slorydn1
5th February 2011, 16:18
1985 was a very interesting year. We had "Jaws" versus "Million Dollar Bill" all season long. For those who don't remember, Bill Elliott pulled off the Grand Slam and ended up winning a cool million dollar bonus for his troubles. But, while he was able to win 11 races that year, to DW's 3, he had a really bad stretch between race 21 (Richmond) and race 24 (North Wilkesboro) and DW made up a couple of hundred point deficit to win his third Winston Cup by 101 points. DW bested Elliott with 18 top 5's (to 16) and 21 top-10's (to 18). The real Winston Cup standings can be found here:
http://www.racing-reference.info/yeardet?s=4&yr=1985&series=W
Lets see how the FIA Cup shakes out:
001 Bill Elliott...........361
002 Darrell Waltrip........319
003 Harry Gant.............269
004 Ricky Rudd.............210
005 Neil Bonnett...........195
006 Dale Earnhardt.........187
007 Terry Labonte..........184
008 Geoff Bodine...........169
009 Cale Yarborough........122
010 Kyle Petty.............120
011 Bobby Allison..........103
012 Ron Bouchard...........102
013 Tim Richmond...........096
014 Lake Speed.............068
015 Richard Petty..........065
32 drivers scored at least 1 point this year, same as 1984. For only the third time since 1975, we have a split championship. Bill Elliot hangs on and wins by 42 points over DW. He clinched with a win at Atlanta (DW was P3) in the penultimate race of the year. Elliot averaged 12.9 ppr this year. Richard Petty dropped all the way to p15 with his 65 points, the lowest p15 total since the 64 in 1981. The group as a whole averaged 6.3 ppr, the final time that the group ppr would be over 6.0. There were only 28 races this year, the lowest number of the entire 36 year study. So, although the groups average number of starts (27.2) seems low, keep in mind that's 27.2 of 28, so its really not that bad. Cale Yarborough (16 starts) is the only driver on this list to not compete in all the races. The groups average start of 10.8 and average finish of 13.2 is pretty average for the study. 27 of the 28 race wins were in the group, with all 27 of those among the top 9 drivers (Greg Sacks pulled off a surprise win in his Di-Gard Chevy over Bill Elliott's T-Bird in the Firecracker 400-the Fords had been DOMINATING the big tracks up that point that year).
The reliability numbers backslid a little, with the RAF 20.5 of 28 (75.39%) and the DNF up to 6.7. The group averaged finishing on the lead lap 7.7 of the 28 races, or just 28.43% of the time, the final time they group would be under 30%.
Bill Elliott is the 1985 Bud Pole Award winner, with 10 poles.
Congrats to Darrell Waltrip, the 1985 Winston Cup Champion :beer:
Congrats to Bill Elliott, the 1985 FIA Cup Champion :beer:
http://www.racing-reference.info/yeardet?s=4&yr=1985&series=W
Lets see how the FIA Cup shakes out:
001 Bill Elliott...........361
002 Darrell Waltrip........319
003 Harry Gant.............269
004 Ricky Rudd.............210
005 Neil Bonnett...........195
006 Dale Earnhardt.........187
007 Terry Labonte..........184
008 Geoff Bodine...........169
009 Cale Yarborough........122
010 Kyle Petty.............120
011 Bobby Allison..........103
012 Ron Bouchard...........102
013 Tim Richmond...........096
014 Lake Speed.............068
015 Richard Petty..........065
32 drivers scored at least 1 point this year, same as 1984. For only the third time since 1975, we have a split championship. Bill Elliot hangs on and wins by 42 points over DW. He clinched with a win at Atlanta (DW was P3) in the penultimate race of the year. Elliot averaged 12.9 ppr this year. Richard Petty dropped all the way to p15 with his 65 points, the lowest p15 total since the 64 in 1981. The group as a whole averaged 6.3 ppr, the final time that the group ppr would be over 6.0. There were only 28 races this year, the lowest number of the entire 36 year study. So, although the groups average number of starts (27.2) seems low, keep in mind that's 27.2 of 28, so its really not that bad. Cale Yarborough (16 starts) is the only driver on this list to not compete in all the races. The groups average start of 10.8 and average finish of 13.2 is pretty average for the study. 27 of the 28 race wins were in the group, with all 27 of those among the top 9 drivers (Greg Sacks pulled off a surprise win in his Di-Gard Chevy over Bill Elliott's T-Bird in the Firecracker 400-the Fords had been DOMINATING the big tracks up that point that year).
The reliability numbers backslid a little, with the RAF 20.5 of 28 (75.39%) and the DNF up to 6.7. The group averaged finishing on the lead lap 7.7 of the 28 races, or just 28.43% of the time, the final time they group would be under 30%.
Bill Elliott is the 1985 Bud Pole Award winner, with 10 poles.
Congrats to Darrell Waltrip, the 1985 Winston Cup Champion :beer:
Congrats to Bill Elliott, the 1985 FIA Cup Champion :beer: