NASCAR WCUP: Drivers recall their first Darlington stripe

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

August 29, 2001

One of the most enduring races in the history of NASCAR Winston Cup racing will take place this weekend as historic Darlington Raceway hosts the annual Labor Day Weekend Mountain Dew Southern 500 Sunday afternoon. Ford drivers Jeff Burton, Ricky Rudd and Jimmy Spencer spoke about Darlington and, among other things, try to recall their first Darlington stripe. JEFF BURTON --99-- Citgo SUPERGARD Taurus -- DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST DARLINGTON STRIPE? "I remember my first Darlington race, I don't remember my first Darlington stripe. The first time I went to Darlington I thought, 'There is no way that we're gonna put, I think it was 38 cars then, on this racetrack at the same time. It isn't gonna happen.' But the first time I went there I loved it. I thought, 'This is my kind of race track.' To me, Darlington is what racing is all about. It's old fashioned, it's slippery, it's hot -- it's all those things. It's not about a lot of money, it's just about going out and performing on a really difficult race track. From the first day I went there that's what I remember and that's still what I remember today."

THERE ARE A LOT OF NEW PLACES WITH FANCY SUITES AND ALL, BUT DARLINGTON STILL HAS A LOT OF CHARACTER RIGHT? "I have so much respect for all the things that happened before I was in Winston Cup Racing and the things that Bobby Allison did to make the sport better and the things that guys did that I never got a chance to meet. Darlington is what that's all about. The fact that they built the race track and it's shaped the way it's shaped because they couldn't move the pond, I mean, that's cool stuff. Today if you couldn't move the pond, your group of investors would go out and build it somewhere else. But the guy that owned the farm didn't want to move his pond, well that's cool stuff and that kind of takes you back to what this sport is all about. That's grassroots racing, it's just about racing and all the money that's gotten into the sport and all the suites and all that stuff has kind of taken away from that. But the bottom line is it ought to be just about racing and that's the way Darlington is."

YOUR WINS AT DARLINGTON ARE AMONG YOUR MOST SPECIAL AREN'T THEY? "Yeah. We were able to win both races at Darlington in the same year and that's amazing to me that we were able to do that. We had some good luck and we had great race cars. We'd gone there for like four years and led the most laps and never got a win and then we ended up winning two races in the rain. It was kind of almost like a payback, but it's just a great racetrack to me. I look forward to this weekend every year."

RICKY RUDD --28-- Texaco Havoline Taurus -- SOME HAVE SAID YOU COULD CUT YOUR HAND ON THE DARLINGTON TRACK SURFACE. IS IT REALLY THAT ROUGH? "That surface down there has always taken a beating, even after they re-pave it. It doesn't seem like it takes very long before it goes back to being slippery old Darlington. I'm not sure if it's the sand down there or what it is, but the pavement itself doesn't have a lot of grip. We really fight coming up with a handling setup that lasts a gas stop there. Generally, you almost don't go a gas stop and sometimes you'll abbreviate or shorten your stops just because your tires fall off so much."

WILL THE NEW TIRE HELP FOR DARLINGTON? "The tires that we've been running and that Goodyear has come out with this year seem to be better. They have more staying power, so I'm sure we'll go gas stops, but cars will slip and slide around because that's just Darlington. The guy that slips and slides the least amount is the guy that usually goes on and wins the race, but even the guy that wins is sliding around more than he'd like to."

WHAT ABOUT A DARLINGTON STRIPE? HAVE YOU EVER GOTTEN A FEW OF THOSE? "Well, the way the wall is now when you get a stripe at Darlington with that concrete wall -- that usually sucks you into the wall. The luxuries of the old days when they had a steel guard rail and you'd just get that stripe, that's sort of over with because now you get the whole right side of the car sort of torn up. It's not quite the same as it used to be, but I'd say probably 70 percent of the cars will have the right side torn off of them before the race is over."

HOW DO YOU APPROACH THE POINTS SITUATION AT THIS STAGE WITH THE DEFICIT YOU FACE? "We really don't approach it any differently than we have. Mechanical problems is what has knocked us out of the championship run. We were less than 30 points out of the lead three or four weeks ago and what took us out were two DNFs or two mechanical failures that set us way back. There's still a pretty long way to go in the schedule. We've got to get through tracks like Darlington and Talladega, which is a race that you cannot control the outcome of no matter how smart of a race you drive. There's no guarantee that you're gonna finish that race, so if we can be fortunate enough to get through those races we might be able to stay in it. There is a certain percentage of races that Jeff (Gordon) will not finish between now and the end of the season, or if he finishes he'll be limping around. That's just the nature of the game because when you run enough races that's gonna happen. The only thing we can do is just eliminate any mechanical failures or accidents from here to the end of the year. That's gonna be our only chance at winning the championship."

SO IN YOUR MIND THIS ISN'T OVER? "Yes and no. We're definitely out if he runs every race and we run every race and neither one of us has any kind of trouble, the championship is over. But there's a long way to go yet. We're both gonna have some type of trouble before the end of the year."

JIMMY SPENCER --26-- Kmart Taurus -- WHAT ABOUT DARLINGTON? "Darlington, oh man, you can't say enough about it. It's special because it's rich in history and if you're a true race fan you know a lot of history behind Darlington. To me, I love to go to Darlington because of the history behind it. Watching the Southern 500 and going back to the Pearson and Petty days, I'm a big race fan. I was a race fan before I was a race car driver. I always wanted to race, so the Southern 500 is pretty special."

WHAT ABOUT THE TRACK LAYOUT? "It wasn't built for our cars today, I can tell you that. It was built for probably 120 or 130 mile an hour races and we're far exceeding that, but it's typical of certain race tracks. I think the neat thing about Darlington is that there is no other race track in the world like it -- nothing even close. It's unique in that respect and I think a lot of the drivers look forward to going there simply because it's a change of pace for everybody. All these people are making these cookie-cutter mile-and-a-half racetracks and Darlington is far from that. They're not copying at Darlington."

DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST DARLINGTON STRIPE? "Oh my God, I hit the wall about seven times that day and kept on going. Finally, the last time I got it, it took me out."

Text provided by Greg Shea

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