MILESTONE MOMENTS 1998 DAYTONA 500
DALE EARNHARDT’S LONG-AWAITED, IMMENSELY POPULAR DAYTONA 500 WIN IN 1998 ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR WINS IN NASCAR HISTORY TOOK PLACE AT the 1998 Daytona 500 when Dale Earnhardt – in his 20th attempt to win The Great American Race – finally prevailed, scoring the victory in his iconic black No. 3 Chevrolet of Richard Childress Racing. Earnhardt, who had lost this race in just about every way imaginable in his 19 previous tries, showed up at The World Center of Racing with one of the fastest cars as he so often did, but unlike in his previous attempts to win NASCAR’s most prestigious event, nothing went terribly wrong. Earnhardt led 107 of 200 laps, taking the top spot for good with 61 laps to go. Despite facing strong challenges from the likes of Rusty Wallace, Jeremy Mayfield, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte and teammate Mike Skinner, Earnhardt never cracked under the pressure as he held off a late charge from Labonte to take the yellow flag and the white flag together and be assured of the victory (back then, the entire final lap could be run under caution). Earnhardt later celebrated by spinning through the frontstretch infield grass before pulling down pit road where he was congratulated by at least one member of practically every team – a truly once-in-a-lifetime type of spectacle that you had to see to believe.
1985 SOUTHERN 500
BILL ELLIOTT’S MILLION-DOLLAR PAYDAY AT THE 1985 SOUTHERN 500 AT THE END OF THE 1984 SEASON, R.J. REYNOLDS TOBACCO CO. and its Winston brand — the title sponsor of NASCAR’s premier series — announced a new program called “The Winston Million.” The idea was simple: Any driver who the following year could win three of NASCAR’s four “crown-jewel” races – the Daytona 500, the Winston 500 at Talladega, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte and the Southern 500 at Darlington – would pocket a $1 million bonus from R.J. Reynolds. In those days, winner’s purses were substantially smaller than they are now, so the thought of earning $1 million for a single race win was pretty hard to fathom. Yet it happened – thanks to Bill Elliott’s amazing drive to victory in the Southern 500 that followed his wins in the Daytona 500 and the Talladega spring race. One of the sport’s most popular drivers, Elliott was the focus of a media avalanche that Labor Day weekend at Darlington and saw his popularity soar to unprecedented heights after he won the pole, led 100 laps and captured the win in front of a roaring crowd. Appropriately, Elliott earned also left Darlington with a new nickname: “Million-Dollar Bill.”
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POLE POSITION 2023
PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES