She's taken a couple of hard licks at Daytona this year in the NW cars. Despite the polarization Danica brings, that was a frightening crash. I'm not sure I've seen a steering column get shoved back and up like that. I'm sure its happened - and if so, I probably wouldn't want to see the results. My thought after seeing it was (1) I'm glad there was no fire as it had to have been tougher than normal to exit the car and (2) what if a larger bodied driver had been the one to hit. Could have been a bad, bad, bad night.
Today is the anniversary of another Petty moment - but sadly not a win. I was sitting on the frontstretch near the entrance to pit road for the 1990 Pepsi 400. Good grief was it hot that morning - always was for those summer Tona races. I screamed lustily as King took 'em 3 wide down the backstretch on lap 1. But we all held our breath knowing he'd gone 3 wide with GREG SACKS and DERRIKE COPE. Sure nuff, it wasn't meant to be. Boom, crash, screech, day over. A funny scene in Talladega Nights played out in reality before our eyes.
After the wreck, there were only about a dozen cars even remotely competitive. Dale led the majority of the remaining 159 laps & got the win.
A friend of my uncle went with us that day - Howard. He was an unrepentant Earnhardt fan. Dude wore black jeans, black t-shirt, black boots and a black cap. He had a pretty thick black beard and ruddy complexion. Howard pounded beers all morning and into the afternoon, never had a water, never took a leak, never applied any Banana Boat, and I'm pretty sure never watched a lap.
As we filed out after yet another Earnhardt win, his arms and face were lobster red. As much as I couldn't stand Earnhardt in that era, I could only laugh as he paraded around drunk with 3 fingers in the air simply screaming hoarsely URRRRRNNNNNHARRTTTT, URRRRRNNNNNHARRTTTT.
The thing that really strikes me as I watched this clip again was how many folks would cling to the fences back then. Security would roam along and shoo people away. Fans would back off long enough to let security through and then simply return to the fence. Kind of like a rat passing through a snake - only faster.
Some of today's sponsor-driven race names are a meaningless mouthful (e.g.Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen). But as far back as 1970, one of the events was pretty lengthy too - the Albany-Saratoga 250 at Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta NY.
Today folks are debating Bruton's off-the-wall idea about scheduled cautions. That whacked idea ranks right up there with someone's decision to run Dover's first race 2 days after the Firecracker 400. But run it they did, and the King prevailed again.
I whipped you that day - and I could buckle in and beat you again today. I finished all the laps, got the win, reached 200, met Reagan and ate the chicken. And don't you forget it.
I'm posting this around 10:15 ET on July 4th - the traditional, approximate time the drivers got the green flag at Daytona for the annual Firecracker 400 (and 250 before the race was lengthened).
Richard Petty won three times in the summer race: 1975, 1977 and that memorable day in 1984 when he got career win #200. I've recapped them all here:
Buddy of mine tipped me off to that when the points penalty was announced. Took me by surprise. I knew points-selling was rampant in Cup, but didn't realize it was prevalent as well in NW.
My only guess was that RC bought Morgan's T35 NW points from 2011 to guarantee Austin a spot in 2012 races. But doesn't that bene run out after the 1st 5 races when current year teams have to stand on their own 2 legs? If so, why continue to field the team under the prior owner's name? I suppose its because of the owner's championship - which no fan really understands or cares about.
If Austin was now fielded in cars owned by RCR, Childress would be starting a half-season down in points as an owner. Right? But if Morgan continues to be listed as the owner, its possible Austin could win the championship as a driver and Morgan Shepherd ... errr, Richard Childress Racing would win the championship as the owner.
Seriously, if all continues to fall the #3's way, would Morgan REALLY be announced as the championship car owner? I'm guessing RC might pay Morgan's expenses to attend the banquet if that were to happen. Beyond that, I'm guessing no mention would be made of his role.
