Tuesday March 26, 2002
Alan Kulwicki: His Way
By Larry Manch
Racing News Online (www.racingnewsonline.com)
Every time I see a race driver run a victory lap the wrong way, I can't help but think of the man from Wisconsin who gave us what he called 'the Polish Victory lap.' It doesn't happen very much anymore, but every so often, someone celebrates a race win by driving around the track in the wrong direction just like the late Alan Kulwicki.
Kulwicki, of course, made Hooters more famous if that is possible. I come from the north where 'hooters' is merely a descriptive phrase. I didn't even know it was the name of a restaurant chain until they began sponsoring the #7 Ford Thunderbird. He was an experienced racer before he ever saw North Carolina, beginning on the short tracks of Wisconsin and other mid-western states before running in the ASA series. But for guys like Kulwicki, the Winston Cup series was the only series worth running in. To be the champion of Nascar was the goal he set for himself.
Alan Kulwicki was a unique man in many ways, quite different than most of his competitors. In the mid-eighties when he sold most of his belongings and moved to Charlotte in an old Ford truck, there were few northerners in Nascar's premier division. There were even fewer college graduates, but being different didn't stop him from pursuing his dream. His dream was to win the Winston Cup, and he set out to get what he wanted. Most people would not have the nerve to sell everything and move thousands of miles to attempt a career where the odds of success are staggering.
He ran his first race in 1985 at Richmond, driving for Bill Terry. The following year was his first full season; they operated on a small budget--one car, two engines and two crewmembers. The lack of money forced the meticulous Kulwicki to learn the technique of saving his equipment. The big money teams don't worry so much about such things, but a low budget operations' existence depends on bringing the car home in one piece every week. Kulwicki's mechanical engineering background helped him become a good chassis man, leading to four top ten finishes and Rookie of the year honors.
Kulwicki bought the team from Terry in 1987, beginning his first year as owner/driver. He finished an amazing fifteenth in points that year; and that's when the sponsors took notice of the man from the north. Zerex Antifreeze signed on as primary sponsor, and Kulwicki hired crew chief Paul Andrews before the 1988 season. Hopes ran high at AK Racing, but little did they know that their rise to the championship had begun in earnest.
Kulwicki won his first Cup race at Phoenix on November 6, 1988, the first of five victory lane appearances in his short career. After taking the checkered flag, Alan turned the car around and drove his victory lap the wrong way--to the chagrin of Nascar officials. It took another year for win number two--October 21 at Rockingham, but things were going well for AK Racing.
The team suffered a setback in 1990 when Zerex pulled out, leaving the team with questionable status. Kulwicki had several job offers, but turned them down--he was still convinced that his way was the right way. They began the 1991 season with a one-race sponsorship from the Army--the #7 Ford was one of four cars sponsored by the US military in support of our troops in the Persian Gulf.
Once the Army camouflage came off the car, the team ran at Richmond and Rockingham without sponsorship. They may have been hurting for help, but they were still competitive--Kulwicki won the pole at Atlanta in March. Hooters agreed to sponsor Kulwicki after their own driver failed to make the race, and they stuck with the #7 car throughout the season. Five months later, Kulwicki won at Bristol and again, the future of AK Racing looked bright.
Nineteen ninety-two would prove to be the season of dreams for the hard working owner/driver. His careful planning and never-ending desire to win paid off early that year when Kulwicki won again at Bristol in the sixth race on April 4. A little over two months later, he won at Pocono in what would prove to be his final race win. By midsummer, the Hooters Ford was in contention for the Winston Cup, but by Martinsville in late September, he had fallen to 278 points behind Davey Allison and Bill Elliott. The team fought back, climbing to second in the points, but a win by Allison at the next to last race at Phoenix put Kulwicki thirty points behind the Texaco driver, and only ten ahead of Elliott.
When the tour reached Atlanta on November 15, at least six drivers still had a chance at the championship, including Kulwicki, Elliott, Allison and Harry Gant. (The race was notable also as Richard Petty's final drive, and the first Cup start by a young kid named Jeff Gordon.)
Late in the race, Allison tangled with Ernie Irvan, damaging the car and ending the Alabama driver's hopes at the Cup. Had Allison won the race, the championship would have been his, but after the wreck, it left Elliott and Kulwicki to decide the outcome. Elliott won the race, but Kulwicki had led one more lap than his competitor, earning five bonus points--enough to clinch the championship. Never was there a sweeter Polish victory lap as the Hooters Ford 'Underbird' circled Atlanta Motor Speedway--the underdog had won the Winston Cup.
A few weeks later, Nascar honored its newest champion, playing the Frank Sinatra song 'My Way' while the audience watched the video tribute to Kulwicki. These guys always look out of place and uncomfortable in tuxedos at the Waldorf in New York, but Alan Kulwicki had come too far to look like anything but the champion that he was.
"I want to be as good a champion as I can be, in case the chance never happens again," he told the audience. Tragically, he would have less than four months to enjoy his newfound celebrity. Alan Kulwicki died in the crash of the Hooters corporate jet enroute to a track where he had enjoyed success--Bristol Motor Speedway, on April 1, 1993.
A few days later, the Hooters hauler circled the track alone as a capacity crowd looked on in silence. His career had been all too short, spanning just seven years. All told, Kulwicki ran 207 Cup races, with 24 poles, 75 top tens and five wins from 1985 to 1992.
In the end, Kulwicki had proved that his way was, in fact, the right way.
This is a column I wrote for speedwaymedia.com. The moderator of this wonderful site, Beth H., kindly asked me to post it here. I'm honored to.
Remembering Alan Kulwicki
by Mark Moore
As the Winston Cup Series goes to Bristol this week, my thoughts turn to one of my personal heroes, Alan Kulwicki. The racing world lost him before the spring race at Bristol in 1993, as I'm sure you all know. This column is my chance to share some of my memories of him. I hope you don't mind.
I first heard of him during his rookie year in 1986. It was Speedweeks in Daytona, and our local CBS affiliate in Charlotte was broadcasting live from Daytona all week, during their sports segment. It was Thursday, and the Twin 125s had been ran that day. After the segment about the races, they did a profile on Alan. He had just missed making the 500 on the last turn of the last lap, when two others passed him for the last open spot in the line up. His qualifying speed hadn't been fast enough to make the field. He was interviewed standing by his truck and trailer, not a flashy eighteen wheeler with an enclosed trailer, but, a simple truck with an open trailer. Alan said during the segment that he was running for Rookie Of The Year with only one car, two leased engines, and, I think only two or three employees. I've got to be honest, I thought he was crazy to attempt it. Even sixteen years ago, such an endeavor seemed, not only impossible, but foolhardy. He was so determined though. It showed in the interview. That was my first glimpse at his never give up attitude. I decided then that if he was that crazy and determined to try it, I was going to pull for him to win the rookie title. I had no idea at the time that his deal with Quincy's Steakhouse was only for Daytona. Somehow, he persuaded them to back him for most of the rest of the season. Well, he won that title, and, I pegged him as a driver to watch.
The next year, 1987, my two drivers at that time, Richard Petty and Tim Richmond didn't have the kind of year I expected. Richard was in the twilight of his career, and Tim missed most of the year, as he suffered from AIDS, so, I began pulling for Alan even more. He had picked up full time sponsorship from Zerex, won his first pole that year, and almost won his first race, at Pocono. 1988 looked to be an even better season for him, and it was.
In 1988, Alan was running better, qualifying and running up front, and, at Phoenix got his first victory, instituting the "Polish Victory Lap", when he drove clockwise around the track after winning the race. I remember the announcers, (and myself), wondering what he was doing, then I laughed when he explained it in Victory Lane.
In 1989, Alan seemed on the verge of being a front runner consistently, leading the points at one time, but, he had just started his own engine program, and suffered a lot of engine failures that year, and didn't win a race. Still, when I'm a fan of someone, I'm a fan as long as they race, I stuck by him. I was still pulling for Richard too, by the way.
1990 seemed to be one of those years when Alan couldn't buy a break. His engine program was better, but, he seemed snakebit. At the beginning of the year was when Junior Johnson first approached Alan to drive for him, and Alan turned him down, preferring to run his own team his way. Then, the announcement was made that Zerex was pulling out of sponsoring him for 1991. Even though he won at Rockingham that year, and finished in the top ten in points for the first time, things seemed bleak.
In 1991, Junior was starting a second team, and once again tried to get Alan to drive for him, offering him a million dollars to do it. Even Ford wanted him to take the offer. Alan, thinking he had Maxwell House lined up as a sponsor turned Junior down again. Not knowing he thought he had the deal lined up, I thought he was passing up the best chance he had. As it turned out, he didn't have Maxwell House, Junior did, and he started the season without a sponsor. We were fighting Iraq then, and R. J. Reynolds arranged for five unsponsored teams to carry the colors of our Armed Forces. Alan's car was painted in Army camouflage colors. My niece's boyfriend at that time was in the Army, fighting in Iraq, and we took a snapshot of him to Alan's shop, and asked if he would carry it in the car for good luck. By then, I had been going by the shop some since I worked in Charlotte. Alan carried the picture in the car at Daytona for us. After Daytona, Alan was without sponsorship, and ran the first few races in a plain white Thunderbird. At Atlanta, he was on the pole. Hooters Restaurants had been sponsoring another driver who didn't make the field, and they worked out an agreement to sponsor him for that race. This lead to a race by race sponsorship for most of the season, then they inked a multi year contract. Alan won the night race at Bristol that year. I could relax now, and, I know Alan and the team did.
1992 came, and Alan was a contender every race. He won the spring race at Bristol, and also won at Pocono, staying in the hunt for the title all year long, until the second race at Dover, when he tangled with Chad Little early in the race, seeming to lose the chance at the Winston Cup. He said as much when interviewed after the wreck. But, it seemed after years of struggling, fate finally smiled on him. His main competition for the championship, Bill Elliott and Davey Allison began having bad luck of their own, and at the last race of the season in Atlanta, it was a wide open affair for the title. Anyone who watched the race knows how exciting and nerve wracking it was. For myself, I'm just glad I taped it, because, I couldn't enjoy it that day. I was too nervous. Alan beat Bill by ten points, still the closest finish in Winston Cup history, by leading one more lap than Bill did. He was the champion.
1993 looked to be so bright. Even though Alan hadn't won yet, he was running good, and was ninth in points going into Bristol. On April First, we lost him, and four others when the plane Hooters loaned him for making personal appearances crashed on it's approach to the airport. I'm not ashamed to admit I cried that night, Besides being his fan, I had got to know him a little bit from the times I went by his shop.
I'm still a racing fan, but, since that day, it just hasn't been the same for me. I will always remember my first glimpse of that determined man in 1986, and how I went through the trials, tribulations and joys of Alan Kulwicki's too brief career and life.