A patient Elliott stalked Harry Gant for five laps before moving ahead for good with a slingshot pass on the 195 lap and finishing two car lengths ahead of Gant’s Chevrolet.

“I wanted to get by (Gant) early to have the advantage of the lapped cars that were coming up in front of us,” said Elliott, who averaged 138.555 mph in his Ford Thunderbird.

“I tried a lap earlier, moving down underneath, but didn’t get a good enough go at him,” said the 30 year old from Dawsonville, GA. “I backed off and filed in behind him until I could get a good run at him.”

“I kind of felt like if I could keep him back there, I might have had a shot” at wining,” Gant said. “But he was definitely too strong to handle. I was probably lucky to finish second.” “We ran a good race and just got beat by a better car,” Gant said. “I was surprised that (Elliott) waited as long as he did to come by me”

Geoff Bodine and Buddy Baker finished third and fourth.

It was the first victory the season for Elliott but his third straight at MIS. He won both stock car races here last season but hadn’t posted a victory since November at the Atlanta 500.

Elliott won for the 16^th time in his career and became the 11^th driver to win one of the 14 NASCAR races this season.

Gant had led laps 174 to 188 before Elliott took charge for one lap. Gant quickly regained the lead with Elliott no more than inched from his rear bumper.

Elliott bided his time until the cars came out of the fourth turn on lap 195, then jerked his car to the inside and floored the throttle to pass Gant on the front stretch.

The race, before nearly 80,000 spectators, was run in 2 hours and 53 minutes and 21 seconds. It was slowed for 42 laps by 8 caution flags.

It was the first race run since MIS was repaved two months ago. The new surface – which allowed the drivers to use the entire width of the track rather than one or two “grooves” as in the past – contributed to 32 lead changes among 12 drivers.

Before the race, driver Richard Petty was honored for making the 1,000^th start of his 28-year career. Among those honors were commendations from the legislatures of Michigan and his native North Carolina.

Petty finished 13^th. As part of the pre-race tribute, Petty daughters Rebecca, Sharon and Lisa were selected to give the command, “Gentlemen start your engines.” But the girls gave it a Father’s day twist by saying, “Daddy, start your engine” before giving the traditional command to the rest of the field 20 seconds later.

(Courtesy of Associated Press and Citizen Times)

Sunday, June 15, 1986 at Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, MI
200 laps on a 2.000 mile paved track (400.0 miles)

Bill Elliott and the Coors – Melling Ford Thunderbird team were glad to get back to one of Elliott’s best tracks to break an 8 month long stretch without a win after his sensational 1985 season. Tim Richmond won the Pole Award with a speed of 172.031 in his Hendricks Chevrolet. Elliott started in the 8^th position and paced himself through the race leading for 3 different times for 28 total laps of the 200 lap race. This was the first race since the Michigan International Speedway was repaved which made for many lead changes and the ability for anyone to run in any grove on the track. The new surface made for some exciting racing and 32 lead changes among 12 drivers. Elliott ran in the top 5 all day long before taking the lead for the final time on lap 196 to lead the final 5 laps. Elliott and the team needed a good win to get the “Monkey off Their Back”. Finishing out the top 5 were Harry Gant, Geoff Bodine, Buddy Baker, and Darrell Waltrip. Elliott won with an average speed of 138.851 mph. Slowing the race pace were 8 cautions for 39 laps. Owner Harry Melling won $56,900 dollars for the win, Elliott picking up another 180 Championship points where he was in 3^rd place at the time. The win was Elliott’s 16 win, and the 11^th different winner out of 14 races so far this year.

Elliott enjoyed racing Michigan International Speedway and with his smooth driving style, he had some astounding results at this speedway through the years. Complimented by the high HP engines of Ernie Elliott, and the smooth drivelines of Dan Elliott, Bill’s brothers, the Coors Melling Team had some tremendous finishing stats through the years. Elliott ran 61 races at Michigan with 7 wins, 17 top 5’s, 29 top 10’s, and 6 pole positions. Elliott led 1,004 laps of the 11,212 laps he completed on the 2 mile track earning $2,463,235 in total earnings to date. Elliott drove a total of 22,424 miles at Michigan Speedway with an average starting position of 11^th, with an average finish of 14.6.

(Article by Dale Brown)