The 67-lap race was held in very hot weather on a disintegrating track, and was won by Finnish driver Keke Rosberg, driving a Williams-Honda, with Frenchman René Arnoux second in a Ferrari and Italian Elio de Angelis third in a Lotus-Renault.

Englishman Nigel Mansell took pole position in the other Lotus-Renault and led the first half of the race, before suffering a gearbox failure at the very end and collapsing from exhaustion while trying to push his car over the finish line.

Only 8 cars finished the race, due to crashes or engine failures in up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 °C) heat, and also the track was breaking up very badly, as in the 1980 Argentine Grand Prix.

The event was conceived as a way to demonstrate Dallas's status as a "world-class city"[2][3] and overcame 100 °F (38 °C) heat, a disintegrating track surface and weekend-long rumors of its cancellation.

Dallas was the first time since the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort that both Lotus drivers qualified on the front row of the grid.

Derek Warwick overtook de Angelis, whose engine was suffering from a misfire, and pulled alongside Mansell several times, but could not get around.

Arnoux, having qualified fourth, had been unable to start his car on the grid, and began the race from the back of the pack.

Rosberg, after briefly trading places with Prost, who had gotten by Lauda and de Angelis, finally forced Mansell into a big enough mistake for him to take the lead.

Rosberg inherited a lead of 10 seconds over Arnoux, and, thanks in part to a special skull cap driver cooling system, held on to score his only victory of the year for Williams, as the two-hour limit was reached one lap short of the scheduled 68.

As his car slowed on the home straight, he leaped from his black Lotus and tried to push it to the end, but collapsed from exhaustion and the oppressive heat before reaching the finish line.

The heat also caused some drivers to take some countermeasures to cope with the heat; such as Rosberg's water-cooled skullcap (a common device in the NASCAR circuit); Piercarlo Ghinzani, who finished fifth after overtaking the collapsed Mansell, having a bucket of cold water thrown over him during a pit stop; and Huub Rothengatter, who dashed straight to a spectator area after he retired from the race, where he commandeered several cups of water "for pouring over his nether regions…".

[12] Co-organizer Larry Waldrop negotiated with Ecclestone in late 1984 in an attempt to bypass Walker and revive the event, but the effort came to naught.

[3] The company entered bankruptcy in March 1985, ending any possibility that a follow-on F1 race would take place at Fair Park.

Dallas city councilwoman Diane Ragsdale told The New York Times that the failure of organizers to consult with neighbors and take noise concerns seriously were part of a historic pattern of "total disrespect for the neighborhood.