The 1985 Summer 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on July 21, 1985, at Pocono International Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Like the namesake of this race which would be the summer season, the drivers had to endure a very hot day on the track with a certain degree of both mental toughness and physical toughness. The climatic changes to the world were having an impact on NASCAR during the 1980s; changing the motorsport to make races in the future have more consistently dry tracks for the drivers.
Two hundred laps were completed spanning. David Pearson would lead the final two laps of his career at this race. Mike Stolarcyk would make his only NASCAR Winston Cup Series start at this event; he was from Whitney Point, New York. While Stolaryck started the race in 37th-place; he would only improve his finishing position to 32nd-place. The race took three hours and forty-two seconds to complete with Bill Elliott defeating Neil Bonnett by five seconds. There were six cautions for 24 laps. Bill Elliott won the pole with a qualifying speed of while the average speed of the race was. Notable crew chiefs who participated in this race included Junie Donlavey, Robin Pemberton, Joey Arrington, Jake Elder, Waddell Wilson, Bud Moore, Harry Hyde, Kirk Shelmerdine and Darrell Bryant. The most dominant drivers in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series during the 1980s were Bill Elliott, Darrell Waltrip, Terry Labonte, Bobby Allison and Dale Earnhardt. Geoff Bodine was the first driver to win the pole, but was stripped of his time shortly after first round qualifying for having illegal fuel. Darrell Waltrip would inherit the award but was stripped for using illegal fuel two weeksafter the race was finished. Bill Elliott ended up getting the award instead. There were 40 drivers in the race; 39 of them were American-born while Trevor Boys was born in Canada. J.D. McDuffie would finish last due to an engine problem on lap 10. This would be one of three starts that year for J.D. McDuffie in a Ford, who rarely ran anything but GM products from 1972 onwards. Bill Elliott's win for Melling Racing would earn him $44,025 in total winnings while last-place finisher McDuffie would walk away with $2,675 for McDuffie Racing.
