Sunday, April 02, 2000
AUTO RACING INSIDER
Waltrip running out of chances
BY TOM GROESCHEN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Darrell Waltrip is running out of provisionals. His career is running out of time. His longtime fans are trying not to look.
They're trying to remember the Waltrip who once was the biggest star in NASCAR Winston Cup racing, not the retiring Waltrip whose 2000 “Victory Tour” has been anything but.
Waltrip stands a career-low 40th in the Winston Cup season points race, after finishing a career-low 37th last year. Each week, he battles just to make the race. Today he will start 29th at the DirecTV 500 at Texas.
Waltrip already has used the four provisionals he started the season with. And now he finds himself railing against the quali fying system used each week.
“Everything we do is based on one lap,” he said recently. “That's the thing that has been aggravating me.”
Drivers who don't make the top 25 spots in the first round usually find drastically different conditions in the Saturday second rounds, making it hard for them to improve their speed. And Waltrip, saddled with sub-par cars as his career winds down, simply can't do much about it.
At age 53, he almost certain ly has won his last race. He hasn't won since 1992 and hasn't won a pole since '95. He probably will leave with 84 race victories, tied for third on the all-time list with Bobby Allison. He was a three-time Winston Cup season champion in the 1980s.
It's hard to feel sorry for someone who has won more than $18 million in his Winston Cup career and will be a television analyst for Fox broadcasts in 2001. But still, you find yourself rooting for Waltrip.
He is likable, funny, down to earth. He treats fans and media like royalty. Waltrip was one of the first Winston Cup drivers to grasp the power of television, and he used it to become one of the top personalities of his sport.
“In the '70s and '80s and even early in the '90s, I was the show,” Waltrip said earlier this year. “Now, I'm just part of the show. That is hard to get used to.”
Waltrip will still be around. Nearby, in fact. Since 1998 he has been a paid consultant for Jerry Carroll's new Kentucky Speedway, and he was in town recently to film some TV spots. He made a surprise visit to the Speedway ticket offices, where he commandeered a phone and proved his name still sells. Among those Waltrip talked to was Bruce Althouse of Hartford City, Ind.
“I was almost speechless,” Althouse said. “I was only going to buy tickets for the ARCA races, but I called back and bought season tickets.”
IRL NOW IRNLS: The Indy Racing League, in case you missed it, has a new name.
The IRL, the Tony George vehicle that debuted in 1996, is now the “Indy Racing Northern Lights Series” under new sponsorship.
The league parted ways last year with its former sponsor, Pep Boys auto parts.
ON PARADE: Sarah Fisher, a 19-year-old rookie Indy Racing Northern Lights Series driver, will ride the Kentucky Speedway float in the Reds' Findlay Market parade Monday.
Fisher is the only full-time female competitor in Indy racing right now. In May, she hopes to follow in the Indy 500 footsteps of Janet Guthrie (1970s) and Lyn St. James (1990s).
SPEAKING OF PARITY: A few weeks ago, there were complaints of NASCAR's blase racing and the same old winners. But now, NASCAR proudly points out that its six 2000 races have had six different winners — Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt, Ward Burton and Rusty Wallace.
LOCAL NOTES: Florence Speedway (Union, Ky.) opened Saturday night.For the season schedule, check www.florencespeedway.com.
• Edgewater Sports Park (Cleves) continues its weekly drag programs, with testing Friday nights and racing Saturday nights (www.edgewaterrace.com.
• Tri-State Dragway (Hamilton) has a Super “Box” Sunday program today, which means $2,000 to win and double-points. A recent $1,000 “No Box” winner at Tri-State was John Hasse of Cincinnati, who is still driving his 1970 Dart Swinger to victories.
Tom Groeschen welcomes your email at
tgroeschen@enquirer.com.
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