Bristol has a down side

Bristol is known for some wild races, big battles, and one of the most exciting half-mile high-banked tracks around, but April 1, 1993 will be a date the track would rather forget.

On his way to Bristol after a public relations stop in Knoxville, Tenn., defending NASCAR Champion Alan Kulwicki and three Hooter’s executives died  in a plane crash as their private plane crashed just short of the runway.

Many rememerber the solemn rainy Saturday morning when Kulwicki’s hauler pulled out of the Bristol infield, made a lap and then departed the track.

Memories of that weekend still remain for people like his crew chief at the time, Paul Andrews.

Andrews, who is now the crew chief of Rick Ware Racing’s No. 31, still has a lot of emotions every time this track comes up on the racing calendar.

“It weighs on your mind when you are going there and it is on your mind when you leave,” said Andrews who saw Bristol as the track to kick start Kulwicki’s 278 point charge to win the 1992 Sprint Cup Series Title by 10 points over Bill Elliott. “But you are so busy and focused on the job at hand it helps to keep you from dwelling on it.”

Bristol was the last time Kulwicki ever ran the now famous Polish Victory Lap following a win.

The Polish Victory Lap was not the only thing special about the Greenfield, Wisc., native who was not your typical NASCAR driver. As a driver/owner many laughed about Kulwicki who was seen at times in his drivers suit with a brief case in one hand and a helmet in the other.

That wasn’t the only difference. In a sport where many only had a high school diploma; Kulwicki came in with his engineering degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

“Alan was very good at strategy and thinking while driving,” said Andrews. “He didn’t like hearing he would slow down when he talked, but every driver does some at first.

“But he would do things like ask for the numbers on gas and Danny Glad, our engine man, would give them to him and Alan would call back and give us his number which Danny would recheck and find out Alan was right.”

That was just a small example of Kulwicki and his racing knowledge.

He even helped the Wood Brothers win the spring race at Atlanta in 1993, which was the final race he competed in.

Kulwicki was out of the race early due to an incident and was standing around the Wood Brothers pit when he told them to tell their driver to save gas.

That advice helped the Wood Brothers win with Morgan Shepherd behind the wheel of the car as Shepherd when around 65 laps on a tank of gas.

“Alan was very smart behind the wheel of a race car,” said Andrews, who Kulwicki hired at the suggestion of Rusty Wallace. “He had the book smarts, but lacked common sense, but he had a lot of racing common sense and that is what mattered on the track.”

Kulwicki even laughed about his uphill battle in NASCAR and made a joke of it at the final race of ‘92 in Atlanta, which featured the “Underbird.”

“We were racing at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) when it first happened,” recalled Andrews. “The car got a little damage in the race and the “TH” of Thunderbird was missing off the car and we thought it was cool.

“As the season wore on we were digging ourselves out of the points hole we dug for ourselves and going into Atlanta someone brought it up and we all agreed. So we talked to NASCAR and Ford and did that with their blessing.”

Ironically, Kulwicki finished second at Atlanta in the Underbird to a car driven by Bill Elliott.

That is the very same car Junior Johnson tried to get him to drive the previous year, which was one of two different times the Legend of Ingle Hollow tried to sign the young driver from Wisconsin.

“Ford wanted Alan to go and he went to look the deal over,” said Andrews. “But he called a meeting of all of us at the shop and told us what was going on. He also told us that if he went to drive for Junior the team would still go forward because he wanted it that way.

“We were on the verge of success and we kept digging until it came about.”

Alan’s story is quite a unique one as it ended on a mountaintop in Bristol, but he made many friends as he climbed to the top of that mountain in racing.

He started as a rookie with two cars, two engines, and two crewmembers to win the 1986 Rookie of the Year title and then go on to win the 1992 Sprint Cup Series Title on a day when Richard Petty retired and Jeff Gordon started his racing career.