Elliott’s Luck Needs a Turnaround

It’s amazing how fortunes change so rapidly in auto racing.

A month ago, Bill Elliott appeared locked in on the NASCAR Grand National title. Stock car racing’s hotshot driver, who has won 10 times this year, held a 206 point lead with a handful of races remaining.

Going into the Oct. 6 race at Charlotte, N.C., Elliot not only lost the impressive margin, but trails Darrell Waltrip by 30 points. The short tracks have bedeviled Elliott. The Thunderbird he runs on super speedways is virtually unbeatable and fortunately the 1.5 mile Charlotte quad-oval is tailored to Elliott’s needs to recoup.

Elliott began his string of successes with a victory at Charlotte last year and thought he knew every crack in the surface of the North Carolina track. Last May, however, while seeking to clinch Winston’s million dollar bonus for winning three of four designated races, the usually peerless Elliott faltered and Waltrip won the World 600. Elliott finally won his million on Sept 1 at Darlington.

“If Bill is going to win the championship, it’s critical that he win at Charlotte,” says Dale Inman, a respected rival crew chief who was pivotal in Richard Petty winning seven Grand National titles and Terry Labonte winning his first championship last year.

“Both Bill and Darrell have won at Charlotte. That’s what make its so good to be racing there this time. Who’s going to win? What will happen to the points?” With both of them looking so good there, those questions won’t be answered until the checkered flag.”

Elliott says the team’s luck since Darlington “has been horrible. The title has gone down to the last race of the year for years and years, and this year won’t be any different. But I feel good about our chances with the races coming up. I just hope all of our bad luck is behind us.

“People have asked about the pressure involved in winning the championship. I think we handled the pressure pretty well at Darlington in winning the million dollars. We just ran into bad luck in the races after that. We need some of our Winston Million luck back and we’ll be okay.”

Junior Johnson, Waltrip’s team owner and master engine builder, sees a shootout between Darrell and Bill Elliott for the 1985 crown. He figured if Waltrip could close the gap, or even draw ahead by the Charlotte race, there was a good chance Waltrip could win his third Grand National title.

“Earlier this year, Elliott had to have trouble for us to make up ground and be a factor,” says a smiling Johnson. “Well, that’s changed now. Fortunes have shifted. It’s gonna be tough on both teams. All the other teams will be hanging everything on the line to stop us.”

Johnson is a born winner, both as a driver and team leader. He was the grand technician behind Cale Yarborough’s three straight Winston Cup titles. The wizard of stocks also was the hotshot engine man as Waltrip won 12 races and the title in 1982.