At any rate, this was an amazing race, and it took out some championship contenders to top it all off~ I was always super excited whenever the race would come to town, since it was so close to my house... and this race didn't disappoint in the end~ So let's look back on that wild August night, and see what the race had to offer, and as always with Bristol, it had plenty to offer~
The race program for the event~
Before I start talking about the race, I just want to point out that Bill Elliott (posted above) won the previous night race at Bristol, and that's why I think this event car is a Ford~ Not 100% on that, but it makes sense~ With that out of the way.. Ernie Irvan won the pole for the event, driving the #4 Kodak Film Chevrolet~ The team was based out of nearby Abingdon, Virginia, and was always a crowd favorite~
Alongside Ernie on the front row was fellow short track ace, Ricky Rudd, piloting the #5 Tide ride for car owner Rick Hendrick~ The remainder of the top 5 were Brett Bodine, in the #26 Quaker State Ford, Mark Martin, in the #6 Valvoline Ford, and Alan Kulwicki, driving his self-owned #7 Hooters Ford~ Mike Potter was the only driver who failed to make the field, in Steve Balogh's #77 Kenova Construction Buick~
This was to be the first Cup race ran at Bristol with the newly converted concrete racing surface~ Up until this, the racing surface was asphalt, and people were had mixed emotions about the conversion to concrete~ I for one didn't care, as long as the racing was still good... and for many years to come, it was~ That would change in the mid 2000's, but that's another story~
The battle at Bristol begins~
Ernie Irvan had a lightning fast car, and was probably going to win the race, but on the 8th lap of the race, he spun himself into a frenzy, and smacked the wall~ He was able to continue after repairs, but ended the race 215 laps down, in 28th place~ I remember being kind of heartbroken when he crashed, because I was really hoping he would be there all race long, at least having a shot to get a win~
On lap 21, Sterling Marlin got into Dale Jarrett, which caused them crash~ Morgan Shepherd was trying to avoid the crash, and clipped Kyle Petty's car, causing Petty to crash~ All three cars were able to continue, but a caution was thrown~ Following the restart, the race would remain green until the Marcis crash, which happened on lap 103~ Terry Labonte's #94 Sunoco Oldsmobile was the next to fall victim to Bristol, as his car suffered a blown engine on lap 125, resulting in a 31st place finish~
Alan Kulwicki battles with Michael Waltrip~
1992 Championship contender Davey Allison was involved in a crash on lap 225, involving Sterling Marlin~ He eventually got back on the track and ran a few more laps, but finished in 30th place, putting a huge dent in his championship hopes~
Rick Mast was involved in a crash on lap 286, which took him out of competition, and he finished in the 29th position~ Harry Gant, who had led earlier for 35 laps, was also involved in a crash, ending his day on lap 349, resulting in a 26th place finish~ I was sad when Gant crashed, because he really had a shot at the win, and always ran well at Bristol~ I loved watching him run up against the wall the way he did~
Mark Martin, who had led 23 laps in the race, was caught up in a crash involving Alan Kulwicki, immediately following the Gant crash~ Martin finished the day 115 laps down, in 25th place~ By this point, Ricky Rudd had regained the lead in the #5 Tide Chevrolet~ Rudd ended up leading 139 laps during the event, but he had a hard chargin' Darrell Waltrip right behind him, in a super fast #17 Western Auto Chevrolet~
He did it for us one more time!~
If you can't notice, I Photoshopped the heck out of this picture, to make it appear that Darrell just won at Bristol, when in fact, this is from his Mountain Dew Southern 500 win the week after the Bristol win~ As I said earlier, it's impossible to find a picture of Darrell in victory lane from this race~ I think it has something to do with the fact that this was from when the track was "Bristol International Raceway", and was owned by the Carriers~ It may be some kind of copyright thing preventing anyone from uploading the photos to the internet~ So I just invented this picture for the post~
Waltrip ended up leading 247 of the 500 laps during the event, on the way to his 12th and final win at the historic short track~ He would also win the following week, in the Mountain Dew Southern 500, which sadly turned out to be the final win of his career~ He didn't quit winning because he was old, in my opinion.. he was just in junky self-owned equipment~ If he would have stayed with Hendrick, I think he would have had 100 wins during his decorated career, if not more~
Dale Earnhardt finished runner-up in the race, followed by Ken Schrader's #25 Kodiak Chevrolet, Kyle Petty's #42 Mello Yello Pontiac, and Alan Kulwicki finished out the top 5, in his #7 Hooters Ford~ Jimmy Hensley had a great run in the #66 TropArtic Ford, with a 12th place showing, and Brett Bodine led for 35 laps in the Quaker State Ford, and finished in 9th place~ Derrike Cope finished 12th in the #10 Purolator Chevrolet~
1992 Bud 500 Bristol Ford event car~
Some of these 1992 track/event series cars can be rather plain, but this one is pretty nice looking~ I'm always a fan of red/black paint schemes, and the added blue and white stripes around the car are also a nice touch~ I loved these older Ford body styles that Racing Champions did~ They looked so funny compared to the other models, especially beside of a Pontiac.. they dwarfed the Pontiacs~
I enjoyed watching Darrell win this race... if Ernie couldn't win it, the sentimental thought of Darrell winning his 12th Bristol race definitely tickled my fancy~ I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but Darrell Waltrip came into a Pizza Hut here in Bristol one day when the races were in town, and he sat down and ate pizza with me~ He was a real cool guy in person, and he'll pretty much talk to anyone.. hence the "Jaws" moniker~
Back to this car.. I'm gonna have to give this one an A-, due to a few points being taken off for the card.. it's just sort of boring~ I do enjoy the back of the card, but the front is dull compared to others from this series of cars~ It is a nice car, and I've always wondered why I've never seen a spring race version of this car~ I've seen them before, but never Racing Champions~ I wish there was a way to find out if one was made.. but the best you can do is just keep lookin' around... I've found several cars that I never knew existed, and it's a pretty cool feeling when it happens~
**Bonus Car** Kyle Petty #44 Hot Wheels Oldsmobile retro/fantasy custom~
The bonus car for this post is this Kyle Petty #44 Hot Wheels Oldsmobile~ Kyle never drove this theme, and never drove an Oldsmobile... I just thought it looked cool~ I used Sterling Marlin's #44 Piedmont Airlines Oldsmobile to make this fantasy car, and I give it an A- as well on the Racing Champions quality scale... it's a pretty cool lookin' car, with just a minor flaw or two~
Thanks for checking this post out, and stopping by the blog again!~ If you're a fan of this blog, please share this post on any social media sites you may associate with, and click the "follow" button on the top right of this page to stay updated on new postings~
Below are some clips from the 1992 Bud 500, along with some from other Bud 500's, and the full version of the 1992 race, commercial free, for those whom are highly dedicated to 1992 NASCAR~ The next blog post I do will be on New Years Day, and I'm gonna take a small break after that, for a couple of weeks maybe~ I lied last time, so who knows~ :P
1992 Bud 500 Review~ 22 mins~
1991 Bud 500 Finish~ 10 mins~
Pole sitter problems~ 8 mins~
1992 Bud 500 full race~ 3 hours~
i'm inconditional of this blog really i love
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