RELATED: Elliott will ‘never forget’ Earnhardt move
The starting grid for the 1987 Winston All-Star Race looked a lot like an exhibit befitting the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
This was The All-Star Race for the ages.
Hall of Famers Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, Terry Labonte, Rusty Wallace and Bill Elliott all competed.
Greats such as Neil Bonnett, Harry Gant, Ricky Rudd, Buddy Baker, and Benny Parsons were on the 20-driver starting grid, too.
A young Davey Allison and a new Daytona 500 winner Geoffrey Bodine lined up alongside these iconic names. The fast and famed Tim Richmond was on the grid, too, in what was his final season of NASCAR competition.
And don’t forget about Kyle Petty, Bobby Hillin Jr. and Greg Sacks.
The only driver on that famed All-Star lineup still NASCAR racing today is Morgan Shepherd, who drove a car fielded by drag racing legend Kenny Bernstein — and his seventh-place finish that day in his first All-Star Race remains his best showing.
That starting lineup was a true convergence of NASCAR’s best — sentimental favorites, crusty veterans, future Hall of Famers and young stars out to make their big names.
It had personality. It had top-line credentials. In only its third running, the 1987 race showed exactly the pizzazz that would help forge the All-Star Race into the can’t-miss annual event that will be on full display Saturday in the Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
For all its historical allure, amazingly in that famed 1987 race only four drivers even led a lap — the winner Earnhardt (10), the day’s dominant driver Elliott (121), Bodine (3) and Kyle Petty (1).
The great seven-time Cup champ Richard Petty crashed with the late superstar Neil Bonnett on Lap 66. As dominant and successful as Petty was, it’s easy to forget he never won an All-Star Race.
Among the most memorable aspects of this race will undoubtedly be the day’s winner Earnhardt’s “Pass in the Grass” of Elliott. It wasn’t actually a pass at all, but Earnhardt maneuvering to hold onto his late race lead over Elliott in the day’s most dominant car.
It was the first of three All-Star wins for Earnhardt. And the gritty, hard-nosed final laps racing launched this — then still young — event into a bona fide can’t-miss rite of spring.
The above photo itself has become quite a piece of NASCAR lore. When this group of 20 drivers came together for this indelible image, these are the numbers they would leave behind: 812 premier series victories, 26 premier series championships, 11 All-Star Race wins … and one urban legend.
Morgan Shepherd
No. 26 Quaker State Buick
1987 stats: Shepherd drove a Buick owned by drag racing legend Kenny Bernstein. Larry McReynolds was the crew chief, and the team’s best showing that year was a runner-up in the Coca-Cola 600 . Shepherd had seven top-five finishes but a hefty 13 DNFs in the 29-race season.
Wow to know: The 1987 version of The Winston was Shepherd’s first of 18 tries. His seventh-place finish in that inaugural start remains his best showing to date.
Where are they now: At 74 years old, he is the only driver that competed in this The Winston of 1987 who is still racing in NASCAR today.
Tim Richmond
No. 25 Folger’s Coffee Chevrolet
1987 stats: Richmond only competed in eight races in what was his final season on the circuit and amazingly won the first two he entered — at Pocono and Riverside, California. He won from the pole position at Pocono and had six top-11 runs for team owner Rick Hendrick. He did not finish the only other two races he competed in because of engine woes.
Wow to know: Richmond finished third in the 1987 All-Star Race and had top-five finishes in all three of the All-Star Races he entered.
Where are they now: Richmond died Aug. 13, 1989, at age 34 from complications of AIDS.
Neil Bonnett
No. 75 RahMoc Valvoline Pontiac
1987 stats: Alabama Gang racer Bonnett only started 26 of the 29 races that season, his campaign shortened when he broke his hip in a crash during the series’ return trip to Charlotte in October. His four third-place finishes were a 1987 highlight. He and Richard Petty crashed on Lap 3 of the All-Star Race, and Bonnett officially finished last in the 20-car field.
Wow to know: Bonnett only competed in three full Cup seasons in his career but still collected 18 wins, tying him with Harry Gant and Geoffrey Bodine on the premier series’ all-time wins list.
Where are they now: Bonnett was killed during a practice session accident on Feb. 11, 1994, at Daytona International Speedway.
Bobby Allison
No. 22 Stavola Brothers Miller Buick
1987 stats: The 1983 champion’s only win in the ’87 season was at Daytona in July, but he had a runner-up effort at Charlotte in the fall after winning the pole there. It was his last full-time season. He finished eighth after starting 14th in The Winston.
Wow to know: Allison would win his third and final Daytona 500 the following year, beating out his son Davey, who finished runner-up. Only four months later, Bobby Allison was involved in a near-fatal crash at Pocono and never competed again in NASCAR’s top division.
Where are they now: Allison was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2011 and is a frequent visitor to NASCAR races.
Darrell Waltrip
No. 17 Tide Chevrolet
1987 stats: After a mid-pack ninth-place run in The Winston, Waltrip won at Martinsville, Va., in the fall for team owner Rick Hendrick and finished fourth in the title run. Two years later, he won his only Daytona 500 .
Wow to know: Jeff Hammond took over crew chief duties from Waddell Wilson on Week 13 in time for the Riverside, California, road-course race, where Waltrip finished 30th after starting third.
Where are they now: Waltrip, a 2012 inductee into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, is one of the original broadcasters hired for FOX Sports telecasts of the series and anchors the play-by-play duties with Mike Joy and Jeff Gordon for the network’s portion of the Sprint Cup schedule.
Harry Gant
No. 33 Skoal Bandit Chevrolet
1987 stats: Gant finished 17th in The Winston, parking his Chevy after engine problems. After a runner-up finish in the 1984 Cup championship to Terry Labonte , this was an off year highlighted by a pole position at the spring Bristol race driving the famed Skoal Bandit for the legendary Hal Needham. “Handsome Harry,” as he is still known, went on to win four consecutive races in 1991.
Wow to know: As good as the 18-race winner was, the 1987 season was actually among the worst of this great driver’s career. He amassed 21 DNFs in 29 starts, including eight of the final nine races.
Where are they now: Gant, 76, is content living on his vast 300-acre ranch in North Carolina. He is a regular participant in Kyle Petty’s annual Charity Ride Across America.
Terry “The Iceman” Labonte
No. 11 Budweiser Chevrolet
1987 stats: The future NASCAR Hall of Famer wowed with 22 top-10 finishes in the 29-race season including a win for team owner and hometown favorite Junior Johnson at the North Wilkesboro fall race. He added four pole positions and finished third in points behind Dale Earnhardt and Bill Elliott.
Wow to know: Labonte finished runner-up to Earnhardt in The Winston in 1987, but prevailed the following year for the first of two career All-Star victories.
Where are they now: Labonte was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015. He owns a Chevrolet dealership in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Ricky Rudd
No. 15 Motorcraft Ford
1987 stats: Rudd won two races that season — at Atlanta and Dover — for car owner and NASCAR Hall of Famer Bud Moore. He finished 11th in The Winston as the last driver on the lead lap.
Wow to know: Rudd held the record for consecutive starts (788 between 1981 and 2005) before Jeff Gordon upped the longevity mark last year to 797.
Where are they now: Rudd, 59, spends many days at a local Charlotte go-kart track where he still enjoys going wheel-to-wheel with many of NASCAR’s best, competing regularly in a senior league.
Kyle Petty
No. 21 Citgo Ford
1987 stats: An eight-time winner in his premier-series career, Petty scored a victory for his Wood Brothers team at the Charlotte 600-miler that year and finished seventh in the points standings.
Wow to know: Petty finished sixth in The Winston — one of his nine top-10 runs in 23 versions of the event.
Where are they now: Petty, 55, has been a television regular since retiring from NASCAR competition. He is currently a contributor on NBCSN’s NASCAR America show. He also leads a Charity Ride across the country every year raising money for the Victory Junction Gang Camp.
Davey Allison
No. 28 Havoline Ford
1987 stats: This was both his rookie and his breakout season. Although he only competed in 22 of the 29 races, Allison won twice — at Talladega and Dover. He won four pole positions, including back-to-back efforts at Michigan and Darlington, and was easily the 1987 Rookie of the Year. He fared 12th-best in The Winston.
Wow to know: Allison only competed in five full seasons of Cup racing — his best finish in the championship was third place in both 1991 and 1992.
Where are they now: Allison died in a helicopter crash at Talladega in 1993 at the age of 32. He had won earlier in the season at Richmond and was ranked fifth in the championship standings at the time of his accident.
Dale Earnhardt
No. 3 Wrangler Jeans Chevrolet
1987 stats: The season was easily one of the most impressive driving performances in NASCAR history and perhaps Earnhardt’s personal best. He won 11 times in 29 races on the way to his third Cup championship — his second in a row. Earnhardt finished fifth in the season-opening Daytona 500 then won the next race at Rockingham and never surrendered the points lead thereafter. At one point between that Rockingham victory and a win at Martinsville he won six races in a seven-event span.
Wow to know: Earnhardt won the 1987 Winston, his first of three times hoisting that race trophy. His victory is credited with the famed “Pass in the Grass” during the race although actually he was in front of the field at the time and veered slightly onto the grass to hold off Bill Elliott. Earnhardt and Elliott battled side-by-side in the final 10-lap segment and Elliott’s car ended up having to pit for a flat tire as Earnhardt cruised in for his first All-Star triumph.
Where are they now: The seven-time Cup champion and inaugural Hall of Fame inductee was killed in a racing accident on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500 .
Benny Parsons
No. 35 Folgers Chevrolet
1987 stats: Although Parsons won 21 races in his career, including the 1975 Daytona 500 , he was winless this season with three runner-up finishes — including a second-place finish in the 1987 Daytona 500 . He finished 10th in The Winston and had nine top 10s on the season along with 12 DNFs for car owner Rick Hendrick and legendary crew chief Harry Hyde. It turned out to be the next-to-last full-time season for Parsons, who later enjoyed a robust career as a racing broadcaster.
Wow to know: Parsons made his first Cup start at the age of 22 in 1964, but he didn’t make another until 1969.
Where are they now: In addition to a great post-racing career in the TV booth, Parsons started a winery in his Wilkes County, North Carolina, hometown shortly before his death in 2007 of lung cancer.
Geoffrey Bodine
No. 5 Levi Garrett Chevrolet
1987 stats: Having won the 1986 Daytona 500 , much was expected of Bodine in Rick Hendrick’s Chevy. He had 10 top-10 finishes and 10 DNFs, although he won two poles (at Martinsville, and Riverside). His best finish in 1987 was runner-up at Richmond. He was fourth in The Winston — one of only four drivers to lead laps in the race so dominated by Bill Elliott.
Wow to know: After suffering serious injuries in the first-ever NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway in 2000, Bodine made his final Daytona 500 start in 2002 and finished third behind winner Ward Burton and runner-up Elliott Sadler .
Where are they now: Bodine, 67, officially retired from NASCAR competition in 2012. He helped create the Bo-Dyn Bobsleds that famously and successfully competed in the Winter Olympics. He now lives in Florida.
Buddy Baker
No. 88 Crisco Oldsmobile
1987 stats: In this season, Baker — the 1980 Daytona 500 winner — made only 20 starts for his own team but scored 10 top-10 finishes. Transmission problems relegated him to an 18th-place finish in The Winston.
Wow to know: Amazingly for all his accomplishments (19 wins), Baker only ran three full seasons — 1976, 1977 and 1985.
Where are they now: Baker, a hugely popular television and radio analyst after his racing career, died last August from lung cancer.
Bill Elliott
No. 9 Coors Ford
1987 stats: This was a stellar year for Elliott, who won the season-opening Daytona 500 from the pole position and closed up the schedule winning at Atlanta from the pole. Elliott won six races and had eight pole positions en route to 16 top-five finishes. Even with five DNFs, Elliott finished runner-up to Earnhardt in the championship.
Wow to know: Elliott won the pole for The Winston and led a dominating 121 of the 135 laps. But he cut a tire with six laps remaining just after dueling door-to-door with Earnhardt, who was famously credited with the “Pass in the Grass.” Elliott ultimately finished 14th, one lap down.
Where are they now: Elliott, a 2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee, raced full time in the premier series until 2003. He continued competing on a part-time basis until 2012 — giving him an incredible 37 consecutive seasons of Cup racing. Now he’s at the race track encouraging his son Chase, a rookie Sprint Cup driver who steers the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.
Bobby Hillin Jr.
No. 8 Miller American Buick
1987 stats: A teammate to Bobby Allison with the Stavola Brothers, the 22-year old Hillin finished 16th in The Winston. It was a tough season for the young driver, who had only one top-five run and collected 13 DNFs.
Wow to know: Hillin’s 1986 win at Talladega turned out to be the only victory of his career — 334 starts between 1982 and 2000 — and his ninth-place finish in the points standings that year was also a career best. At the time, he was the youngest Cup winner in history at age 22.
Where are they now: Hillin is CEO of a Texas company working in the Gulf of Mexico oil industry.
Rusty Wallace
No. 27 Kodiak Pontiac
1987 stats: The season prior, future NASCAR Hall of Famer Wallace earned his first career victory and he added two more in ’87, proving himself a road course ringer with wins at both Watkins Glen and Riverside. He had nine top-five finishes that season and finished fifth in The Winston for car owner Raymond Beadle.
Wow to know: Wallace earned his only Cup championship in 1989.
Where are they now: A 2013 NASCAR Hall of Famer, Wallace has transitioned to the television and radio booth. He currently works Sprint Cup Series races for MRN radio. He owns multiple car dealerships and helped design the Iowa Speedway, where NASCAR’s XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series race.
Cale Yarborough
No. 29 Hardee’s Oldsmobile
1987 stats: The three-time champion and 83-race winner owned the car he drove this season. He competed in only a portion of the scheduled races (16 of 29) with nine DNFs. He finished 13th in The Winston and retired from the sport after running 10 races the next year, 1988.
Wow to know: Another NASCAR Hall of Famer (Class of 2012), he is one of only two drivers ( Jimmie Johnson is the other) to win three consecutive premier-series titles. Yarborough is a three-time Daytona 500 winner and won 13 pole positions at the track, including four consecutive from 1969-1970. He only ran full time in seven of the 31 seasons he competed in the Cup series.
Where are they now: Yarborough has owned a Honda dealership in Florence, S.C., for decades.
Richard Petty
No. 43 STP Pontiac
1987 stats: By then driving in the later stages of his career, inaugural NASCAR Hall of Famer and the sport’s all-time most prolific winner (200) Petty crashed with Neil Bonnett on the third lap of The Winston and finished 19th. The season was one of his better late-career efforts with nine top-five and 14 top-10s. He finished eighth in the points standings, his last top-10 points showing.
Wow to know: Petty scored his 200th and final win three years earlier in the Firecracker 400 at Daytona.
Where are they now: A part of the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame class in 2010, Petty still owns a pair of cars (No. 43 and No. 44) competing in the Sprint Cup Series and another in the XFINITY Series and is a visible and vocal advocate for the sport and his team’s multiple sponsors.
Greg Sacks
No. 50 Valvoline Pontiac
1987 stats: Two years earlier Sacks picked up the only victory of his career in the Firecracker 400 at Daytona. He only competed in half the 1987 season and recorded 11 DNFs in 16 starts. He had only two top-20 finishes, making his 15th-place run (three laps down) in The Winston a season highlight.
Wow to know: Sacks ran just one full season in 263 starts between 1983 and 2006.
Where are they now: Sacks lives in Florida and works in the family business, Grand Touring Vodka. The brand was a sponsor on Dale Earnhardt Jr. ‘s XFINITY Series car in 2011.