bob jennings' WORLD O' RACING 02/20/2000
Gotta talk about the Great American Race
1991 "Daytona 500" winner Ernie Irvan in the 1999 "Brickyard 400" shortly before his retirement as a driver
Bob Jennings
Why not a feature a photo of Ernie Irvan? This is a piece about the "Daytona 500" and a look at what has characterized Speedweeks 2000 going into today's 42nd running of the "Great American Race."
Ernie Irvan is a Daytona 500" winner and played a strong role in a few more "Daytona 500" races that I can recall off the top of my head. He took Bill Elliott and Sterling Marlin out of the 1992 "Daytona 500" at the halfway point. Prior to that Elliott and Marlin in the Junior Johnson Fords had controlled the race and looked on pace to decide the win between them. After that, Davey Allison assumed control and held off Morgan Shepherd for the victory. After Allison's death in a helicopter at Talladega in July 1993, Irvan moved from his long time ride in the Morgan McClure Kodak Chevy in which he had won Daytona, to replace Davey in the Robert Yates Texaco Ford 28. In the 1994 "Daytona 500," Irvan led the Ford charge in car 28 but wasn't quite able to catch his old Kodak car 4, driven by winner Sterling Marlin.
Ernie Irvan finally hung it up after getting hurt at Michigan Speedway last August in circumstances similar to the crash at the same track which nearly took his life in August 1994. Ernie is a tough guy and he was a competitor. Remember when they called him "Swervin' Irvan" and he apologized in front of TV cameras at one of the pre-race driver's meetings for being so reckless? Irvan was something else, but he'll be watching tomorrow along with a couple other "Daytona 500" icons.
Geoff Bodine was Rick Hendrick's first Winston Cup driver and along with Harry Hyde, Bodine put Hendrick's Levi Garrett Chevy into the "Daytona 500" winner's circle in 1986. Tomorrow Bodine will probably be sleeping more than watching the race. He's lucky to be alive after a spectacular crash in Friday's NASCAR Truck race at Daytona.
I didn't see the race, but I know it was a bad wreck. I was at work. One of the women I work with told me she had seen the crash on television while at lunch and it was bad and NASCAR stopped the race. It sounds like NASCAR was pretty lucky too. With 13 trucks involved and eight drivers taken to the hospital along with nine fans, things could've been tragic, especially since Bodine's truck tore out the safety fencing along the top of the retaining walls. The race was stopped for more than two hours while repairs were made. Bodine missed qualifying for today's race as neither his qualifying speed nor his finish in Thursday's 125-mile event was adequate. His brother Brett, another "Daytona 500" regular also failed to qualify.
Dave Marcis was going for a record 33rd consecutive start in the "Daytona 500" and he'll be on the sidelines today too. I feel badly for Marcis. He's a pretty neat old guy. He must be pushing 60 or more. Marcis has been a NASCAR player for a long time, mostly on the fringes of the mainstream; just a working man from Wisconsin (one of those Wisconsin racin' guys like Dick Trickle and Alan Kulwicki) making a decent living without much success out of big time racing. I like the concept. I hope it doesn't disappear from NASCAR. One of my vivid memories of Dave Marcis is when he used to run a light blue Dodge number 2 in the USAC stock car races that were on the bill at Michigan with the Indy cars in the early 1970's. Marcis was pretty good then and he was able to make the transition from the USAC stockers to NASCAR.
There's been a lot of complaining from the Chevrolet teams over the past week at Daytona about the inequity between the new Monte Carlo and the Ford Taurus. Mostly the Pontiac teams have kept quiet but Dale Earnhardt has been vocal about this. According to Earnhardt, the combination of the Monte Carlo aerodynamics combined with the new NASCAR shock rules renders the Chevy drivers hopeless for today's race. No doubt, the Fords have been faster since the very start of practice on Friday February 11. Dale Jarrett and Ricky Rudd qualified for the "Daytona 500" front row last Saturday. The next day, Jarrett won the "Bud Shootout." Thursday Bill Elliott and Rudd won the 125-mile qualifying races. There's probably some truth to the inequity claims, but I agree with the way Mike Helton is handling the problem. NASCAR can't invalidate practice and qualifications by changing the rules just before the race.
I watched the entire three hours of Daytona qualifying on CBS last Saturday. It was mostly a Ford Taurus show with Dale Jarrett, Ricky Rudd, Bill Elliott, Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace and Scott Pruett turning the first, second, third, fifth, seventh and ninth fastest speeds respectively. Saturday's qualifications were interesting with Johnny Benson, Dale Earnhardt, Robert Pressley and finally Jarrett all holding pole position at one time or another during the session.
One of the things I noticed during both Saturday's qualifying and Sunday's "Bud Shootout" was that the grandstands at Daytona International Speedway were mostly empty. As wildly popular as NASCAR is these days and considering that the "Daytona 500" is NASCAR's premier event and qualifying is the first official competition of the season, I'm surprised the crowds are so small. I thought the same thing last year during Daytona qualifying. I'm sure the crowds at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway are larger for qualifications even in the current era.
The twin 125-mile races Thursday gave more credibility to Earnhardt's claims of Ford superiority. Bill Elliott passed Dale Jarrett from his outside front row starting position in race one and that's how they finished. It almost appeared that Jarrett was content to ride behind Elliott, which makes sense because a win would've only been worth bragging rights for the 1999 Winston Cup champion. For much of the first race there was a four-car train, with Elliott leading Jarrett and Rusty Wallace and Tony Stewart's Pontiac trailing the three Fords. The second race had a similar feel as Ricky Rudd led Mike Skinner, Ward Burton and Dale Earnhardt Jr. for much of that race in a single file formation. There wasn't much passing in either race. Hopefully that won't be the way things go today.
Despite the evidence to the contrary however, I don't think the 2000 "Daytona 500" will be a Ford Taurus benefit. Unless the new rules have completely changed things, racing at Daytona International Speedway with the carburetor restrictor plates means finding another car to draft with and it also means being in position near the end of the race. Both of Jeff Gordon's "Daytona 500" wins came as the result of these two components. In 1997 Bill Elliott was running along nicely in front within a few laps of his third "Daytona 500" victory. On the final restart however, Elliott was a "sitting duck." The three Hendrick Chevrolets of Gordon, Terry Labonte and Ricky Craven ganged up on Bill and Gordon went to the grass going into turn one to pass Elliott and in doing so, brought his teammates with him. Like Elliott in 1997, Rusty Wallace was rolling along merrily last February looking like he was going to break his "Daytona jinx" and make the prestigious list of "Daytona 500" winners. Gordon had Dale Earnhardt pushing him by Wallace and though Ricky Rudd's crippled Tide Ford was circling the track slowly on the apron, Jeff went to the bottom again and took six or seven cars with him. Poor Rusty was left to wonder what happened and as close as Gordon came, Rudd was nearly left to the history books.
To me it seems like racing is in a period where the advances in safety are being challenged. In other words, beginning with the spectator fatalities at the1998 CART race at Michigan racing has become dangerous again. Ricky Rudd had a big flip near the finish line in last Sunday's "Bud Shootout." Yesterday Michael Waltrip had a nasty end over end crash in the Busch Grand National race at Daytona. Then of course Geoff Bodine's truck threatened to take out a section of spectators in the grandstands with his wild ride on Friday. The dark side of racing has been showing its face lately. Hopefully today's race will be a safe one.
I have two horses in today's race. I'd love to see Tony Stewart win the "Daytona
500" in his second try. Tony looks like he's in one of the faster "non-Fords"
based on qualifying and his fourth place finish Thursday. It wouldn't surprise
me if Tony wins today. Is Tony Stewart a figure larger than life or what?
He was ready to go "toe to toe" with a bigger Robby Gordon last week
over some low groove territory during practice. I love this guy! I wish
we still had him at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May.
Even more than Tony Stewart however, what really has me keyed up about this "Daytona 500" is Awesome Bill from Dawsonville. It's been a lot of fun seeing Bill Elliott running at the front at Daytona again. Elliott has given me some great "Daytona 500" memories. Bill's 1985 and 1987 "Daytona 500" victories rank with David Pearson's 1976 win among my all time racing memories. Elliott hasn't won a Winston Cup race since Darlington in September 1994. He loses his McDonald's sponsorship after this season and there are a lot of rumors that Elliott will join Ray Evernham in a Dodge Intrepid for the 2001 season. It's difficult visualizing Bill Elliott racing anything but a Ford isn't it? Anyway things haven't been going too good for Bill in recent years.
It seems however as if Bill Elliott slid right back into the limelight again this week. He's among the most mentioned pre-race favorites, along with the Robert Yates guys Dale Jarrett and Ricky Rudd. After testing slowly last month at Talladega, Elliott reorganized his team and they have been putting in 100-hour weeks at the shop getting ready for today. That takes me back to 1985 when it was said that the Elliott boys, Bill, Ernie and Dan, even worked Christmas Day at their backyard shop in Dawsonville, Georgia getting the Melling Coors car 9 ready for Daytona. It would be one of the neatest things I can think of if today's race ended up the same way as the 1985 "Daytona 500," with a Bill Elliott victory.
For me the "Daytona 500" is the closest thing to the "Indianapolis 500." I can take or leave the rest of the NASCAR season, but the "Great American Race" is something special. One of the more interesting articles about Daytona and NASCAR I read this past week appeared in Friday's USA Today. In the article writer Skip Wood questioned whether it was more important to win the Winston Cup title or the "Daytona 500." Wood analyzed this question well and the consensus seemed to be that winning the championship was the primary goal, but if there was one race to win, it is the "Daytona 500."
Anyway, the race starts in an hour and I better hustle if I intend to get
this piece uploaded to the Internet. Let's go racing!