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Editor’s Note: Darlington Raceway, the venerable South Carolina NASCAR track dating to 1950, is featuring a “Retro Weekend” for this year’s running of the Southern 500 on Sept. 4. Many cars will have paint schemes made famous by star drivers of years ago. For example, the Wood Brothers Ford, now driven by rookie Ryan Blaney, will sport the maroon, white and gold colors made famous by Hall Of Famer David Pearson. Nicknamed “The Silver Fox,” Pearson, of Spartanburg, S.C., is the historic raceway’s all-time victory leader with 10 wins. Writer Tom Higgins is going “retro,” too, recounting three of his most memorable Southern 500s from among the 40 he covered. This is the third and final installment of the series.

It appeared that Bill Elliott’s bid for a $1 million bonus had gone up in smoke.

A thick, white plume enveloped his Ford in turn four and down the frontstretch at Darlington Raceway in the Southern 500 on Sept. 1, 1985.

The smoke was spewing from a Ford driven by leader Cale Yarborough. There seemed no way a blinded Elliott, following closely, could get through it from second place without losing control and crashing.

As Yarborough slowed, Elliott flashed from the fog, taking the lead on the 324th of 367 laps at the historic 1.366-mile track. He never gave up the front spot, although Yarborough rallied from a failed power steering line—not a blown engine as thought—to mount a strong challenge.

Elliott sped under the checkered flag .06 seconds in front of Yarborough and The Winston Million Bonus was secured in the first year it was offered, much to the delight of Elliott’s massive following of fans.

“Honestly, I can’t tell how I made it through that smoke,” a jubilant Elliott said. “I couldn’t see a thing.”

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, then the title sponsor of NASCAR’s premier series, had established the rich prize for a driver winning three of the sport’s Big Four races in the same season—the Daytona 500, Talladega’s Winston 500, Charlotte’s Coca-Cola 600 and the Southern 500.

Elliott triumphed at Daytona and Talladega, but faltered at Charlotte. The Darlington race was his last chance.

Some members of the media had hounded Elliott constantly at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. A few even tried to crawl under the car with him as he worked on the chassis setup of his red and white No. 9 Thunderbird field by Harry Melling.

No such nonsense was tolerated at Darlington. Two burly, stern-looking S.C. state troopers were at Georgian Elliott’s side at all times while he was at the track. Anyone who approached, especially in the garage area, quickly was shooed away.

“I hate it,” said Elliott,”but I need to be working on my car, not giving interviews.”

Elliott heightened the already soaring drama when he won the pole at 156.641 mph, assuring the track would be packed.

An estimated 80,000 onlookers at the speedway and a national TV audience watched as Dale Earnhardt emerged as Elliott’s strongest challenger, leading four times for many laps before experiencing engine failure and retiring on the 349th lap. Elliott also experienced an exceedingly close call when Earnhardt spun directly ahead of him in Turn Two, missing the famous No. 3 Chevrolet by inches.

“I don’t know how I got by,” said Elliott. “I had my eyes shut waiting for the crash.

“What a day, what a day!” gushed Elliott during the victor’s interview. “Thank the Good Lord for looking out for me today. We didn’t outrun ‘em, we outlasted ‘em.”

As Elliott celebrated, local heroYarborough, deeply disappointed that he hadn’t won the storied Labor Day race a sixth time, lamented the power steering failure.

“I had plenty enough engine to have beaten Bill, but after the steering problem, it was like trying to drive a freight train around the track.”

In Victory Lane, hundreds of phony $1 million bills bearing Elliott’s photo floated around his head, released from above. They became instant collectors’ items, especially since his name was misspelled “Eliott.”

“Awesome Bill From Dawsonville” had become “Million Dollar Bill.” Or should it be “Milion Dolar Bil?”

In epilogue, Elliott posted 44 victories during his career of 828 starts, including 11 on superspeedways in 1985. He won the 1988 premier series championship. His son Chase won the 2014 Xfinity Cup championship and now drives for Hendrick Motorsports on the major tour. The elder Elliott is enshrined as a member of the NASCAR Hall Of Fame in Charlotte.