There Is No Racing This Weekend
|
There
is no racing this weekend.
It’s
just as well.
The
season’s first break is here. It’s
Easter. You never race on Easter.
All
other holiday weekends we race. We’ve
even been known to slide a race in on Mother’s Day weekend on Saturday night.
But
this weekend the track is silent. There
is no racing this weekend.
In
some ways the 2018 season reminds me of the 1993 season. When the snow hit Martinsville last weekend
and delayed the race until Monday, I couldn’t help think back to 1993
Atlanta. It was the fourth race of the
season and scheduled to run on March 14th.
A JIM Cantore magnitude blizzard hit and snowed out the race.
There
was no racing that weekend. The 1993
blizzard was so huge, it not only snowed the race out, it took teams until
Tuesday before they could even get out and go home. They returned the following Saturday to run
the race and see Morgan
Shepherd in the 21 Wood Brothers Ford take the win.
Twelve
days later, April 1st, 1993, we lost five-time Winston Cup winner and reigning
Winston Cup Champion, Alan Kulwicki.
Mark Brooks, Dan Duncan, and Charlie Campbell also lost their lives in
the crash that took place as their Merlin turboprop fell from the sky while on
final approach to their destination- Tri-County Regional Airport outside of
Bountville, TN.
They
were less than six miles away.
There
was no racing that weekend... for the No. 7 team. Kulwicki’s
“Underbird”, now silent, was loaded back onto the transporter and it took one
final lap, took the Checkered Flag one last time before leaving Bristol for the
final time.
Twenty-five
years ago, on this weekend overflowing with great loss and sadness, each of us
dealt with this tragic loss in their own way.
NASCAR did what NASCAR does-it raced on.
Saturday
saw Michael Waltrip win the Busch race.
Waltrip entered Cup the same time as Kulwicki, with Alan beating Michael
out for Rookie of the Year award. After
the race he honored Kulwicki by doing 1/2 of Kulwicki’s
trademark “Polish Victory Lap”, stating he didn’t want to do all of Kulwicki’s routine.
He went on to propose to his future wife, Buffy in Victory Lane that
day.
On
Sunday, they raced again, this time Cup.
When the 500 Laps were complete, it was Kulwicki’s
closest friend, Rusty
Wallace taking the “Checkered Flag” and honoring Alan with a full
“Polish Victory Lap”. In a bit of a
twist, Rusty was using that same pit stall in his win that Alan used the
previous year to take the 1992 Food City 500 win.
With
heavy hearts, the Series moved on as the healing process began. Memories were shared. Tributes broadcast. Some from those who have also gone on to take their eternal
“Checkered Flag.”
This
weekend will mark twenty-five years since that fateful weekend when we lost our
Champion, Alan Kulwicki. This weekend,
the track, like Alan’s “Underbird” is silent.
There
is no racing this weekend... on the track.
This quiet weekend that fell on the 25th anniversary of Alan’s death
gives us a chance to remember Alan in our own ways.
For
me, I’m not sure what I will do. If this
cold rain that has set up doesn’t clear out, I’ll probably take in some YouTube
videos, like “The
Day”, TNN’s
“Winners” or the 1992 Winston
Cup Awards Banquet. Yesterday, I
picked up Bill Elliott’s book to see what the 1992 Championship race was like
from his perspective. I may just do that.
If
the weather turns good I’ll don my counterfeit AK hat, hop on the John Deere
and do some hot laps around the yard.
With all this rain, that grass needs some serious attention, plus when I
parked the JD for the winter it was tight in and loose off and I need to get
that fixed. You have to get the handle
just right to post good lap times in the Backyard 500.
Somewhere,
there will be a Brat and Seven-Up on my menu.
I heard Alan didn’t drink dark drinks, so I’ll forgo my Diet Pepsi for
this one day. Been doing it since my
first trip to Bristol. I’ll try to keep
that tradition going.
There
is no racing this weekend... on the track.
However, the Hooters 7 Ford Thunderbird will be out there on the track
again this weekend, just like it has been for the last quarter century, in the
hearts of Alan’s fans and in the memories of those who saw him race.
Still
missing you, Alan!