The 1986 Goodwrench 500 was the third stock car race of the 1986 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 21st iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, March 2, 1986, before an audience of 47,500 in Rockingham, North Carolina, at North Carolina Motor Speedway, a 1.017 miles (1.637 km) permanent high-banked racetrack. The race took the scheduled 492 laps to complete.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 3 of 29 in the 1986 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1986 GM Goodwrench 500 program cover, featuring Dale Earnhardt. | |||
| Date | March 2, 1986 | ||
| Official name | 21st Annual Goodwrench 500 | ||
| Location | Rockingham, North Carolina, North Carolina Motor Speedway | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.017 mi (1.637 km) | ||
| Distance | 492 laps, 500.364 mi (805.257 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 492 laps, 500.364 mi (805.257 km) | ||
| Average speed | 120.488 miles per hour (193.907 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 47,500 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Hagan Enterprises | ||
| Time | 25.017 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Terry Labonte | Hagan Enterprises | |
| Laps | 306 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 44 | Terry Labonte | Hagan Enterprises | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | SETN | ||
| Announcers | Mike Joy, Benny Parsons | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||
By race's end, Hagan Enterprises' Terry Labonte managed to dominate a majority of the race, leading 306 laps and defending a late race charge by Mach 1 Racing's Harry Gant to take his fifth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his only victory of the season.[1][2] To fill out the top three, the aforementioned Harry Gant and owner-driver Richard Petty finished second and third, respectively.
Background
edit
North Carolina Motor Speedway was opened as a flat, one-mile oval on October 31, 1965. In 1969, the track was extensively reconfigured to a high-banked, D-shaped oval just over one mile in length. In 1997, North Carolina Motor Speedway merged with Penske Motorsports, and was renamed North Carolina Speedway. Shortly thereafter, the infield was reconfigured, and competition on the infield road course, mostly by the SCCA, was discontinued. Currently, the track is home to the Fast Track High Performance Driving School.
Entry list
edit- (R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
editQualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, February 27, at 2:30 PM 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 Friday, February 28, at 2:00 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver had one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-30 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 in the previous season; up to two were given.
Terry Labonte, driving for Hagan Enterprises, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 25.017 and an average speed of 146.348 miles per hour (235.524 km/h) in the first round.[4]
No drivers failed to qualify.
Full qualifying results
editRace results
edit| Fin | St | # | Driver | Team | Make | Laps | Led | Status | Pts | Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 44 | Terry Labonte | Hagan Enterprises | Oldsmobile | 492 | 306 | running | 185 | $44,550 |
| 2 | 7 | 33 | Harry Gant | Mach 1 Racing | Chevrolet | 492 | 0 | running | 170 | $28,110 |
| 3 | 13 | 43 | Richard Petty | Petty Enterprises | Pontiac | 492 | 59 | running | 170 | $15,970 |
| 4 | 22 | 47 | Morgan Shepherd | Race Hill Farm Team | Buick | 491 | 0 | running | 160 | $9,255 |
| 5 | 4 | 11 | Darrell Waltrip | Junior Johnson & Associates | Chevrolet | 491 | 1 | running | 160 | $18,615 |
| 6 | 10 | 28 | Cale Yarborough | Ranier-Lundy Racing | Ford | 490 | 0 | running | 150 | $5,410 |
| 7 | 9 | 9 | Bill Elliott | Melling Racing | Ford | 490 | 0 | running | 146 | $15,560 |
| 8 | 5 | 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 490 | 69 | running | 147 | $19,510 |
| 9 | 18 | 12 | Neil Bonnett | Junior Johnson & Associates | Chevrolet | 490 | 2 | running | 143 | $12,710 |
| 10 | 15 | 75 | Lake Speed | RahMoc Enterprises | Pontiac | 489 | 4 | running | 139 | $9,965 |
| 11 | 12 | 7 | Kyle Petty | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 489 | 1 | running | 135 | $10,870 |
| 12 | 20 | 27 | Rusty Wallace | Blue Max Racing | Pontiac | 487 | 0 | running | 127 | $8,165 |
| 13 | 30 | 98 | Ron Bouchard | Curb Racing | Buick | 486 | 0 | running | 124 | $7,645 |
| 14 | 16 | 18 | Tommy Ellis | Freedlander Motorsports | Chevrolet | 485 | 0 | running | 121 | $3,270 |
| 15 | 27 | 32 | Alan Kulwicki (R) | Terry Racing | Ford | 483 | 0 | running | 118 | $3,870 |
| 16 | 2 | 25 | Tim Richmond | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 478 | 0 | running | 115 | $3,170 |
| 17 | 34 | 67 | Buddy Arrington | Arrington Racing | Ford | 477 | 0 | running | 112 | $6,835 |
| 18 | 19 | 2 | Kirk Bryant | Cliff Stewart Racing | Pontiac | 476 | 0 | running | 109 | $6,575 |
| 19 | 33 | 52 | Jimmy Means | Jimmy Means Racing | Pontiac | 476 | 0 | running | 106 | $6,305 |
| 20 | 3 | 5 | Geoff Bodine | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 459 | 46 | engine | 108 | $10,470 |
| 21 | 17 | 23 | Michael Waltrip (R) | Bahari Racing | Pontiac | 457 | 0 | running | 100 | $2,165 |
| 22 | 8 | 90 | Ken Schrader | Donlavey Racing | Ford | 457 | 0 | running | 97 | $6,765 |
| 23 | 29 | 64 | Pancho Carter | Langley Racing | Ford | 436 | 0 | running | 94 | $5,430 |
| 24 | 36 | 92 | Jonathan Lee Edwards | Edwards Racing | Chevrolet | 432 | 0 | running | 91 | $2,440 |
| 25 | 26 | 95 | Davey Allison | Sadler Brothers Racing | Chevrolet | 410 | 0 | rear end | 88 | $1,965 |
| 26 | 37 | 41 | Ronnie Thomas | Ronnie Thomas Racing | Chevrolet | 356 | 0 | rear end | 85 | $1,815 |
| 27 | 11 | 71 | Dave Marcis | Marcis Auto Racing | Chevrolet | 352 | 2 | engine | 87 | $4,970 |
| 28 | 14 | 15 | Ricky Rudd | Bud Moore Engineering | Ford | 315 | 0 | engine | 79 | $9,715 |
| 29 | 25 | 94 | Eddie Bierschwale | Eller Racing | Pontiac | 231 | 0 | crash | 76 | $1,665 |
| 30 | 28 | 17 | Phil Parsons | Hamby Racing | Oldsmobile | 228 | 0 | engine | 73 | $4,660 |
| 31 | 38 | 70 | J. D. McDuffie | McDuffie Racing | Pontiac | 170 | 0 | engine | 70 | $4,300 |
| 32 | 35 | 01 | Earle Canavan | Canavan Racing | Pontiac | 165 | 0 | engine | 67 | $1,475 |
| 33 | 21 | 26 | Joe Ruttman | King Racing | Buick | 117 | 0 | overheating | 64 | $2,000 |
| 34 | 6 | 22 | Bobby Allison | Stavola Brothers Racing | Buick | 117 | 2 | ignition | 66 | $1,375 |
| 35 | 31 | 6 | Trevor Boys | U.S. Racing | Chevrolet | 101 | 0 | brakes | 58 | $4,090 |
| 36 | 39 | 48 | Wayne Slark | Hylton Motorsports | Chevrolet | 96 | 0 | crash | 55 | $4,055 |
| 37 | 23 | 10 | Greg Sacks | DiGard Motorsports | Pontiac | 81 | 0 | handling | 52 | $8,300 |
| 38 | 32 | 74 | Bobby Wawak | Wawak Racing | Chevrolet | 47 | 0 | engine | 49 | $1,250 |
| 39 | 24 | 8 | Bobby Hillin Jr. | Stavola Brothers Racing | Buick | 41 | 0 | crash | 46 | $3,960 |
| 40 | 40 | 20 | Rick Newsom | Newsom Racing | Buick | 39 | 0 | crash | 43 | $1,205 |
| Official race results | ||||||||||
Standings after the race
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References
edit- ^ Higgins, Tom (March 3, 1986). "Labonte Hangs On At Rockingham". The Charlotte Observer. pp. 1C, 3C. Retrieved December 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Mulhurn, Mike (March 3, 1986). "Labonte Captures Carolina 500". Winston-Salem Journal. pp. 11, 15. Retrieved December 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Race Week Calendar". The Charlotte Observer. February 27, 1986. pp. 3C. Retrieved December 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (February 28, 1986). "Labonte Record Run Takes Pole". The Charlotte Observer. pp. 1C, 3C. Retrieved December 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.