Full Throttle

(NOTE, this is part of the Good Old Days series of posts. When applicable they will highlight various points of interest from that weeks Sprint Cup venue or geographic area.)

When one thinks of Arizona the state isn’t at the top of a list of places where NASCAR’s pioneers plied their trade and helped make the sport what it is today. But history teaches Arizona, and Phoenix site of this weeks Sprint Cup event, was on the schedule in the very earliest days of the sport.

The Arizona State Fairgrounds (ASF) are in operation today and feature all the things one comes to expect of that type of operation, carnival rides, a “Midway,” agricultural displays and competitions by the Future Farmers of America.

In January, 1951 Bill France announced the NASCAR Grand National division would venture into the far west for the first time. Johnny Mantz, winner of the 500-mile race at Darlington was named as the Regional Director of NASCAR events in California.

The same year the Arizona State Fairgrounds joined NASCAR’s move to the west by staging races on a one mile dirt track, between 1951 and 1960 four sanctioned NASCAR events were held.

Marshall Teague won the first 150 miler at the wheel of a ‘51 (Fabulous) Hudson and took home $1275 for the days efforts. 30 cars started that day but in a war of attrition only 6 crossed the finish line. Other winners at ASF were Tim Flock (’55), Buck Baker (”56) and John Rostek (”60).

In 1955 NASCAR made a single appearance at the Tucson Rodeo Grounds in an event won by little known Danny Letner. It was the second of only two NASCAR wins in a career that spanned seven years and 26 starts.

That brings us to present day and Phoenix International Raceway. PIR opened in February 16, 1964 with a sports car race won by Davey MacDonald on the infield road course.

Ir wasn’t until January 1968 when the first stock car event was held. USAC legend Don White won that event also on the road course. (White is the all-time USAC stock car champion winning in 1954, 1955 and 1958.)

1978: Richard Petty takes the first of his three NASCAR Winston West Series wins at PIR.

NASCAR’s first Cup event at PIR was in 1988. The late great Alan Kulwicki won his first career Cup win in his fifth year driving in the top tier series. The win was witnessed by a then record crowd of 60,000 and Kulwicki performed the first “Polish Victory Lap,” in honor of his heritage and first Cup win.

Ironically as the “new kid” Kulwicki arrived on the scene, with a then unheard of college degree in mechanical engineering, he ushered in a new era of NASCAR and at the end of the season Cup champions Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, Benny Parsons, and Bobby Allison retired - Allison due to debilitating injuries suffered at Pocono in that year’s Miller High Life 500.

1990: Dale Earnhardt leads all but the first 50 laps as he dominates the Checker 500. Dale Sr. gained the points lead as leading contender Mark Martin ­struggled to finish 10th. This was the year Martin was penalized (46-points) for using an illegal (but non-performance enhancing) carburetor spacer at Richmond, the deduction caused him to lose to Dale Earnhardt by 26 points in the final standings.

1991: Davey Allison led the final 60 laps and wins the Pyroil 500. Rusty, Mike, and Kenny Wallace all compete in the race, the first triple brother act in NASCAR Cup racing since 1961.

(I believe, but have not confirmed, the brothers were the Fabulous Flock Brothers, Bob, Tim and Fonty. Tim was infamous for racing nine events with a rhesus monkey, Jocko Flocko, as his co-driver. - ed)

Allison also won in 1992, taking over the points lead from Alan Kulwicki by 30 points. The race was a precursor to the following epic struggle at Atlanta, with Elliott scoring a narrow victory. Points leader Davey Allison is knocked out of the title hunt by an early crash. Elliott wins the race, but fails to pick up points on Kulwicki, who clings to a narrow 10-point margin in the final standings.

1995: Ricky Rudd scores his first win of the season in the Dura Lube 500 at PIR. Rudd starts 29th. It is the first time in NASCAR Winston Cup history that a driver has come from 29th to win a race.

1996: Bobby Hamilton drives the Petty Enterprises Pontiac to victory in the Dura Lube 500. It is the first NASCAR Cup victory for Petty Enterprises since Richard’s Charlotte win in 1983.

2005: Defending champion Kurt Busch wins the Subway Fresh 500, the first night race at PIR. It is also the first spring date for Phoenix, in addition to its usual late-season race. Busch also won that event to complete the season sweep at the track.

2006: The year saw the second consecutive season sweep, this time by RCR’s Kevin Harvick.

2007: PIR featured a sweep of a different sort. Hendrick Motor Sports swept both events behind the talents of Jeff Gordon in April and Jimmie Johnson following with a win in the November event.

PIR has a history of favoring the Blue Oval, Ford leads in all-time wins in the desert with 12, followed by Chevy with 9 total. The only other marquee to score a win is Pontiac, Bobby Hamilton for Petty Enterprises in 1996 and Tony Stewart in 1999.

So what are you waiting for? Gas up the RV and stock up on plenty of cold brews and “Jeff Gordon Sucks” signs and head over to PIR for the weekend. Even if the race sucks, and every race does to some people, The night start provides plenty of time for tailgating and the Arizona State coeds provide all the eye candy you need.

(NOTE: The image is Alan Kulwicki’s 1992 championship winning Thunderbird. The car, referred to as the Underbird, is pictured with current owner Larry Bean and taken at the gates to the Alan Kulwicki State Park in his home of Milwaukee.)

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