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ALL-STAR: Waltrip Still Defends First Win In ‘The Winston’
Questions still linger surrounding Darrell Waltrip's victory in the first Sprint All-Star Race...
Jim Pedley  | http://www.RacinToday.com  |  Posted May 17, 2011   Kansas City, KS
Darrell Waltrip celebrates in Charlotte Motor Speedway's Victory Lane after winning the first NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race in 1985. (Photo: Charlotte Motor Speedway Archives)
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It was 1985 and Darrell Waltrip was uncharacteristically subdued in the days leading up to something they were calling The Winston. An exhibition race? No points? Just 12 drivers?

Just not much to get excited about, Waltrip said last week.

In fact, as a self-described “racing purist," about the only thing Waltrip liked about the new event which the people at R.J. Reynolds and Charlotte Motor Speedway were hyping as an all-star race, was the $200,000 check which would go to the winner.

Waltrip says he really didn’t want to drive that day 25 years ago because he viewed it as a “gimmick."

But Waltrip did drive. And he won by .31 seconds over Harry Gant. And he made history. And he created a controversy which remains unresolved to this day.

For all those reasons, and for what Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt and Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough and Richard Petty and Benny Parsons and several more potential hall of famers kicked off that day, the inaugural race of 1985 checks in at No. 4 on the list of the 10 best all-star events.

While Waltrip didn’t take The Winston seriously when he first heard about it, his boss did. According to Waltrip, team owner Junior Johnson positively lit up at the thought of competing in it and, most of all, winning it.

Seeing as Johnson played a significant role in launching the event, that was understandable.

“Junior was dead-serious about it,” Waltrip said. “That first race, Ralph Seagraves and T. Wayne Robertson and Jerry Long and everybody at R.J. Reynolds, Junior, they dreamed this race up up at Junior’s house one Saturday morning before the North Wilkesboro race over breakfast.”

Johnson brought the idea to Waltrip and crew chief Jeff Hammond and the rest of the team.

“He said, ‘I want to win that first race. I want my name in the record book as the one who won that first race.’ And Junior and a group of guys he put together this kind of All-Star Race, let’s get this job done kind of crew,” Waltrip said, “they wanted to win that race.”

And to do so, “They built a special car for that race,” Waltrip said.

And that’s where the controversy enters the story. To this day, some say that the “special car” was nowhere near legal. Ditto for the “special engine” that was under the hood.

Yes, Waltrip says, he’s heard people say that. And he denies it.

“He took it to the wind tunnel a number of times,” Waltrip said. “He did a number of things that other people may might not have considered at the time. He had the special engine for that race – and it was legal.”

If it wasn’t legal, then General Motors will have to be judged as part of the conspiracy.

“Chevrolet, General Motors,” Waltrip said, “we did a test at Charlotte Motor Speedway where they brought in this black truck that was full of computers and telemetry. This black truck, we called it Oscar, had all this data acquisition stuff that was in the truck. The car, it was a ‘Twisted Sister.' The nose was moved, the tail was moved, the roof was moved. But all within the rules.

“Junior put an all-out, full-court press to get the best car we could for that race.”

Darrell Waltrip won three NASCAR Sprint Cup titles. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Terry Labonte started the race from the pole and battled Waltrip through most of the early race.

After mandatory pit stops cycled through, Gant had the lead, Labonte was second and Waltrip was third.

Waltrip took second away from Labone and on the white flag lap, Waltrip took the lead from Gant. That turned out to be the winning move.

As he crossed the finish line, Waltrip’s engine – a so-called Mountain Motor – exploded. Actually, some say, the engine didn’t explode but was exploded by Waltrip on purpose to keep it out of the hands of inspectors.

Whatever. Waltrip and Johnson made history.

There have been a lot of good All-Star Races. Races which featured great racing, great finishes and great moments.

But there was only one first race. And while the field was small and the action only so-so and the winning driver not totally enthused, the 1985 Winston was plenty good enough to get the ball rolling for what followed.

This year’s All-Star Race will be this coming Saturday night. It will be broadcast live on SPEED beginning at 7 p.m. ET.

Jim Pedley is a veteran, award-winning sports journalist who has worked at, among other places, the Boston Globe, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Kansas City Star. Pedley can be reached at jpedley@racintoday.com

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