1992 Hooters 500
Jim Phillips, Winston Kelley, and former NASCAR driver Dick Brooks covered the action for MRN from the pit and garage areas.While he rebounded the next week to win at North Wilkesboro and then two races after that at Talladega, Allison would crash out of The Winston in May, suffering a bruised lung and concussion, and then, at Pocono in July, he had a violent wreck on the back stretch where the car became airborne and rotated several times; he suffered another concussion and a severely broken arm in the accident but continued to race.While he continued to race well, including winning at Michigan in June, Allison also had several finishes of thirtieth or worse due to accidents; his crew chief, Larry McReynolds, referred to this trend as “checkers or wreckers” years later.[11] Kulwicki also had personal reasons for wanting to win the championship, as his career had nearly been derailed by Elliott's car owner Junior Johnson.After Terry Labonte left Johnson's team following the 1989 season, Kulwicki was asked to drive the #11 car but did not accept the offer, feeling that he needed to stay independent and work for himself.Johnson came calling again shortly thereafter, offering Kulwicki a massive contract to partner with Geoff Bodine, who replaced Labonte, in a second car for his team for 1991.After signing Sterling Marlin to drive his second car, Johnson went to Kraft General Foods and convinced the company to sponsor it with their Maxwell House coffee brand.Kulwicki asked for and got approval from NASCAR to place two Mighty Mouse decals on the front of his car, covering the TH in “Thunderbird” so it read “Underbird”; he did this largely because he felt like, as the only driver in the championship mix running his own team, he was the underdog in the fight.Despite running poorly at Daytona, Elliott went on to win the GM Goodwrench 500 at Rockingham, the Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond, Atlanta's spring event in the Motorcraft Quality Parts 500, and the TranSouth 500 at Darlington in consecutive weeks.[12] Allison's inconsistent performance and injuries kept Elliott close enough to him in the standings and enabled him to take the championship lead into the summer months and build upon it.Elliott managed to finish in the top five at Rockingham again when the series returned there in late October, and entered Phoenix with a seventy-point lead over Allison.Martin, the furthest back of the championship contenders, was looking to win his first Winston Cup and had come close to doing so only two years earlier, finishing second to Dale Earnhardt.The closest former champion to Elliott in points was eighth place Darrell Waltrip, the owner-driver of the #17 Western Auto Chevrolet who was not mathematically able to win the title.Championship standings entering the 1992 Hooters 500 Bold indicates drivers mathematically eligible for the 1992 NASCAR Winston Cup championshipSince this was the last event of the season, it also marked the final stop on Richard Petty's "Fan Appreciation Tour."[14] On the night before pole qualifying, Richard Petty's cousin, longtime crew chief, and team manager Dale Inman was robbed at gunpoint in the parking lot of the Atlanta airport.A record 160,000 fans, some with seats in temporary grandstands, arrived at Atlanta Motor Speedway to witness Richard Petty's final ride, and to watch the exciting championship battle.Dale Earnhardt, the defending series champion whose reign was ending that day and who was running third in his familiar #3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, slipped by, and took over the lead.On lap 85, Bob Schacht stalled in turn 1 & another series of yellow flag pit stops had shuffled the field, bringing Allison to the lead.The #42 developed terminal engine trouble that took him out of contention for the championship (as he would have needed to win the race and get help) and would result in his finishing near the rear of the field, multiple laps down.Darrell Waltrip's #17 Western Auto Chevrolet spun to avoid the crash, and ran into the #16 Keystone Beer Ford driven by Wally Dallenbach Jr.The #45 Terminal Trucking Ford of Rich Bickle was also collected, which led to Richard Petty running into him and destroying the front end of the car, breaking the oil cooler.The Ray Evernham-led "Rainbow Warriors" crew, which in later years would become famous for their pit stop efficiency, was nowhere near that level in this race and their errors caused Evernham to refer to them as the “Keystone Kops”.The #28 suffered damage to the front air dam, which caused Allison to drop back from second place where he had been running; he would continue to battle handling issues for the rest of the race.[19] As the race neared its halfway point, three of the six championship contenders had seen their shots at claiming the Winston Cup fall victim to bad fortune.Gant, who had been running in the top three earlier in the race, found himself falling further and further off the pace and would eventually go multiple laps down to end his hopes at becoming the oldest champion in Cup Series history.When the race resumed, Kulwicki needed only three laps to overtake Elliott and this time, once he got to the front, he managed to stay there for an extended period.He lost control of his Chevrolet exiting turn 4, just missing Terry Labonte's #94 Sunoco Oldsmobile, then came back up the track into oncoming traffic.This required him to slow the car down so he could get to pit road without running out of gas, but it also enabled Elliott to make up the deficit and once again get close to Kulwicki.After coming up short in the championship battle, Bill Elliott's crew chief Tim Brewer was fired from Junior Johnson Motorsports.To commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of the race, Jeff Gordon served as grand marshal and Richard Petty the honorary starter for the 2007 Pep Boys Auto 500 that took place on October 28, 2007.
1992 NASCAR Winston Cup SeriesRichard PettyNASCARAtlanta Motor SpeedwayHampton, GeorgiaPole positionRick MastRichard Jackson RacingAlan KulwickiAK RacingBill ElliottJunior Johnson & AssociatesNetworkBob JenkinsBenny ParsonsNed JarrettJeff GordonBudweiserJunior Johnson and AssociatesHootersfall racebankeddegreesplayoff systemDale EarnhardtRusty WallaceJerry PunchMotor Racing NetworkBarney HallEli GoldAllen BestwickDavey AllisonTexacoHavolineRobert Yates Racinghis teamHarry GantSkoal BanditLeo Jackson MotorsportsKyle PettyMello YelloFelix SabatesMark MartinValvolineRoush RacingDaytona 500BristolNorth WilkesboroTalladegaThe WinstonPoconoLarry McReynoldsCliffordDarlingtonSouthern 500Winston MillionDarrell Waltripsecond to last racePhoenixWinston Cup ChampionshipJunior JohnsonTerry LabonteGeoff BodineSterling MarlinKraft General FoodsMaxwell HouseU.S. ArmyMighty MousePeak Antifreeze 500Lee PettyMelling RacingGM Goodwrench 500Pontiac Excitement 400Motorcraft Quality Parts 500TranSouth 500MichiganRichmondMellow Yellow 500RichardWestern AutoRicky RuddErnie IrvanDaytonaPepsi 400PresidentGeorge H. W. BushAlabamaGeorgia DomeDale InmanAtlanta airportPrecision Products RacingOldsmobilePenske RacingPontiacRichard Childress RacingChevroletMorgan-McClure MotorsportsHendrick MotorsportsJeff FullerDick TrickleStavola Brothers RacingChad LittleDerrike CopeJimmy SpencerBobby Allison MotorsportsBud Moore EngineeringWally Dallenbach Jr.Darrell Waltrip MotorsportsDale JarrettJoe Gibbs RacingMorgan ShepherdWood Brothers RacingEddie BierschwaleKen SchraderBrett BodineKing RacingMichael WaltripBahari RacingJimmy HortonHut StricklinSABCO RacingPetty EnterprisesRich BickleJames HyltonHylton MotorsportsStanley Smith