“I Was Still Pissed”: 30 Years Since Legendary Moment, Bill Elliott Admitted He’ll “Never Forget” What Dale Earnhardt Did to Him

The 1980s were a great decade for the Elliotts. One Cup Series, and completing a feat that won him the nickname, Million Dollar Bill, Bill Elliott would ideally have called it the best time of his life. However, Dale Earnhardt had other plans in his mind.

All-Star Races had great significance and relevance until very recently. Drivers glorified, hyped up, and fiercely fought for them. In this history of the event, one incident stands out as the most memorable; it would definitely take the top spot in anyone’s list of Best All-Star Moments.

They gave it the name, “The Pass in the Grass”. Seemingly innocuous, that move from the 1987 All-Star Race at Charlotte is yet to be forgotten by anyone, least of all Elliott. His anger and fury 30 years after that incident show how deeply engraved it is in his head.

In a 2016 interview with NASCAR.com, Elliott said “That was probably the maddest I’ve ever been, but you just have to deal with it and go on.” The anger was palpable in his voice.

Everyone expected Elliott to finish first, having led for 121 of the 135 laps. Dale Earnhardt, on the other hand, had trailed his rival for most of those 121 laps, until he made that move with 8 laps to go. Courtesy of it, Earnhardt won the race while Elliott finished 14th (as he suffered a flat tire later on).

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Elliott felt robbed, cheated, and whatnot. If his anger could be sensed 30 years after the incident, it definitely bubbled out after the race.

The aftermath – Bill Elliott v. Dale Earnhardt

In that 2016 interview, Elliott painted a very clear picture of what happened after the race. Those memories seemed to be vivid in his head, and he didn’t require any effort recalling.

As Bill France Jr. called the two drivers into the NASCAR hauler, he narrated “We all sat and had a meeting with me, him, Earnhardt, and (team owner Richard) Childress. I was still pissed. I’ll never forget. I hadn’t been so mad in … I can’t remember when.”

“You have to remember, I worked on my race cars. My philosophy was to outrun someone fair and square rather than crash them up. It was just a turning point for me and Earnhardt. He had kinda been going at it with me here and there, but that was the end,” he said in his defense.

With Dale Earnhardt no longer alive to present his case, Dale Earnhardt Jr stepped in for him. Junior didn’t make an attempt at defending his father or supporting Bill. He spoke like a true fan.

“Those last 10 laps with Dad doing everything he could to hold off a faster Bill Elliott were exciting. It was a pretty basic format, but they had a lot of great cars, a lot of great drivers, and a lot of great racing going on,” he spoke with a voice full of adulation.

“They only ran it for $200,000 back then, but that seemed like a lot of money at the time. It was really, really exciting. The cars moved around a lot — the way the cars raced really made the show.”

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That was a different era. Drivers had different personalities, and the racing was far rawer. Surely, neither of them had grudges off the tracks; it was purely business.