Darrell Lee Waltrip (born February 5, 1947) is an American motorsports analyst, author, national television broadcaster and former racer. He also won three NASCAR Cup Series titles (1981, 1982, 1985) and three runners-up NASCAR Cup Series (1979, 1983, 1986). Postnotes NASCAR series modern series of 22 top five finishes in 1983 and 21 finished five both in 1981 and 1986, Waltrip won 84 NASCAR Cup Series races, including the Daytona 500 in 1989, a record five in Coca-Cola 600 (formerly World 600) (1978, 1979, 1985, 1988, 1989), and Series track and record for each driver at Bristol Motor Speedway with 12 (seven consecutive 1981-1984). The win tied him with Bobby Allison for fourth on NASCAR's all-time winning list in the Cup Series and placed him second in line for Jeff Gordon for the most victory in the modern era of NASCAR. He was ranked second for pole all-time positions with 59, including an all-time high of 35 on short tracks and eight on the pitch. Competing in the 809 Cup started for four decades and 29 years (1972-2000), he has scored 271 Top 5's and 390 Top 10's. Winning $ 19,886,666.00 in posted revenue, he became the first NASCAR rider to earn more than $ 10 million in race wins, over $ 26 million in current currency. Waltrip also holds an all-time record of 67 wins at Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, Tennessee, including NASCAR, USAC, ASA, and NASCAR series approved Late Model Sportsman. He still holds a lot of NASCAR records, more than a decade after his retirement as an active driver.
He has also won 13 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series, seven American Speed ​​race Association (ASA), three IROC races, two Automobile Racing Club of America racing (ARCA), two NASCAR All-American Challenge Series events, two All Pro Racing Association races, and USAC races. He competed in Daytona 24 Hours.
He has also won many awards at NASCAR. That includes two for NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award (1989, 1990), three for "American Driver of the Year" (1979, 1981, 1982), and "NASCAR Driver of the Decade" for the 1980s, as well as three for " National Motorsports Press Association Driver of the Year "(1977, 1981, and 1982), two for" Auto Racing Digest Driver of the Year "(1981 and 1982), the first" Tennessee Professional Athletes of the Year "(1979), one from 50 The Greatest Racer of NASCAR in 1998, and Bill France's "Award of Excellence" in 2000. He has been inducted into well-known halls, including the Hall of Fame of America Motorsports for the 2003 International Motorsports Hall of Fame for 2005. Once nominated for the inaugural 2010 and 2011 classes, he was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame 2012 class.
Waltrip currently serves as a color analyst for Fox Sports with Mike Joy, and Jeff Gordon, columnist at Foxsports.com, and a writer. He is the older brother of a former NASCAR racer and owner of the now-defunct MWR team, Michael Waltrip.
Video Darrell Waltrip
Initial years
Waltrip was born on February 5, 1947 in Owensboro, Kentucky. Starting his driving career at Go-kart at the age of 12, Waltrip entered his first car race just four years later. Waltrip and his father built a 1936 Chevrolet coupe and headed for a local dirt track near their Owensboro home. The first night came out of success when the young man, barely old enough to drive on the street, slammed the wall and ruined his horse. Waltrip soon left the ground and found his niche on the asphalt where the smoothness he learned at karts proved a valuable asset.
He was an early racer at Kentucky Motor Speedway and Ellis Raceway, a dirt track on US Highway 60 west in Daviess County (Ellis Raceway now closed), driving a car called "Big 100" built by Harry Pedley, owner of Pedley's Garage, on West Second Street, in Owensboro and sponsored by RC Bratcher Radiator and Welding Co. His success garnered attention from Nashville PB Crowell owner/driver, who urged Waltrip to move to the area for the race at Fairgrounds Speedway, Tennessee State Fairgrounds in Nashville, where he would win two track championships, in 1970 and 1973.
Waltrip drove the # 48 PB Ford Crowell sponsored by American Home, in Nashville, where he aggressively promoted the race that week when he appeared on local television programs promoting speedway racing, and was not afraid to embrace local media when other competitors were reluctant to do it. Some of the famous "airborne" nonsense includes making fun of some other local racers like Coo Coo Marlin (whose son Sterling then races on the circuit and is a Daytona 500 winner twice) and James "Flookie" Buford, whose nickname will be ridiculed in the air. Happily tracked down the management that he helped sell tickets, leading to heaps of luxury and extra pay from the line operator for his promotional skills.
He became friends with WSM radio host Ralph Emery in his early years, forming a bond that would have an effect throughout his career, as Waltrip would often appear on Emery's morning television show on local Nashville television station, WSMV, and subsequently replace Emery in the 1980s. on the Emery television show, Nashville Now on the former TNN cable network (later, Spike TV). Waltrip will use the success he enjoys at Music City Motorplex, and his famous speech skills he gained from television appearances in Nashville, as a springboard to the NASCAR league.
He became a Christian in 1983 but many years later before God came first in his life. One of the charities he supports is Motor Racing Outreach (MRO) that provides spiritual support to racers and their families.
Maps Darrell Waltrip
NASCAR Careers NASCAR Initial years at NASCAR: 1972-1975
Waltrip started at NASCAR Winston Cup, the top NASCAR racing series at the age of 25, (25 years, 3 months, 2 days), on May 7, 1972, at Winston 500 in 1972, in Talladega, Alabama, the fastest and longest path in the series at 2.66 mile (4,281 kilometers), drove the 1969 Mercury Cyclone he bought from Holman Moody, originally Ford Fairlane driven by Mario Andretti to victory at Daytona 500 in 1967. Waltrip finished 38th in his first NASCAR Winston Cup race after retiring on lap 69 because engine failure. Waltrip paid $ 12,500 for cars, spare machines and some spare parts and drove them in 5 series of events until mid 1973. The car was converted from Ford Fairlane Andretti drove to 1969 Mercury Cyclone driven by Waltrip, and then converted to 1971 Mercury Cyclone. The car was sponsored by Terminal Transport from Owensboro, Kentucky, Waltrip's first major sponsor. Waltrip still owns a car today as part of a collection of cars he drives and is one of his favorites.
The early years found Waltrip competing with legendary car racers such as Richard Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, and Bobby Allison, among others. Waltrip soon gained the respect of his more experienced colleagues. He was given # 95 as a number but Waltrip prefers car # 17 because his hero, David Pearson, has had success with numbers in previous years. As the owner/driver, Waltrip ran 5 races in 1972, 14 races in 1973, 16 races in 1974, with 7 top-5 finishes, and 17 races as owner/driver in 1975, with his first Winston Cup win home track, May 10, 1975, at the age of 28, (28 years, 3 months, 5 days), at Music City 420, overtaking the field with two laps on the track where he won 2 championship tracks in Nashville, Tennessee, at # 17 Terminal Transport Chevrolet, a car owned by Waltrip.
During the 1973 season, Waltrip drove 5 NASCAR Cup races for Bud Moore Engineering.
DiGard Year: 1975-1980
Except for five races in 1973, driving to Bud Moore Engineering, Waltrip primarily drove his own car early in the NASCAR career until mid-season Winston Cup 1975 when he signed a multi-year contract and replaced Donnie Allison driver to drive # 88 DiGard Chevrolet, Waltrip into the big league of American car racing cars. DiGard racing team was founded in part by Mike DiProspero and Bill Gardner, who were brother-in-law, with Robert Yates as a legendary machine builder.
Waltrip's first race with DiGard came on August 17, 1975, at Talladega 500, Talladega Superspeedway, in Talladega, Alabama, completing 42 after a machine failure. Waltrip will compete in ten more races in the 1975 season for DiGard, sponsored by Terminal Transport, and earn his second career NASCAR Winston Cup on October 12, 1975, at Capital City 500, in Richmond, Virginia. He will post three top five and four top-ten finishes in 11 races he ran for DiGard in 1975.
During the late 1970s, Waltrip would start the dominance of short NASCAR track places, especially at Bristol International Speedway (Bristol, Tennessee), Martinsville Speedway (Martinsville, Virginia) and Music City Motorplex (Nashville). He holds track records at Bristol International Speedway, to win with 12 wins, and for pole position at Martinsville Speedway, with 8 pole position awards.
In 1976, Gatorade became Waltrip's main sponsor when he started his first full racing season at the age of 29, driving a DiGard Gatorade Chevrolet. Waltrip won only one NASCAR Winston Cup race in 1976, Virginia 500, at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia, but in 1977 and 1978, working with the legendary NASCAR crew chief Buddy Parrott, he won six times each year, including the first of four career victories at Talladega Superspeedway, in Talladega, AL, on May 1, 1977, and the first of five career wins in this series's longest race, an exhausting 600 mile race, Coca-Cola 600 (formerly World 600), May 28, 1978 Waltrip, and Parrott, will win 21 NASCAR races from 1977 to 1980.
Perhaps in the most famous and most famous NASCAR race, Daytona 500 1979, held February 18, 1979, a race won by Richard Petty, Waltrip is the pre-race favorite to win the race. When the first NASCAR race covered the national flag flags, Cale Yarborough, and Donnie Allison, while struggling to take the lead in the last round, came together and fell hard, knocking each other off, in the third turn. While Allison and Yarborough's cars spun and came to rest on grass infield, the attention switched fast to new leaders, Richard Petty run third, and Waltrip, running behind in fourth, as boxing fights took place between Yarborough, Donnie Allison, and his riders and riders , Bobby Allison, at the turn of three grasses. Earlier in the race, WalGar DiGard Gatorade Oldsmobile, dropped the cylinder and temporarily able to withstand the slipstream of Petty's car in the last lap, unable to get past the petty car at the fourth curve in the last lap due to horsepower reduction. However, Waltrip became runner-up in the most famous race in NASCAR history, and was an early turning point in Waltrip's career.
Daytona 500 1979 will be the early predecessor of the season for the remaining nine months of the racing season. Waltrip and Petty will be engaged in a fierce battle, race after race, for the 1979 NASCAR championship. In the 1979 season, Waltrip won seven NASCAR Winston Cup races and was a serious contender for what would be his first NASCAR Winston Cup Championship despite many engine failures, mechanical problems , and the difference with DiGard management. On September 23, 1979, after winning a leading position and leading 184 laps at Old Dominion 500, in Martinsville, Virginia, Waltrip again suffered a machine failure. DiGard's team pitted the car and made a rare race engine race in an 11-minute record. Waltrip lost 29 laps in the pits but was able to finish 11th, when Petty finished 2nd.
At the start of the final race of the season, the Los Angeles Times 500, at Ontario Motor Speedway, Ontario, California, Waltrip leads Richard Petty with 2 points less in the championship battle throughout the year after finishing the fifth race ahead of Petty's 6th position in the previous race , Dixie 500, Atlanta Motor Speedway, November 4, 1979. However, Petty won an unprecedented seventh, and finals, NASCAR Winston Cup Championship by finishing the final race of the season in 5th place, as Waltrip finished 8. The final margin of victory Petty's Championship on Waltrip is just 11 points, the closest third point in the NASCAR Winston Cup history.
Waltrip closed the 1970s driving Chevrolet # 88 DiGard, sponsored by Gatorade, ranked the NASCAR # 2 racer, after winning 22 NASCAR Winston Cup races in just 149 races. His aggressive driving style and outspoken attitude earned him the nickname "Jaws", a reference to the 1975 film about a killer shark. The nickname was given to Waltrip by rival Cale Yarborough in an interview after Waltrip crashed into Yarborough from the race. Waltrip himself prefers the nickname "D.W." or "D-Dubya" but he acknowledged Yarborough by displaying an inflatable toy shark in his pit in the next race.
At the height of NASCAR Winston Cup successes in the early 1980s, fans often ridiculed Waltrip, largely because of his success on tracks overpowering more established racers with large fanatic followers, but also because of his open criticism of NASCAR, his aggressive "take no prisoners" "winning by all means" approach to driving, and his public efforts to be released from his driving contract with DiGard in 1980, the year in which Waltrip won five NASCAR Winston Cup races. However, Waltrip has a large and loyal fan following. It's often said by racing commentators and sports columnists that "you hate it or love it".
It is a rival Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, a driver for legendary owner, Junior Johnson, who personally told Waltrip that he intends to reduce the appearance of his racing and left Junior Johnson & amp; Tim association at the end of the 1980 season, opening the position for Waltrip, but only if Waltrip can successfully negotiate early termination of his contract with DiGard. Waltrip successfully negotiated the discharge from DiGard, and will take over No. 11 for the year 1981
Junior Johnson years: 1981-1986
The success of Waltrip driving the prepared Junior Johnson car soon came and even surpassed his successful years with DiGard. In his first two years as a driver for Mountain Dew sponsored, Junior Johnson set up the Buick Regal, Waltrip won 12 races annually, 14 pole positions each year, and two of his first NASCAR Winston Cup Championships, in 1981 and 1982. Waltrip's success and driving skills helped to bring the Buick Grand National into fame, as he drove the Regal (whose platform gave birth to the Grand National) for years by Mountain Dew sponsorship. The company later honored Waltrip's years with a regression pain scheme, once in 2006 and again in 2008.
In the early 1980s, with Junior Johnson, Waltrip first worked with Jeff Hammond, a pit crew for Johnson. Hammond was initially skeptical of Waltrip's driving style because it was so different from the former driver working for him, Cale Yarborough. Yarborough made adjustments for his driving based on car handling in certain races while Waltrip wanted the car to be tailored to the driving style. Hammond finally came to appreciate Waltrip's "finesse", and his subtle driving style proved very successful. Waltrip and Hammond will benefit from their knowledge and abilities and will work together for most of their careers in sports. Waltrip and Hammond worked together, even today, as broadcasters and analysts at Fox Sports, and Speed ​​TV.
Waltrip's first season with Junior Johnson was a huge success. He won 12 races including major races like the Southern 500, Food City 500, and Riverside 400 events. He almost made a winning record at Talladega for the 1981 season (winning a great race) by almost winning the Talladega 500. On the last round rookie Ron Bouchard plunged under Waltrip and Terry Labonte to lead. Bouchard beat Waltrip by walking in a 3-wide drag race in what is called the greatest apostasy in NASCAR history. Waltrip reportedly said " Where did he come from?" in an interview. Waltrip also stated in the post-race conference that part of the reason he lost the race was because he thought Bouchard was lap and therefore did not deter Bouchard.
He finished 1981 with 11 poles, 12 wins, 21 tops, and top 25s. Four of his 12 wins in a row. Not only did Waltrip win 12 races, he also won the Winston Cup championship against arch-rival Bobby Allison with more than 72 points.
In 1982, Waltrip won 12 races and essentially repeated his 1981 season. He won the Winston Cup championship again against Bobby Allison.
In 1983 the Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Speedway on February 20, 1983, Waltrip, the pre-race favorite to win the race, prompted Junior Johnson to prepare the 1983 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS Pepsi Challenger. He was involved in an accident when his car spun on round 64, at exit 4, at a speed of nearly 200 mph (320 km/h), as he maneuvered evasively to avoid the back of a much slower car ahead of him.. Waltrip locked the brakes but the car slid for several hundred feet, then crashed the embankment off the ground near the entrance to the pit road. The impact force was so loud that Waltrip's car was thrown back into the track, in front of the oncoming traffic. Waltrip then made a hard contact with the concrete retaining wall outside once more into the oncoming traffic. Cale Yarborough, the winner of the race, could barely hit the crushed Pepsi Challenger. Waltrip suffered a concussion and was taken ambulance to the Halifax Medical Center for observation and medical treatment. The accident was a wake-up call and a life-changing event for Waltrip. When he hears drivers and fans joking that the accident will "drop him sane" or "finally silence him," he realizes for the first time how unpopular he is and decides to clean his image. The years after the accident would have seen a different Darrell Waltrip, a man who worked hard to repair and rebuild his relationship with fans and fellow drivers. Years later, Waltrip will be selected (by NASCAR fans) "Most Popular Driver", two years in a row, (1989, 1990).
Waltrip will continue his unprecedented success to drive Junior Johnson through the 1986 NASCAR Winston Cup season, winning his third Winston Cup NASCAR championship, in 1985, winning the inaugural all-star race, The Winston, in 1985, and garnering 43 additional wins.
However, Waltrip is quick to recognize the new and rapid expansion of sports popularity, growing and expanding interest in NASCAR, even among housewives, teenagers and young adults, and others have never considered NASCAR supporters, all primarily due to increased networking and wiring national television subscriptions that broadcast almost every NASCAR event directly, and the growing interest of new family-oriented sponsors who have never been associated with motor sports. NASCAR becomes a multi-regional, multi-racial, multi-national and multi-cultural sport enjoyed by men, women and children. In addition to the huge revenue from new sponsors and televisions, the owner of a smarter NASCAR team immediately embraces new resources, such as computers, telemetry, research and development, a multi-car information sharing team, wind tunnel testing and aerodynamic procurement, computer modelers, and structural engineers. Waltrip, now one of two drivers for Johnson, quickly imagines the future of NASCAR and seeks to take advantage of the upcoming changes, something that car owner, Junior Johnson, though a sports pioneer, is somewhat reluctant to embrace. Afterall, Johnson has enjoyed decades of success and won many races and championships spanning decades using his own formula for success.
Aware of Junior Johnson's long-standing and steadfast rule of never discussing driver driver's salary adjustment, and never being comfortable with the allocation of resources needed by Johnson's two team cars, Waltrip approached Johnson about his contract raise. Though the story, as Waltrip pointed out, is most likely a fokelore, Waltrip drove his final race to Junior Johnson on November 16, 1986, in a Chevrolet sponsored by Budweiser, finishing 4th, at the Winston Western 500 that year at the Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California, completed one of the most successful owner/driver partnerships in all the history of motor sports. Waltrip and Johnson remained close friends and respected each other as drivers and owners and pioneers of sports.
Hendrick Motorsports year: 1987-1990
The Waltrip partnership with car owner Junior Johnson resulted in great success with three national championships and 43 NASCAR Winston Cup wins. The connection between fast cars and alcohol consumption is a concern for him. He began looking for other opportunities after conversations with his friend and pastor Cortez Cooper. Johnson had signed Budweiser to become his team's main sponsor in 1984, which inadvertently made Waltrip one of the faces of a connection he cared so much about.
Years earlier, Waltrip had opened a Honda dealer in his hometown of Franklin, Tennessee, with the help of his friend Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. During the 1986 season, Waltrip and Hendrick discussed the possibility of Waltrip joining the Hendrick organization, which lowered the car to Geoff Bodine and Tim Richmond and both discussed Waltrip's potential move to a new team. Waltrip was still under contract with Johnson for the 1986 season, but after this year he was able to break the contract in a unique way. As he told in an interview for the Fox Sports Net series Beyond the Glory in 2001, Waltrip obtained his release intentionally violating one of Johnson's cardinal rules: asking for a pay raise (Johnson forbid his driver to discuss problem money, including an increase salary, with him). After the signing, Hendrick formed a third team for Waltrip, carrying # 17 and sponsored by Tide.
In 1987, his first year with Hendrick Motorsports, Waltrip had limited success, compared to previous years with Johnson. He only won one race (at Goody's 500) and has six Top 5 finishes. In 1988, he won two races, including the 4th victory of Coca-Cola (formerly World 600 ).
In the first race of 1989, the Daytona 500, Waltrip won the race for the first time in his 17th attempt with a fuel conservation strategy along with his old head crew Jeff Hammond, made his final pit stop for distant fuel. lap (132 miles) from the finish. Most other cars can run no more than 45 or 46 rounds in the fuel tank, so that means Waltrip needs to cool the throttle and "draft" from other cars to save enough fuel to reach the finish without the extra pit stop. Hammond, interviewed by television hole reporters during the final duty of the race, said that his strategy was for Waltrip to "design anyone, and everyone", to save fuel. Although the Waltrip car ran much slower than other cars in the last 53 laps, it was able to avoid making additional pit-stops for the fuel that other cars had to make. Waltrip's strategy with the track position needed to win the race. The post-race interview with CBS hole journalist Mike Joy, became famous, with Waltrip shouting, "I won the Daytona 500! I won the Daytona 500! Wait, this is Daytona 500 right?... Thank God!" , accompanied by the dance "Ickey Shuffle" on Victory Lane. Then, after winning the Daytona 500, Waltrip visited President George H. W. Bush at the White House in Washington, D.C.
Waltrip's popularity as a driver will be a full circle on the night of The Winston, a NASCAR allstar racing event held May 21, 1989, (an event that does not provide a point to the NASCAR national championship), at Charlotte Motor Speedway. On the last lap, Waltrip led the race and was ready to win when Rusty Wallace crashed into Waltrip's car out of the 4th turn and turned Waltrip into the field, at the expense of his win and a $ 200,000 purse. Not only did Waltrip and his crew upset by the defeat, 150,000 fans watched the race bring a taunt to Wallace, the winner. The two crew were crammed into the pits and harsh words were spoken after the race. Waltrip was quoted after the race saying "I hope he chokes," referring to the $ 200,000 Wallace collected for victory. The Waltrip car is definitely superior to Wallace's car and, if it were not for the contact initiated by Wallace on the last lap, Waltrip would win an all-star event. During the 1989 and 1990 seasons, Waltrip was voted NASCAR Most Popular Driver by fans.
Waltrip will win six NASCAR Winston Cup races in 1989, his best year with Hendrick Motorsports, and help develop a new NASCAR version of the Chevrolet Lumina in 1989, and delivered his first win by winning an unprecedented and historic Coca-Cola 600 ( formerly World 600), May. In addition to setting a race record for victory, the victory earned him the chance to win a "major race" left of him since his first race at Heinz Southern 500 in Darlington. Darlington's win will give him a million-dollar bonus to win three out of four sports majors in the same season, Daytona 500, Winston 500, Coca-Cola 600, and Mountain Dew Southern 500. The pressure from both the dollar bonus and the Grand Slam Career is bad for Waltrip. He made contact with the wall in early 1989 at Southern 500 and never became a competitor to win the race, and a million-dollar bonus.
For many reasons, Waltrip could not bring his success from the previous year to 1990. Waltrip failed to visit the winning track throughout the season even though he actually won the NASCAR Winston Cup race he officially posts as the 2nd. The victory came April 22, 1990, at First Union 400, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in his final year with Hendrick Motorsports. 1990 was the first year since 1974, that Waltrip did not win the race. Brett Bodine was credited with an official win, though NASCAR, and even Larry McReynolds, the then-current crew chief for Brett Bodine, later admitted to Waltrip, that Bodine did not really win the race. Jeff Hammond, Waltrip's crew chief, urged NASCAR officials to correct what was clearly a mistake in NASCAR's assessment of the event. Waltrip even protested NASCAR chief Bill France, Jr. Although France knows that a mistake in judgment has been made, Bodine, has been declared the winner of the race. According to Waltrip, France, told him to "leave the boy alone, D.W., that's his first win and you'll win more races." The controversy was the result of a misjudgment on the NASCAR section when car speeds collected the wrong car after the warning flag. NASCAR spent 18 laps carefully trying to determine the true race leader. This was before the time of computerization and scoring of current technology that is now in use. Bodine, who actually completed the race on the tip of the main lap's tail, almost a full lap behind Waltrip, was officially credited with victory, the only victory of his career.
While practicing for his NASCAR 500th career began at Pepsi 400, at Daytona International Speedway, a Waltrip car spun in oil laid by another engine-damaged car, and hit by an oncoming car driven by Dave Marcis. Waltrip suffered a broken arm, a broken leg, and a concussion. He missed Pepsi 400, but ran back one lap at Pocono, before giving Jimmy Horton a way to help. (A driver who started, and completed one round, credited NASCAR points regardless of who was driving at the finish). Despite missing the next five races due to injury, Waltrip finished 20th in the driver's point and the team finished in fifth on the owners' points with replacement racers taking turns in the car.
Owner/driver year: 1991-mid 1998
After a fourth season as a driver for Hendrick Motorsports, Waltrip formed his own team for field cars in the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup season. Driving his own car has been his passion since he managed to drive his own car in NASCAR's early and mid-'70s career. He will continue his relationship with Chevrolet and drive a Chevrolet Lumina with Western Auto as the primary team sponsor. Waltrip purchased team assets, including racing facilities, from former owner Rick Hendrick in Charlotte, North Carolina, and hired an old friend and crew chief, Jeff Hammond, to oversee the construction of a racing car and continue as a crew chief. Waltrip and Hammond enjoyed much success together because Hammond had been with Waltrip during the championship win year with Junior Johnson, and most of the year Hendrick Motorsports, and Waltrip's 1989 crew chief won the Daytona 500 and 3 of 5 Coca-Cola 600 wins.
In the 1991 season, Waltrip visited the winning track twice, his first victory in his second duty as owner/driver coming only in the 7th race of the season on 21 April 1991, at First Union 400, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, northern Karolina. The second win of the year came in the 13th race of the season on June 16, 1991, at the Champion Spark Plug 500, at Pocono Raceway, in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.
Just two races after celebrating their 1991 second win, Waltrip will again be involved in another serious accident, again at Daytona International Speedway, in Daytona Beach, Florida. It came after completing 119 of 160 laps on the 2.5 mile superspeedway. Waltrip and driver Alan Kulwicki race side by side, leading a large group of cars, fighting for 5th position. Drafting car Alan Kulwicki crashed into Kulwicki's car, causing his car to hit Walft's Western Auto Chevrolet at speeds approaching 200 mph on a long backstretch. Waltrip's car slowed and was driven by Joe Ruttman's car driver, the two cars slid sideways several hundred feet across the grass runway. The Waltrip car tires cut off the access roadside causing it to become airborne and crashed at the end several times before stopping, at the bottom, in the grassy area near the 3rd curve. Waltrip was released and only suffered minor injuries but many feared that he could re-injure his crushed leg due to an accident on the same line the previous year. (Slow-motion video and still photography shows that Waltrip's left arm is outside the car when the car falls, and comes to rest.) Waltrip still has a plate in his left leg from a fracture of the compound he suffered in an earlier crash in Pepsi. 400, at Daytona International Speedway, (Waltrip commented on January 10, 2013, SPEED's television broadcast from Daytona NASCAR winter testing, that he has spent more time at the hospital than injured suffered at Daytona Speedway, than on any other track he has run ). Waltrip will be competing in the next race, a summer race at Pocono Raceway, in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, but fell again when Ernie Irvan's driver turned Hut Stricklin's driver, in front of almost the entire field. Waltrip won the spring race this year on track just 5 weeks earlier.
Waltrip completed the first year of his second job as the 8th driver/driver of the NASCAR Winston Cup championship, having reached the 3 rd rank after 14 races. His first year is generally seen as a successful first year journey. However, Waltrip is now 44 years old, has children, and has a lot of pressure as owner/driver that he does not occupy himself by driving for a multimillion dollar racing team, which is highly funded, like Hendrick Motorsports.
In 1992, Waltrip collected three more wins, including Mountain Dew Southern 500, a race held at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, USA, September 6, 1992, (the last major race that has passed 20 years of his career), and finished 9 at points, after as high as 6 after 22 races. It would be the 84th victory, and Waltrip's NASCAR final victory, tied him with Bobby Allison for what was third on the all-time list, behind Richard Petty, with 200 wins, and David Pearson, with 105 wins. Both he and Allison have since been authorized by Jeff Gordon, who has 93 victories by the time he retires at the end of the 2015 season.
In 1993, Waltrip signed former machine builder Richard Childress Racing, Lou LaRosa, to build the engine, and Barry Dodson, the former head crew who won the championship. He posted four top ten finishes, but did not finish higher than the third. 1994 saw him make his final appearance in the top ten at championship points by completing 9. He has an unprecedented streak for two seasons, of 40 races, without DNF, all with in-house machines. His only engine failure in that season was after the car crossed the finish line. Waltrip finished 19th in points in 1995 when he bumped into The Winston, and was forced to let the aid driver take over for several weeks. The second half of the season was highlighted by his recent career pole position at NAPA 500.
In 1996, Waltrip posted two top-ten finishes. Western Auto remains a sponsor as part of Waltrip's 25th birthday celebrations. While the year is one of Waltrip's most profitable, the results continue to decline.
In 1997 UAW-GM Quality 500, Waltrip failed to qualify for the first time in more than 20 years because Terry Labonte also failed to race. Since Labonte is a newer Cup winner (in fact, he is the Cup champion surviving that season), he was able to take past champions earlier. Waltrip, who finished 20th in the owners' point, was too low in the points-owners position to make the race (only the top four in the car owner's points that were not on the pitch, excluding the former champion who was not on the pitch, added after qualifying based on regulation 1997). After the season, Waltrip and his team struggled to find sponsors, but were able to collect last minute deals with Ohio-based Speedblock for 1998. Speedblock paid only a fraction of what was promised, and the deal was canceled. Waltrip's team at this point was almost bankrupt, and he sold the team to Tim Beverly.
The mid-1998 season with Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
Beverly chose not to race the team immediately, but chose to rebuild the team (now part of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. after two sales and mergers). During this time, Waltrip signed a contract with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. to drive Chevy # 1 Pennzoil, filling for an injured rookie, Steve Park. During his tenure with DEI, Waltrip booked fifth place in the California 500, and took the lead in the final stage of the Pocono 500 and finished sixth. In 2008, Waltrip acknowledged the reason that he failed as a team of vehicle owners is because he thinks like a driver, not as an owner.
The last years of racing: 1998-2000
In 1998, Brickyard 400, Beverly returned the former Waltrip team as a Monte Carlo # 35 Chevrolet with Tabasco sponsorship by driving Waltrip. Sponsorship conflict with Tabasco will transfer the team to the Pontiac Grand Prix. Waltrip resigned at the end of the season, citing performance issues. After a brief temptation with retirement, Waltrip signed a contract to push # 66 Big K Ford Taurus to Haas-Carter Motorsports, and his teammate with Jimmy Spencer. Waltrip failed to qualify seven times during the season with new qualifying rules for Champion's Past. On 5 August 1999, Waltrip announced during a training session for the Brickyard 400 that he would retire from NASCAR at the end of the 2000 season after a farewell tour.
During his 2000 retirement year, the best Waltrip ran on Brickyard 400, where he qualified at the outer pole and ended in eleventh position. His final race came on November 19, 2000, at Napa 500, at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he posted a 34-place finish at Haas-Carter Motorsports owned by # 66 Route66 Big K Ford Taurus. He finished 36 points in that season.
Craftsman Truck Series
In 1995, Waltrip built the Craftsman Truck Series team, and achieved success in 1997, when Rich Bickle took second place in the overall standings of the season, won three races, and made Waltrip one of the few car owners to have won the race in three national NASCAR series. When Sears quit sponsoring the team in 1997, Waltrip stopped his truck team, did not return until 2004, when he re-entered the series as owner and part of Toyota's NASCAR development program.
![2011 Bathurst 1000 - Darrell Waltrip likes Australia [HD] - YouTube](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_v8Wc0utQRbW6Vv2Ri45s4CS-M8W8d749Xc-KK0VsVNZ35rXb-jzNfpGVz_qtSPNrddwchGKONbBVdH20FzdQKoRCZTokT0eIeTzdQLFwwpYixTKE-3cStMbqejX4Bo81HKB3-o_rtIrg=s0-d "2011 Bathurst 1000 - Darrell Waltrip likes Australia [HD] - YouTube")
Broadcastership: 2001-present
After 2000 retirement, Waltrip signed a contract with Fox, to lead NASCAR analysts and race commentators on the NASCAR network, in collaboration with Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds. Waltrip previously appeared on several IROC broadcasts for ABC, prior to its signing during 1999, and 2000 seasons. Waltrip also appeared in many of the Busch Series races in TNN with Mike Joy, from 1994 to 1998, on the weekend when the Winston Cup did not participate.
Waltrip started his career with Fox, at Daytona 500 in 2001. His younger brother, Michael Waltrip, won the race, but Michael's victory was overshadowed by the death of Dale Earnhardt. On the last lap, Earnhardt's car made contact with Sterling Marlin, because black # 3 hovered low on the track, probably trying to block maneuvers so either Michael Waltrip or Dale Earnhardt, Jr., could win the race. Both cars were downgraded by DEI, though Earnhardt (Sr.) himself was driving to RCR. After contacting Marlin's car, Earnhardt's car suddenly turned right and slammed hard into the retaining wall in turn four along with Ken Schrader. This was before NASCAR mandated the use of HANS devices to reduce the risk of head and neck cathastropic injuries, and the "SAFER" barrier (Energy Reduction and Energy Foam) used in all NASCAR tracks today. After the car from Earnhardt and Schrader came to rest in infield, Schrader immediately got out of his car and went to Earnhardt's attention. Schrader beckoned the rescue crew to hurry to Earnhardt's car, but Earnhardt died instantly during the accident. Meanwhile, Michael Waltrip won the race with Darrell Waltrip shouting happily as he called the last run down to the checkered flag. His joy over the victory of his brother immediately paid attention to Earnhardt as he watched a rerun of the crash. Waltrip and Earnhardt had been rivals on the track in the 1980s but after years gone by, the competition and bitterness had given them profound respect and friendship. After the race, Waltrip was taken from the Fox Broadcast booth to Halifax Medical Center to meet with Earnhardt's family and his brother Michael. Waltrip then gives a prayer at Earnhardt's funeral and gives a prayer to the next week's race praying for Earnhardt and the promise of moving from the tragedy.
A week after Daytona, Waltrip interviewed NASCAR President Mike Helton for the pre-race segment during a broadcast on North Carolina Speedway (Rockingham). Waltrip believed that four deaths in the previous ten months, all caused by a basilar skull fracture that occurred in an accident, were too many, and were not ashamed to ask Helton for an explanation. Helton's response irritated Waltrip, who was named by one of the magazines as "acting more like Mike Wallace next (than <60 Minutes) than the next John Madden."
As a long-time advocate for motor sport, Waltrip then pushed for mandatory head restraints and necklines, and two weeks later, demonstrating the device during a broadcast at Atlanta Motor Speedway, explaining the benefits and workings of the tool. Seven months later, NASCAR mandated the device after an accident during the ARCA Re/Max Series race, which was held after qualifying for the UAW-GM Quality 500, killing Blaise Alexander driver.
When the car picked up a green flag to start every race, Waltrip shouted "Boogity, boogity, boogity, let's go racing boys and girls!" This unreasonable phrase has become a hallmark of Waltrip in recent years. (The phrase "boogity, boogity, boogity" also appeared in 1960 doo wop parody of "Who Put the Bomp" by Barry Mann.) Humble Pie uses the short phrase "boogity-boogity" in their 1970 song "Red Light Mama, Red Heat". Ray Stevens used the phrase throughout his 1974 hit, The Streak. Jerry Reed also said this phrase in the 1977 movie "Smokey and the Bandit." Interestingly, Waltrip appeared in the 1992 home video of Ray Stevens entitled Amazing Rolling Revue . In this home video, Waltrip plays the role of driver in the bus/rolling tour. Waltrip explains that his slogan came about because, as a driver, he was tired of hearing scouts or crew heads saying "green, green, green" at the beginning of every race and wanting to hear something more original. His slogan was always preceded by fellow analysts and former crew chief Larry McReynolds who told Waltrip to "reach there and pull the belt tightly once again!" until recently, when McReynolds used this phrase less and less and eventually deleted it altogether.
In 2011, Waltrip stated that his favorite race that has been broadcasted so far is the Aaron's Year 499. The lead race is exchanged many times among many different riders rather than leads dominated by a single driver. The race ended with driver Kevin Harvick beating rider Jamie McMurray to win just with a long bumper.
Waltrip also lends his unique side to his comments, talks about "coop-petetion" when the drivers work together, but keeps each other under surveillance, "since" when talking about the driving skills of a veteran driver, and "using chrome horns", when a driver rather accidentally hit a car on the road (bumper on a car that is used is made of metal and chrome coated). In early 2007, Waltrip was nominated for an Emmy in the "Extraordinary Events Analyst" category.
In March, 2011, FOX awarded Waltrip a 2-year contract extension, taking it through 2014, the same year the NASCAR network contract expired (although broadcast contracts have been extended to 2024).
In October 2011, Waltrip, Joy, and Leigh Australia Diffey traveled to Australia to host Speed ​​coverage from the Supercheap Auto Parts Bathurst 1000 held at the famous Mount Panorama Circuit. Since Waltrip had never hosted in Australia before, he counted on Australian NASCAR racer Marcos Ambrose to help him learn about the country. During the trip, in terms of hosting, Waltrip and Joy are best known for helping Ambrose reconcile with former Bathurst rival, Greg Murphy, known for the famous Dust 143 in the 2005 event after the restart that caused a famous quarrel. The interview took place during a security car session after Murphy got out of the car during a driver's change. In the days leading up to the race, Waltrip was taken on several laps by the V8 Supercar driver Jason Bright at Bright Brad Jones Racing Holden VE Commodore, describing the 6.213 km (3.861Ã, mi) circuit as "Geological Weirdness".
Currently
Waltrip fielded Toyota sponsored by Japanese industry giant NTN for the Craftsman Truck Series team in 2004. David Reutimann drove the truck to the team and earned the Rookie of the Year award that year. Waltrip's team expanded into two trucks in 2005. In August 2005, the new Darrell Waltrip Motorsports bounced back to win its first race, the Toyota Tundra 200 at Nashville Superspeedway by driving Reutimann. During the 2007 season, A.J. Allmendinger drove the Red Bull # 00 Toyota but with little success. At the end of the year, the team was sold to The Racer's Group, a street racing operation.
Waltrip has started occasionally (three or less each year) on the Craftsman Truck Series and Busch Series since "retired" in 2000. Each of these races is at Martinsville Speedway or Indianapolis Raceway Park.
Waltrip was an honor starter at Food City 500 in 2007 and also an honor starter for Gatorade Duel 2008 because Gatorade is one of Waltrip's former sponsors. He also started/completed the Busch Series race in Martinsville in his brother's "Aaron's Soul Machine" after appearing in an ad in 2003-2005 asking his brother to let him ride Aaron's Dream Machine.
In 2009, he appeared in an ad for Rejuvenate Auto with # 11 Mountain Dew Chevrolet. Waltrip also appeared on Fox's public service announcement for breast cancer awareness.
In 2010 and 2011, Waltrip voiced his support to save the old Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, now known as Fairgrounds Speedway, in Nashville. Speedway first opened in 1904, and hosted a weekly racing series for decades. This is the track on which Waltrip first succeeded in the weekly racing events of the 1960s and 70s, winning two track championships and where its first NASCAR victory came May 10, 1975. The Tennessee State race is located in the urban area in the south. Nashville, about 2 miles (3.2 km) from the downtown business district. Some residents who live close to the highway have complained of noise and many local politicians have proposed closing the highway and developing the property.
Currently, Waltrip continues as a race commentator for Fox and remains active in sports. In March 2011, FOX announced that Waltrip will continue to be the leader of NASCAR analysts and race commentators until 2014. In May 2015, FOX announced that Jeff Gordon will be joining him and Mike Joy starting in 2016, replacing their old broadcast partner Larry McReynolds.
In 2017, Waltrip announced on his Twitter page that he had undergone a knee replacement due to an injury that occurred during 1991 Pepsi 400. It was also mentioned in his Facebook account.
Waltrip currently has car dealerships Honda, Volvo, Subaru, and Buick/GMC in Franklin, Tennessee.
Legacy
Waltrip is considered by most racing communities as a true ambassador for motor racing sport. He is a passionate promoter of all forms of racing, especially American car racing.
Waltrip is recognized by many who follow motorsports as NASCAR's first "package package". He is a man who understands, articulates, attracts, and has a driving skill that will take him to the top of the sport. His style attracts many of the large budget sponsors who are needed to finance the multimillion-dollar NASCAR team. Today, it is common for the team sponsors to have substantial feedback on who the team driver will represent their brand or product on the track. The NASCAR driver today corresponds to the print that Waltrip first brought to NASCAR in the 1970s.
As an analyst and broadcaster of Fox Sports, Waltrip's opinions, views and comments brought much consideration to NASCAR drivers, team owners, fans, and heads. Waltrip was never shy about expressing his opinion, though controversial. His critical comments about safety have played an important role in many of today's driver safety innovations enjoying today including "HANS" (head and neck devices, credited for saving many drivers in all forms of motor sport), "soft walls" or "SAFER" (energy and foam reduction barriers), "full face" helmets, and new cars are now driven by all NASCAR racers.
Waltrip has been a design consultant on several new tracks including Kentucky Motor Speedway, and Nashville Superspeedway.
Waltrip has a building that houses many of the racing cars he drives throughout his career.
On June 14, 2011, he was elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2012.
Waltrip officially won 84 NASCAR races, but one more, extra, and countless "wins" were as drivers for Donnie Allison, in 1977 Talladega 500. (Allison received credit for winning because he drove the car when the race started). In the race, Waltrip retired after 106, from 188, laps. Allison was looking for a driver for the sponsored Hawaiian Tropic Chevrolet # 1, because of the excess heat of the day, and Waltrip was asked to complete the race in Allison's car. Ironically, Waltrip replaced Allison in the DiGard # 88 racing team just two years earlier, which was part of a long battle story of "Allison vs. Waltrip" that lasted for more than 16 years.
His 84 victories in the Cup series are tied for fourth place in NASCAR history, with Bobby Allison. In 2011, Jeff Gordon scored his 85th career victory over Waltrip for most of the victories in the "modern era" NASCAR. (The "modern era" NASCAR takes into account the current scheduling, and the removal of traces of soil from the statistics of judgments; some of Allison's victories came before the start of the "modern era").
Media appearance
Movies and TV
Waltrip entertainment appearances influenced by the early 1970s worked with Ralph Emery on Nashville radio and television, and it led to his work as a filler for Emery.
In the 1980s and 1990s, he will replace Emery at Nashville's Nashville Network's and then host two successor events, "Music City Tonight" and "Prime Time Country".
Waltrip worked at Days of Thunder when Hendrick Motorsports was a major provider of cars and drivers (he helped hire Bobby Hamilton for the project), and one of his injured successors led his driver, Greg Sacks.
Waltrip has been twice a presenter at the GMA (Gospel Music Association) Music Awards , partnering with Kathy Troccoli twice. In 1999, they presented the "Song of the Year" award to Mitch McVicker and Rich Mullins for "My Deliverer". Rich Mullins and Mitch McVicker were thrown from their trucks after not wearing seatbelts, and Mullins was killed in the accident.
In 2006, Waltrip and Nicole C. Mullen hosted a special DirecTV, Songs of Faith . He delivers race announcer Darrell Cartrip's voice in feature movies Pixar Car (2006), Car 2 (2011), and Car 3 (2017). He also appeared in the broadcast booth in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, where the sentence is "in the race you have good days and bad days and new Ricky Bobby just had a bad day ". On December 15, 2006, Waltrip played the role of Mother Ginger in the production of Nashville Ballet The Nutcracker .
He currently appears in advertisements for Toyota and Aaron with his brother, Michael, where his gimmick constantly asks Michael's permission to drive the Dream Dream Machine (nickname for National # 99 car). Waltrip has also made a number of appearances in the "comedy" segment that appeared during his actual Fox broadcast.
She is featured in two series of NASCAR Series Darrell Waltrip: Quicksilver which explains Waltrip's career and future and he appears in the NASCAR Video series where he teaches useless driving tips for driving on the freeway and long-distance drive.
In February, 2011, Waltrip appeared on The Day which is a one-hour documentary about the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt in Daytona 500 2001.
Waltrip initially believed the accident would befall him. She is featured in video testimonials on IamSecond.com talking about her Christian faith in Jesus Christ where she discusses the meaningless rest of her career, compared to that relationship.
Waltrip, along with commentators Mike Joy and Jeff Gordon, made a cameo appearance as themselves in the 2017 Robbery comedy film Logan Lucky .
Books and magazines
Waltrip has also been successful in publishing. In September 1994, it was featured as a cover story on Guideposts .
His autobiography, DW: A Lifetime of Going Around in Circles, was a best-seller of the New York Times when released around the 2004 Daytona 500. The book was co-written with Jade Gurss.
In May 2004, Waltrip became the second sporting figure to be featured in former NBA players and basketball coach Jay Carty One-on-One series of book reflections. Darrell Waltrip One-on-One: The Faith That Takes Him to the Finish Line is a sixty day reflection book featuring Waltrip stories and how they can relate to the Christian faith, and the Carty service.
Motorports career results
NASCAR
(lock) ( Bold Ã, - Pole position is given by qualifying time. Italics - Pole positions received by points standings or practice time. * Ã, - Most lead round. )
Winston Cup Series
Daytona 500
Busch Series
Craftsman Truck Series
International Champions Contest
(key) ( Bold Ã, - Position pole. * Ã, - Most rounds lead. )
See also
- Michael Waltrip
- Darrell Waltrip Motorsports
References
External links
- Driver statistics Darrell Waltrip in Racing-References
- Owner statistics Darrell Waltrip on Racing-References
- Darrell Waltrip on IMDb
- Career Statistics - NASCAR.com
- Darrell Waltrip Honda
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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