Southern 500 : Waltrip Leaves $1-Million Bonus on Wall as Earnhardt Wins

Darrell Waltrip’s plan to woo Darlington Raceway for a million dollars ended in disaster Sunday when the Lady in Black slapped him not once, but twice.

Waltrip, who needed to win the 40th Southern 500 to collect a $1-million bonus, wound up 22nd and the winner of only $12,890 after his Tide Chevrolet Lumina twice hit the concrete barrier on the sweeping east end of NASCAR’s oldest and most treacherous superspeedway.

The three-time Winston Cup champion from Franklin, Tenn., whose victories in the Daytona 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 put him in position to run for the bonus, was making a frantic attempt to catch the leaders when his brushes with the wall forced him to make seven pit stops to replace blown tires and straighten crumpled sheet metal.

While most in the crowd of about 60,000 were watching Waltrip have his difficulties, Dale Earnhardt won his second Southern 500 in a Lumina at a record speed of 135.462 m.p.h.

It capped an emotional weekend for Earnhardt, whose late father, Ralph, was inducted into stock car racing’s hall of fame Saturday night at the nearby Florence Country Club. The elder Earnhardt, a NASCAR late-model champion, died of a heart attack in 1973.

“That deal last night for my dad, with my mother and a lot of my dad’s friends there, was worth more than a million dollars to me,” Earnhardt said. “That, and winning the Southern 500 again made this the biggest weekend of my life. If I win the Winston Cup again, one of these days I might get voted into the hall of fame with him.”

Earnhardt, who also won this race in 1987, finished 1.45 seconds ahead of Mark Martin in a Ford. He was closely followed by Ricky Rudd in a Buick, Rusty Wallace in a Pontiac and Ken Schrader in another Chevy.

Earnhardt’s $71,150 victory enabled him to increase his lead in a quest for a fourth series championship, which this year will be worth $1 million.

“The sad part of the day was that we lost a lot of points (83) to Earnhardt in the Winston Cup,” Waltrip said after finishing eight laps behind the winner. “That was more important than not getting the $1 million.”

The end of Waltrip’s dream occured on lap 184 of the 367-lap race. He had fallen a lap behind Harry Gant, but was closing up behind him in an attempt to get back on the same lap when he lost his cool.

“We got a little bit behind, which was a situation we didn’t want, when I saw a chance to capitalize on Gant’s misfortune,” Waltrip said. “He got into the wall in turn two and even though he didn’t slow down much, I thought that maybe if I could get around him and get back on the lead lap that I’d be back in the race. I was running pretty good at the time.

“I guess I lost my patience and didn’t take my time. I tried to pass him in the third turn and the car got loose and hit the wall in the fourth turn. That wasn’t bad enough. A couple of laps later, instead of having enough sense to calm down and be patient again, I hit the wall in the same place doing the same thing.

“That black spot right there on the wall is where I lost any chance for the million bucks.”

It may also have been the place where he lost all chance for the other million bucks, the prize that goes to the 1989 champion.

With only eight of the 29 races remaining, Earnhardt has 3,037 points and a 224-point lead over Waltrip, who is fourth with 2,813. Between them are Wallace, with 2,964, and Martin, at 2904.

Earnhardt, who started in the fifth row alongside Waltrip, battled his way to the front by the 54th lap and pretty much had his way during the windy, overcast day. Earnhardt led 153 laps, but had a number of nervous moments before he took the checkered flag.

“The race track was real slick and hard to figure,” he said. “I got into the wall a couple of times, like just about everybody else, but I was lucky. I didn’t tear anything up, like Darrell did.

“The worst was when I got a flat and went nearly a lap down. That’s when Harry (Gant) took over, but I felt I could handle him if I could just catch up.”

Gant led for 83 laps until his Oldsmobile found the wall too tough to tame, too, and finished sixth.

“It seemed like we had the best-handling car out there until it just suddenly stopped handling, running into the corner, just before I hit the wall,” Gant said. “Then, even after we thought it was aligned, it did the same thing again and really got the car messed up.”

Martin, who has never won a Winston Cup race, finished second for the third time this season in his Ford.

“I wasn’t sure if I could win that thing or not,” Martin said, “but after the last caution we got four tires and were sitting third in a good position. I ran at Dale and gave him everything I had, but I couldn’t catch him. He was too strong.

“As far as I’m concerned, we gave ‘em a run for their money and had a great race. We’ll get there first one of these days. I’m getting more sure of it every time.”

Earnhardt’s record broke the mark of 134.033 m.p.h. set in 1973 by Cale Yarborough. Part of the reason for the fast race was a lack of yellow caution flags. Even though there were numerous brushes with the walls, there were only four caution periods for 27 laps.

One of the sad sights was Richard Petty, the fading king of stock car racing. Petty, winner of 200 races--nearly twice as many as the next best--qualified in the 33rd position among 39 starters and ran even worse. He finished 35th, dropping out after only 91 laps.

“It dropped a cylinder coming off the fourth turn and by the time we got back to the pits I think we had a rod go also,” Petty said.

Larry Pearson, meanwhile, had a dramatic experience in his first Southern 500. Pearson is the son of David Pearson, who won 10 times at Darlington before he retired.

“First of all, I cut a tire and hit the wall,” Larry said. “Then I bounced off and hit Derrike Cope in the right side. Next, somebody dropped some oil, and I spun out when I hit it. Then we blew a head gasket. We kept trying to cool it off, but I guess it wasn’t meant for me to finish my first race here.”

Waltrip, who will receive a $100,000 consolation prize for winning two of NASCAR’s four major races, wasn’t the only one to miss a big prize.

Alan Kulwicki, the pole winner, lost a chance at the Unocal 76 Challenge payoff of $144,400 when he couldn’t win from the pole. Kulwicki’s day ended when a water outlet broke on the cylinder heads in his Ford and he ran out of water.

“It was something I’ve never seen happen before--ever,” Kulwicki said. “Before that, we were running pretty good. Loose, but all the guys seemed to be loose out there. Darlington is so tough to figure that it gets frustrating.”

The pole-to-victory prize, which increases $7,600 at each succeeding race until there is a winner, will be $152,000 when the NASCAR circus gathers next Sunday for the Miller High Life 400 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway.