1987 Miller High Life 500
| Race details | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race 12 of 29 in the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||||
 The 1987 Miller High Life 500 program cover, featuring Dale Earnhardt. | |||||
| Date | June 14, 1987 | ||||
| Official name | 6th Annual Miller High Life 500 | ||||
| Location | Long Pond, Pennsylvania, Pocono Raceway | ||||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.0 km) | ||||
| Distance | 200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km) | ||||
| Scheduled Distance | 200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km) | ||||
| Average speed | 122.166 miles per hour (196.607 km/h) | ||||
| Attendance | 90,000 | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Junior Johnson & Associates | ||||
| Time | 57.877 | ||||
| Most laps led | |||||
| Driver | Tim Richmond | Hendrick Motorsports | |||
| Laps | 82 | ||||
| Winner | |||||
| No. 25 | Tim Richmond |
Network | SETN | ||
| Announcers | Eli Gold, Jerry Punch | ||||
| Radio in the United States | |||||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||||
The 1987 Miller High Life 500 was the 12th
event. The race was held on Sunday, June 14, 1987, before an audience of 90,000 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, at Pocono Raceway
, a 2.5 miles (4.0 km) triangular permanent course. The race took the scheduled 200 laps to complete.
In his first race back after taking 11 races off due to illness,
NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season.[1][2] To fill out the top three, Melling Racing's Bill Elliott and Wood Brothers Racing's Kyle Petty
finished second and third, respectively.
Background
The race was held at
Camping World Truck Series event. Until 2019, the track also hosted an IndyCar Series
race.
Pocono International Raceway is one of a very few NASCAR tracks not owned by either
Speedway Motorsports, Inc. or International Speedway Corporation
. It is operated by the Igdalsky siblings Brandon, Nicholas, and sister Ashley, and cousins Joseph IV and Chase Mattioli, all of whom are third-generation members of the family-owned Mattco Inc, started by Joseph II and Rose Mattioli.
Outside of the NASCAR races, the track is used throughout the year by the
race
. The triangular oval also has three separate infield sections of racetrack – North Course, East Course and South Course. Each of these infield sections use a separate portion of the tri-oval to complete the track. During regular non-race weekends, multiple clubs can use the track by running on different infield sections. Also some of the infield sections can be run in either direction, or multiple infield sections can be put together – such as running the North Course and the South Course and using the tri-oval to connect the two.
Entry list
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Saturday, June 13, at 10:00 AM EST. Each driver had one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 20 drivers in the round were guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Saturday, at 3:00 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver had one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-40 were decided on time,[3] and depending on who needed it, a select amount of positions were given to cars who had not otherwise qualified but were high enough in owner's points; up to two were given.
Terry Labonte, driving for Junior Johnson & Associates, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 57.877 and an average speed of 155.502 miles per hour (250.256 km/h) in the first round.[4]
Four drivers failed to qualify.
Full qualifying results
Race results
| Fin | St | # | Driver | Team | Make | Laps | Led | Status | Pts | Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 25 | Tim Richmond | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | 82 | running | 185 | $40,325 |
| 2 | 4 | 9 | Bill Elliott | Melling Racing | Ford | 200 | 32 | running | 175 | $30,600 |
| 3 | 11 | 21 | Kyle Petty | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 200 | 1 | running | 170 | $24,575 |
| 4 | 8 | 29 | Cale Yarborough | Cale Yarborough Motorsports | Oldsmobile | 200 | 0 | running | 160 | $11,505 |
| 5 | 7 | 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | 55 | running | 160 | $22,400 |
| 6 | 16 | 22 | Bobby Allison | Stavola Brothers Racing | Buick | 200 | 0 | running | 150 | $14,600 |
| 7 | 23 | 15 | Ricky Rudd | Bud Moore Engineering | Ford | 200 | 5 | running | 151 | $14,825 |
| 8 | 13 | 75 | Neil Bonnett | RahMoc Enterprises | Pontiac | 200 | 3 | running | 147 | $9,930 |
| 9 | 5 | 5 | Geoff Bodine | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | 1 | running | 138 | $11,905 |
| 10 | 15 | 88 | Buddy Baker | Baker–Schiff Racing | Oldsmobile | 200 | 1 | running | 139 | $6,460 |
| 11 | 20 | 55 | Phil Parsons | Jackson Bros. Motorsports
|
Oldsmobile | 200 | 0 | running | 130 | $5,215 |
| 12 | 26 | 28 | Davey Allison (R) | Ranier-Lundy Racing
|
Ford | 199 | 0 | running | 127 | $3,995 |
| 13 | 9 | 17 | Darrell Waltrip | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 199 | 0 | running | 124 | $6,270 |
| 14 | 28 | 8 | Bobby Hillin Jr. | Stavola Brothers Racing | Buick | 199 | 0 | running | 121 | $10,515 |
| 15 | 19 | 44 | Sterling Marlin | Hagan Racing
|
Oldsmobile | 198 | 0 | running | 118 | $7,465 |
| 16 | 22 | 30 | Michael Waltrip | Bahari Racing | Chevrolet | 198 | 1 | running | 120 | $7,240 |
| 17 | 21 | 90 | Ken Schrader | Donlavey Racing | Ford | 198 | 0 | running | 112 | $9,150 |
| 18 | 29 | 08 | Trevor Boys | Andrew Scott Racing | Chevrolet | 198 | 0 | running | 109 | $2,965 |
| 19 | 37 | 52 | Jimmy Means | Jimmy Means Racing | Pontiac | 197 | 0 | running | 106 | $6,665 |
| 20 | 30 | 64 | Rodney Combs | Langley Racing
|
Ford | 197 | 0 | running | 103 | $6,375 |
| 21 | 34 | 80 | Jimmy Horton | S&H Racing | Ford | 196 | 0 | running | 100 | $2,595 |
| 22 | 36 | 04 | Charlie Rudolph | Rudolph Racing | Chevrolet | 196 | 0 | running | 97 | $2,490 |
| 23 | 31 | 12 | Jim Bown | Hamby Racing | Chevrolet | 194 | 0 | running | 0 | $5,800 |
| 24 | 38 | 74 | Bobby Wawak | Wawak Racing | Chevrolet | 193 | 0 | running | 91 | $2,330 |
| 25 | 33 | 67 | Buddy Arrington | Arrington Racing
|
Ford | 192 | 0 | running | 88 | $5,480 |
| 26 | 35 | 62 | Steve Christman (R) | Winkle Motorsports | Pontiac | 187 | 0 | running | 85 | $2,220 |
| 27 | 27 | 71 | Dave Marcis | Marcis Auto Racing | Chevrolet | 186 | 0 | running | 82 | $5,210 |
| 28 | 40 | 70 | J. D. McDuffie | McDuffie Racing | Pontiac | 174 | 0 | running | 79 | $2,110 |
| 29 | 18 | 43 | Richard Petty[a] | Petty Enterprises | Pontiac | 171 | 0 | crash | 76 | $5,580 |
| 30 | 10 | 7 | Alan Kulwicki | AK Racing | Ford | 150 | 0 | oil-leak | 73 | $5,765 |
| 31 | 12 | 26 | Morgan Shepherd | King Racing | Buick | 147 | 0 | engine | 70 | $4,680 |
| 32 | 6 | 33 | Harry Gant | Mach 1 Racing | Chevrolet | 144 | 0 | engine | 67 | $3,890 |
| 33 | 2 | 35 | Benny Parsons | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 119 | 0 | engine | 64 | $11,010 |
| 34 | 25 | 1 | Brett Bodine | Ellington Racing
|
Chevrolet | 110 | 0 | oil-pan | 61 | $1,755 |
| 35 | 24 | 18 | Dale Jarrett (R) | Freedlander Motorsports | Chevrolet | 103 | 0 | ignition | 58 | $3,700 |
| 36 | 14 | 50 | Greg Sacks | Dingman Brothers Racing | Pontiac | 94 | 0 | engine | 55 | $1,645 |
| 37 | 1 | 11 | Terry Labonte | Junior Johnson & Associates | Chevrolet | 85 | 19 | oil-pump | 57 | $13,915 |
| 38 | 32 | 19 | Derrike Cope (R) | Stoke Racing | Chevrolet | 63 | 0 | axle | 49 | $1,585 |
| 39 | 39 | 85 | Bobby Gerhart | Bobby Gerhart Racing | Chevrolet | 43 | 0 | ignition | 46 | $1,555 |
| 40 | 17 | 27 | Rusty Wallace | Blue Max Racing
|
Pontiac | 14 | 0 | engine | 43 | $9,525 |
| Failed to qualify | ||||||||||
| 41 | 81 | Mike Potter | Fillip Racing | Ford | ||||||
| 42 | 31 | Ron Shephard | Ron Shephard Racing | Chevrolet | ||||||
| 43 | 48 | James Hylton | Hylton Motorsports
|
Chevrolet | ||||||
| 44 | 65 | Tommie Crozier | Leonard Racing | Pontiac | ||||||
| Official race results | ||||||||||
Standings after the race
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notes
- ^ Petty was injured in the 1987 Budweiser 500, breaking several ribs. Joe Ruttman relieved him for the race.[5] However, per the rules at the time, Petty is credited with the finishing position as he was in the car for at least one parade lap.[6]
References
- Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.
