lack thereof. 14. BradTeagueFan~ posted: 12.14.2019 - 5:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Michael Waltrip's car had the Domino's paint scheme, but no sponsor on it for this race~ 15. JonahHeston posted: 12.17.2019 - 7:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsors: 9 Bill Elliott: Coors/Melling Oil Pumps 71 Dave Marcis: Lifebuoy/Helen Rae 16. JonahHeston posted: 12.19.2019 - 9:44 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Re: Davey Allison, the Ranier team didn't have a short track program due to Cale only wanting to run the speedways. In the broadcast of the fall race they mentioned Allison using the race as a test session, making multiple pitstops to try different setups and shock packages. 17. SweetRich posted: 02.14.2020 - 10:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) The Commentators For This Event Consisted Of Bob Jenkins And Larry Nuber. The Pit Road Reporters Consisted Of Dick Berggren And Jerry Punch. 18. rateus posted: 04.27.2020 - 7:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Brett Bodine should be listed as a driver change, unsurprisingly he also qualified the #11. Not sure if the same is true for Bristol but it seems likely. https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:gbSZMIXxEXEJ:https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/04/04/Bill-Elliott-broke-a-six-year-old-track-record-Saturday-in/6120544510800/+&cd=32&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk Any idea who qualified the #81 that Eddie Bierschwale took over for race day? 19. NewGuyOnTheBlock posted: 08.24.2020 - 11:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) ESPN broadcast this race. 20. NewGuyOnTheBlock posted: 09.01.2020 - 11:14 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Dale Earnhardt continued his scorched earth campaign of 1987, leading 319 of 400 laps to score another dominating victory, his fourth of the season. Kyle Petty methodically drove through the field to score an excellent second-place finish. Petty ran top-10 for most of the day before moving into the top-5 in the closing stages, taking second from Neil Bonnett on the last restart. Neil Bonnett was the only driver who could challenge Earnhardt, leading 56 laps and finishing in third. Bonnett might have been able to finish higher had he not lost second on the final restart to Kyle Petty. Alan Kulwicki scored his first top-5 finish of the season in fourth, the last car on the lead lap. Kulwicki's team suffered a scary moment when a crew member was struck by another car during pitstops, requiring a trip to the local hospital. Ricky Rudd recovered from damage sustained in an early crash to finish a lap down in fifth. Richard Petty continued his excellent start to the 1987 season by leading a lap and coming home with another top-10 finish, a lap down in sixth. Phil Parsons scored a second straight top-ten finish in seventh, 1 lap down after a spin halfway through. Terry Labonte ran the first pace lap before handing the wheel over to Busch Series regular Brett Bodine, as Labonte had injured his shoulder in the previous week's Darlington race. Bodine ran well in the #11 Chevy, finishing 2 laps down in eighth. Rusty Wallace caved in the front of his Pontiac after contact with another car, yet still brought his #27 home 2 laps down in ninth. Bill Elliott shocked the gathered crowds with his first career pole on a short track. On race day, Elliott led the first 10 laps before handling issues knocked him out of contention. Elliott finished 2 laps down in tenth. Harry Gant managed to avoid a DNF for the second straight week, coming home 2 laps down in eleventh. Perhaps his luck had turned? Dale Jarrett moved up to the Winston Cup level after spending years in the Busch Series, replacing the departing Tommy Ellis at Freedlander Motorsports. In his first start of the season, the rookie Jarrett finished 2 laps down in twelfth. Bobby Hillin Jr. recovered from an early spin to lead a lap under caution and finish 3 laps down in thirteenth. Bobby Allison ran as high as second in the first half of the race before dropping like a rock during the second half, finishing 4 laps down in fourteenth at the finish. Benny Parsons led 12 laps early in the running before fading from contention, finishing 4 laps down in fifteenth. Still, not bad for a driver who hadn't raced at North Wilkesboro in years. Ken Schrader was hoping for another top-10 finish to keep his hot start to the season going, but a flat tire during a long green-flag run late in the running would relegate him to sixteenth, 4 laps down. Sterling Marlin was never a factor, struggling with handling throughout the day and finishing 5 laps down in seventeenth. Eddie Bierschwale failed to qualify the Buddy Arrington Ford but thankfully was bailed out as the Filip Brothers lent Bierschwale their #81 Ford. Bierschwale finished in eighteenth, 8 laps off the pace. Slick Johnson was originally not supposed to start this race but would take over for Doug Wolfgang when the latter was withdrawn. Johnson would lead his first lap since 1983 en route to a solid nineteenth-place finish, 8 laps down. Rodney Combs made his third start of the season, finishing 14 laps down in twentieth. Unfortunately, it would be the final start for Combs' employer, DiGard Racing. The legendary team, having struggled financially for years, shut its doors following this race. Darrell Waltrip was a favorite for the win until he spun into Geoff Bodine in the opening laps. With his car badly damaged, and engine problems striking around halfway, Waltrip limped home to finish in twenty-first, 17 laps down. Rookie Jerry Cranmer managed to keep the Elmo Langley Racing Ford out of trouble, finishing 20 laps down in twenty-second. Bobby Baker made his only NASCAR start in this race, driving for D.K. Ulrich's team. Baker was easily the slowest car on track, finishing 20 laps off the pace in twenty-third. For this race, he will receive the "NewGuyOnTheBlock Snail Award". Michael Waltrip was without primary sponsor Dominos Pizza for this race, showing up to North Wilkesboro with a car painted in Dominos colors but without any sponsor decals. Waltrip was caught up in the Larry Pearson/Morgan Shepherd crash, finishing 21 laps down in twenty-fourth. Busch Series regular Larry Pearson made his first start of the season and promptly had a terrible day, spinning twice and eventually retiring with a broken rear end after 359 laps. Dave Marcis had qualified poorly and was charging through the field when he spun off track on lap 122. Marcis suffered mechanical troubles after the spin, finishing 84 laps down in twenty-sixth after spending an extended period of time in the pits. Morgan Shepherd used an unconventional high line to race within the top-10 for much of the afternoon. Unfortunately for Shepherd, his high-line strategy would not help him to avoid a collision with Larry Pearson, who had spun into his path on lap 260. Shepherd would not be able to continue after the contact. Geoffrey Bodine looked to be a contender for the win early on before he was collected in a crash with Darrell Waltrip. With only slight damage to the rear of the car, Bodine struggled on and was knocking on a possible top-10 when his engine expired on lap 115. Jesse Samples Jr. made the second and final start of his Winston Cup career, retiring with a broken rear end housing after 156 laps. Samples struggled all day with handling, having multiple run-ins with other drivers. A rare mechanical failure sidelined Jimmy Means, whose cars usually avoided such issues. In this case, a broken cylinder head put Means out after 74 laps. Rookie Steve Christman looked to possibly score his first top-20 finish of the season after a solid qualifying run, but a shunt with the turn 4 wall on lap 68 would put him out of the race. J.D. McDuffie would finish dead last for the second week in a row as a blown engine put him out after 29 laps. 21. rateus posted: 02.05.2021 - 8:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Found the starting line-up for this race which raises a couple of questions. Buddy Arrington's Ford is shown as being qualified 29th by none other than Buddy himself, while Eddie Bierschwale is also listed as the first provisional in an Oldsmobile. Looks to me like Eddie took over Buddy's ride while the vacant spot was filled by Slick Johnson (neither he nor Wolfgang is listed at all). Alas the line-up doesn't list owners so no idea if the Olds raced by Johnson is the same one vacated by Bierschwale. 22. possum posted: 02.05.2021 - 7:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) According to Ultimate Racing History, Doug Wolfgang qualified the #12, which was driven in the race by Slick Johnson. The #81 of Corey Fillip and the #67 of Buddy Arrington seem to have operated as a sort of team, since they have the same sponsor and seem to swap drivers thruout the year. In this case it looks like Arrington qualified Fillip's car, and Bierschwale failed to qualify Arrington's (that driver lineup appears in at least one other race). Both of those cars were Fords, so the lineup which shows Bierschwale in an Olds is wrong in at least that regard. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: