The Day: 1992 Hooters 500

the King Richard Petty will say goodbye Jeff Gordon who will be making his first start here today will it be Allen kowicki or Bill Elliott today at this racetrack an entire chapter of NASCAR history will be written it's 12 days ago America turned the page on its own history book Arkansas governor Bill Clinton is the first member of the baby boomer generation ever elected president of the United States the time of Ronald Reagan and Richard Petty is coming to an end NASCAR will soon have a whole new generation of young drivers led by rookie sensation Jeff Gordon congratulations foreign in November of 1992 the country decides its new leader and NASCAR determines its champion it will all happen here at Atlanta Motor Speedway and to see so many things come together at Atlanta Motor Speedway on one day there was four or five different story lines to that particular race that year in Atlanta is the final race in the 35-year career of a NASCAR Legend that was the end of the of that particular segment of my life and it's the first Cup race of a young hot shoe from Indiana right time you know Rick Hendrick calls and I knew that's where I wanted to be right away I haven't seen that kind of towel on the young driver before we're not only going to go and sit on the pole in our first race we're just going to blister the track record it's gonna be so fast it's going to be ridiculous it is also the culmination of one of the closest Championship battles that NASCAR will ever see it was all about personalities had different was Bill Elliott from Alan kulwicki from Davey Allison and I really feel like we have the best team in Winston Cup racing right now it's our time to go you know overcome something I've never been through anything like it in my life since come to an end every Pit Stop we'd have to push him out of the stall to help him get going so all these things that happen that happen for a reason for some reason they didn't keep us from winning there's that race eat my guts for a long time winning the race was one thing but we lost a championship but it was meant to be it was his time to win that Championship it was a change in times which it should change it's not for eternity you know Randleman North Carolina the headquarters of petty Enterprises by 1992 the best days of the organization are long past and Richard Petty wants to end his driving career gracefully The Fan Appreciation tour had come up you know the year before it will be my last year next year and it will be known as a fan appreciation tour my year was spent really going around and saying thank you thank you thank you give me five Daddy's big thing is fans it's all about the fan so some people said well you're just doing this to make money and and all that but you know Daddy really wanted to reach out and to give something back to the fans and I think that all the opportunities that he gave the fans to come up and personally touch him or sign an autograph just to say thank you I've never seen that many crowds around someone in my life not still today you know when I see a crowd coming I usually figure it's Richard you know heading our way it was a hard year for him personally all he wanted to do was drive a race car the only piece he had during that year was when he was sitting behind the wheel on a Sunday afternoon the rest of the time there were concerts with Alabama there were autographed sessions everywhere you went it was a big deal for that City there's always a pre-race ceremony the King was always involved in it we had everybody from the star drivers to the president of the United States giving them something Richard I'm proud to be at your side he always told me he said you need a 27 year old Richard Petty I think he knew where he was at there were certain tracks he felt really comfortable and he still felt like he could get the job done and win but other tracks probably didn't feel so comfortable done my thing in racing I was on the downhill drag we wasn't really being that competitive running that good I got to gracefully get out of this deal here you know and I don't want to just quit kept praying that he could make it to Atlanta the king's last race will be covered by a sports network eager to tell the story right the 90s are already good for NASCAR and good for its television partners by 1992 an event that had so many characteristics they went all out to try to do whatever they could not only to make themselves look good but also to to make the sport look good obviously we had plenty of meetings but you know with with Bob Benny and Ned in the booth and Jerry and John we here at ESPN very proud to bring you this final race of the 1992 season as we wrap things up they were so pumped about it but because they're true race fans anyway Benny Parsons and I I think we were in hog heaven that day man that's exciting have six drivers that are in the championship hunt in the last race of the season and Richard Petty retiring at the same time Ken Martin was in the booth and he was he and still is a stats Guru and a historian he already had the scenarios figured out on what would happen if this happened what would happen if that happened I had built a computer spreadsheet with each driver's points coming into the race and then what their points would be for each position as they run Karen Martin was one of the the best statisticians in the sport I mean he certainly was a real friend to those of us in the booth we finally have a championship to chip the parsingo don't you think Nick oh yeah they got to go for the win we are entering one of the most exciting races ever in Winston Cup racing thank you before the 1992 Hooters 500 the contenders test their cars at the Rainy Atlanta race track drivers handle the pressure of the championship differently Elliott tries to stay focused regardless of what I hold up mate right here we're supposed to be here today past it and that's what we're here for we ain't here to do interviews though you go into that atmosphere and you've got one of the favorite sons that Georgia has ever had in Bill Elliott and where are you at you're in Atlanta Georgia we've already fought all the battles now this is for the war Davey Allison is grateful for what he has achieved and resigned to his racing fate we're very fortunate to be in the position that we're in right now with everything that's happened we're we're enjoying life we've learned a lot this year both as a team and personally and no matter what happens we can walk out of 1992 holding our heads up high and knowing that we overcame a lot of obstacles a lot of adversity enjoys the role that he has played for the entire season the underdog you know it's just a little bit out of our control I think we have a good chance a lot of things can happen but we've got to beat Davey by more than one or two positions we've got to beat him by five or six there were three real players going into that race but mathematically there were six players you've got to add Kyle Petty Harry Gantt Mark Martin six Team Six drivers going into Atlanta that could mathematically walk away with a championship talk to any of us we felt like that those three guys had to crash on the first lap and if they crashed on the first lap then it was Katie Bart of the door in the Years leading up to this race Superstars had left the sport Bobby Allison Benny Parsons Buddy Baker K.O Yarborough obviously Richard Petty retiring the sport needed new Heroes to step up one new hero came to NASCAR from the most unlikely of places the short tracks of Wisconsin when he finally decided that he was going to NASCAR he just sold everything that he had up here and he packed up his truck and he was always a person who had goals and so his goal was to not only compete in NASCAR but really to end up winning a championship I was swimming for my wife when I moved down here I wasn't thinking about the championship I just wanted to compete on the NASCAR circuit I wanted to get a ride I wanted to be one of the drivers on the circuit there weren't any rides for me there weren't any opportunities so I went about trying to create one for myself by owning my own team trying to win a championship as an owner driver makes cool Wiki a throwback to the early days but he also brings a new approach to NASCAR um you know Alan was was probably the the one guy that started bringing the engineering side into NASCAR that was his goal was to make sure that NASCAR went that direction I tell guys today we he set race cars up with four grain scales on a four foot level I'm gonna take measure grain scales you can even go to a grain place now and find a grain scales and him being an engineer man he was driven he was a control freak he would ride you and ride you until you wanted to just quit and you'd get mad because we can't do any better but you say to yourself oh yeah watch this well I can I'm gonna prove it to him and that's that was his way of getting more audio and I always call this one to Misfit Toys because that's where we were we were just went to Misfits and we beat them powerhouses Checker to celebrate his first win in cup kawiki tips his hat to his Heritage and circles the track backwards his first polish Victory lap that Victory lap there was something I had thought about for a long time and I wanted to do something special and never be another first win and I just wanted to give him something to remember me by Ford Motor Company wanted Allen to come to the Budweiser race team I walked Allen through our Race shop and spent about a half a day with him and he said Brewer you have no idea how much I would love to come here and drive the car and race but he said Brewer I have to do it myself at this very moment today in Atlanta Alan kulwicki is in position to fulfill his lifelong dream but other drivers have the same dream and only one will win the championship baby you are in the lead heading in here to the last race how you holding up buddy I'll tell you John right now I'm just incredibly nervous I don't think I've ever been this nervous in my life only a championship at stake here today but perhaps as important it's the final race for a guy who started his career back in 1958 and has become the king of stock car racing it's Richard Petty's final ride foreign helicopters now end their hover and begin to chase the field as it goes around this one and a half mile oval the crowd Rises to its feet salutes the field as it comes down the green flag waves and the Hooters 500 is underway oh and we have a spin oh no maybe got through Kyle Petty got through I think I saw helica on the bottom of the racetrack getting through but Davey Allison did not get through the damage to the rear is enough to slow down the number 28's Run for the championship but this team has overcome problems worse than this all year long the first third of 92 I've never been through anything like it in my life coming to the strike Morgan comes to the Daytona 500. we would win one week wreck the next win one week wreck the next the fact that even let him get in the car how you can see through this red solid red eyes he won North Wilkesboro with a bunch of broke ribs where he had wrecked a week before at Bristol by the time we got to the Sprint All-Star Race we figured out how to do both on the same night wreck and win Here Comes Davey Allison on the bottom it and Davey Allison is in a shower of Sparks they won the race but he sure paid the price for it the physical injuries he suffers are bad enough but Davey Allison has to deal with a much more serious pain the death of his younger brother Clifford thank you after Clifford's accident in Michigan it made me sit down again and say okay what is important to us we want to spend a good life with my wife I want to watch my kids grow up that came to the top of the list right then and we want to win and Winston Cup Championship the team had overcome so many things throughout the year a lot of different things happen we seem like that the whole group just bounced back all the time at at the oddest of times Raymond Fox and Joey Knuckles and air horn I mean we were all I mean we were all together that camaraderie allows them to keep up with the 11 team of Junior Johnson and new driver Bill Elliott Junior really wanted bail Budweiser wanted him Junior Johnson he got it done he got bill we just tickled death to have Bill a board on our team and I think he's going to do us a great job I think it's going to be the two that makes our team a top-nots team and in a champion next year there's where the best equipment at that time probably was it would be like driving for Jack Russ now or driving for Rick Hendrick now we were all along pretty good till we got to Charlotte and broke the rear track bar mount completely off the car that started to snowball we go to Phoenix water temperature went way up and we stopped probably 10 times during the race putting oil in it putting water in it I mean it was a total disaster their disasters give the number seven car hope but a wreck late in the season makes Allen kulwicki want to abandon his dream of a championship but we wrecked that cart over in a race he always fall in the trunk and he said guys this is it we're done I don't think he ever had to give up in his demeanor but yet he was also very realistic you know he said well this doesn't look very good you know our Championship hopes maybe not over but this doesn't help them this really hurts the team took a huge turn then the opposite way once the complete opposite and everybody was absolutely not you know there's no way we can we can come back from this we can win this Championship you know we're not going to give up you know we're going to keep digging it he had instilled his philosophy into the crew so deeply that they wouldn't let him be a loser Alan saw what we wanted to do and he saw the enthusiasm he saw what we were trying to accomplish so we all rallied around each other and said yeah we can do this you know Junior's got a good team and Bill's been really hot in his car and you know they're off to a fine start this year but we're doing pretty good ourselves don't count us out in the last race of the year called Wiki's Championship dream he's still alive but the first Pit Stop of the day quickly becomes a nightmare and Ellen kawicki's Hooters crew will go to work part number seven on the bottom of your screen you're watching to have one crew on the top of your screen two competing teams trying to win a race and win a championship meanwhile that was looking cannot get his car in gear finally gets it when they let the Jack down he let the clutch out the car would not move you can imagine what's wrong with that car he put in guarantee when he jammed it in geared it was on once he said just it broke the idle gear but going to first gear so he didn't have first gear First Gears broke okay it could be anything you know so you just gotta ride it out the best thing to do is to put your put your transmission in fourth gear and never take it out again for the rest of the day and that's as soon as if you start shifting your transmission you're going to move the broken parts around even more and you're going to have a chance to have a catastrophic failure and you'll have nothing you know so you'll be out of the race it just killed our pit stops all day long the points as of this moment Allison is in sixth position but still maintains the points lead for Wiki is second only 10 behind thousands of fans are here to see Richard Petty's last laps in NASCAR they don't know it yet but they are also witnessing the first lapse of another brilliant career we had an amazing year in in 1992 in the in the what was in the bush grand national series now Nationwide but driving the Baby Ruth uh forward for Bill Davis Jeff's still looking for that elusive first Victory could have come here today I sure hope so things are really going good going good first this weekend and uh you know the poll was just one just one step but uh we got another step to conquer and that's winning the soccer but I tell you as well as it's going I think we can do it and Rick was there and he he saw that and mentioned to somebody that worked for him you know hey you know how do we get a hold of this kid I haven't seen that kind of towel I'm a young driver before not going to impressed me as much as he did and he's going to be around a long long time and so it was right time you know I sat down with him and it was uh you know I knew that's where I wanted to be right away foreign Jeff Gordon is doing well in his first Cup race but he stays out of the way of the championship contenders it was great to be out there racing with those guys didn't want to screw their day up you know I mean they were battling for a Championship uh so I I didn't want to interfere with that so that was definitely a message that was clear to me you know go out have a great race but let's not interfere with that don't come in contact Richard Petty either you didn't want to do that in his final race Richard Petty isn't fast enough to win his final race all he wants is to finish let's go out the industry race and we'll pork put that thing in the truck and take it home and party will be old and Richard pettig is Flaming going into turn number one when he caught on fire we obviously captured that and everything and so the immediate response is for me to to take the shot of him inside the car with the onboard camera and then the F-bomb started flying hello extinguisher and I told the audio guy okay we've heard it once I think we can get rid of it we don't need to hear him say that again he is the king fire truck you guys jumping out of the truck wanting autograph wait a minute guys put the power out and then we'll do you know we'll talk about it you know everybody always wanted to go out to blaze of glory I just went out in the blaze this may be we went back to the garage area you know to see him and we were all cried because we wanted him to finish we wanted him to get the chicken flag I mean it was all knocked out front end off the coolers radiators no offenders car was really tore up I was you know heard a little bit that we didn't run uh better that I thought the the effort that we had put into it we said you know hey we we're going to make that last lap and so they got to working on the car and they they didn't want me to run the last race and not finish okay hopefully he'll be on the rookie soon follows the example of the veteran you know Jeff and I at that time ran uh our the bush Grand National Car extremely loose has you know 200 horsepower less than the cup car needless to say we missed the setup pretty bad obviously I was just pushing you know the car you know as hard as I could and pushed it too hard and jumped into gas a little bit too much in the middle one and two and around it went I remember that part very vividly Jeff Gordon will wait for 1993 to make better Nascar memories today belongs to three competitors striving to clinch a championship the 1992 NASCAR championship will only go to the team that can outrace the competition everybody that day ran as hard as they could run everybody because that was the only way you were going to beat those guys you had to outrun them there wasn't no holding back that day nah you had to beat him Allison before the lead Alan knew that during the race he had to fight bill as hard as he could every single lap you know I think Bill and Allen swapped the lead half the race it seems like I don't know what the actual statistics are but it seems to me like it was every lap you know they were they were fighting for the lead every lap that was led we were keeping a tally Allen LED this lap Bill LED this lap Allen LED this lap yeah it's out of your hands it's it's something Allen it's up to the racing guy just like and Alan could drive Allen was a good driver all right bill it's a good driver so you just like it's good race and that's what you wanted to see Mickey the synagogue just just don't wreck outside call Wiki is gonna lead this lap and the car length leads to where you're working that's the way to go for a championship while Elliott and kulwicki battle for the lead Davey Allison is just trying to work his way back through the pack and I knew we were not where we needed to be we were a top 10 car but you know what Robert Yates horsepower you should have been able to have a baby carriage and be a top 10 race car but a mistake by a novice pit crew becomes another obstacle for the 2018 to overcome Jeff Gordon is on we were the Keystone Cops on Pit Road it just was uh man it was a a tough day because we had we left a roll of duct tape on the deck lit and it fell off on the track and Davey Allison hit it they have been told that there may be a problem with the car Davey just yelled to the crew I think I run over something on the track it totally killed the way the car was driving we knew it was early enough in the race that we're going to have to bite the bullet we've got the people we've got good people we can fix this and not lose a lap I remember we were making patches on Pit Road to the car and ribbon it to the car and organizing all that stuff that's the time for the guys that work on cars that's when they get in a game that's their time to serve and that's kind of how I felt about all that you know it's our time to go you know overcome something in Louisville our guys stepped up to the plate and did it we have to make multiple pit stops to fix that we finally had overcome all that we were running exactly where we needed to run he was running in fifth position that's the position that Davey needed to be in in order to win the championship and we were trying to find us to hold a run in and then of course it got closed up that site is the site I still see almost 20 years later gosh in their heart Maybe got a lot of damage to the right side of the car Ernie Irving but it will turn the right front will not work championship s are over that was it the championship was gone and we knew it Davey Allison's long tough emotional season has come to an end with everything that Davey had been through our team had been through we wanted to finish the 1992 season on the racetrack and all they took running up Pit Road to try to wait for the car to be pulled in so believe me there is no Quint here in this Hamilton team we didn't quit that was a sense of Pride for Davey Allison that's just how we work everybody Amy Allison goes back out on a racetrack I think the only sheet metal on it was the roof and a couple of doors and maybe one of the quarter panels and I said you know what that makes a classic statement about the 1992 season in Davey Allison we never gave up but we went in Victory Lane or holding that championship trophy like true we should have been either and now it's going to come down to two will it be Allen kowicki or Bill Elliott the two remaining competitors must strive for every point they can get both will receive a bonus for leading one lap but only one can collect the points for leading the most laps the calculations simple lead every lap you can lead you didn't have to tell me what was going on I knew what was going on Bill Elliott has been told that he needs to pass the seven car well he's what he's trying to do every lap with every ounce of horsepower that Budweiser foreign wide open no there's no computer technology there's no live timing and scoring we got stop watches we're let manually counting the laps with a on a piece of paper every time he goes by you put an X but neither team has enough fuel to make it to the end of the race both must have a Flawless pit stop for gas and both must finish near the front to have a chance at the championship Paul we're talking about pitting on lap on 306 37 somewhere along there yeah I mean it would be crazy to put tires only probably gonna guess and go and it's you know anything could happen this Elliott is way up on the racetrack that stays out there yeah he does but he can't run out of gas down across right away he'll lose everything yeah now yeah that seems like it's just rolling the dice a little too much hard to understand why they would even gamble when they gotta stop anyway why would they gamble of going two or three more laps they told out in the fifth that time line there comes back they said you got to come in and he let bill go by yeah to be able to get back on the race can't make no mistakes from Paul making right calls to praying that the car stays together to Alan dozen do something crazy unfortunately we had a different search Francis we didn't get car full I'll never forget looking down there and watching him come down Pit Road at me and knowing I'm the only soul on Pit Road and TV and God and everybody's watching I'm like please don't screw up the gas can I go in as fast as I can open up the vent and I think it was like three or four seconds of gas we had to have and it wasn't even out all right three and a half seconds I wonder about that Jerry all the guys were like did you get the food you get an up in it I just counted the three I guess I don't you know my three and year three may not be the same three and I'm now I'm panicking they got me nervous that I didn't get enough in it look at that cam did he get enough of it in there tell you they can't awfully heavy now there's not much they can do about it now if they didn't get enough and he doesn't make my wife she was eight months pregnant and she was at the race I said look this thing runs out of gas I said you run like hell to the car you crank it and I said because these guys are gonna kill me if we run out of gas somewhere along the line we had to come up come across the radio and uh it's funny now but it wasn't funny funny very funny then we had to come across the radio and say uh okay Alan we need you to conserve gas every chance you get there's a pause okay what do you mean so well we believe got enough gas in there but you know we're not 100 sure you know if you got an opportunity to conserve you know you need to conserve or you can't lose second place you got to stay in second Here Comes Elliott Elliott drops down off the banking Bill Elliott heads down Pit Road into Budweiser foreign foreign these guys so when Bill pitted kind of a miscue so to speak uh we went back on the racetrack Terry Labonte stayed out LED two laps those two laps are the difference NASCAR quickly tabulates the point of the championship contenders and the broadcasters do the same can who is it because NASCAR is still calculating I was shaking my hands were shaking and I write the note and I give it to Bob and I show it to Ned and Benny they held up a little legal pad and said are you sure and I'm like oh my gosh you know this is this is a big deal this thing is going to go down to the bitter in man oh man the wiki was supposed to stop on lap 306. he ran to 309. those three laps got him in front and Ken goes Alan koweki you sure absolutely and then we put it on the air team 92 that Bob was comfortable with those numbers and Bob was able to make you know one of the great calls in in NASCAR history is coming off of corner number four knowing that he's winning the championship there's the checkered flag for Allen he's the champion for 92. the crew celebrating their Winston Cup victory in 1992. that that day is is notched In My Memory forever and other than my kid being born that's probably the greatest day of my life we were The Underdogs you know we were the underbirds and when we did it you know we went out and multi-million dollar sponsorships you know here's this group of guys and we go out there and win this Championship it's you know it'll never be done like that again foreign we did it so it was cool it was cool and Richard Petty is taking one final lap around this racetrack as the fans salute him and his career comes to an end here comes kawiki down across right away he and Richard will finally Collide because I'm sure quick is going to do something spectacular let's see remember his first win at Phoenix he took and these are his words a Polish Victory lap yep and guess what he's gonna do it again I wonder what he was looking for as Alan kulwicki celebrates Victory Lane hosts one of the most disappointed race winners that Nascar has ever seen very very Hollow feeling yeah you won the race but you lost a war everybody comes by and goes hey he knew he had to lead all the laps he knew he had to do this well hell you think we didn't one lap and one position was enough November 15 1992 forever belongs to Alan kulwicki and his crew who took on the biggest teams in NASCAR and one it was the day that the king took off his crown the King Richard Petty will say goodbye and there aren't many dry eyes down here we went up in the truck there was Sharon and Lisa and Rebecca and Lynn and they was all crying and I got to crying because it was a last race I feel so glad for him that he was able to do it the way he wanted to do it even though I know inside I know he was some a part of him died that day I'm sure it means so much more to me today knowing that I got a chance to race with Richard Petty in his final race but other than that it wasn't a very memorable day for either one of us he went up in the ball of flame I spun out and hit the wall it was a memorable day for Alan kulwicki and his team now forever a NASCAR champion Allen was the bridge from the past to the Future he was the engineer before we had engineers he was the owner driver when owner drivers were on their way out I'll tell you this is just the dream of a lifetime I've been the underdog a lot of my career and that's the way I want people to remember me maybe it'll help some of the people that are dreaming about doing this to uh believe in themselves and you know if I can do it maybe they can too the driver responses after that race were so pure it's been a long year and you know regardless of what happens it's been one of those type Seasons a lot of things has happened and I mean I'm just glad it's over with this book you know I've run that race a thousand times in my mind the thing I remember most about it when we didn't win that Championship I mean it was like the world stopped the world kept turning for the number 11 team but their best chance at a championship was gone they won only one more race together before Junior Johnson retired a few years later I'm not glad it ended this way but I am kind of glad that it's come to an end now and we can go get some things sorted out and get ready for next year it's almost cruel nah it just wasn't meant to be Davey Allison kept smiling but the rest of his team was devastated by the disappointing end of the day we didn't have anything left we barely made it to the car I mean just walking out the little Bank in his life I look back at my 18 years as a crew chief and go that was the year that the championship just got away ifs and buts you know if that didn't happen if this didn't happen a cut Tire a little damage and all these little things any maybe one of those things didn't happen our whole day is different we're celebrating but the day ended Triumph turned to tragedy just four months later I'd ridden my motorcycle to Bristol and it was raining foggy rain terrible and was flipping channels just sitting watching TV um and they had a break in story stock car Champion Alan kowicki and four others were killed last night in the crash of a private plane call Wiki's plane went down as it approached into East Tennessee airport near the Bristol International Raceway where he was due to race this Sunday we elected to you know sit out of that race NASCAR shut the track down and I was able to make the lap and didn't want to do it but I'm glad I did it um because it was for him watching Alan's truck drive around the racetrack it's like nobody wanted to be there that's the saddest racetrack I've ever gone to the season of suffering wasn't over this morning the 32-year-old Allison died after his helicopter crashed in July the NASCAR family endured another Unthinkable loss and uh I'm sorry he had a little saying and he was very committed to this saying there ain't nothing going to come up today that me and the Lord can't handle together and it has certainly helped me get through the things that I've had to get through look at just that year and especially that last race Richard Petty ends his career Jeff Gordon starts his career Alan kowicki the last owner driver to win a championship beats the King of the Hill Bill Elliott and in the next three or four years the total face of the sport changed and became Jeff Gordon and it became Rick Hendrick and it became the jack roush's that was almost the final chapter and what racing had been I would say that that race did have as much to do with The Changing of the Guard and identifying the sport as any other race

Channel: TheRacingJungle

Views: 197,596

Keywords: nascar, documentary, the day, hooters 500 1992

Id: ItL9o6RWCxw

Length: 44min 53sec (2693 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 17 2012