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NASCAR WCUP: Drivers, fans go for Winston No Bull 5 'Big Bucks' at Richmond

8 September 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
HAMPTON, Va. - It was almost surreal. Five NASCAR Winston Cup Series drivers loading missiles onto F-15 air-to-air combat aircraft. The drivers and their teams of three United States Air Force personnel raced against the clock in a Winston No Bull 5 competition.

The five NASCAR Winston Cup drivers are now paired with five lucky Winston No Bull 5 fans. Should one of the drivers win the Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400 at Richmond International Raceway this Saturday night, the driver and his fan will each take home the million-dollar Winston No Bull 5 bonus. The pairing took place at Langley Air Force Base.

The United States Air Force created the competition. The drivers took turns operating a "Loader," the machine the Air Force uses to load missiles onto planes. Each driver began his run by joining his team members as they carried a missile to the aircraft where the Air-Force members of his team attached it to the plane. The drivers then drove the "loader" to the missile rack, picked up a missile and drove it to the plane. The Air Force personnel attached it to the F-15. The missiles used were Aim 7 and Aim 120 midrange ordnance used for aircraft interception. The driver with the lowest elapsed time won the competition. Bobby Labonte completed the task in two minutes, 31 seconds to take first place in the competition.

The five eligible drivers are the top-five finishers in the Coca-Cola 600 in May. Matt Kenseth, NASCAR Winston Cup points leader Bobby Labonte, seven-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup champion Dale Jarrett.

Labonte will be paired with Robert Turney from Antigo, Wisc. Dale Earnhardt finished second, just eight seconds behind Labonte. He'll be paired with Sharon Robertson from Savannah, Ga. Scott Hall from Milwaukee is paired with Jarrett who finished third. Kenseth, the fourth-place finisher is paired with Kathy Keating from Plymouth, Pa. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished last with an elapsed time of four minutes, 36 seconds, will be paired with Johnstown, Ohio's Paul Chime.

Drivers become eligible to win the $1 million Winston No Bull 5 bonus by finishing in the top five at the previous Winston No Bull 5 event. The five races comprising the Winston No Bull 5 in 2000 are, in chronological order: the Daytona 500; the Carsdirect.com 400 (March 5); the Coca-Cola 600 (May 28) at Charlotte; the Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400 (Sept. 9) at Richmond, Va.; and the Winston 500 (Oct. 15) at Talladega, Ala.

The top-five finishers in the Coca-Cola 600 determine eligible drivers at the Carsdirect.com 400 in May. Eligible drivers at a particular Winston No Bull 5 event can win the Winston No Bull 5 million-dollar bonus by finishing first in said event. If all five qualified drivers fail to capture the $1 million Winston No Bull 5 bonus at a particular Winston No Bull 5 event, the bonus will not roll over to the next event.

Each Winston No Bull 5 event is worth $1 million to the qualified drivers. If a qualified driver wins a Winston No Bull 5 event, one fan will also win a $1 million bonus check as part of Winston's "They Win, You Win" sweepstakes. Five fans are eligible at each Winston No Bull 5 event. They are selected at random through a nationwide sweepstakes program, and then each is paired, at random, with one of the eligible Winston No Bull 5 drivers. If an eligible driver wins the Winston No Bull 5 bonus, then the fan paired with that driver will also win a $1 million check from Winston.

Text provided by Denny Darnell

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