Mike Eddy captured the ASA Racing Series Coors 250 at Nashville Motor
Speedway. Greeting him in victory lane was Miss Nashville Super Speedway Dawn
Long and Dennis Nauscar, Coors Regional Sales Director. – Don Thies Photo
Nashville, Tenn. (July 12, 1986) – “I was putting in my time until I saw Mark (Martin) coming and I decided it was time to run a little faster,” Mike Eddy said following Saturday night’s Coors 250 ASA Racing Series event at the Nashville Motor Speedway.
And run faster Eddy did, going on to victory in the 250-lap battle on the .596-mile paved oval.
Martin was setting a blistering pace in is Ford, lapping sixth-running Bob Dotter on lap 72, making Eddy the next in line to go one circuit down. But Eddy would have none of it.
“I saw Mark coming and picked up the pace a little,” eddy said. “The car was a little loose but nothing too bad.”
The Midland, Mich., veteran remained on the same lap as Martin and then on lap 103, the caution flag flew for only the second time. The yellow sent all of the frontrunners pitside for fuel.
Just a dozen laps later the caution was out again, for what was to be the final time in the contest.
On his first pit stop on lap 103, Eddy picked up right-side tires, and he took on left-side tires on the 115th circuit caution. It was a perfectly-matched set and made Eddy the man to beat, after he gained first place coming back from his second stop.
Still, there was Martin and Butch Miller to contend with.
“I couldn’t shake Mark,” Eddy said. “But I knew my car was running perfect and that it would be tough for him to get around me.”
Martin shadowed Eddy until his car started getting loose near the end, taking him off the pace. At the finish, Eddy held a 3.5-second victory margin.
Miller, the current point leader in the ASA points race, played catchup for the last 100 laps, hoping to run down Eddy and Martin, but he was seemingly unable to get within grasping range of the duo. Still, Miller’s third-place finish was enough to keep him at the top of the season’s standings, as several of his nearest competitors did not find Nashville totally to their liking.
Among the latter group was Bob Senneker, who fell a lap down on the 190th circuit and ended up fourth, completing 249 laps.
After running fifth for most of the contest, Tom Jones found trouble in the final 30 circuits, when a dropped cylinder slowed his Chevrolet, allowing Bobby Dotter to take the number five spot.
Results –
1. Mike Eddy
2. Mark Martin
3. Butch Miller
4. Bob Senneker
5. Bobby Dotter
6. Tom Jones
7. Harold Fair
8. Kent Stauffer
9. Ken Lund
10.Gary St. Amant
11.Gene Harsch
12.Kenny Wallace
13.David Green
14.Dennis Vogel
15.Russ Urlin
16.John Wilson
17.Tom Harrington
18.Ed Cooper
19.Jerry Churchill
20.Mike Alexander
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