Some old schoolers say it was NASCAR’s “Golden Age.” Darrell Waltrip, Awesome Bill Elliott, Texas Terry Labonte and Neil Bonnett were in their prime. Though in the twilight of their careers, legends Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough and David Pearson were still clicking off laps. The careers of upstarts like Dale Earnhardt (who’d just won his first championship back in 1980), Tim Richmond and Rusty Wallace were getting underway.
Did anybody have any idea then what a collection of greatness was on the track every weekend in those days? That would be like an traveling all-star road show every weekend.
The first edition of what was then known as “The Winston” would be held on May 25, the
day before the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The 12 race winners from the 1984 season would be invited to participate in the event. 1984 champion Terry Labonte would be there- along with Geoff Bodine, Bill Elliott, Harry Gant, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, Benny Parson, Tim Richmond and Ricky Rudd.
The race would be a 70 lap run for the money, no need to worry about saving your car for a good points finish. A $10,000 bonus would be paid to the leader at lap 20.
Though the idea of a tobacco company sponsoring a race wasn’t quite so politically incorrect in that era, still the naming of the event provided a clever ploy to get the Winston name out. Due to limitations on tobacco advertising on TV, a race like the Winston 500 would be called the “Talladega 500″ and the Marlboro 500 would be known as the “Michigan 500.” There was no generic fall back for this event.
Terry Labonte would grab the bonus by leading at lap 20. Harry Gant- a young pup of 45 in those day- was leading when he was overtaken by Darrell Waltrip with two laps to go. Waltrip’s victory was one of 9 occasions where the winner of the all- star would win the championship that same year. Since 1985- Dale Earnhardt has pulled that dual honor 3 times (1987, 1990 and 1993), as did Jeff Gordon (1995, 1997 and 2001). Rusty Wallace (1989) and Jimmie Johnson (2006) also join the honor roll.
There are allegations that “Ol’ D.W.” had an oversized engine for the event. According to legend, Waltrip “clutched” it- foot on the accelerator and clutch to the floor to destroy the engine and prevent a proper inspection.
Intentional? Accidental? Jaws and crew chief Jeff Hammond wouldn’t cheat would they? (wink, wink). Naaaahhh. Not Darrell (smile).
P.S.- We got a great comment from a reader with an insider’s view of the time. Make sure you check it out before you go.
PHOTO CREDITS- Darrell Waltrip 1986 Budweiser piece by AODomiga, Terry Labonte by tw5806. To see more, visit flickr.com, or click on the hyperlinks.
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I was a competitor that day on the Valvoline team standing on pit road at the start-finish line. In those days DW and Junior Johnson were prolific winners and they earned their stripes. But there was no doubt that insiders knew the score as they dubbed the team as the “company car” (remember Johnson brought RJR to the table). DW won 12 races at Bristol I think during that period and most in Junior Johnson’s car.
But that All Star day was, well you might say, “blatant.” DW blew the motor just as he crossed the finish line as you say. He says today that he wasn’t that smart to blow it up in that manner. Well I am here to tell ya he is and was that smart…”Ole DW” now spreads his religion thing on pretty thick across the airways…Who am I to judge? But I have to laugh…he “prays” a lot in his public writings and such, “pray for him,” “pray for her,” praying for Jeremy Mayfield”…I wonder if DW’s God thinks he needs to “pray for forgiveness” on all those wins he won, let’s say, while his car was a bit outside the rules. Maybe he would say that we should pray for the car.
But on that day he was complicit in that All-Star win…Made good copy and all. Good for the sport and good for the sponsor, and let it be said that NASCAR and Winston weren’t above messing around with the show so to speak. Hey, RJR’s CEO swore before Congress that cigs weren’t addictive. He was gone in less than a year after that…
I am not being pious here. It’s all in fun and I say that about DW with part tongue in cheek. I don’t think what he did was evil. But he does sort of justify it now many years after the fact. It was a pretty spectacular day though in the race and in the finish. So no harm no foul. But as you say, “wink wink, laugh laugh DW” when he thinks we are gonna believe he didn’t know all this.
Iv’e heard plenty of stories over the years about how these guys use to cheat, and Jeff Hammonds name was up at the top of the list with the best of them. So DW and Jeff should be praying for forgiveness.
Miss Janine you are correct, Hammond was a smart guy in that department. I don’t know if it is true because I was a lowly Errand Boy. But I hung around people that were then and later became famous in the sport for their mechanical prowess. I traveled and worked with a well-funded team in 1984-1985 for over 8 months before I returned to the college campus to finish my degree. It was well known then about “the system.” The way it was explained to me was that some weeks it might be “your week to cheat.” If you were caught cheating during non-cheat weeks you might pay dearly. I dunno if this was the case. I know there was talk about that when our team was caught with some sort of fuel tank issue. Supposedly some former DiGard crew chief knew all about fuel cheating…Let’s see that wouldn’t be former DiGard and NASCAR employee Gary Nelson, now would it? Hmmm. I don’t remember…But one of his DiGard confidants ended up on our team and they worked on this funny fuel contraption that went in the fuel tank…Me I was too dumb to know what it was or would do…but not too dumb to watch and listen and know everything wasn’t kosher.
So fast forward 20 years and Chad Knaus was a notorious cheater. Tell me DW and Junior Johnson and Jeff Hammond didn’t? Well, then you would believe that WMD WAS the reason we went to war with Iraq…
the real secret to Waltrips car was the windscreen was laid back and the windscreen was actually shorter due to the change of angle.
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