Stock Car History Online - Bobby Allison Commentary

The Legend
Reprinted from February 20, 1997 edition of Winston Cup Scene By Tom Stinson

It’s safe to say that now Dale Earnhardt has done everything at Daytona except win the 500. And the legend grows … and spins … and rolls … and bounces … and, well, keeps on going.

Adding the most flair yet to his Daytona 500 myth, Earnhardt somehow managed to top his previous 18 near-misses in NASCAR’s biggest race when his hopes once again bounced, literally time — from his grasp during a late-race incident that also ruined the chances for former 500 winners Dale Jarrett and Ernie Irvan.

“Bouncing off the walls and off the track, and we bounce right back,” a smiling Earnhardt said afterward.

This time, at least.

Running second in a six-car breakaway during the race’s closing laps, Earnhardt tried to fend off a pass by Jeff Gordon lap 189 of 200. Instead, his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet whacked the wall coming out of the second turn. As Earnhardt tried to maintain control of his car, Jarrett’s Ford clipped it, sending the No. 3 Chevy tumbling onto its hood and collecting Irvan’s Ford before flipping around and landing on its wheels.

In an instant, three contenders were gone.

“Gordon came up under me and the car pushed off the corner and I got into the wall,” said Earnhardt, now winless in 19 Daytona 500s. “I got back into him, checked up a little bit and somebody hit me from behind. Next thing I know, I’m on the roof again.”

The accident was reminiscent of Earnhardt’s Talladega tumble last year, in which he flipped down that track’s frontstretch, breaking his collarbone and sternum as other cars barreled in on him. This time, Earnhardt escaped unharmed.

“Luckily, no one else hit the car,” he said. “We just sort of bounced around on our lid a little bit.”

Then the legend grew.

Climbing from his car, Earnhardt was prepared for the mandatory ambulance ride back to the care center when he noticed that, as sorry as its outer shell looked, his car seemed to have all its important pieces intact. So naturally, with his car in shambles and the crowd going nuts, Earnhardt climbed back in and head back into the race.

“I looked back over and said, ‘Man, the wheels ain’t knocked off the car yet,’” said Earnhardt, who led 48 laps early but never regained the lead after lap 50. “So I went back over and told the guy in the car to fire it up. He hit the switch and it fired, and I said, ‘Give me my car back!’”

After getting his battered machine back to the pits, Earnhardt was able to make six more laps … technically not gaining any spots in the final rundown but adding some nice drama anyway.

“I just wanted to get back in the race and try to make laps,” said Earnhardt, who wound up 31st, five laps behind the winner Gordon. “We’re running for a championship.”

Irvan and Jarrett also were left to limp around the track, finishing 20th and 23rd, respectively.

“I don’t know if we could have won the Daytona 500, but we were sitting there ready for a shot,” Earnhardt said. “I think Gordon was a little impatient at that point, but still, he went on and won the race. That’s the way it goes.

“It wasn’t his fault. He was racing us just like I was racing him.”

Jarrett said Gordon raced Earnhardt clean and that the seven-time champ simply drove his car into the wall trying to stay on leader Bill Elliott’s bumper.

“(Gordon) didn’t do anything,” Jarrett said. “All he was doing was passing Earnhardt. Earnhardt’s the one who lost it.”

Jarrett said he tried to squeeze past Earnhardt as he ricocheted off the wall, but the hole closed quickly.

“He chased it all the way out of the wall,” Jarrett said. “I saw Jeff go under him. I knew Dale was having to get out of the gas, and I was going with Jeff. Dale came back off the wall and I got into him.”

In the incident, the hood from Irvan’s Ford flew into the crowd, injuring two spectators. Immediately after the race, Irvan — along with Jarrett and their car owner, Robert Yates — went directly to the care center, where the fans were being treated.

“I basically went under,” Irvan said of Earnhardt. “We’re more concerned about the fans.”

Like Earnhardt, both Jarrett and Irvan said they didn’t know how the race would have shaken out with the three of them in the pack at the finish.

“I was sitting in a pretty good position,” said Jarrett, a two-time 500 winner who never led this year’s race but was rarely outside of the top five. “I got myself sorta where I wanted to be. When Jeff and I were going by Dale, I would have had a good spot … but it just didn’t happen.

“I’d like to jump up and down and holler and scream about it, but that wouldn’t do any good. You just accept it. We did our job. We had ourselves in a position to win a race again and it didn’t happen. That’s all you can say.”