Friday
Twelve-Time Bristol Champ Darrell Waltrip Has Plenty of Great Memories from Favorite Track
Press Release
Named one of the sport’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998, Waltrip, a certain NASCAR Hall of Famer, has a myriad of special moments that come to mind when he begins assessing his career. Not surprisingly, many of them feature Bristol Motor Speedway where Waltrip won 12 times, more than any other driver in the track’s storied history.
That success, however, was not immediate. As a matter of fact, Waltrip’s first visit to BMS, in March of 1973, was anything but memorable. The then-26-year-old entered the Southeastern 500 with his own car, a 1971 Mercury, sponsored by Terminal Transport. After only 51 laps, Waltrip was the first casualty of the race in the 30-car field.
“I don’t remember a whole lot about that race; maybe that’s what you’d call selective remembering,” Waltrip said as he recounted Bristol memories for the track’s 50th anniversary celebration. “I was really excited though to be running on that track. I had grown up racing at Nashville and Winchester (Ind.), which were high-banked tracks, so I really, really liked Bristol. I just didn’t have much luck that first go around.”
By his next Bristol start, however, that luck began to change. In the 1975 Southeastern 500, Waltrip finished sixth and was third in the Nov. 2 event, the Volunteer 500. He finished among the top five in three of the next four races, and then, on April 2, 1978 he bested Benny Parsons to win the Southeastern 500 for the very first time.
“I have to say, it really didn’t take me a long time to get that place figured out,” Waltrip said. “Once I got into a regular deal and was running all the races I knew I could win a lot of races at Bristol. The thing was, back in those days, you’d hear drivers talk about how they didn’t like Bristol, that it was a tough old track that just wore ‘em out.
“I decided right there and then that Bristol was going to be my favorite track. I told everybody I loved it and I was going to win there. That was my strategy. If everybody else was dreading racing there, I was going to make sure they knew I loved it. And I think the way I felt about racing at Bristol showed.”
Indeed. Waltrip followed that initial win up with a second victory in August 1979, had a second and third-place showing in the two races in 1980, and then his domination began in earnest.
Waltrip did something starting in the spring of 1981 that no driver had ever done at Bristol – and no driver has been able to accomplish since. Driving for the legendary Junior Johnson, Waltrip piloted his Mountain Dew Buick into victory lane after the Valleydale 500 on March 29 – and his complete and total domination began.
No driver would see his name on the winner’s trophy at Bristol Motor Speedway other than Waltrip until the summer of 1984. The Tennessean won a remarkable seven consecutive races on the World’s Fastest Half-Mile, an amazing feat for any driver on any track, but particularly on a short track.
“Nowadays, they have trouble winning one race here,” Waltrip said. “Heck, finishing a race here is tough, winning one is really tough. But I did it seven straight times. And I have to say, that’s something I’m very, very proud of. Most people think winning once at Bristol is a pretty big deal, but winning seven straight races at any track is pretty incredible. And winning seven straight at a track like Bristol is just unheard of
“When me and Junior (Johnson) teamed up, we were pretty much unbeatable at Bristol. I can tell you one thing, when I look back at my career, what I’ve done at Bristol is one of the things that first stands out. Believe me, I’m still very proud of that streak.”
After the streak ended, Waltrip would not win again until August of 1986, thanks in large part to Dale Earnhardt’s aptitude for finding victory lane at BMS. Win No. 11 came in the Busch 500 in August of 1989 and his final Bristol win came in August of 1992. He was particularly proud of that win for a couple of reasons.
“We beat ol’ Dale for that win,” Waltrip recalls. “And that was the first race on concrete, after they had switched from asphalt. A lot of guys didn’t like that concrete, said it was too rough. Everybody said that the concrete would change everything for me, that I wouldn’t be as good.
“Well, that concrete didn’t change a thing for me because I went out there and won that race. That one meant a lot to me because people didn’t think I could still win on that concrete and because I was driving for myself in that one.”
Eight of Waltrip’s 12 wins – and all seven during the streak – came when he was driving for Johnson. That relationship resulted in all three of Waltrip’s championships and he has always credited Johnson for a great deal of his success. Particularly at Bristol.
“For three and a half years, me and Junior owned this joint,” said Waltrip. “We ran 3,500 pretty much flawless laps. And it’s hard to run 35 here that way, let alone 3,500.
“Part of my success at Bristol was what I knew about growing up racing on short tracks… And then you take my experience on short tracks and you throw in Junior, who had a few little tricks of the trade he knew, and you put me in his car with all he knew, and we were pretty hard to beat.
“I learned so much from him. He was miles ahead of everybody else in the sport at that time. He was a lot like (Rick) Hendrick is today… that’s where Junior Johnson was then. He had things in reserve that other people had never even heard of or seen. That’s what made him so great.”
A dozen years after Waltrip retired, Bristol Motor Speedway, where he racked up 32 top -10 finishes, 26 top-fives and 12 wins in 52 starts, still holds a very special place in his heart.
“There’s really just nothing like this place,” he says. “Wasn’t back years ago and there’s nothing like it today. It’s a tough ol’ track, but it’s a track that was good to me and I loved racing on it. Like I said, if you liked racing here, you did well. I think you can look at the guys out there right now and the ones who do well here are the ones who really like it and like this kind of tough, short track racing.
“There’s only one Bristol. You see that nobody has ever tried to build another one, don’t you? That’s because you couldn’t. You can’t do the impossible and that would be impossible.”
Tickets for the Jeff Byrd 500 Presented by Food City March 20 are available for $93, while tickets for the Scotts EZ Seed 300 (March 19) start at $45. Ford Fan Friday tickets (March 18) are only $5 and are just $4 for fans who have tickets to the Jeff Byrd 500.
A March race weekend package for both the Scotts EZ Seed 300 and the Jeff Byrd 500 can be purchased for as low as $99.
The 2011 season ticket package also is available and consists of both the Jeff Byrd 500 and IRWIN Tools Night Race Sprint Cup events and the Scotts EZ Seed 300 and Food City 250 Nationwide races. Also included are lower-priced options to add Pole Day (March 18) and the O’Reilly Auto Parts 200 Camping World Truck Series/UNOH Perfect Storm 150 Whelen Modified Series races (Aug. 24).
The Wallace Tower package is the lowest priced season ticket at BMS in 2011. The cost for the package is only $185 and includes special food and beverage discounts for season ticketholders
For more information concerning tickets, please visit www.bristoltix.com or call the BMS ticket office at 423-BRISTOL (274-7865).
Speedway Motorsports is a leading marketer and promoter of motorsports entertainment in the United States. The Company, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates the following premier facilities: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Infineon Raceway, Kentucky Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. The Company provides souvenir merchandising services through its SMI Properties subsidiaries; manufactures and distributes smaller-scale, modified racing cars and parts through its U.S. Legend Cars International subsidiary; and produces and broadcasts syndicated motorsports programming to radio stations nationwide through its Performance Racing Network subsidiary. The Company also equally-owns Motorsports Authentics, a joint venture formed with International Speedway Corporation to produce, market and sell licensed motorsports merchandise. For more information, visit the Company’s website at www.speedwaymotorsports.com
- Bristol Motor Speedway, Press Release
Article Tags: BMS, Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway 50th Anniversary
