1986 Daytona 500
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1986 Daytona 500
The 1986 Daytona 500, the 28th running of the event, was held February 16 at Daytona International Speedway, in Daytona Beach, Florida. it was the first race of 29 in the 1986 NASCAR Winston Cup season. Defending race winner Bill Elliott won the pole for the second year in a row, and outside pole sitter Geoffrey Bodine won the race and led 101 laps, including the final 34. Race Recap On lap 116, a major accident (such crashes are now known as " The Big One") in turn 4 involved several cars, including some contenders for the win. 1980 winner Buddy Baker, Neil Bonnett (already several laps down after earlier problems), defending race winner Bill Elliott, Tommy Ellis, Harry Gant, Kyle Petty, Joe Ruttman, Lake Speed, & four-time 500 winner Cale Yarborough were involved in the crash, but Elliott, Ellis, Petty, and Speed were able to continue the race. Geoff Bodine won this race on fuel mileage after engaging in a long feud with Dale Earnhardt. Earnhardt was forced to pit for gas ...
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Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three held in Florida, with the annual fall showdown Dixie Vodka 400 being held at Homestead south of Miami. From 1988 to 2019, it was one of the four restrictor plate races on the Cup schedule. The inaugural Daytona 500 was held in 1959 coinciding with the opening of the speedway and since 1982, it has been the season-opening race of the Cup series. The Daytona 500 is regarded as the most important and prestigious race on the NASCAR calendar, carrying by far the largest purse. Championship points awarded are equal to that of any other NASCAR Cup Series race. It is also the series' first race of the year; this phenomenon is unique in sports, which tend to have championships or other major events at the end of the season rather than the start. F ...
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1986 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1986 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 38th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 15th modern-era Cup series season. The season began on February 16 and ended November 16. Dale Earnhardt of RCR Enterprises won his second championship this year. This was the last season without Ernie Irvan until 2000. This would also be the last full season for Tim Richmond, whose health began to decline as a result of AIDS shortly after the season ended, ultimately claiming Richmond's life in 1989. 1986 NASCAR Winston Cup Series drivers Schedule Races Busch Clash The 8th annual Busch Clash was held on February 9 at Daytona International Speedway. Harry Gant drew for the pole. Only eight drivers ran. Full Results Average speed: 195.865 mph 7-Eleven Twin 125's The 7-Eleven Twin 125's, a pair of qualifying races for the Daytona 500, were held February 13 at Daytona International Speedway. Bill Elliott and Geoff Bodine won the poles for b ...
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Buddy Baker
Elzie Wylie "Buddy" Baker Jr. (January 25, 1941 – August 10, 2015) was an American professional stock car racing driver and commentator. Over the course of his 33-year racing career, he won 19 races in the NASCAR Cup Series, including the 1980 Daytona 500. Known by the nickname "Gentle Giant," Baker was noted for his prowess at NASCAR's superspeedways, Daytona and Talladega, at which he won a combined six races. After his racing career, he worked as a broadcaster and co-hosted a number of radio shows on Sirius XM. Early life Baker was born on January 25, 1941, in Florence, South Carolina, the son of two-time NASCAR champion Buck Baker. A high school athlete, Baker began racing in 1958 at age 17, and started his NASCAR career the following year. As a teenager, he idolized many of NASCAR's top drivers, including his father and Fireball Roberts, and he studied them closely during his early NASCAR career. Career Baker won his first race in 1967, winning the National 500 at Char ...
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Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster
The Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster was a fatal accident in the United States space program that occurred on February 1, 2003. During the STS-107 mission, Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disintegrated as it reentered the atmosphere over Texas, killing all seven astronauts on board. The mission was the second that ended in disaster in the Space Shuttle program after the loss of ''Challenger'' and all seven crew members during ascent in 1986. During the STS-107 launch, a piece of the insulative foam broke off from the Space Shuttle external tank and struck the thermal protection system tiles on the orbiter's left wing. Similar foam shedding had occurred during previous Space Shuttle launches, causing damage that ranged from minor to near-catastrophic, but some engineers suspected that the damage to ''Columbia'' was more serious. Before reentry, NASA managers had limited the investigation, reasoning that the crew could not have fixed the problem if it had been confirmed. When ' ...
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2003 Daytona 500
The 2003 Daytona 500, the 45th running of the event, was the first race of the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup season, having been held on February 16 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. 2000 NASCAR Busch Series champion Jeff Green won his second career Winston Cup pole. Prior to the race, the drivers paid tribute by having decals on their cars in honor of the astronauts who were killed in the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster two weeks earlier, similar to the 1986 Daytona 500, in which they paid tribute to the fallen crew members of the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster. In addition, the pledge of allegiance and pre-race opening invocation given by the Reverend Hal Marchman, in his next-to-last running of the event before his retirement and subsequent death, were recited. Grammy Award-winning artist Mariah Carey then performed the national anthem. The race ended after 109 laps when rain had begun pouring on the track. Michael Waltrip won the race for t ...
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Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster
On January 28, 1986, the broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. The spacecraft disintegrated above the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:39a.m. Eastern Time Zone, EST (16:39 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC). It was the first fatal accident involving an List of space programs of the United States, American spacecraft in flight. The mission, designated STS-51-L, was the tenth flight for the Space Shuttle orbiter, orbiter and the twenty-fifth flight of the Space Shuttle fleet. The crew was scheduled to deploy a communications satellite and study Halley's Comet while they were in orbit, in addition to taking school teacher Christa McAuliffe into space. The latter resulted in a higher than usual media interest and coverage of the mission; the launch and subsequent disaster were seen live in many schools across the United States. The cause of the disaster was the failure of the two O-ring seals in a joint in ...
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1998 Daytona 500
The 1998 Daytona 500, the 40th running of the event, was held on February 15 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida as the first race of the 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup season. It was memorable in that it marked Dale Earnhardt's only Daytona 500 victory after 19 previous attempts and many heartbreaking finishes. Not only was it Earnhardt's 20th 500 start, but also CBS's 20th consecutive live broadcast of the Daytona 500. Also, his long-awaited Daytona 500 win snapped a 59-race winless streak dating back to Atlanta Motor Speedway in March 1996. The race was remarkably clean for a restrictor plate race. There were only three cautions - all of which were for minor incidents (as well, there were no accident-related retirements), and there was a pit stop incident involving Dale Jarrett, Jeff Burton and Derrike Cope but no caution was waved. The race was run under the green flag for the first 125 laps. This resulted in it being the second-fastest Daytona 500 ever, b ...
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Geoff Bodine
Geoffrey Edwin Bodine (born April 18, 1949) is a retired American motorsport driver and bobsled builder. He is the oldest of the three Bodine brothers (with Brett Bodine and Todd Bodine), and sister Denise. Bodine lives in West Melbourne, Florida. Bodine's racing career seemed to be on track right from the start as his father and grandfather, Eli Bodine Jr. and Sr. built Chemung Speedrome just a year after he was born. He began learning his racing skills at this track in the micro-midget division when he was only five years old. He had such an itch to race that he disguised himself as a lady and entered an event known as the Powder Puff Derby when he was 15. NASCAR Modified driver Bodine was an accomplished driver before he hit the big-time in NASCAR's premier division, the Winston Cup Series, with his first start in 1979. By this time, Bodine was well known as a Modified driver in the Northeast, racing against popular drivers like Richie Evans, Jerry Cook, Jimmy Spencer, Ron Bo ...
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Cale Yarborough
William Caleb "Cale" Yarborough (born March 27, 1939) is an American former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner, businessman, and farmer. He is one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships, winning in 1976, 1977, and 1978. He was one of the preeminent stock car drivers from the 1960s to the 1980s and also competed in IndyCar events. His fame was such that a special model of the Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II was named after him. His 83 wins tie him with Jimmie Johnson for sixth on the all-time NASCAR Cup Series winner's list (behind Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip, who are tied for fourth with 84). His 14.82% winning percentage is the ninth best of all-time and third among those with 500 or more starts. Yarborough won the Daytona 500 four times; his first win coming in 1968 for the Wood Brothers, the second in 1977 for Junior Johnson, and back-to-back wins in 1983 and 1984 for Ranier-Lundy Racing. Yarborough is a three-time winner of the ...
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Lake Speed
Lake Chambers Speed (born on January 17, 1948) is an American retired stock car racing driver. He formerly competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, scoring one career win in 402 starts. Background Lake was named after the best friend of his father, Bob Lake. Lake's father, Leland S. Speed, took office as the Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, in 1948, the same year that Lake was born. He started his racing career at the age of thirteen racing karts, much to the displeasure of his family. Over the years, Speed won the International Karting Federation (IKF) National Championship six times and in 1978 he won the prestigious Karting World Championship over, among others, future three-time Formula One champion Ayrton Senna. Speed had been the only American to win the World Karting Championship until 2015 when 14 year-old Logan Sargeant of Florida won the KFJ World Karting Championship on September 27, 2015. NASCAR career 1980–1984 In 1980 after considering racing in other series suc ...
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Joe Ruttman
Joe Ruttman (born October 28, 1944) is a retired American stock car racing driver who competed in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series, and Camping World Truck Series. With 13 career wins in the Truck Series he is currently tied for 13th on the all-time wins list with Mike Bliss (as of October 13th, 2021). He is the younger brother of Troy Ruttman. USAC Stock Cars Ruttman was the United States Automobile Club's 1978 USAC Stock Car Rookie of the Year, and the 1980 USAC Series champion. NASCAR Ruttman made his NASCAR Grand National Series (now known as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) debut in 1963 at Riverside International Raceway, finishing 10th at the Winston Western 500. He drove in three more Series races between 1964 and 1980, while racing local tracks in between. Ruttman caught a big break in 1981 when J.D. Stacy, who had just bought Rod Osterlund's team, hired him to take over for Dale Earnhardt, who left the team mid-season to join Richard Childress Racing ...
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Kyle Petty
Kyle Eugene Petty (born June 2, 1960) is an American former stock car racing driver, and current racing commentator. He is the son of racer Richard Petty, grandson of racer Lee Petty, and father of racer Adam Petty, who was killed in a crash during practice in May 2000. Petty last drove the No. 45 Dodge Charger for Petty Enterprises, where he formerly served as CEO; his last race was in 2008. Early career Petty was born in Randleman, North Carolina. He made his major-league stock car debut at the age of 18. He won the very first race he entered, the 1979 Daytona ARCA 200, in one of his father's old 1978 Dodge Magnum race cars; at the time, Petty became the youngest driver to win a major-league stock car race. Later in the season, he made his Winston Cup Series debut; again driving a passed down STP Dodge Magnum numbered No. 42 (a number used by his grandfather Lee Petty) for his family's team. He ran five races and had a ninth-place finish in his first series race, the 1979 Ta ...
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