The power steering went out with about 35 to 40 laps to go on the “Monster Mile”, said Elliott who led 336 laps and finished 1 lap and 6 seconds ahead of Harry Gant to take the 10^th race on NASCAR’s Winston Cup Grand National Circuit. Gant who followed by Kyle Petty, who was one lap down, Ricky Rudd, two laps off and Darrell Waltrip, three laps off the pace

Elliott who had an average speed of 123.094 mph, walked away with $44,500 and called it luck.

“We’ve been lucky in a lot of ways.   The car held together and several others didn’t,” he said adding Geoff Bodine, who was strong at the start, gave us a run for the money.

“This is the best we have ever run here,” Elliott said, adding he had the car he would usually bring to Dover, although some drivers admitted they didn’t bring their best cars because they were saving them for next week’s World 600 in Charlotte.

The sellout crowd, estimated at 48,000 watched Bodine take an early lead, then lose it and regain it again in the 89^th lap before Elliott took it over.

Bodine lost the lead to Elliott with a pit stop just before Phil Parsons cut a tire and hit the wall between turns one and two. The caution ended up putting Bodine one lap down.

Eddie Biersehwale was out on lap 79 when he hit the wall between turns three and four and Ron Bouchard hit the wall coming off the second turn, the same place he wrecked Saturday during qualifying for the Late Model Sportsman Budweiser 200.

Caution flags were out for the three wrecks, debris on the track and a spinout by Bobby Allison.

Allison’s car broke loose and hit the wall between turns one and two. Allison still managed to finish 13^th.

Gant had a good strong run and moved into the top five after about 300 laps. By lap 311 he was making his move on Bodine, who was running second. Gant took over second and held it after Bodine went too high on turn two.

Terry Labonte, who had the pole, finished 16^th and lost his lead in the points race to Elliott who now has 1,497 points.

(Associated Press & Citizen Times)

Sunday, May 19, 1985 at Dover Downs International Speedway, Dover, DE
500 laps on a 1.000 mile paved track (500.0 miles)

Elliott came into Dover International Speedway with a storybook season well under way. Dover was a track that was always good to Elliott with 4 total wins at the speedway. In the May of 1985 race Elliott qualified 4^th with Terry Labonte on the pole. Geoffrey Bodine qualified 6^th but lead most of the first half of the race changing the lead with Neil Bonnett several times while Elliott paced himself behind Bodine and Bonnett. Bodine in the Hendricks Chevrolet ran out of gas during a green flag pit stop on lap 161. Harry Hyde and the crew got him back on the track one lap behind the leader. Elliott took over the lead on lap 162 and led all but 3 of the remaining laps due to a pit stop for a total of 336 total laps led out of the 500 scheduled laps. Elliott and the Coors – Melling Ford Thunderbird were dominate in the remainder of the race passing everyone in the field including Harry Gant with 3 laps to go to the finish the race lapping the entire field that day. Another impressive performance from “Awesome Bill from Dawsonville”, and the rest of the team from Dawsonville, GA. This was Elliott’s 5^th win of the season the week after winning at Talledega the week before setting a new track record winning the pole at a blazing speed of 209.398. Race fans were astounded by this feat, but there was more speed left in the Coors – Melling Ford Thunderbird in the races ahead.

In the 1985 Budwiser 500 Elliott qualified 4th and led 336 of the 500 scheduled laps that made up the 500 mile race. The race saw 5 cautions for a total of 37 laps. The lead changed 7 times before Elliott took the lead from Neil Bonnett on lap 317 as Elliott never looked back while lapping the entire field. Elliott took the checkered flag at lap 500 with a winning margin of 1 lap and 6 seconds over second place Harry Gant. Kyle Petty, Ricky Rudd and Darrell Waltrip finished out the top 5 positions. Owner Harry Melling collected $44,500 dollars that day, and Elliott gained another 185 Winston Cup championship points.

Elliott has impressive stats at Dover International Speedway through the years. In his 43 races at the speedway Elliott had 4 wins, 12 top 5’s, and 19 top 10’s with only 3 DNF’s. Elliott collected 3 poles while leading 2,050 laps of his total 18,910 laps at the track in competition. Elliott earned a total of $1,683,473 dollars at Dover so far in his career. Elliott has an 11.1 average starting position with a 14.4 average finish while driving 18,910 miles at the track to date.

(Article by Dale Brown)