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NASCAR HISTORY (Second Part)
However, if any one race is responsible for helping to bring NASCAR to its immense popularity today, it would be the Daytona 500 three years later in 1979. This was the first NASCAR race to be televised flag-toflag, on CBS. An estimated twenty million people tuned in that day in February 1979. It had rained in Florida all that week, therefore the infield, pits, and even parts of the track were wet. The favorites to win were the Oldsmobiles of Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison. Very early in the race, those two cars spun on the back straightaway and went two laps down apiece. Both cars had made the laps back by the final laps of the race (which is very difficult to do at Daytona). On the last lap, those two cars had a half-lap lead over Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip, who themselves were fighting for third. On the back straightaway of the last lap, Yarborough attempted to pass Donnie Allison on the inside, and Allison pulled down to block him. The two cars collided and shot into the third turn wall, then spun into the infield grass and stopped. Petty and Waltrip drove past and Petty won the race by a car length. By the time Petty crossed the finish line, Yarborough and Allison had already gotten out of their cars and started fighting. Then Bobby Allison pulled up and entered the fistfight to defend his brother- all of this happening on live national television. It took two or three safety crew members to break up the fight. Meanwhile, Richard Petty, a national hero, ended up winning the race. Many racing historians credit that race and its exciting finish for helping bring NASCAR to where it is today. Beginning in 1981, NASCAR's rules changed to allow for the "downsized" sedans that were coming out of the Detriot factories. The standard wheelbase for a stock car was reduced to 110 inches, about a foot shorter than what had been run previously. As a result, the race cars became harder to handle- and some controversies erupted. However, another milestone for NASCAR was achieved at the end of the 1981 season. ESPN carried the last race of the Winston Cup season, on November 8. This was to be the start of a great relationship, as ESPN now carries almost half of the Winston Cup series into millions of homes each time they air a race. NASCAR racing provided a built-in audience for ESPN, which the cable network needed in its early years. The 1980's brought huge growth for NASCAR. Corproate sponsors fully realized the benefits of being involved in racing by sponsoring a team or by sponsoring a race itself. Richard Petty won his 200th and final race on Independence Day, 1984, at the Pepsi Firecracker 400. The track on which this feat occurred was the track he made famous- the Daytona International Speedway. On lap 158 of the 160 lap race, there was a crash, bringing out the caution. No passing can be done under caution, so in effect the race ended on lap 158. However, drivers can race at full speed until the next time they pass the start-finish line after the yellow flag comes out. Petty's Pontiac and Yarborough's Ford exchanged the lead several times on that lap, and at the line Petty nosed out Yarborough by roughly a foot. In attendance that day was Ronald Reagan, the first sitting president to ever be present at a NASCAR race. [George Bush would be present for Petty's last race at Daytona in 1992- he sat shotgun in the pace car when the race began. Petty started 2nd that day and pulled up beside the pace car for a time.] Although the 80's brought huge growth to NASCAR, the decade also brought significant changes to the sport. Many legends of the sport retired or became less competitive, and in many cases their sons took over. Names like Dale Earnhardt (son of short track legend Ralph Earnhardt), Davey Allison (son of Bobby Allison), Kyle Petty (son of Richard Petty), and Dale Jarrett (son of Ned Jarrett) replaced the names of their fathers at the forefront of Winston Cup racing. In 1985, Bill Elliott, part of the famous Elliott racing family form Dawsonville, Georgia, won the Winston Million. The Winston Million is a one million dollar bonus any racer recieves if he wins three out of the four top races on the Winston Cup circuit. Elliott remains to date the only driver ever to win the prize [not anymore- Jeff Gordon won it in 1997]. It was through the exploits of names (and nicknames) of Darrell "Jaws" Waltrip, "Awsome Bill from Dawsonville" "Million Dollar" Bill Elliott, and "The Intimidator" "Ironhead" Dale "The Man in Black" Earnhardt that the sport continued to boom. [The Winston million program was replaced at the end of the '97 season with the "No Bull 5" program.] Another major change transpired in NASCAR in 1987. Thorughout the 80's, racing speeds at the two fastest tracks on the Winston Cup circuit had become dangerously high. It became a real possibility that if a car got airborne at Daytona or the Alabama International Motor Speedway (since renamed Talladega Superspeedway), it could fly into the stands. Therefore, NASCAR mandated the use of a carburetor, or "restrictor" plate be placed between the carb and intake manifold, thereby reducing the flow of fuel into the engine and slowing the car. By comparison, Bill Elliott's pole speed for the April 1987 Winston 500 (NASCAR's last "unrestricted" race at Daytona or Talladega) was 212.809 miles per hour. For the DieHard 500 in July of that year the pole-winning speed was 203.827 miles per hour. NASCAR, in subsequent years, increased the size of the plate to slow speeds further, so now polw speeds average 193-194 miles per hour at Talladega. Without them the cars are estimated to be capable of average speeds of 230 miles per hour nowadays. [The "icing on the cake", so to speak, to bring restrictor plates around occurred at the 1987 Winston 500 where Bobby Allison blew a tire, became airborne, and literally riped a large piece of fence down on the front straightaway next to the flagman's stand.] The 1988 Daytona 500 brought to millions of CBS viewers another classic race with a story book ending. On lap 106, Richard Petty was involved in one of the most famous crashes ever, in which his Pontiac rolled along the main grandstand fence, did another barrell roll as he came away from the fence, and was hit hard by Brett Bodine's FOrd. Petty was rushed to a nearby hospital, and although race fans across the country feared the worst, Petty managed to make it back to the track to see the end of the race. Bobby Allison won that race, and in second place came none other than his son, Davey. As a CBS camera panned on the ecstatic Judy Allison (Bobby's wife and Davey's mother), NASCAR racing became entrenched in the hearts of more fans. A few months later, Bobby Allison recieved serious and permanent injuries after a spectacular crash at the Pocono (Pa.) International Raceway, ending his career. A tragedy that still affects NASCAR today occurred at the Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway during the season-ending race there in 1990. "Mike Rich, a rear right side tire changer on former Winston Cup champion Bill Elliott's crew, died after the car driven by Ricky Rudd spun in the pits and struck him. During the off season, NASCAR vowed to make pit road safer for crew members. The death of Rich wasn't the first pit road accident, it was only the latest." NASCAR changed pit road rules several times during the 1991 season, before coming up with the present pit road speed limit syste, and regulations for the "restarts" after caution flags. "Death is as much a part of racing as tires and gasoline. Drivers accept the fact and move on. Just about every one of them has been involved in a terrible accident that has made them re-evaluate their careers. But with each new fatality, or near miss, the danger seeps back into their consciousness." NASCAR has suffered many losses in the 1990's. Besides the death of Mike Rich, 1990 Rookie of the Year Rob Moroso was killed in drunken driving accident after the '90 season. The first of two on-track fatalities occurred the following season, when fan-favorite J.D. McDuffie was killed instantly when his Pontiac flipped into a guard rail at the Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International road course. On April 1, 1993, the defending Winston Cup champion Alan Kulwicki was killed in a plane crash near the Bristol (Tenn.) International Raceway. [Kulwicki was another fan favorite known for his independence, insistance on owning his own team, and the ability to do things his own way and succeed.] A few months later, 1992 Daytona 500 winner Davey Allison was landing his brand new helicopter on the infield of the Talladega Superspeedway. Allison came within a few feet of touching down, but for some reason his helicopter flew 25 feet up in the air and then crashed hard. Allison came to see fellow racer Neil Bonnett's son practice at the track. It was Bonnett who pulled Allison from the wreckage. It was Neil Bonnett who would die in the second on-track fatality of the '90's. Bonnett was one of the most successful racers of the '80's, amassing nineteen wins during the decade. During the 1990 Southern 500 at Darlington, Bonnett was involved in a bad crash that forced him to retire from racing. In 1992 Bonnett became a race announcer for CBS and The Nashville Network, and also hosted his own racing show. Bonnett attempted a racing comeback at the 1993 DieHard 500 at Talladega in July. It was the hottest day in which a race was held in many years. On Lap 131 Bonnett's Chevy flipped into the "catch fence" separating the stands from the track. Bonnett was uninjured, and after the crash came up to the CBS booth to announce the rest of the race. Bonnett tried a full time comeback in 1994, but did in a practice accident nine days before the Daytona 500. Another tragedy befell the Texaco/Havoline racing team (the team Davey Allison was driving for at the time of his death) on the morning of August 20, 1994. Ernie Irvan, hired after Allison's death, crash head-on into the second turn wall at the Michigan International Speedway during practice. Irvan was in a coma for seventeen days, during which the doctors gave him little chance for survival. Irvan survived, however, and is no racing the full Winston Cup schedule for the Texaco/Havoline team. [Not anymore- Irvan was replaced at the end of the 1997 season by Kenny Irwin Jr. and is now driving the Skittles Pontiac for MB2 Motorsports.] Despite these tragedies, however, NASCAR racing continued to grow at an enormous rate. This is exemplified by the running of the inaugural Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Since its opening in 1911, the only race run at "the Brickyard" was the Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day weekend. The first NASCAR stock car race ever to be run there took place on August 6, 1994. Undoubtedly, the Brickyard 400 was the most hyped race in NASCAR history. The winner was Jeff Gordon, then 23, in a Chevy. Gordon would win the Winston Cup championship in 1995, at 24, years of age, earning him such nicknames as "the Boy Wonder" and the "Wunderkind". Another man who helped bring NASCAR to its present popularity was Dale Earnhardt. Earnhardt has won seven Winston Cup championships, in 1980, '86, '87, '90, '91, '93, and '94. Throughout the 80's and 90's Earnhardt's dirty driving style and his sinister black Chevy has made him both the crowd favorite and crowd nemesis. Any race fan has an opinion on Earnhardt, and often certain stands at racetracks would be divided into sections which either all love or hate Earnhardt. And then the unthinkable happened. The tragic accident in the closing lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Dale Earnhardt died that day, but his memory will live on. Earnhardt, a native of Kannapolis, N.C., was Daytona's career victories leader and the winner of the 1998 Daytona 500. According to Dr. Steve Bohannon, emergency medical services director at Daytona International Speedway who responded to the crash, Earnhardt was killed instantly. "He had what I feel were life-ending type injuries at the time of impact," Dr. Bohannon said. "Really nothing could be done for him." The announcement was made at 7 p.m. ET by NASCAR President Mike Helton. "Undoubtedly this is one of the toughest announcements I've personally had to make," said Helton, whose motorsports career covers more than 20 years. "After the accident in Turn 4 at the end of the Daytona 500 we've lost Dale Earnhardt." Earnhardt's death was the 27th in the history of the track, which opened with the inaugural Speedweeks in 1959. The first fatality was Daytona Beach native Marshall Teague, who died before Speedweeks began while testing an Indy car for a world closed course speed record.
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