Qualifying on Friday

H

HardScrabble

Guest
Friday afternoon the WC drivers will hit the track in the Irish Hills to qualify for Sundays race. Of all drivers who have ever made five starts or more at Michigan, just who would you guess has the best starting poistion average of all time?? He is a current WC competitior.
 
I would guess the King of Michigan who also qualifies well. Bill Elliott?
 
With apologies I miswrote the question. I am looking for the active driver who has started at least 5 races with the best career qualifying average.

Bill is second best.
 
Not a veteran driver and think not of success at this track. though he qualifies well he has no top ten finishes at Michigan in his career.
 
A newer driver than Ricky or Ward, his starts at Michigan total only 6.
 
His qualifying average tops the field as does his speed as the track record belongs to him.
 
Jr it is, his qualifying average is 7.66 over 6 races. Honesty would say that the more impressive record belongs to Bill with the second best average among current drivers at 8.47, and that average is for 49 career starts.

The all time leader in this category, had but 8 starts. In those 8 starts which were the first 8 races held at this track his average qualifying position was 3.13. It will not be the first name you think of and he never won a race here. Any one care to take a shot??
 
Ok...just a guess or two.I think the track first ran in about '69...I say Bobby Isaac....James Hylton ran pretty good there,too.mmm??Final answer:Bobby Isaac.
 
Bobby Isaac is the correct answer, one of the fastest men to ever sit a stock car.

The top 10 of all time in this group:

Bobby Isaac 3.13
Lee Roy Yarbrough 4.8
Davey Allison 5.38
David Pearson 7.66
Dale Jr 7.66
Bill Elliott 8.47
Bobby Allison 8.54
Pete Hamilton 8.6
Alan Kulwicki 8.86
Charlie Glotzbach 9.33
 
Yeah four wins, one each at Charlotte, Daytona, Michigan and Bristol.

One of the original "Winged Warriors". Tried to make a comeback in the early '90's driving for Junie Donlavey, but the results were not good.

Here's one for ya'll. Which WC driver has the most career starts at Michigan, by my count he has started all but 10 of the WC races ever held here.
 
Dave Marcis is absolutely correct!! 56 starts for ol Wingtips.

Care to take a shot at the second driver on the list. Only 5 less starts than Dave.
 
And the next question is....
....I would agree with you 97 Bill Elliott sounds good to me.
 
By what I have Ricky has 51 and Bill has 49, DW has 48, Richard Petty and Terry Labonte both have 47, Dale Sr has 43, Kyle has 42.

Nobody else in the 40's.
 
A las...in that case....
The next question is...
I agree with you 97 Rudd It is, lol
 
I know that Bill REALLY is awesome at Michigan! Looking at the stats Elliott won six out seven races there between 84-87!And once in 89! Pretty good,to say the least.David Pearson,though has nine total wins at the track!
 
Bill won every race run there in 1985 and 1986, four consecutive wins which is the record for Michigan.

Pearson has the most wins of any driver. One of those wins will stand as record which will probably never be broken. It is not winning the first WC race at Michigan as that honor belongs to Cale. To make a little twist here, Cale has a win at Michigan which will probably forever rank second in the record books to one for David.


Confused?? Give it a shot!
 
Well I would If I could...And im not a real old time Nascar Buff, so I cannot. Kinda funny and sad
 
Here is another David Pearson related Michigan fact:In 1973,David won the ONLY Michigan race.Curious and interesting.
 
Your first guess was on the right track 97!! Cale won the last and first 500 mile race at Michigan
 
Ahh! Ok,HS...an easy one:The SLOWEST ever Michigan race was won by..........?[Not as hard as yours,HS,but the best one I could throw at you guys!]:D
 
Richard Petty, 1975

Surprisingly that race does not hold the record for the most cautions. I have no memory of the race that tells me why it was so slow, maybe the most caution laps??
 
I would assume that.{?} Also the 1969 race won by David was only 115 mph.Very slow for the time unless multiple cautions were thrown.Good questions....I don't have anything to tell the number of cautions thrown.Still getting the hang of online research.
 
David Pearson won the second WC race held at Michigan in 1969. The race was the Yankee 600, the longest race in NASCAR history at the track. The first race that year was the Motor State 500, won by Cale.

In 1970 both races were shotened to 400 miles and have been that distance ever since.

A couple of other "lasts" for the "Silver Fox".
He won the last race at Michigan which did not have a sponsors name associatied with it, the Yankee 400 in 1974.

He also won the last race a Mercury ever won at Michigan in the second race of the 1978 season.
 
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