COOL AS CASH : Darrell Waltrip Is Enjoying Quest for $1-Million Bonus in Today’s Southern 500

Darrell Waltrip won his first race when he was 17, on a three-eighths-mile dirt track in Owensboro, Ky., driving a 1936 Chevy coupe.

“I think I won a case of beer,” Waltrip recalled. “And I’m sure I drank it all.”

Today, in the Heinz Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, Waltrip, now 42, will drive another Chevrolet, a 1990 Lumina, on a 1.366-mile egg-shaped asphalt track. If he wins, he will collect a $1-million bonus that will increase his racing earnings to more than $10 million.

How does he feel about the race?

That question has been repeatedly asked of the three-time Winston Cup champion since he won the Coca-Cola World 600 at Charlotte, N.C., last May and became eligible for the Winston Million bonus offered for winning three of NASCAR’s big four races in a single season.

“Like a million dollars,” he always replies, smiling.

Unlike Bill Elliott, who was ill at ease and became reclusive when he and his Ford Thunderbird were chasing a similar bonus in 1985, Waltrip seems to be relishing the attention.

“I didn’t come down here this week to be part of the show,” he said. “I came down here to be the show.”

Of course, one would have to think that way to perform in a fluorescent orange, yellow and white uniform that makes him look like a 6-foot box of detergent.

Asked if he planned to hire bodyguards to protect him and his car in the garage area today, as Elliott did, Waltrip laughed and said, “I’ll hire the bodyguards after I win the million dollars. That’s when I’ll need them.

“Hey, I’m having a million dollars’ worth of fun trying to win the million.”

Waltrip, in 16 tries, has never won the Southern 500, but he notes that he had never won the Daytona 500 before this year, either. It was his victory at Daytona, followed by the one at Charlotte, that put him in position to become the second recipient of the $1 million offered by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

He insists that he won’t do anything different than he would under normal circumstances. At least until the white-flag lap, when there are only four turns remaining in the 367-lap race.

“If we can get out quickly and run strong, we can dictate our own destiny,” he said. “This race track is a lot easier when you’re out in front, so we’ll try to get to the front as quickly as possible and maintain our position.”

Waltrip will start ninth, a bit farther back than he had hoped for, but the same place he started from last Saturday night when he won the Busch 500 at Bristol, Tenn.

“I’m not afraid to run my car hard,” he said. “I have enough confidence in the engine going the whole 500 that I won’t hold back. Like I said, the front is the safest and most comfortable place to be at Darlington and we expect to get up there and then see what happens.

“We can’t go out and throw caution to the wind in a banzai effort because if we miss the first million, we don’t want to jeopardize our chances of getting the other million.”

The 1989 Winston Cup champion will receive $1 million at the NASCAR awards banquet next January in New York.

With nine races remaining, including today’s, Waltrip is in fourth place, 141 points behind Dale Earnhardt, 98 behind Rusty Wallace and 23 behind Mark Martin.

“We’ve had some ups and downs this year, but we’re not out of it by a long shot,” Waltrip said. “In ‘85, we left Darlington with Elliott holding a 206-point lead and we caught him.

“At Darlington that year, he was thinking Winston Million and we were thinking Winston Cup championship. We both got our wishes, but we don’t want to screw up our chances for both millions this year in one race.

“We’ll need some luck, just like Elliott had here when he won. He didn’t have the best car by a long way and he almost got in a couple of wrecks. Cale (Yarborough) had him beat. And then Cale’s power steering went out.

“A lot of things happened that allowed him to win, and we’ll need the same good fortune. From the way we qualified, we certainly don’t have a dominant car, but we think we have a competitive car that will be able to race, keep up, get in and out of the pits quick and be ready at the end of the race.

“That is what’s going to be so important, that last lap. Anything can happen then. I know.”

Waltrip was leading on the last lap of the Winston, a gimmick race for 1988 race winners, when he was rear-ended by Wallace, spinning him out of the lead and the race and allowing Wallace to take the checkered flag and $200,000.

The incident led to fisticuffs between the Waltrip and Wallace crews, and Waltrip said he hoped that Wallace “chokes on that $200,000 because he knows he knocked the hell out of me.”

Several days later, the drivers apologized to one another, Waltrip for his comments and Wallace for his track actions.

“I’ve had this recurring nightmare the last few weeks,” Waltrip said. “I was on the white flag lap here at Darlington and the only car ahead of me was Rusty’s. When I tried to pass him, I spun him into the infield and went on to win the race and the million bucks.

“The nightmare is wondering how I was going to convince everyone that it was just a racing accident, that I didn’t do it on purpose. I really didn’t, you know. Now, are you going to believe that?

“I’ve thought of hundreds of scenarios for the finish, but I pray and hope that it doesn’t come down to Rusty and me all by ourselves.”

Waltrip said he had Wallace to thank, however, for a change in stock car fans’ attitude toward him. Before he was bumped by Wallace, Waltrip had long been the target of boos when he was introduced.

Since then, the boos have changed to cheers.

“I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard them cheering my name after that,” he said. “I never dreamed they’d ever be on my side.”

One thing Waltrip is certain of is that none of the 38 other drivers in today’s Southern 500 will make his task any easier.

“There’s not a soul in that garage area who would back off and let me win that million, not even my brother Mike,” Waltrip said. “I know, because my mama already asked him.

“The other drivers’ attitude toward me will be affected by how I’m driving. If they see me driving hard, getting the most out of the car and it’s running good and we’re somebody with a chance to win, the guys will respect our position. They won’t give way, but they’ll be considerate.

“On the other hand, if I’m dragging around, not running very well and look like I’m waiting for something to happen to the other guys, no one will give us a break. And I wouldn’t, either.”

Waltrip won four races early in the season and then seemed to slump, going for nine more without a victory before last week’s triumph at Bristol.

“Things seem to go in cycles for us,” he said. “We have a couple of good races and then we fall back. I think we gained a lot by winning the way we did at Bristol, beating everyone good.

“Bristol and Darlington are similar in that both are difficult tracks. We were able to get the right combination and run hard at Bristol and I hope we’ll do the same here.”

If Waltrip fails to win, he still gets a $100,000 prize for having won two of the four big races.

“The way we look at it, we can’t lose,” he said. “We’re in Darlington to do our job running the Southern 500, just like always. If we win, that’s what we’re here for, then the bonus would be just that, a bonus. A real nice one, of course.

“It’s like if you were selling cars, and your boss said he’d give you a big bonus for selling 25 cars in a month and you only sold 24. You wouldn’t get the bonus, but you’d still have a darn good month.

“If we run second in the Southern 500, that would be a great day. It wouldn’t get us the million, but we wouldn’t lose anything. And I’ll tell you one thing--we’re the only ones with a shot at it, and that’s a tremendous feeling in itself.”