October 25, 1992: Kyle's Rockingham Romp

A year ago, I posted this blog entry to commemorate the birthday of one of our Schaefer Hall of Famers by featuring the 1992 AC Delco 500 at Rockingham. In looking back through my RacersReunion posts, I'm not sure I ever made it available here. So while this is a blog re-run for me, its perhaps a first visit here.

Original blog post:

http://bench-racing.blogspot.com/2012/10/october-25-kyles-rockingham-romp.html

October 25 - Happy Birthday to 2012 Schaefer Hall of Fame inductee, Bruton! (Also known in some web circles as GaPettyFan.)

October 25 is also the anniversary of Kyle Petty's dominant win in the 1992 AC Delco 500 at Rockingham. For younger readers and/or novice NASCAR fans, the pony-tailed, goatee-sporting, hat-wearing, talking head you see on Speed's Trackside, Raceday, and Victory Lane shows was once a pretty good driver. Though he had only eight career Cup wins, Kyle had a lengthy career and was in the points hunt a couple of years in the early 1990s. Driving for SABCO Racing and sponsored by Peak Antifreeze and Mello Yello, the 42 Pontiac was almost unstoppable at Rockingham from the late 1980s through the early 1990s.

In the 1992 fall Rockingham race, Kyle's father - Richard Petty - made his final start at the track. The King started every race at Rockingham from its inaugural event in 1965 through his 1992 retirement season, and had eleven wins in his 54 starts.

Fittingly, Kyle won the pole for his father's final Rockingham start, and he then led all but eight of the 492 laps en route to victory.

Perhaps because I remember Kyle's win, 1992 doesn't seem that long ago. Yet its been 20 years - 2 decades - since his win. The passage of time and advances in technology, however, can perhaps best be illustrated by looking at the cell phone Kyle used to call car owner Felix Sabates from victory lane. An iBrick ?

Before NASCAR's premier series was sponsored by Sprint (and Nextel before that), R.J. Reynolds' Winston cigarettes brand was synonymous with the sport for more than twenty-five years. I'm reminded in the following photo of the cute and classy Miss Winston ladies. No knock on today's Miss Sprint Cup girls but having them dressed in firesuits is just dumb.

The Petty family and racing are inseparable. For many of Richard's wins - especially those at tracks in North Carolina - his family was able to join him in victory lane. For Kyle's Rockingham victory, he continued the tradition. Interestingly, the one person noticeably absent from the group is the King himself.

Source: Portsmouth Daily Times via Google News Archive

So as we reflect upon Kyle's dominating day at The Rock in 1992, the Schaefer Hall of Fame and Ring of Honor wish Bruton a Schaeferiffic birthday. Just don't live too large Bruton - we'd hate to see you fade early.

Fin	Driver	Car
1	Kyle Petty	Pontiac
2	Ernie Irvan	Chevrolet
3	Ricky Rudd	Chevrolet
4	Bill Elliott	Ford
5	Sterling Marlin	Ford
6	Harry Gant	Oldsmobile
7	Brett Bodine	Ford
8	Dale Earnhardt	Chevrolet
9	Terry Labonte	Oldsmobile
10	Davey Allison	Ford
11	Jimmy Spencer	Ford
12	Alan Kulwicki	Ford
13	Morgan Shepherd	Ford
14	Derrike Cope	Chevrolet
15	Dale Jarrett	Chevrolet
16	Dick Trickle	Ford
17	Rick Mast	Oldsmobile
18	Jimmy Hensley	Ford
19	Bobby Hamilton	Ford
20	Michael Waltrip	Pontiac
21	Rusty Wallace	Pontiac
22	Darrell Waltrip	Chevrolet
23	Wally Dallenbach, Jr.	Ford
24	Chad Little	Ford
25	Richard Petty	Pontiac
26	Jimmy Means	Pontiac
27	Mike Wallace	Ford
28	Mike Skinner	Chevrolet
29	Ted Musgrave	Ford
30	Mark Martin	Ford
31	Dave Blaney	Pontiac
32	Ken Schrader	Chevrolet
33	Greg Sacks	Chevrolet
34	Jimmy Horton	Chevrolet
35	Geoffrey Bodine	Ford
36	Lake Speed	Ford
37	Jerry O'Neil	Oldsmobile
38	Dave Marcis	Chevrolet
39	Mike Potter	Pontiac
40	John McFadden	Pontiac

TMC

--
Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 10/25/18 12:03:44PM

Kyle and his SABCO crew most definitely had the handle on Rockingham. He always looked his best there.

Kyle's Rockingham SABCO races - copied from racing Reference:

1989-27	Rockingham	40	36	10	42	Peak Antifreeze ( Felix Sabates )	Pontiac	489/492	10,107	running	0
1990-03	Rockingham	38	1	1	42	Peak Antifreeze ( Felix Sabates )	Pontiac	492/492	284,450	running	433
1990-27	Rockingham	40	6	20	42	Peak Antifreeze ( Felix Sabates )	Pontiac	485/492	13,850	running	207
1991-03	Rockingham	40	1	1	42	Mello Yello ( Felix Sabates )	Pontiac	492/492	131,450	running	380
1991-27	Rockingham	40	1	9	42	Mello Yello ( Felix Sabates )	Pontiac	490/492	22,950	running	64
1992-02	Rockingham	40	1	29	42	Mello Yello ( Felix Sabates )	Pontiac	430/492	12,375	camshaft	24
1992-27	Rockingham	40	1	1	42	Mello Yello ( Felix Sabates )	Pontiac	492/492	153,100	running	484
1993-02	Rockingham	40	11	32	42	Mello Yello ( Felix Sabates )	Pontiac	436/492	14,900	running	0
1993-28	Rockingham	41	6	13	42	Mello Yello ( Felix Sabates )	Pontiac	490/492	18,250	running	0
1994-02	Rockingham	42	7	8	42	Mello Yello ( Felix Sabates )	Pontiac	490/492	22,635	running	6
1994-29	Rockingham	42	29	36	42	Monsters of the Gridiron ( Felix Sabates )	Pontiac	233/492	20,575	crash	0
1995-02	Rockingham	42	27	10	42	Coors Light ( Felix Sabates )	Pontiac	489/492	26,250	running	0
1995-29	Rockingham	40	15	32	42	Coors Light ( Felix Sabates )	Pontiac	327/393	21,900	crash	0
1996-02	Rockingham	41	9	11	42	Coors Light ( Felix Sabates )	Pontiac	391/393	24,325	running	0
1996-29	Rockingham	42	11	25	42	Coors Light ( Felix Sabates )	Pontiac	389/393	20,925	running	0

--
"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

Thanks Dave, I was thinking I was at this race until you posted this. Kyle swept the Rock the year I saw him win there so it had to have been the '91 race I saw. Remember he lead almost all the laps and never came off that white line in the corners all day long.