#91 - One Magical Season ~ 1992 - Part 1
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10/03/2018 Matt McLaughlin |
(Editor’s Note) In 1997
- 1998, Matt McLaughlin penned a special Anthology of historical pieces in
honor of the 50th Anniversary of NASCAR entitled "50 Years of NASCAR
Racing." Matt has entrusted the entire collection, minus one or two that
were misfiled back then and cannot be salvaged, to my tender, loving care.
As NASCAR turns 70, the
Anthology itself will celebrate a 20th anniversary through 2018, and will run
again here on Race Fans Forever. As before, there is no record of which pieces
came first, so it will appear in the sequence presented earlier. Please, sit
back and enjoy as you take a journey back through the pages of history and
perhaps relive a memory or two.
As always, many thanks
to Matt, and God bless you my friend. ~PattyKay
No one knew it as the big race car haulers entered the
infield that February morning in preparation for the 1992 Daytona 500, but that
season was destined to be one of the most competitive in the history of the
sport. In a very real way it was that magic season that helped stock
car racing climb that one final rung up the ladder, lose its image as a
regional blue collar sport, and become the overwhelmingly popular sport that
NASCAR racing is today. Many of the sport's newer fans began watching races in
1992, and for those of us who were fans of the sport, the memories of that
magical season will carry with us a lifetime.
All the familiar faces were there and of course, as
with the start of each season, everyone was on equal footing before those first
points were awarded after the 500. For many pundits, the heavy favorite for
that year's title was Dale Earnhardt, returning with Richard Childress racing
in the famous or infamous (depending on whether you were watching from the
stands in awe or watching in your rearview mirror as Dale punted you out of the
way) black 3 car. Certainly, betting against Earnhardt was a fool's gamble. He was
coming off two straight championships, and a six year streak where he had won
four titles, been runner up once, and finished third the other year, amassing
37 wins along the way. (That statistic sounds fairly familiar for a younger
driver as of late, over six seasons, doesn't it?) Another driver that figured
to be a key player in the title hunt was Bill Elliott. After a dismal 1991
season that saw him only win one race, and finish a then career worst 11th in
the points, Elliott had left his family-owned team to drive for legendary car
owner Junior Johnson, once a formidable racer in his own right. The so called
"Super Team" was generating a lot of excitement. After all, Junior
knew a thing or two about championships, having won six of them with teams he owned.
Davey Allison and the Yates Racing organization were coming into their own
after a couple frustrating seasons. Davey had tied for the most wins in 1991
with 5. The driver he tied, Handsome Harry Gant, was also back with Leo
Jackson, having won four straight races in 1991 to earn himself the title
"Mr. September." You couldn't count out the two Hendrick team
drivers, Kenny Schrader and Ricky Rudd, both of whom had top-ten points finishes in 1991, with Ricky claiming runner up
honors to Dale Earnhardt. Darrell Waltrip, an owner driver, could never be
counted out... not with three championships, and an eighth place points finish
in 1991. Mark Martin had a disappointing 1991 season, winning one race and
finishing sixth in the points after having narrowly lost the title to Earnhardt
in 1990. Still Mark and crew chief Steve Hmeil seemed
to have that "magic chemistry" that eluded so many, and they were
looking to rebound. While he was there at Daytona, there weren't a lot of
pundits placing bets on a quiet driver from Wisconsin, Alan Kulwicki. Kulwicki
had started 1991 without a sponsor and finished 13th in the points that year,
though he had managed to win a race and land Hooters as his sponsor.
The big news though, was another driver nobody thought
had a legitimate shot at winning that year's title, though he would garner an
awesome amount of press and attention along the way, perhaps more than any
other driver. And deservedly so. The King, Richard Petty, was forever changing
the face of stock car racing after 1992, having announced that year would be
his last as a driver, ending a 33-year career that had made him not only the
most popular stock car driver in the nation, but one of the most popular
athletes. To those casual fans of stock car racing, Richard Petty was the only
name they knew, and the fact he had launched his Fan Appreciation Tour was
enough reason for many to order tickets to a race, or at least tune in and
watch a Winston Cup event. New seats were being added as quickly as possible to
tracks across the nation, and even at that, those tracks couldn't keep up with
demand. Even in his retirement, the glory days of his career long since behind
him, Richard Petty did more that year than any other man to help our sport grow
to the level it is at today. Fortunately, the King had a strong supporting
cast. Richard Petty could get people to tune in to stock car racing, but the
racing had to be outstanding that year if people were to continue watching
after the King retired. NASCAR was blessed with one of the greatest seasons of
racing in the sport's history.
It started at Daytona. Even before the racing began
there was a lot of controversy. There was a new "Chief NASCAR Cop" in
town, Gary Nelson, a former crew chief who knew a thing or two about cheating.
Only four cars made it through technical inspection on their first try, and six
teams were fined. Infractions ranged from high tech (Jimmy Spencer's hydraulic
trunk lid that lowered the rear spoiler) to crude (Stanley Smith had decided to
carry a little extra gas on board with 8 feet of fuel line that ran all over
the car.) The fact so many teams got caught is proof of how lackadaisical the
inspection process was prior to Nelson's arrival.
In somewhat of a surprise, Sterling Marlin, Bill
Elliott's Junior Johnson teammate, won the pole position, but Bill qualified
second to make it an all Johnson front row. Pre-season favorites Bill Elliott
and Dale Earnhardt won the 125 qualifying races.
Early in the going of the Daytona 500, Elliott and
Marlin dominated, and Junior was grinning. Davey Allison was right in the mix,
and seventh place starter, and NASCAR's bad boy of the era, Ernie Irvan seemed
intent on spoiling the "All Ford" show. The caution flag had to be
thrown for six laps because of a rain shower on lap 84, after which racing
began again in earnest. The halfway point was closing in and no one knew how
long Mother Nature would cooperate. Fingers have been pointed at both Irvan and
Marlin, but at that time Irvan got the most heat. However it happened, while
Sterling and Bill were racing for the lead, Ernie decided to try to capitalize
and made it three wide down the back straight. Contact was made, and the three
lead cars hit each other, the wall, and about everyone else, in the resulting
14 car melee. Other notables who crashed the party against their wishes were
Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace, and Dale Jarrett.
While some would continue, all were eliminated from a potential win.
Davey Allison had snaked his way through the huge wreck,
and capitalized on his good fortune by winning the race. With so many favorites
sidelined, some rather surprising names filled out the top five; Morgan
Shepherd driving for the Wood Brothers, Geoff Bodine in Bud Moore's Ford, Alan
Kulwicki, and Dick Trickle the sole GM in the top five aboard an unsponsored
Oldsmobile. Obviously Davey left Daytona with the points lead. Richard Petty
finished 16th in his last Daytona 500.
Elliott was furiously angry with Irvan after the wreck
that had spoiled his debut with Junior. But the Super Team was not to be denied
much longer. The Elliott Express was steaming up and getting ready to leave the
station.
Junior was calling the shots from the pits at the next
race of that season, Rockingham. He told Bill to save the car for the first
half of the race, and then told Elliott to hit the afterburners. Bill rocketed
into the lead and led the final 213 laps to take his first win with Junior. 14
seconds behind in second was Davey Allison, who of course continued as points leader. But Elliott was just gathering momentum.
Somewhat surprisingly, Bill won the pole at Richmond.
Elliott had always been noted as an ace on the superspeedways, who struggled a
bit on the short tracks. Such wasn't the case that day. Elliott didn't just win
that race, he dominated, leading every one of the first 218 laps except one
while he was in the pits, and the last 130 for good measure. A surprising Alan
Kulwicki emerged in the late stages of the race to give Bill a real challenge
for the win, and the two came off the final corner side by side. Elliott
prevailed by about a foot. Those 12 inches were worth a whole lot of money as
Elliott claimed a $197,600 check from UNOCAL for winning from the pole. To put
that in perspective, between the race purse and that bonus, Bill won more money
than Allison had won for winning the Daytona 500.
There was no way that Bill Elliott could win Atlanta.
His car had been a dog all day, running mid-pack. He had never led a lap. But
win it, Bill did. Once again credit goes to a call from the pits by one Junior
Johnson. Bill was ready to go a lap down when the pit stop cycle started.
Junior told Bill to stay out on the track as all the leaders pitted and hope
for a caution. The team had little to lose. Bill got the signal to pit next
time by, but at that moment Mike Wallace spun, bringing out the caution.
Elliott got the luxury of a yellow flag stop and returned to the track on a lap
all by himself. Needless to say Elliott had no problem winning his third race
in a row. His only problem was, after winning three straight races, he was
still second to Davey Allison, who finished fourth that day in points. It was
Allison's fifth straight top five and with NASCAR's points system, that's hard
to beat.
Still, Elliott had to be feeling the season was coming
to him. The next race on the schedule was Darlington, a track where Bill had a
lot of success, and a track that had once made him a million dollars richer
back in 1985. Elliott once again took the pole. Once
again, Junior had Bill save the car for the first part of the race, then told
him to go for the lead. Elliott calmly drove into the lead and started opening
ground. Alan Kulwicki was able to keep Bill in sight but not challenge him
until the engine in Alan's car let loose with 10 to go. Harry Gant and his team
decided to pit for fresh tires, hoping the advantage of fresh rubber would let
him catch Bill. It almost worked. Almost. Elliott won his fourth straight race,
a modern era record. Allison got another top five, fourth, and held onto the
points lead. In marked contrast to the two dominant Fords, a frustrated Dale
Earnhardt had not led a single lap in those first five races, and said NASCAR's
spoiler rules were to blame for Ford's dominance. (Sound familiar?)
It might also sound familiar, Elliott was so dominant
that everyone thought the team was cheating. After all, the Cheater's Hall of
Fame would be named after Junior Johnson. As the story goes, one late evening
at a bar while celebrating the team’s good fortune, a member of Junior's crew
let the cat out of the bag. They weren't cheating. They were running a cambered
rear end (The wheels leaned in or out from upright to take advantage of the
track's banking) which was within the rules. A furious Junior Johnson fired
that loose lipped crew person, but the cat was out of the bag, and everyone was
taking torches to the rear end of their cars. (While Junior no doubt considered
taking a torch to the rear end of that loud mouth.)
Maybe it didn't matter that much. The Winston Cup schedule
was hitting the spring "Short Track Season" which had never been a
strong part of the year for Bill.
Elliott never really challenged for the win that day
at Bristol, after spinning out and losing a lap, then getting caught up in a
wreck with Ted Musgrave. Bill got a little reality check and a 20th place
finish. A surprising Alan Kulwicki was serving notice that he meant to be a
part of the fight for the championship too. Kulwicki was the master of setting
up a car's chassis, and he had his Thunderbird so dialed in he could stay with
the leaders after two or even no tire pit stops. Kulwicki went on to beat Dale
Jarrett, who gave rookie car owner Joe Gibbs his best finish of a miserable
season to that point, and reason to hope by coming in second. Davey Allison had
even worse problems than Elliott. A broken oil line caused Allison to crash in
his own oil. Not only did he finish 28th, he injured his shoulder in the
process.
Allison's injuries were painful enough he had Jimmy
Hensley qualify the car for the next race on the schedule, North Wilkesboro,
though it meant Davey would have to start at the rear of the field. Hensley was
also ready to relief drive if Allison couldn't take the pain. As it is often
said, having a strong car makes an injured driver feel a lot better. How strong
was Allison's car? Strong enough he prevailed to win after a hard fought battle
with short track ace Rusty Wallace.
The final of the three-race "Short Track
Season" events that spring took place at Martinsville. While Junior's talkative
crew man had been nice enough to tell everyone the cambered rear end secret, he
had neglected to tell them exactly how much bend the rear axle housing should
have. At a flat track like Martinsville that was a crucial dimension, and a
record number of cars broke axles that day because they had gotten too greedy
looking for a quick fix. Among the leaders who found out their crew chief had
put in too much bend that day were Dale Earnhardt, still looking for his first
win, and Alan Kulwicki. Mark Martin also had a cambered rear end, but Jack
Roush had played it conservative, and the fact his car lasted helped Mark to
take the win that day. Davey Allison had another miserable outing. Already
banged up from the wreck at Bristol, a blown tire sent Davey hard into the wall
and damaged his rib cage. While Bill Elliott managed a 10th place finish, he
was clearly relieved the short track races were behind him, and the Winston Cup
circuit returned to the friendlier confines of the Talladega superspeedway for
the next event.
Certainly Bill had reason to feel optimistic returning
to Talladega, as he had enjoyed great success there. For Davey Allison, the
2.66 mile high banked oval was his home course. Both drivers ran strong but it
was a decision by Robert Yates in the pits that tipped the scales for Davey.
The 28 team went with gas only on their last two stops in order to maintain
track position. Elliott could run with Allison, but when Bill got caught up
having to hold off Dale Earnhardt and Ernie Irvan to maintain second, Allison
was able to take the win by a relatively comfortable two car lengths.
Meanwhile, Elliott was able to beat Earnhardt for second by mere inches. Alan
Kulwicki, who felt about restrictor plate races about the same way Jeff Gordon
feels about bootleg souvenirs, did manage a credible sixth that day.
The win at the Winston 500 that day put Davey Allison
in position to claim the Winston Million by winning the next points
race on the schedule, the World 600 at Charlotte. Davey had to feel good about
his chances after having won at Daytona and Talladega. The Ford teams were on a
roll and had won all nine races that season. Yes, for young Davey, the Winston
Million had to seem a very attainable goal, but fate and the driver of a
certain black Chevrolet were going to have a say in the matter.
*Matt can no longer
field comments or email at Race Fans Forever. If you have comments or
questions, please leave them below and I’ll do my best to supply answers.
~PattyKay Lilley, Senior Editor.