On This Day June 21. 1987 Riverside International Raceway

@scott-baker
10 years ago
69 posts

Although there were not that many lead changes in this event, there was quite a battle for 2nd thru fifth for a good portion of the race. Tim Richmond won his last race on this day after starting in 5th with Ricky Rudd finishing in 2nd (from 4th), Neil Bonnett in 3rd (from 14th), Terry Labonte in 4th (from the pole), and Bill Elliott (from 9th) rounding out the top 5.

Fast Qualifier Terry Labonte:

2nd Fastest Qualifier, Geoff Bodine:

3rd Qualifier, Darrell Waltrip:

4th Qualifier, Ricky Rudd:

5th Qualifier, Rusty Wallace:

Green Flag:

Race Action:

Finishing in 4th & 5th Place, Terry Labonte & Bill Elliott:

3rd Place Finisher, Neil Bonnett:

2nd Place, Ricky Rudd:

Winner, Tim Richmond:

To me, this photo says "Tim Richmond"

updated by @scott-baker: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM

@tmc-chase
10 years ago
4,073 posts

As I thought back to this race and the year it happened, it connected again that Tim's last year in Cup was Davey Allison's rookie year. That always just blows my mind. The other thing I didn't realize or had forgotten was that Allison's Harry Ranier team didn't run all the races. Despite getting Havoline to come aboard as a sponsor early in the year AND picking up an impressive win at Talladega in May's Winston 500, the 28 team chose not to haul the car to Riverside for the June race. (Davey did race in the season-ending event at Riverside in November.)

I posted a [ year ago here ] about Richard's getting credit for his 6th place finish. But it was Joe Ruttman behind the wheel of the 43 all day long. The King was still hurting from injuries suffered in a wreck at Dover. Ruttman did a whale of a job hustling the car from the back of the field after the driver swap to a 6th place finish.

Tim making his final stop of the day. - Getty Images