[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by BringBackWilkesboro

3/29/92 - Bill Elliott battles Davey Allison and Harry Gant for much of the day and wins the Transouth 500 at (you guessed it!) Darlington. It is Elliott's 4th win in a row and 4th out of the first 5 in the '92 season, yet he still trails Allison buy 48 points at the end of the day.

I'm having a "senior citizen moment" here, so help me out. I remember Davey won the 500 and Bill won the next four in a row. I remember him being involved in a wreck on the backstretch. Was this the wreck where he and Ernie got together and took out Dale and DW and Sterling with them, or was this the wreck where Bill did a 360° roll in mid-air and landed on his wheels?

Do you remember?

[BringBackWilkesboro]

Originally Posted by Bob Tanner

I'm having a "senior citizen moment" here, so help me out. I remember Davey won the 500 and Bill won the next four in a row. I remember him being involved in a wreck on the backstretch. Was this the wreck where he and Ernie got together and took out Dale and DW and Sterling with them, or was this the wreck where Bill did a 360° roll in mid-air and landed on his wheels?

Do you remember?

I'm not completely positive, but I think it was the one with Ernie and a bunch of others. I remember the 360 was a few years later at Talledega, the same race Ricky Craven went up the catch fence.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by BringBackWilkesboro

March 29
3/29/59 - Richard Petty shows up in the top 5 for the first time in a Grand National race. He finished 3rd in a 200 lap race at the Wilson, NC dirt track.

3/29/81 - Darrell Waltrip kicks off an amazing streak of 7 consecutive Bristol victories with a win in the Valleydale 500. Tim Richmond scores his first career top ten in the race.

3/29/87 - Bill Elliott runs out of gas in turn 3 on the last lap of the Transouth 500 at Darlington, giving the win to Dale Earnhardt, who dominated most of the race. Rodney Combs in the DiGard Chevy DNF due to ignition problems and finished 37th in the team's last race.

3/29/92 - Bill Elliott battles Davey Allison and Harry Gant for much of the day and wins the Transouth 500 at (you guessed it!) Darlington. It is Elliott's 4th win in a row and 4th out of the first 5 in the '92 season, yet he still trails Allison buy 48 points at the end of the day.

A lot of "new" NASCAR fans have no idea how dominant Bill Elliott was "back then". My son is one of them .. he's almost incensed when he sees Bill's name on the entry list. What he doesn't realize is that, unlike many "old guys", Bill is still getting it done in the elite league. Not that there aren't other drivers available who can do as well or better.

But I am the first of Bill's fans who says he should hang it up (last year, if not before.) I guess the old ego keeps that from happening as long as Wood Bros keep wanting his services. And why shouldn't they? Since Bill started driving for them in 2007 he's not driven more than 20 races in a year, but his average finish was 28.4 in 2007, 29.0 in 2008 and with a crash and a finish in 2009, 29.5.

And you may well say "that's not so good." And your right .. but it's better than all but one driver who's been in a Wood Bros car during that same time:

• Boris Said - 2007, 1 race finished 14th (remember, this one was when Bill gave his ride to Boris, who had a dominant car, because Boris was sent home due to qualifications being rained out at Watkins Glen.)
• Ken Schrader - 2007, 12 races, 31.2 avg finish.
• Marcos Ambrose - 2007, 5 races, 30.4 avg finish.
• Jon Wood - 2007, 1 race finished 29th; 2008, 3 races, avg finish 34.0.

So, while Bill's numbers aren't "that good", they're better than all but one "ringer" and, approximately equal to Terry Labonte's (another "old guy") efforts during the same period (2007, 3 races, 31.7 avg finish; 2008, 10 races, 27.3 avg finish; and 2009, 1 race finished 24th - one spot behind Bill at Daytona.)

Still, I'd prefer the "old guys" retire for good!

[BringBackWilkesboro]

Sorry I haven't been able to keep this up for a few days, but here is today:

April 2
4/2/00 - Dale Earnhardt, Jr starts 4th and wins the DirecTV 500 at Texas, leading 106 laps. In the same race, NASCAR's first and only fourth generation driver Adam Petty makes what is unfortunately his lone Winston Cup start. He started 33rd and retired at lap 215 due to engine faliure.

And another edition of useless facts: Two Gordons won on this day in 1995. Jeff won the Food City 500 at Bristol, while Robby won his first CART race at Phoenix.

[BringBackWilkesboro]

April 4th
4/4/59 - 18 year old Buddy Baker makes his first Grand National start at the dirt track in Columbia South Carolina. Jack Smith won the race, Buddy finished 14th in a 21 car field.

4/4/63 - Ned Jarrett wins an abbreviated race at Agusta Speedway. The race was scheduled for 200 laps and looked to be headed for a great battle between Jarrett and Richard Petty, but it was called at 112 because of excesive dust.

4/4/82 - Dale Earnhardt wins the Rebel 500 at Darlington, his first of three victories in the Bud Moore Ford and his first since October of 1980.

4/4/93 - Rusty Wallace dominates the Food City 500, 3 days after reigning champ Alan Kulwicki was lost in a plane crash. Wallace celebrated with Alan's trademark Polish victory lap.

[BringBackWilkesboro]

April 5th
4/5/81 - Richard Petty takes the lead from Dave Marcis late in the Northwestern Bank 400 at North Wilkesboro and goes on to win. Marcis started on the pole and was strong most of the race, but faded at the end when he ran out of tires. Mark Martin finishes 27th of 31 in his Cup debut.

4/5/98 - Chad Little appears to have a winning car, until teamate Mark Martin gets around him with 30 laps to go to win the second annual Texas Dabacle. The race is a wreck fest for the second year in a row due to the infamous weepers. Mike Skinner aggrevates a pre existing injury in the big lap 2 crash, While Greg Sacks is temporarily parylyzed after a hard crash on lap 136.

Side note: I try to stay neutral on these things, but this is an issue I really had a problem with back then. First, Texas was half of the demise of North Wilkesboro, so there was already some bitterness from me. But the track was very poorly constucted. The first two races were absolute wreckfests and we saw 3 drivers critically injured (Craven in '97, Skinner and Sacks the next year). Then Eddie Gossage has the nerve to come out with t-shirts that say "shut up and drive" when he knows full well his track has injured 3 drivers in two races. Craven and Sacks nearly lost their lives and had their careers about ended. Craven was able to rebound somewhat, but it took years and he never was the driver we all knew he could be.

Bottom line is, I lost all respect for Eddie Gossage and the way he's conducted himself since hasn't helped any.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by BringBackWilkesboro

April 5th
4/5/81 - Richard Petty takes the lead from Dave Marcis late in the Northwestern Bank 400 at North Wilkesboro and goes on to win. Marcis started on the pole and was strong most of the race, but faded at the end when he ran out of tires. Mark Martin finishes 27th of 31 in his Cup debut.

4/5/98 - Chad Little appears to have a winning car, until teamate Mark Martin gets around him with 30 laps to go to win the second annual Texas Dabacle. The race is a wreck fest for the second year in a row due to the infamous weepers. Mike Skinner aggrevates a pre existing injury in the big lap 2 crash, While Greg Sacks is temporarily parylyzed after a hard crash on lap 136.

Side note: I try to stay neutral on these things, but this is an issue I really had a problem with back then. First, Texas was half of the demise of North Wilkesboro, so there was already some bitterness from me. But the track was very poorly constucted. The first two races were absolute wreckfests and we saw 3 drivers critically injured (Craven in '97, Skinner and Sacks the next year). Then Eddie Gossage has the nerve to come out with t-shirts that say "shut up and drive" when he knows full well his track has injured 3 drivers in two races. Craven and Sacks nearly lost their lives and had their careers about ended. Craven was able to rebound somewhat, but it took years and he never was the driver we all knew he could be.

Bottom line is, I lost all respect for Eddie Gossage and the way he's conducted himself since hasn't helped any.

not defending Gossage, but there's an article at NASCAR.com about him that helps us understand why he does the things he does. and he's very good at what he does, whether we like it or not.

[BringBackWilkesboro]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

not defending Gossage, but there's an article at NASCAR.com about him that helps us understand why he does the things he does. and he's very good at what he does, whether we like it or not.

True. I may not like it, but what he does works. He knows what old and new fans want and does what he can to bring it to them. I'm OK with a little pot stirring, especially since things have gotten pretty bland, I just don't like the idea of showing such blatant disregard for driver safety especially with the magnitude of what was happening right in front of him years ago.

[BringBackWilkesboro]

April 12th
4/12/64 - David Pearson wins the Joe Weatherly 150 at Orange Speedway in Hillsoboro, NC by 3 laps. This was the first of two races at the Speedway to be named for Weatherly, after his fatal crash at Riverside earlier that year.

4/12/70 - Pete Hamilton beats Bobby Isaac in the Alabama 500 at Talledega. Hammilton and Buddy Baker battled hard in the late laps until baker's car caught fire and spun with 13 to go, allowing Hamilton to cruise to victory ahead of Isaac, the only other car on the lead lap. The last 90 minutes of this race were televised live on ABC.

4/12/81 - Darrell Waltrip, Harry Gant and Dave Marcis trade the lead 9 times throught the last 200 laps of the Rebel 500 at Darlington. Waltrip comes out on top, with Harry Gant second and Marcis 3rd, who faded off the lead lap late in the race. This was Gant's debut in Hal Needham's 33 car.

[Curves24]

Yesterday

April 13
1997: Jeff Gordon uses the bump and run on the last lap to beat Rusty Wallace by .499 seconds in the Food City 500 at Bristol. Wallace, making his 400th start, leads a race-high 240 laps, including 85 of the final 86.

[Curves24]

April 14

1957: Listen up, old school fans. Fireball Roberts wins a 150-lap race on the one-mile dirt track of Langhorne (Pa.) Speedway that features seven drivers (25 percent of the field) with great first names. Besides Roberts, Speedy Thompson finishes third, Buck Baker fifth, Tiny Lund 11th, Buzz Wilson 16th, Brownie King 19th and Lucky Sawyer 25th.

[Curves24]

April 15
1951: Fonty Flock wins the first Cup race shortened by rain. The scheduled 150-lap race on the mile dirt track of Occoneechee Speedway in Hillsboro, N.C., ends after 95 laps. Flock, who starts from the pole, leads every lap. Frank Mundy is second and Bill Blair third.

[Curves24]

April 16
2000: Jeff Gordon wins the DieHard 500 at Talladega to become the quickest driver to 50 Cup victories. The win comes in Gordon’s 232nd race, easily beating the previous best of 278 races by Darrell Waltrip.

1964 -- Ned Jarrett wins his second race in two days, a 200-lap race at the half-mile dirt track Columbia (S.C.) Speedway.

[Curves24]

April 17
1999: Jimmy Hensley wins the NAPA 250 truck race at Martinsville setting up the only weekend sweep for Petty Enterprises. The next day John Andretti wins the Cup race at Martinsville. Petty hasn’t been back to victory lane since.

1960 -- Emanuel Zervakis finishes first at Wilson (N.C.) Speedway but is disqualified because his gas tank is too big. Joe Weatherly gets the win.

[Curves24]

April 18
2004: Rusty Wallace wins the Advance Auto Parts 500 at Bristol for the 55th and final victory of his Cup career. Bobby Labonte finishes second, .538 seconds back. Wallace is eighth all time in Cup wins.