
5. Bill Elliott – 1983-86 Ford Thunderbird
At the dawn of the small-car era of the early 1980s, Ford was all but absent from circle track competition. Actually, outside of Bob Chandler’s “Big Foot” running amok in stadiums, Ford was all but absent from the motorsports map. When the new swoopy Thunderbird debuted in ’83 that all changed. Its debut didn’t go so hot, as it flew wildly threw the air at Daytona, nearly killing Ricky Rudd in the process. However, as Bill and Ernie Elliott began showing up with their Melling Racing Thunderbirds, the aero-wars began anew. Elliott’s ’85 T-bird was especially dominate, winning the Daytona 500, the first offering of the Winston Million and making up two laps to win at Talladega under green. That’s two laps. At Talladega. Under green flag competition. No Lucky Dog, no waive-around. Every fast car has its secret and theirs was no different; it was actually 9/10 scale in size, so it literally was cheating the wind. Elliott will likely forever hold the fastest lap in competition setting the record with a 212.809 mph.
by Vito Pugliese