One win.
Michael Waltrip went 463 races before he got one, and then he won three more.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. , just went through a 76-race drought before winning again.
Wins are elusive for many drivers, for a variety of reasons. Loads of drivers would take a win these days, which, given the way the sport has changed and the level of competition increased, has gotten tougher and tougher.
Greg Sacks would like a win, too. At least one more.
Greg who?
Newer fans might not recognize the name, but anyone who has been following the sport for a while will remember Sacks as a former modified driver out of Mattituck , L.I., who is listed with 20 other drivers in NASCAR 's modern-era to notch just one elusive win.
"I hate to say it, I never, and still don't, want to be a one-time winner," Sacks said recently, while recounting his 1985 win at the Daytona International Speedway , in what was then called the Firecracker 400.
Sacks, 55, who hasn't driven in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series since 2005, says he still has the desire to drive.
He broke into NASCAR's top level in 1983, a time long before outsiders were bought into the sport as investment properties. It was also a time when independent teams could make a stab at racing, qualify, and actually race. Single cars were often the norm, rather than the exception.
Sacks' only win had that fairytale kind of magic, too.
"That was an incredible day," he said. "What an incredible day."
He edged out Bill Elliott for the win by a slim margin.
The deal to race at Daytona came together two weeks before the event. He drove a car his family-owned team had bought from Harry Rainer . It had been run by Cale Yarborough before that, and quite successfully.
Sacks was working then as part of a development team with DiGard Racing, and had Gary Nelson as his crew chief. He also had an inexperienced crew made up of people, who, in some cases, had never done that kind of work before. But he had a car with a newfangled steering system that, while legal, wasn't exactly the way NASCAR would have planned it.
"The day before the event I called my mom and dad," Sacks says. "I suggested they might want to come down to the event."
It's safe to say, he felt good about his chances that day.
He ran well early in the race, but the inexperienced pit crew killed him. He lost spots every time he pitted. Eventually, though, as other teams dropped out of the race, his crew was replaced by seasoned veterans who made the difference between having one win, or none.
"Without those guys, I couldn't have won the Firecracker," he said. "What a storybook event."
But storybooks have endings, as Sacks found out rather quickly.
After the Daytona win, he drove for a couple different teams, including Hendrick Motorsports , where he drove cars for the filming of "Days of Thunder." He had flourishes of promise since that glorious day in Florida , but never quite matched the moment at Daytona. Then in 1998, he was involved in a devastating crash at Texas that cost him a season.
In recent years he's straddled the line of an owner and driver, and says he's seeking sponsorship and alliances that could get him in the car and chasing another win. He realizes the days of running a full schedule are probably behind him. Instead, he wants to run at places where he feels he could compete.
"I've got that desire to compete to win," Sacks says. "I don't have that desire to enter races just to race."
He won't be racing at Daytona this weekend, but Sacks says the place has the potential to make any a driver a star - if only for a day.
"I think today, with the right driver, the right combination," Sacks says, "magical things can happen at Daytona on the Fourth of July."
He should know.
He's got the one win to prove it.
Just one.
Email: Rhuff@nydailynews.com
