1985: Absolutely awesome

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Like it had been all week, Bill Elliott's Ford was flat out flyin' during the 27th annual Daytona 500.

Even though the final margin of victory was less than a second, there was nobody remaining on the track who could even come close to chasing down the bright red No. 9, which had won the pole and its qualifying race.

Bill Elliott Credit: Daytona Racing Archives

Turning laps at a seemingly easy 200 mph, Elliott's car motored around the track while the other competitors struggled to keep up. The final average speed was a blistering 172.265 mph, slowed by just five cautions.

"Him and that Ford just flat ran us off the race track and behind the wall," Benny Parsons said. "When you're chasing a man who's setting that kind of race pace, something has to give and it was obvious since we got here that he wasn't going to be the one to give."

One by one, Elliott's challengers were eliminated by the torrid pace.

Cale Yarborough put up the best fight, running even with Elliott for the first 61 laps before his motor expired.

"If Cale hadn't gone out, he would have been there at the end," Elliott said. "I worried early -- because he was running so strong -- about a last-lap shootout. I was really relieved when he went out."

"The pace was awful fast," Yarborough said. "And Elliott made a lot of people either keep up with it or part it. And a lot of us parked it."

KNOW YOUR NASCAR  1985 Season Recap  50 Greatest Drivers: Bill Elliott  More NASCAR History    1985 Daytona 500 Top 10  1. Bill Elliott  2. Lake Speed  3. Darrell Waltrip  4. Buddy Baker  5. Ricky Rudd  6. Greg Sacks  7. Geoff Bodine  8. Rusty Wallace  9. Bobby Hillin  10. Neil Bonnett

Kyle Petty, Richard Petty, Tim Richmond, Bobby Allison, Dale Earnhardt, Parsons, A.J. Foyt and David Pearson all suffered similar fates.

"He played 'catch me if you can' and nobody could," Allison said. "I didn't think anybody would catch him, at least not for long."

"The pace he and Cale set was unbelievable," Kyle Petty said. "Almost suicidal. You could tell that after Cale went out, unless he had some trouble, it was all over."

Late in the running, Neil Bonnett used a caution to climb up behind Elliott, then passed him for the lead on lap 192. But two laps later, Bonnett's engine blew, leaving Elliott to easily outrun Lake Speed to the checkered flag.

"I didn't know what happened to Neil but it was a relief to look back there and not see him," Elliott said. "He had me worried earlier because he was setting the pace.

"I think I could have gotten by him OK, but I wanted to get by him clean and we seemed to be in too much traffic to take a chance. I felt he was the only car I had to worry about, but I didn't want to do anything risky and lose it.

"I'd never let myself live that down."

For Speed, second place was almost like a win.

"Last October, we had no money, no sponsor and no prospects," he said. "We all did a lot of soul-searching and (team owners Bob Rahilly and Roy Mock) made the committment to stick with me, sink or swim. And until Nationwide (Auto Parts) came along, it looked like the water was rising.

"In 1979, I was racing go-karts and today I had a chance at winning the Daytona 500."

This is one in a series of articles counting down to the 2003 Daytona 500.