|| *Comments on the 1984 Atlanta Journal 500:* View the most recent comment <#34> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Matt posted: 03.31.2005 - 12:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rookie driver Terry Schoonover was killed when his car crashed into the inside dirt bank on the back stretch on lap 129. When race winner Dale Earnhardt was asked about the Schoonover's death he commented: "I'm sorry it happened, real sorry. It's something you don't want to think about happening, and I try not to." 2. Darrell posted: 10.02.2005 - 4:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That's spooky considering Earnhardt himself would die in a crash 17 years later. 3. Darrell posted: 01.01.2006 - 4:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) :?: What was a dirt bank doing on the track? 4. Matt posted: 01.04.2006 - 3:47 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The dirt bank was where the back stretch wall is now. The dirt bank was very much like the bank surrounding Lake Lloyd at Daytona before they put the concrete wall up. 5. Darrell posted: 02.26.2006 - 4:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wasn't the track reconfigured though? Wouldn't that mean he died on what is now the front straightaway? 6. brandon posted: 02.28.2006 - 5:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) technically yes, i may be wrong but i think the old backstright is now pit road 7. nascarman posted: 05.30.2006 - 12:07 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Harry Gant had his best shot of the season to win the championship. On lap 205 Terry Labonte's engine blew. Gant was running o.k. but on lap 315 his motor blew also. Also with 19 laps to go Dale Earnhardt's motor started to blow also but he was able to keep the car running for the rest of the race. 8. nascarman posted: 06.13.2006 - 8:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) With Schoonover's crash he hit the dirt wall at a 45 degree angle and his car stopped right there. He bounced of the turn 2 wall and Bobby Hillin hit the wall also trying to miss him but he was able to continue. Also the announcers did not say that Terry died they listed him as in critical condition. Note: This race was delayed 1 week due to rain. 9. Cecil Davis posted: 02.11.2007 - 6:01 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) I was there, Terry's car was destroyed. The damn hood,bumper,and fenders were nearly torn off. Terrible crash, Impact was very severe, There was no doubt in my mind that he died. I have a clip of the crash and I show people. Most of them can't believe it. RIP Terry: 1951-1984. 10. myself posted: 02.15.2007 - 3:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Cale's last race in a chevy. Also the last time the #28 was not a ford. The Ranier team w/ Cale at the helm should've never switched to fords for the 85' & 86' seasons! They'd have won more races in those seasons had they remained in Chevys! 11. MegaRacer posted: 04.06.2007 - 2:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p5oCDlsWpY 12. most posted: 10.10.2007 - 2:19 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Terry was from a town about 10 miles from me, I met one of his nephews not long ago. 13. RaceFanX posted: 01.19.2008 - 3:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last offical NASCAR start for road racing legend Elliott Forbes-Robinson. Forbes-Robinson would return in the race at Riverside in 1988 to drive a car started by Rick Hendrick 14. Ryan posted: 08.07.2008 - 2:00 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yes, he died on what is now the pit road 15. Anonymous posted: 01.12.2009 - 5:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In the Lap Leaders section there appears to be a mistake. It shows Bodine as the leader for laps 278-282 and Earnhardt for 293-328 but nothing in between. I'm guessing it should be Geoff Bodine 278-292. 16. jp posted: 02.21.2009 - 11:58 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) RIP terry :( 17. zuel660 posted: 03.10.2010 - 5:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @ myself's post: Looking back, I often wonder what it would have been like if the Ranier #28 team had stayed with Chevy. They had by far the best superspeedway car in the early 80's and may have given Bill Elliott a serious run for the money in some races in '85. I can only imagine Ford must have offered the #28 team a lot of money to switch over, and that they wanted more Ford teams on the track. And if Ranier had refused, would they have went after another Chevy team?? 18. matthew posted: 12.28.2010 - 6:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) RIP Terry. 19. Don posted: 12.31.2010 - 11:57 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Terry Shoonover had also made significant contact with the outside wall it is speculated by many he may have already been dead before hitting the inside wall. In any event it was a brutal crash. R.I.P. Terry 20. Walleyewacker posted: 06.09.2011 - 12:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Maybe the #28 Ranier car was one of the best superspeedway cars in the early 80's, but the 1983-85 Thunderbirds were better aerodynamically better then the 1983-85 Monte Carlos and Buicks. Once Ernie Elliott nailed down the high rpm valve spring problems on the Ford engine (before Bud Moore and Leonard Wood did) and Bill became the first chassis dude to sort out the Bilsteen shocks, the #9 became the class of the field. Cale was getting up there in years as well. Maybe Cale could have won a race in 1986 in a Monte Carlo, as the Ford teams seemed off during that year on the superspeedways and didn't benefit from the chin spoiler on the 1986 Thunderbird. Whereas the chin spolier and new fastback roof on the 1986 Monte Carlo aero coupe seemed a better balanced package. However in 1985 the Monte Carlo was a good 2 MPH slower on the big tracks to the Thunderbird and Cale won only one less race in 1985 driving the Thunderbird then he averaged during 1981-84. 21. Mike Crew Chief # 55 posted: 09.20.2011 - 3:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) We had raced the day before in the Hatichi 150(All American Challenge Series) and were parked with our tow rig right next to where he(Terry) hit the wall and then darted to the inside and then back to outside. We saw the whole incident. 22. Ryan W posted: 06.23.2013 - 7:18 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Excuses for myself as usual... Davey Allison adapted to the fords ok 23. Newt posted: 10.30.2013 - 12:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) One and only Sprint Cup start for Bob Penrod. 24. Darrell posted: 01.23.2014 - 5:22 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Anyone know what Schoonover's impact on the outside wall looked like? The only way I can figure for him to the wall so severely yet continue fast enough to the inside like he did would be to hit the wall and snap inside almost immediately, similar to Blaise Alexander's crash in 2001. The rumor is that an ill-installed seat may have contributed to his death. Makes sense; if you watch the slow motion replay, you can see the seat (and presumably Schoonover's body) wobbling around as the car travels through the grass and hits the inside retainer. What a tragedy. RIP 25. 23andJoe posted: 04.02.2014 - 10:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #8 crew chief: Jake Elder 26. Nascarman posted: 07.14.2014 - 9:07 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Aj Foyt qualified 22nd for the original start but when the race was delayed a week, he had to be at the CART race in Las Vegas that day. The line-up was altered to have everyone starting behind him move up a spot when they returned a week later. 27. Nascar Lead Lap Points posted: 08.11.2015 - 2:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Joe Millikan drove a #35, Sponsor was Hanover Printing, Owner was Wayne Beahr, and car was a Ford J.D. McDuffie sponsor was Wilder's (Same at Darlington II, Dover II, and Martinsville II) 28. saltsburgtrojanfan posted: 12.12.2015 - 5:26 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Caution 1: Lap 3-6: #77,82 accident turn 3 Caution 2: Lap 60-67: #56 accident turn 2 Caution 3: Lap 78-83: #51,71 accident frontstretch Caution 4: Lap 100-103: #97 engine Caution 5: Lap 129-143: #8,42 accident backstretch Caution 6: Lap 157-160: #7 stalled turn 3 Caution 7: Lap 208-210: #44 engine 29. Turn 4 posted: 09.18.2018 - 1:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) One of two times that a NASCAR race at Atlanta was delayed for a week because of bad weather (the other was the 1993 Spring Atlanta race which was delayed because of the blizzard of '93). 30. NewGuyOnTheBlock posted: 04.05.2020 - 9:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) TBS broadcast this race. In the booth were Ken Squier and Glenn Jarrett. Dave Despain manned the STP Pit Center (sort of like the Hollywood Hotel of the 80's) with Jack Arute and Dr. Jerry Punch covering the pits. 31. James posted: 04.09.2020 - 3:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Weather was brutally cold barely in the 40s and they were very lucky it didn't rain that weekend too. 32. James posted: 04.09.2020 - 3:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Replying to 3 Back then logic was a dirt bank would be better than a concrete wall to crash into 33. gary24fan posted: 04.17.2020 - 8:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A couple of times during the broadcast Ken Squier mentioned 22 (???) cars failed to qualify. That seems like a big number even for 1984. 34. Spen posted: 04.18.2020 - 7:29 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Pretty big, but not the biggest of the year. 72 cars attempted Daytona. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: