Dave Fulton posted Thursday about Earnhardt's win in the 1980 Busch Clash.
http://racersreunion.com/community/forum/stock-car-racing-history/21181/busch-clash-a-springboard-to-earnhardts-1st-championship
In his post, he referenced something I either didn't know about or perhaps had forgotten. The 80-lap ARCA race was red-flagged after 53 laps, the cars were parked on the infield road course, and the remaining laps were postponed so the Clash could run in the CBS TV slot. Then they resumed the final few laps of the 200 mile event.
The ARCA race came down to a couple of relatively inexperienced drivers, karting champion Lake Speed from Mississippi and John Rezek, who'd finished 2nd to Kyle Petty in the ARCA race a year earlier.
Some of you know Russ Thompson - also known across the interwebs as Calhoun98. Russ worked on Lake's team that day and educated me on how the finish went down.
A caution flew with 3 to go with Speed leading and Rezek 2nd. The race was certain to finish under yellow with Lake taking the win. Instead, one of the craziest race control decisions ever was made. ARCA officials decided to throw the green on the final lap with the restart to begin at the entrance to pit road. The cars essentially had to drag race back to the S/F line to decide the winner.
Because of debris from the accident or who knows why, Lake had cut a tire. He was able to limp around - maybe even down to the rim if need be - to get that win. But to punch it and race to the S/F line was out of the question. When the green was dropped, Rezek blew by Lake like he was standing still, Rezek took the checkers, and the 6 team was livid (rightfully so).
Lake's car pre-race (with Russ standing by the right side):
The finish:
The story as reported in the Daytona Beach Morning Journal:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=WFMfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NdIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4999%2C4998399
And the call on MRN (edited a good bit by Russ's family who recorded the race):
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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 02/19/17 10:17:21AM
