Remembering The Final Winston Cup Banquet
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Author’s
note: The following is a recap of the 2003 Winston Cup Awards Banquet, held in
the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. It was
written, all in fun, by my alter ego, The Lady in Black. This article
originally appeared on the pages of Insider Racing News on December 10, 2003
under its original title, "This
Year, There Was Food at the Banquet." Please enjoy...
Good
day race fans. This is your raving reporter, the Lady in Black, coming to you
from the mountains of North Georgia, where on Friday evening I, like most of
you, watched the Winston Cup Awards Banquet for the last time. Usually, as you
know, I report from the scene but this time there must have been a mix-up about
my press credentials. All I know is that they told me that they wouldn’t get me
any closer to that Grand Ballroom than the New Jersey Turnpike. It must have
been some sort of computer error, right Brian?
Well,
like you, I watched it, and as always, I took copious notes. Now I am faced
with the daunting task of trying to create something humorous from a three and
a half-hour infomercial interrupted frequently by commercials and a bunch of
blue-collar guys decked out in monkey suits, trying to look comfortable. (Only
a few of them succeeded)
Right
up front, allow me to dispense with further mention of Harry Connick Jr. and
LeAnn Rimes. Both are very talented entertainers that unfortunately have
nothing whatever to do with NASCAR racing, nor did their choice of musical
presentations. Still, if we simply must be musically entertained, they were a
vast improvement over the caterwauling of last year, and I could understand the
words. On that same note, it was nice to be back in the Grand Ballroom of the
Waldorf Astoria rather than in that pretentious theater. It’s difficult to call
it a “Banquet” when there are no tables and no food. Face it, these people are
human. They eat!
If
you somehow managed to miss the first hour of the show, don’t feel bad because
you’ve seen it all before. Excepting the musical interlude, it was almost
entirely a rehash of the 2003 season including videos of every win, every near
win, every notable loss, every great or near great
finish, and of course, every car that went on its roof, hit a wall or caught
fire. That last part looked like what we see on the six o’clock news race
recap.
Between
videos, we saw Keefer Sutherland (Nope. I don’t know why either) on the podium
giving us his version of the history of NASCAR and Winston, which was followed
by another video, this time of many of the past champions telling us of their
love for R.J. Reynolds and Winston. Eventually, they got around to seating all
of the dignitaries of Roush racing and their wives at the head table, and after
another video, that one on Jack Roush, Allen [Bestwick] ceded the microphone to
“Ol DW, who presented NASCAR’s salute to Winston.
As
an opening act, Jaws was a pretty good speaker, in that he was able to be both
light and serious at the same time, while looking fairly at home in his bib and
tucker. The video he showed was pure nostalgia, giving us another look at many
of the past champions that earned the Winston Cup, including King Richard
Petty, Bobby Allison, Bill Elliott, DW himself, Cale Yarborough, Davey Allison
(No, Davey never won the Winston Cup but it was wonderful to see him anyway),
Alan Kulwicki, Junior Johnson, Ned Jarrett, Rusty Wallace and of course, Dale
Earnhardt. Of the multitude of video clips we watched, that one was far and
away the best.
Next
on the podium was Bill (Deep pockets) France, son of the NASCAR founder and
father of the HMWIC (Head man what’s in charge), Brian (No chin) France. In his
opening statement, he joked about making a return to the theater his last act
as CEO before retiring, only to have Brian undermine him and bring it back to
what he called, “This wore out old ballroom.” At least, I hope he was joking!
(Note to Brian: Never again let the camera catch you staring into space with
your mouth hanging open. That’s not your best pose)
He
then introduced us to Andy Schindler (Not the guy with the list), the Chairman
and CEO of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, and presented him with a trophy
bearing the name of all 26 present and past Winston Cup Champions. Mr.
Schindler gave a nice short acceptance speech and it was finally time to start
the countdown to the last Winston Cup Champion. The list of all those that
didn’t have to pay their own way to New York follows:
Coming
in at number ten in the points was two time Champion, Texas Terry Labonte, the
pride of Corpus Christie, Texas. Terry’s one win this year was perhaps the most
significant of all, coming at the final Labor Day running of the once
prestigious Southern 500 in Darlington, SC. Of course you remember Terry, at
the end of the race eschewing the ever-popular doughnuts for taking the
checkered flag and turning a single classic victory lap. This Texas boy only
managed to look frozen in his monkey suit as he accepted a check for
$638,930.00 and proceeded to thank everyone he’s ever known, including his
lovely wife, Kim, while obviously reading from a teleprompter. Now friends,
after each presentation, our old friend Allen (Frozen hair) Bestwick did a
short interview with each recipient. Most were neither funny nor informative,
so in the interest of space and your attention span, I’ll skip over them. If
you absolutely have to know what was said, write me and I’ll fill you in.
In
ninth place we find Bill (The Awesome One) Elliott, the 1988 Winston Cup
Champion and winner of the final fall race at Rockingham. Bill accepted a check
for $686,245.00, spoke from notes rather than a prompter and appeared to be
easy and relaxed, looking perfectly at home in his tuxedo. Who’d have thunk it of a kid from Dawsonville GA? Bill also thanked
everyone he knew, and wife Cindy in particular, then joked about needing to run
Goodyear “run-flats”, with reference to his near miss at Homestead. This true
southern Gentleman then forgot to take his trophy with him. (But he remembered
to pocket the check)
In
eighth place was Bobby (The Bounty Hunter) Labonte, the 2000 Winston Cup
Champion and winner of two races this year including the one at Homestead,
which the Awesome One gave away to a flat tire. Bobby
appeared, not in a traditional tuxedo, but a dark suit over a black shirt, with
no tie. He accepted a check for $758,560.00 and then proceeded to offer a very
long thank you list that culminated with his pretty wife, Donna. Bobby looked a
lot more comfortable than his big brother had, but he still read from the
prompter quite a bit.
Coming
in at number seven was Tony (Stewpot) Stewart, the 2002 Winston Cup Champion,
who appeared in a full tux and clean shaven to accept a check for $902,830.00.
Tony was one of the class acts of the evening, speaking freely and easily as he
offered his thanks to all and sundry that had helped him throughout his career.
If this lad read from a teleprompter, you couldn’t tell it. He was very sincere
with his thanks and presented quite an image of perfection. (Remember, this was
the lad that some said would not make a “good” Champion, whatever that is)
In
sixth place, it was Flyin’ Ryan Newman, last year’s
Rookie of the Year and winner of eight (count ‘em) races in 2003. Up ‘til now,
I’ve neglected to mention that there were videos accompanying every driver when
he took the stage, ( re-runs of what we saw in that long first hour) but I have
to mention that after winning eight dang races, the video they chose to show of
Ryan was, of course, his car going end over end at Daytona. Where is the
justice? Ryan, dressed in a satin trimmed tux with a full satin tie, accepted a
check for a very healthy $1,052,100.00. Although the lad with no neck appeared
to be choked by that tie, he delivered his thank you speech without benefit of
a teleprompter, kept it quite short and very personal, and then left the stage
to join his fiancée, Krissie Boyle at their table.
Another example of a class act!
In
fifth place in the points was Kevin (Kreatin’ Havoc)
Harvick, winner of the prestigious Brickyard 400, complete with a video of his
entire team including car owner Richard Childress, kissing the “Yard of
Bricks.” Kevin took home a check in the amount of $1,241,370.00 and then,
despite looking absolutely great in his tux, proceeded to read his entire list
of gratitude from the prompter, and not all that well. Still, he thanked the
entire world as he knows it, with special credit to his bride, DeLana.
Fourth
place, no surprise, went to four time Cup Champion, Jeff (Flameboy) Gordon, who
appeared on stage wearing a dark suit that wasn’t quite a tux, with a full
white tie on a white shirt. (Note to Jeff: Where is all the DuPont color?) Jeff
accepted a healthy $1,435,640.00 and proceeded quite ably through the sponsor
kiss-ups and thank you list. He made little personal speeches with each “Thank
you”, the last being to the girl friend du jour, Amanda Church, and was quite
at ease in the roll of speaker. (Note to Jeff: One has to wonder if you could
talk at all if someone tied down your hands)
Third
place for the season went to Dale (Bud Stud) Earnhardt Jr., who was also voted
the most popular driver of 2003. Obviously taking a cue from Daddy, Junior took
to the stage clad in a black suit, with a black tie over a black shirt and best
of all, clean shaven. He laid claim to a check for $1,679,910, and delivered
his comments amidst laughing and joking. His thank you list was very personal
and warm, and though he did have a prompter, he didn’t appear to need it much.
Take heart ladies, if he was accompanied by anyone, we didn’t see her. I guess
he’s still eligible.
In
the runner-up position (If for any reason the Champion is unable to perform his
duties, etc. Oh wait, that’s Miss America) it was Jimmie (Jeffy’s
Mini-me) Johnson. He was attired in a black suit, with full black tie over a
white shirt, to accept a check for $2,149,180.00. (Not bad pay for the first
loser) Jimmie appeared to be ill at ease with that prompter thing, as he was
obviously reading every word and his eyes never once left it. He thanked almost
the entire world, culminating with his girlfriend, Chandra. As a mirror image
of the boss, he also talked with his hands a lot, but wasn’t quite as at ease.
After
that, we took a trip to Cambridge, Wisconsin, hometown of Matt Kenseth, with
Bill Weber. We visited with Mom and his Grandparents along with several
neighbors and were stunned to hear that everyone loved Matt and they were very
proud of him. Unfortunately, this was the time that TNT picked to suffer from
sunspots or minimum-wage help or whatever, and announced that they were
experiencing technical difficulties. (That couldn’t have happened during the
musical interludes ~ save it for the piece on the winner) We did get to see a
few pictures of Matt the Brat as a baby and child, but missed a lot of them
while watching a frozen screen. Class act there, TNT! (Maybe next year SPEED
could handle it?)
Next
up to the podium was John (NASCAR Top Cop) Darby, looking quite spiffy in what
appeared to be more of a smoking jacket than a formal tux, with satin trim but
no lapels. John’s purpose was to present a trophy to winning crew chief, Robbie
Reiser. Now, Robbie is a great guy, but he was just
too nervous to even read the prompter, obviously preferring life in the garage
to life on stage. He haltingly managed to read his list of folks to thank, but it
was no secret that the poor guy was uncomfortable, both with his tux and with
public speaking. Shortly before he was done, we fought another round with
technical difficulties, which probably pleased Robbie no end.
Following
that, we were treated to the appearance of NASCAR President, (Mafia) Mike
Helton, replete with a full tux that made him even more resemble the
“Godfather.” (With apologies to Mario Puzo) Mike’s
task of the evening was to introduce the owner of the #17 DeWalt
Ford, Jack (Cat in the Hat) Roush, who appeared without the hat and quelled all
rumors of terminal baldness. Jack looked really good in his tux and appeared to
be quite relaxed as he very capably thanked all of the little people that had
made his dream come true. Before he was through, we finally got to see the
winning crew, seated in the balcony above the ballroom. (Never could figure out
what’s up with that. Heck they won and then they’re isolated from the party)
The thank you list wound down to Jack’s wife Pauline and ended with one more
heartfelt thank you to Larry Hicks, the marine who saved Jack from a watery
grave in 2002.
*Forty
lashes to the reporter at this point for realizing too late that she omitted
one thing from the pre-banquet show, that being the announcement of awards for
the Most Popular Driver and the Rookie of the Year, which had been given
earlier. As already noted, the MPD was Dale (Bud Stud) Earnhardt Jr. and
accepting the ROTY award was a tearful and very genuine Jamie (Jiminy McCricket) McMurray.
Finally,
at long (And I do mean l-o-n-g) last, it was time for the new and last Winston
Cup Champion, Matt (Mutt) Kenseth to take the stage along with his lovely wife
Katie. Matt was attired in a shiny black tux, with a full black tie over a
white shirt and Katie was resplendent in a strapless red evening gown. Brian
France made an on-stage appearance to present the couple with a Championship
ring and necklace, and happily figured out which one went to whom. Next, we saw
a reappearance of Andy Schindler, who presented Matt with the grand prize, a
check in the amount of $5,138,640, all the while saying nice things about Matt
and patting him on the back. Matt was relaxed and well spoken, and started his
thank you list with personal remarks to each member of his family before
relying on the prompter a bit to aid him through the long list of folks that he
considered responsible for getting him to the top of the heap, as it were.
Lastly,
when Matt and Katie had been reseated, a snow storm of confetti fell on the
ballroom and it was obviously time to party hardy! They sent Bill Weber out one
last time to say goodnight to all the little folks watching at home, gave us
one more look at the revelers in their finery and faded to black.
That’s
exactly the way it was in the Big Apple on Friday night. Would I lie to you?
~LIB
In
closing, just let me say one last farewell and a most heartfelt “Thank you” to
R.J. Reynolds and their Winston brand. It’s been one heck of a ride and we owe
it all to you!
That
very seasonal little guitar can only mean that it’s time for our Classic
Country Closeout. Hey! ‘Tis the season, and since your scribe chose that
adorable little graphic today, let’s get started with Brenda Lee singing her
Classic Christmas hit, “Rockin’ Around
the Christmas Tree.”
Next
up I found for your listening and viewing pleasure, a wonderful video
accompanying Bobby Helms singing “Jingle
Bell Rock.” Enjoy!
Next
we’ll be hearing one that probably no one remembers but me. It’s a real oldie,
recorded by Tex Ritter in 1946. My fading memory is sure that it came
originally from a movie, but Tex made so many, I haven’t a clue which it might
have been. It doesn’t really matter anyway, so here is Tex doing his Christmas
best, “Christmas Carols by the Old
Corral.”
Now…
beware because I’m in a giggle mood. Up next we’ll be hearing Jeff Foxworthy
doing his “Twelve Days of a Redneck Christmas.”
And
finally, one of the funniest men alive, Bill Engvall,
giving out his Christmas signs. “Here’s Your Sign!”
Be
well gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling. It looks so good on you!
~PattyKay