Photo – ARCA
Ralph Jones raced at the Daytona International Speedway before, finishing fifth in the 1979 ARCA 200 to an 18-year-old Kyle Petty. After the race, he took his car to the NASCAR garage and finished 12th in one of the Twin 125 qualifying races. He would go on to finish 15th in the 1979 Daytona 500, the same race which changed the sport of NASCAR.
Jones drove the same car Bill Elliott finished second in the 1982 Daytona 500 and rented an engine from his brother, Ernie, for the 1987 ARCA race.
Bill Venturini became the first ARCA driver in history to go over 200 mph at Daytona with a lap of 44.953 seconds (200.209 mph) to secure the pole. Starting alongside him was defending race winner Grant Adcox, who was tragically killed during a Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway in November 1989.
The race for the win came down to Bobby Jacks, Jones, and Venturini.
Jones couldn’t get around Jacks, who had a fast car. Jacks started to slow down with two laps to go and ran out of fuel, as Jones and Venturini stormed on by to continue the race.
Venturini was in hot pursuit of Jones, as he attempted to pass on him on the last lap. Jones had enough fuel in the tank and held off the charge to claim the victory in the 1987 ARCA 200.
The Venturini family wouldn’t win at Daytona until 2013 with John Wes Townley. “Big” Bill Venturini went on to win the 1987 ARCA championship, his first of two (1991).
1987 Daytona ARCA 200 Top Ten
- #92 Ralph Jones (first career win)
- #25 Bill Venturini (1987 ARCA champion)
- #1 Lee Raymond (1985 and 1986 ARCA champion
- #11 Jerry Churchill
- #53 Steve Christman
- #29 Bob Keselowski (1989 ARCA champion)
- #79 Bobby Dotter
- #90 Mark Gibson
- #2 Grant Adcox (1986 Daytona ARCA winner)
- #43 Terry Pearson