By 1985, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco was firmly affixed in its seat as the title sponsor of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Through its Winston brand, the company was making several key marketing innovations and promotions to attract the American public to stock car races. It was at this period that it came up with a unique offering called “The Winston Million”.
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The idea was a rather simple one. Any driver who had it in them to win three of the four crown jewel races in a single year would get a cash prize of $1 million from the series. The four big races then were the Daytona 500, the Winston 500 (Talladega), the Coca-Cola 600, and the Southern 500. As outrageous as the prize was in 1985, no driver had ever managed to capture all four races in a year.
In the program’s inaugural season, Bill Elliott was having one of his best runs from behind the #9 Melling Racing Ford Thunderbird. He won the Daytona 500 in February and went on to win the Winston 500 in May. He hit a speed bump in the Coca-Cola 600 and settled for 18th place. This left him with a mountain of a task to do in Darlington if he wanted to take home the $1 million.
The Darlington Raceway has always been known as a tough track to race at. The sheer challenge of the race and the pressure of taking home the huge paycheck brought never-seen-before attention to the Southern 500. Extra security was posted outside Elliott’s garage at the track, media clouded the grounds, and the crowds were all frenzied up.
Bill Elliott and Jeff Gordon, the only two drivers to ever win the Winston Million
Elliott kicked off the race from the pole. He had plenty of challengers who were all geared up to stop him from taking the big purse home. The legendary Dale Earnhardt was dominating the race until he spun out in Lap 318 of 367. Cale Yarborough then got on Elliott’s case and continued hunting him despite losing power steering on his wheel.
Elliott would ultimately prevail with a 0.60-second lead and capture the victory flag. His total earnings on the day were $1,053,725. He also got the moniker “Million-Dollar Bill” after the feat. He was the only driver to collect the reward in the program’s existence (1985-1997) until a young driver named Jeff Gordon replicated the achievement in 1997.
