|| *Comments on the 1987 Coca-Cola 600:* View the most recent comment <#51> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. HomeDepotKid posted: 01.09.2005 - 1:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was the first race after the race that could have defined Dale Earnhardt. The previous race was a non-points race. The Winston. The 1987 version could be considered "The Greatest" for an ultra-intense 10-lap shootout. In the first or second lap of the 10-lap segment, Bill Elliott, Geoff Bodine, and Dale Earnhardt tangle. Earnhardt is blamed for knocking Bodine into Elliott, although a videotape shows Earnhardt made no contact with Bodine. On the second lap(first after green, caution laps don't count), coming out of turn 4, Bill Elliott hits Dale Earnhardt in the left-rear quarterpanel, knocks him into the grass, and spins him out. Right? WRONG!!! Earnhardt doesn't spin. He runs through the grass, enters the grass in the lead, and comes out in the lead. This move became forever known as "The Pass in the Grass". Eventually, Earnhardt won The Winston. But it wasn't over. Elliott and Bodine were a little understandably frustrated, and punted Earnhardt, on pit road. But Earnhardt won The Winston. Meanwhile, a lesser-publicized incident occured which I only now read about. Rusty Wallace and Kyle Petty had some trouble that race, and had a post-race brawl after the race, with punches thrown. The fight was broken up by Richard Petty. I don't know if this incident's story is true or not. Nonetheless, Kyle went on to win the 600 a few days later. 2. Matthew Sullivan posted: 12.17.2005 - 3:00 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) There was a huge incident involving several cars, notably Rick Wilson and Geoff Bodine. Wilson and Bodine blamed Lake Speed for causing the incident but video footage that Speed did not cause the incident, Wilson did, making contact with Bodine. 3. Steve posted: 05.14.2006 - 6:01 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jim Sauter gains his best career finish (9th), which he would tie a couple of years later at Watkins Glen. 4. Darrell posted: 09.23.2006 - 3:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mark Martin's last race (at least until 2007 or 2008) for someone not named Jack Roush. 5. Canadian Fan posted: 01.03.2007 - 8:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Pass In The Grass http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo4y7MJfeIs 6. Petty43 posted: 12.25.2007 - 3:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) this race had a higher attrition rate than most races in the 50's and 60's. only 17 out of 42 cars were even running at the finish! 7. Anonymous posted: 01.07.2008 - 12:46 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Allan Grice, an Australian debuts in this race 8. Mark O. posted: 01.23.2008 - 8:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The wreck that Matthew is talking about actually happened in the National 500 that fall, not in the 600. 9. Anonymous posted: 07.09.2008 - 10:34 pm Rate this comment: (3) (2) HomeDepotKid, Nice try, but Elliott did nothing wrong, Earnhardt was and still is the dirtest driver to ever live!!! That's what happened! 10. John Royal posted: 10.18.2008 - 7:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mark Martin's only Cup start in 1987 11. Steve posted: 11.16.2008 - 3:59 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) "That's what happened", huh? Prove it. Earnhardt is NOT the only racer who has been dirty. 12. Ryan posted: 01.20.2009 - 11:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Bill hit Dale coming out of turn four in the Winston. Bill definitely had the better car, but he wasn't very patient during the 80's trying to get around someone. He could have eventually got him had he played his cards right. 13. jp posted: 02.25.2009 - 9:20 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) After this race, Elliott gave earnhardt a pop in the back bumper. 14. WallaceFan posted: 04.18.2009 - 11:36 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) Well you cant tell by all the comments about Earnhardt, but Kyle Petty won this race. He lapped the entire field. 15. Spen posted: 05.20.2009 - 11:07 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) On a non-controversial note, the top five finishers all drove for different manufactuers. This was the last time that happened in a cup race. 16. Paul88 posted: 02.22.2010 - 4:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Add Graeme Crosby to the DNQ list. He drove the #04 as a teammate to fellow countryman Allan Grice. Video proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ofg-l6FKLcY 17. Anonymous posted: 05.24.2011 - 8:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wasn't this race that Davey hit a crew member? 18. Walleyewacker posted: 06.08.2011 - 7:43 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) Ryan wrote: >Bill hit Dale coming out of turn four in the Winston. Bill definitely had the better car, but he wasn't very patient during the 80's trying to get around someone. He could have eventually got him had he played his cards right. Get some perspective Ryan. If any driver in the 1980's lacked patience it was Dirty Drivin Dale. Of course lots of times he knocked out a better car for a cheap win. 19. RaceFanX posted: 11.26.2011 - 4:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) DNQ driver Graeme Crosby is from Auckland, New Zealand. Crosby was a great motorcycle racer and scored victories in both the legendary Isle of Man TT and the Daytona 200, making him one of the few if not the only winner of either race to ever try his hand at NASCAR. 20. RaceFanX posted: 11.26.2011 - 5:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And answering #17's question yes this was the race where Davey Allison hit one of his pit crew members as he entered his pit stall at high speed and slide through it. It's moments like that one that make you glad the pit road speed limit is now in place. After polesitter Bill Elliott blew up and Davey had his pit issues Kyle Petty took control and goes on to win by over a lap. This would be the biggest Cup series victory for Kyle and his only one in one of the series' marquee events. It was also his first Cup superspeedway victory and only the second win of his Cup career but his last in a Ford. Humorously he apparently kept his underwear from this race for a few years as a lucky charm before it eventually fell apart. In the closing laps the fourth-place car of Richard Petty helped his son out as he played somewhat of a blocker role with the second and third place cars of Morgan Shepherd and Lake Speed, although both Shepherd and Speed had been lapped by Kyle at that point. Kenny Schrader blew a tire off turn four at one point, since Charlotte then as now had no outer pit wall he simply drove through the frontstretch grass to get to his pit stall without going around the track. 21. Unser1 posted: 11.26.2011 - 5:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race as is tradition was run the same day as the 1987 Indy 500. While Kyle finished first here with his father Richard in fourth place at Indy it was father Al Unser Sr. going to victory lane with his son Al Unser Jr. finishing in fourth. 22. cjs3872 posted: 12.12.2011 - 5:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yes, Unser1, and it was just as bizarre, as the dominant drivers, one by one, fell out. Actually, Rusty Wallace was leading with just 17 laps to go when he ran into trouble, allowing Kyle Petty to win by more than a lap over second and third place. To give youan idea of the heavy attrition in this race, Jim Sauter finished ninth, Buddy Arrington, who finished 12th, was 16 laps [24 miles] behind the winner, and nine laps behind the next car, Neil Bonnett crashed, and failed to finish the race, but was 13th, more than 5 percent of the race distance behind the winner, but was 16 laps ahead of the next finisher, who was Dave Marcis. In fact, only half the field made it 300 laps, which is, of course, three-quarter distance, and only 17 finished. It was reminiscent of a race from the 1960s and 70s in that regard. Of note, Cale Yarborough, who's luck in this race was always wretched, so bad in fact that it was the only major NASCAR race he never won, was the first out. Ironically, Bill Elliott, who also had terrible luck at Charlotte, especially in this race, would also never win the 600, with this arguably being his best shot after his near-miss in the 1982 event. Elliott, for some reason, never got along with Charlotte, even though he won the 500-mile race twice [1984, '87]. In fact, the one time the All-Star Race was run somewhere other than Charlotte, was the one he won. [1986 at Atlanta] And by the way, Unser1, the Coca-Cola/World 600 hasn't always been run the same day as the Indianapolis 500. That didn't start happeneing until 1974, when IMS finally decided to run the Indy 500 on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. In fact, in both 1970 and '71, Donnie Allison ran both races, finishing fourth at Indy in 1970, winning Indy's Rookie of thne Year honors, and finishing sixth at Indy in 1971, and winning the Coca-Cola 600 in 1970, and finishing second to his brother in 1971. Donnie Allison drove at Indy for A.J. Foyt, who he also split the Wood Brothers' car with in 1971, as well as Hoss Ellington's car in 1975 after his release from DiGard Racing until Ellington made him the driver for all the races his team was going to run during the 1976 season. Realizing that it would be foolish to run head-to-head against Indy, the Charlotte Motor Speedway decided to install light in 1992, specifically so fans wouldn't have to choose between watching Indy and skipping the first half of the 600, and watching the 600 and not watching Indy. Starting in 1993, except when rain intervened, fans could now watch both races in their entireties. 23. Evan posted: 12.13.2011 - 9:33 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Kyle Petty wins a race where he conserves his equipment and wins after his competitors fade in the final stages. Also another victory where Kyle Petty put himself in position to win and the biggest margin of victory in his career. Probably the only victory in a crown jewel race Petty shares with his father although Petty did win at Richmond and Dover and Pocono places where his father won, they are the second father-sons to have Coke 600 victories with Davey and Bobby Allison, Davey would get his 4 years later. 24. Chris posted: 10.16.2012 - 5:11 am Rate this comment: (2) (2) "HomeDepotKid, Nice try, but Elliott did nothing wrong, Earnhardt was and still is the dirtest driver to ever live!!! That's what happened!" Typical comment from an Elliott fan. They always were jealous of Earnhardt's success because their driver never could match up. 25. Ed posted: 12.13.2012 - 7:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Yeah, Elliott fans didn't like the fact that their driver didn't go all-out for every position on the track every lap of the race. 26. Joe posted: 03.02.2013 - 8:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Five different car makes made up the top five finishers. 27. Mannoroth posted: 04.26.2013 - 9:24 am Rate this comment: (2) (2) Probadly the last 1 lap margin of victory in NASCAR Modern Era. Today it's almost impossible to be alone on the lead lap, let alone win the race with 1 lap margin of victory. Thank God for that. 28. Flywheel posted: 05.05.2013 - 6:57 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Incorrect, Mannoroth. You must be one of those newbies that likes the lucky dog and double file restarts. http://racing-reference.info/race/1994_Tyson_Holly_Farms_400/W 29. Mannoroth posted: 05.07.2013 - 11:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) I said probadly, not 100% sure and I was wrong. Anyway, I like the lucky dog and double file restarts, because thanks to them the races aren't so boring and the leader isn't alone in the lead lap and the race is balanced, not dominated by one driver. 30. Walleyewhacker posted: 02.15.2014 - 3:24 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) At least Elliott never had to live down a cheap win by spining out or knocking out a car in front of him like Earnhardt used to do so often. Bill had most of the fans behind him as well with 16 Most Popular Driver of the Year Awards. Earnhardt only won the Most Popular Driver of the Year Award in 1998 due to fans awareness of his dirty driving tactics. He failed to repeat in 1999 due to spinning out Terry Labonte at Bristol. Now that's typical Earnhardt. 31. Ed posted: 12.03.2014 - 10:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @Walleyewhacker, Dale only won MPD in 2001, not 1998. He's the only posthumous Most Popular Driver in NASCAR history. 32. Flywheel89 posted: 12.25.2014 - 4:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Per an old AP article, Mark Martin replaced Slick Johnson who crashed in the Sportsman race. Also, the same article indicates Sterling Marlin relieved Morgan Shepherd for a few laps. 33. Anthony posted: 11.30.2015 - 8:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 26 cars fell out of the race. 34. Opie posted: 02.11.2016 - 1:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What would happen in today's NASCAR if 40% of the field DNF'd? 35. James W. McLaughlin posted: 02.11.2016 - 1:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Reply to #34: Most likely, it would leave about 24 cars battling for the win, had 40% of the starters failed to go the distance. 36. The Great Dave posted: 03.11.2016 - 12:14 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) DNQ #40 Robbie Faggart All Pro Auto Parts Oldsmobile I've seen promotional Posters All Pro put out that had an Olds 88 with Faggarts name. Plus there had been mention of Faggart attempting Charrlotte in one of the big NASCAR newsletters. It's likely he DNQed and All Pro jumped over to Waltrips team where they eventually stuck on, or the Sponsor jumped over before the race and forced Robbie to withdraw, 37. Windows Millennium Edition posted: 04.19.2016 - 11:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Neil Bonnett had a very hard crash late in the race when his #75 lost a tire and smacked the wall. However due to all the retirees in the race, Bonnett was able to finish 13th even though he sat the last 21 laps out on the sidelines. 38. saltsburgtrojanfan posted: 02.06.2017 - 8:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Caution 6: #90 blown tire Caution 7: #16 accident turn 2 Caution 8: #5,7,71,77 accident turn 2 Caution 9: debris turn 3 Caution 10: #1,15,55 accident turn 2 Caution 11: #74 engine Caution 12: #75 accident turn 3 39. John Lee Pettimore III posted: 10.15.2017 - 8:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 34 - Guess we found out today at Dega. 65% DNF 40. Tide1732 posted: 02.03.2018 - 1:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) First cup race for Kroger sponsor. 41. RaceFanX posted: 08.22.2018 - 8:59 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lake Speed's third-place run was his only top-5 of the season and his first in over two years. 42. Greg9ChaseFan posted: 12.12.2018 - 10:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) If I remember, Rusty Wallace was the guy to beat, but had a cylinder drop or something. 43. Tarheel posted: 12.12.2018 - 12:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Looking at the race results, I'd say Elliott had the car to beat. Started on the pole, led 186 laps, and blew up while leading on lap 266. He had that problem a lot in the first half of 87. 44. RaceFanX posted: 12.24.2018 - 1:33 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Morgan Shepherd had seven top-5s in 1987 but since he was shut out of the win column this runner-up performance turned out to be both his best run of the season and his best finish at the wheel of NHRA Funny Car champion Kenny Bernstein's #26 Quaker State Buick. Bernstein and his team was more successful in drag racing in 1987. He won the NHRA Funny Car champion that year at the wheel of the insane, barely legal Budweiser King Buick LaSabre "Batmobile," a funny car with a few unique aerodynamic adjustments that gave it it and incredible look and the speeds to match. 45. Anonymous posted: 03.27.2019 - 9:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 48-Tony Spanos Hylton Racing-Chevrolet-James Hylton 70-J.D. McDuffie Rumple Furniture-Pontiac-J.D. McDuffie 54-Donnie Allison JerZees by Russell-Chevrolet-Henley Gray 81-Chet Fillip Warr Valves-Ford-Corey Fillip 04-Graeme Crosby Foster's Lager-1985 Oldsmobile-Bob Jane/John Sheppard/Buddy Weisser III 34-Jesse Samples Allen's Associated Glass/Wrangler-Chevrolet-Ken Allen 82-Mark Stahl Auto Bell Car Wash-Ford-Lane Graham-Stahl WD: 40-Robbie Faggart All Pro Auto Parts-Oldsmobile-??? 46. Spen posted: 05.31.2019 - 8:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I wonder why Elmo Langley's team didn't attempt this race. It was the only race they didn't run in '87. 47. Chase9Fan posted: 07.27.2019 - 10:14 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) PART of me misses the days where cars actually wore down during long races. Where attrition actually plays a role. These cars today could run 1000 mile races without much issue. Just technology. 48. RaceFanX posted: 10.03.2019 - 8:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was Kyle Petty's second and final win with the Wood Brothers. What makes this unusually impressive is that, to date as of 2019, no one since Petty has won more than one race for the team. Dale Jarrett, Morgan Shepherd, Michael Waltrip (All-Star Race), Elliott Sadler, Trevor Bayne, and Ryan Blaney all got the #21 Ford to victory lane once but none of them managed an encore triumph before moving on to other teams. 49. SweetRich posted: 03.11.2020 - 4:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The commentators for the race were Mike Hogewood and Jerry Punch with Mike Joy and Steve Martin on pit road. 50. rateus posted: 04.28.2020 - 3:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Re post 32, here's a photo of Mark Martin in the #12, but that's not his name on the car. Pretty clear Slick Johnson is a driver change for this race. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C4fI-lKWAAA7AOx?format=jpg&name=small 51. Mikey posted: 04.08.2021 - 6:50 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The last Coca-Cola 600 covered by Jefferson Pilot Sports, best known for their coverage of SEC and ACC football and basketball. Long live the 12pm/11am central "Jefferson Pilot games"! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: