Editor’s Note: NASCAR returned to Watkins Glen Int’l for the first time since 1965 on Aug. 10, 1986. The much-anticipated race was won by Tim Richmond. What follows is the race report written by Keith Waltz that appeared in the Aug. 13, 1986, issue of National Speed Sport News.
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — “I love New York,” exclaimed Ohioan Tim Richmond after driving Rick Hendrick’s Folger’s Coffee Chevrolet to victory in Sunday’s “The Budweiser at the Glen” NASCAR Winston Cup race at the historic Watkins Glen Int’l circuit.
“This is someplace special and I’m proud to be on the winners’ roster here at Watkins Glen,” said Richmond after winning his fourth Winston Cup event in his last six starts.
NASCAR’s first visit here since 1965 drew what veteran observers said was probably the largest paid road racing crowd ever in the United States. Track officials announced the crowd at 88,060.
Richmond started on the pole, but the day was not a runaway for the former Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year.
“When we started the engine was missing,” said Richmond who fell back as far as sixth in the opening laps. “So I switched ignitions and it cleared up.”
Darrell Waltrip closed the gap in the final laps, but could not move his Budweiser Chevrolet around Richmond.
“We just got outran at the end,” said Waltrip who settled for second in Junior Johnson’s machine.
Dale Earnhardt moved his Wrangler Chevrolet around Bill Elliott’s Coors Ford for third with three laps remaining.
“We didn’t have third gear, so it was a tough race,” said Elliott who started 22nd in the 36-car field. “Near the end, Earnhardt turned me sideways to get by me while we were going straight up the straightway. More than likely, he would have passed me eventually, but I would have liked to have had the chance to find out.”
Neil Bonnett, still ailing from injuries suffered at Pocono Int’l Raceway last month, brought his Budweiser Chevrolet home fifth.
Waltrip took the lead as Harold Kinder waved the green fiag and paced the first 16 laps around the 2.428-mile, seven-turn “short” course.
Rusty Wallace moved his Alugard Pontiac Into the lead on lap 17, but then his day turned into a bad dream.
The Missouri short-track veteran led only two laps before his badly smoking car was black flagged. The problem was diagnosed as fluid blowing out of the car’s over-filled transmission.
Wallace returned to action and was among the fastest men on the track, using a new Ford-style transmission.
But he later exploded his left-rear tire, which ripped through the quarter panel, sending him spinning onto the turn two grass. Through it all he persevered remaining on the lead lap to finish sixth.
Richmond, Geoff Bodine and Waltrip were the leaders during the middle stages of the race. Bodine had opened a substantial lead by lap 63 when he spun off the track in turn one. He was able to return to the track, but was out of the top 10.
“We dumped some water out. We must’ve cracked a cylinder head or something,” crowd favorite Bodine said. “That was why I spun, I got in my own water.”
The fourth and final caution flag of the afternoon waved on lap 73 when Bobby Hillin Jr. blew an engine and spun in turn seven.
All the cars in the lead pack with the exception of Elliott then headed for the pits. Elliott elected to stay on the track and run to the end without fresh tires.
Bodine’s car was overheating and he was forced to make two stops during the final caution period, dropping him even further back.
The green flag reappeared on lap 76 and Waltrip immediately moved around Elliott, but his lead was short lived as Richmond used an inside move in turn five to assume control just two laps later. Richmond held a 1.45-second lead over Waltrip at the checkered flag and earned $50,955 from the $441,720 purse.
Richmond completed the 219 miles in 2 hours, 24 minutes and 56 seconds for an average speed of 90.464 mph. The four caution flags took only 16 laps and the race treated the huge crowd to 11 lead changes among five drivers.
Twenty-seven of the 36 starters finished the race and 13 cars were on the lead lap at the checkered flag.
Earnhardt continues to lead the Winston Cup standings with 2, 750 points. Waltrip is second with 2,599 and Richmond holds third with 2,580.
Bodine won the $500 Goody’s Headache Award and Jimmy Maker of Wallace’s pit crew won the. $1,000 TRW Mechanic of the Race Award.
Despite dire pre-race predictions of an accident-filled contest due to guard rails lining over 90 percent of the course — unlike California’s Riverside Raceway where drivers have an entire desert to regain control once going off the road — only one car suffered any appreciable damage, that of rookie contender Mike Waltrip.
Waltrip was still running at the finish and was the highest placing Champion Spark Plug Rookie of the Year challenger with his 17th-place showing.