Alan Kulwicki kinda Ruined NASCAR in the 90's 

GWIZ of the Stars made some of the music used in this video. You can checkout her work here: ru-vid.com soundcloud.com/gwizofthestars

I think the biggest thing that they overlooked about Kulwicki is that he had a mechanical engineering degree. Not saying that the other drivers weren't knowledgeable, but when you have the ability to understand the mechanics of the car at a deeper level you can really see things that others might overlook and prevent them. The best example is the fact that Waltrip couldn't get his engines right. When you do have an engineering degree, a lot more of the fine nuances can be understood at a deeper level compared to just practical experience.

Another factor was that Kulwicki wasn't married, didn't have children, didn't own any other businesses, didn't race in any other series or have any other interests. 100% of his life's focus, effort and energy was that#7 race team. Hard to compete with that. None of the other owner/drivers could say that.

"There was so much potential in the 90s that was lost in pursuit of besting a dead man" Damn, that line really hits

Certainties in life: -Death -Taxes -S1ap mentioning Brett Bodine's final win

NBA during the 1990s: "Be like Mike" NASCAR during the 1990s: "Be like Alan"

Alan Kulwicki was the bridge from the past to the future regardless of the topic in life He was The Engineer before NASCAR even had engineers And he was The Owner/Driver when Owner/Drivers were on their way out

One interesting story of a driver who almost went his own way but changed his mind was Terry Labonte. Terry announced in victory lane after winning Talladega in July, 1989 that he was starting his own Oldsmobile team. However, in Janruary of 1990, he abandoned those plans and accepted an offer to drive Richard Jackson's #1 Oldsmobile. He would go winless with Jackson in 1990 and wouldn't find much success when he reunited with Billy Hagan for 1991-93 (in 1992, he drove Olds, Fords, and Chevys). Replacing Ricky Rudd in Rick Hendrick's #5 would revive his career and result in his second championship.

death, taxes, *S1ap making a video that has something to do with the 1992 Hooters 500 in it…*

Although Alan’s strategy as a driver and owner may have altered the 90s and not in a great way in NASCAR, but I think that made him more of a legend. He did something that greats like Darrell Waltrip, Bill Elliott, and Ricky Rudd couldn’t do. He bested all of these guys even after his death. This in my opinion, makes him one of the most underrated legends in all of sports.

Thats the thing I think a lot of these drivers didnt get, Alan was an engineer first and a driver second. He knew how to run a team and engine program as well as drive, and most of these guys knew only how to drive. Darrell Waltrip admits he couldnt get out of the drivers mindset and that hurt his team. Its interesting to think what we could have seen if the owner driver craze hadnt happened. DW likely would have broken 90 wins, and could have broken 100 with the Hendrick power that came about in the Gordon era. Bodine likely breaks 25 wins and gets into the HOF. Elliott winning a second title that he barely missed out on in 92. The only guy whose career doesnt change much is Rudd, but even he probably gets a couple better points finishes and one or two more wins.

Kind of ironic that Davey Allison and Kulwicki were the first Nascar drivers I ever heard of (even had a model of the 28 bought from a car show). Even over the Atlantic, in pre-internet days, two top drivers both dying in air crashes was newsworthy.

This is similar to Jack Brabham's story in F1. He won the championship in 59 & 60. He then created his own team a year later and waited until 1966 to win the championship again. Bruce McLaren tried to copy him, but died in 1970 without a championship win- however, his team became one of F1's most successful after his death. John Surtees, Chris Amon & Emerson Fittipaldi also went down the driver-owner route in the 70s and all failed miserably.

Fun Fact: In 1998 Matt Kenseth made his first cup start driving Bill Elliott's #94 at Dover filling in for Bill. He finished 6th. This was the third highest debut finish for any driver in NASCAR history.

Had Waltrip been healthier and kept using Hendrick engines, he would have been the most successful out of all of them. He got hurt in 1995 and was old, and it all fell apart. If he'd stayed healthy and kept Hendrick engines, he'd been fine

I think Eli Gold put it best in the Year in Review 1993 video when talking about Alan Kulwicki's hauler leaving Bristol. "With sleet falling making the atmosphere even more sullen, fellow competitors and fans stood in silence as the Kulwicki race team transporter slowly made its way around the half mile Bristol International Raceway. NASCAR's assistant flagman, Mike Chaplin, saluted the champion by waving the chequered flag one final time," The fact that he had a degree in Mechanical Engineering, meant that he was able to look at the established ways other teams were setting cars up (4 grain scales on a 4 ft level) and thought," I can use my knowledge acquired through my education to make my car faster". Even though, perhaps not surprisingly being from a country that barely receives coverage of NASCAR, I had never heard of Alan before the Covid-19 pandemic, he is one of my favourite drivers in motorsport, anywhere. So much so that I purchased a T-shirt depicting Alan's iconic white and orange Hooters sponsored Ford Thunderbird on one side, and on the other, his various achievements, like 1986 Rookie of the Year, 1992 Winston Cup Series Champion and even the date he was posthumously inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame

S1apSh0es, Just wanted to advise you about something regarding Geoff Bodine's 1994 season. This came directly from Geoff himself in multiple fan interviews/zoom meetings. When discussing the rigors of the 1994 season, it was Hoosier's first and eventually only season, with that, thousands of miles of testing was conducted, Geoff's team was the guinea pig for Hoosier. Geoff would advise that all the testing burnt out equipment, and with a shoestring budget, engines were blowing frequently. As for the drop off in '95, Geoff was advised last minute that Hoosier was dropping out of NASCAR. Due to his commitment to Hoosier the previous year, Geoff accused Goodyear of supplying substandard tires for the bulk of the '95 season. It wasn't until Geoff went directly to Bill France Jr. with overbearing evidence against Goodyear, that the supply issue was solved and Geoff started to turn things around slightly. However the damage was already done, and by mid-late 97, his team had run out of resources. Good piece, just wanted to advise of that side of things from Geoff's perspective.

I met Alan at Riverside international raceway in 1987 really great guy got his autograph still have it he is very missed he was one of my favorite drivers it was great for him to win the championship in 92 unfortunately what happened to him in 93 was tragic to NASCAR

I've said this to alot of racing buddies of mine for years. Had Davey or Bill won the '92 championship neither Gordon or Dale Sr rack up the win/championship totals they did because so many other people would have been in better equipment actively nicking top 5s and top 10s off of them.

Imagine if Alan was still alive, he would have told a lot of stories of his racing career and his championship on Dale Jr.’s Podcast

Well figure Kulwicki had an engineering degree. Shows up to the garage with a briefcase. He was also business savy. He knew more things about a car inside and out. These other guys just didn't have that kind of experience

No matter the topic in life It will always come back to the 1992 Hooters 500

Reminder that Bill Elliott and his team gave some young shortracker from Wisconsin hid first start. That driver was Matt Kenseth.

The level of domain expertise & competencies that Alan had was the only reason it all came together. This video is a great documentation of how pure talent or industry know how only does so much.

Alan truly was a Special Kase. None came close to his greatness. People ask what would have happened if Richmond would have lived? Or Davey? Alan is the one I always wonder about. He was a logical tactician that nobody could hold a candle to. He had an owner that wanted greatness, not just wins, and a driver that felt exactly the same way. And they saw eye-to-eye like none other. He is already considered great now after 6 complete seasons as an owner/driver, what would have been after 6 more?

With the exception of Elliott, I don't think the other drivers that went owner/driver did it out of ego to put Kulwicki in his place. I think they saw a chance to make 100% of the investment and in turn make 100% of the profits. They saw one guy win it all doing this and saw it as the chance to dump the middle man.

Kulwicki had a Degree in Mechanical Engineering - he looked at the whole thing from the inside out. Not the outside in. That may be the difference. I also recall that bit him at least once. He ran hollow axle shafts in the rear end once and sheared one leaving pit road. Jeff Hammond (?) was stunned as that wouldn't translate to any real weight savings and definite loss of strength as proven.

The rags to riches story of Alan Kulwicki defiantly deserves either a movie or TV series in my opinion.

I could listen to this guy describe paint drying. But bringing me to the brink of tears every time I hear the passion around Alan gets me every time. Another banger Slap!

One could argue that all the others had a different mindset compared to Alan that the latter always focused on as a owner first then as a driver second. The others all drove for someone else and they didnt have to worry destroying the cars needed to survive a season. It sounds plausible that the most of the others wanted to create their legacy after their driving careers were over. They wanted to create like what Junior Johnson did. After finishing his driving career, Junior ended creating a powerhouse team that defined a decade before Alan entered the sport.

A video just on Geoff's '94 season, or what it could have been, would be cool.

Alan was also an engineer, and was able to out-engineer a car, which his competition knew...so he introduced engineering and so a lot of issues we have today (the $30M sponsors) are because everyone had to hire engineers which don't come cheap

Being a racing fan from Wisconsin Alan won his title months before I was born. I grew up with my grandpa talking about his talent and how he had seen him race locally around wisconsin. I’m a Kenseth fan, always will be. And I remember when he won his title, and in the local paper there was the list of nascar cup champions and I saw Alan’s name highlighted. Makes me proud he was from Wisconsin. And he was gone way too soon. RIP. Btw, these videos are incredible. I don’t miss any. Keep it up man.

forgot to mention 1994 is when bodine was also racing on hoosier tires that year, forgot that.

The fact that we lost Alan and davey in the same year , proves that they were so much better beyond their years

Another great one S1apSh0es! No one can match Kulwicki. The man was indeed Special. The difficulties he faced growing up made him tough and his great knowledge of engineering made him a rare combination of skill and determination.

Alan Kulwicki was also ahead of his time. He pioneered getting his pit crews in shape to get faster pit times out of them. He put weight machines in the facilities for them to get stronger and even monitored them practicing to see where they could improve. He also pioneered taking the very first pit box. His reasoning was yes you were at a disadvantage speed wise due to the speed limit on pit road but you were also closer to the exit line and whoever crossed the exit line first had that position. So guy 1 and guy 2 are coming in for a pit stop. Guy 1 who took a back pit box (near the pit entrance) would get to his pit first and get their car worked on and out of his pit box as guy 2 was just getting into his pit (near the pit exit). Even though guy 1 had the speed and acceleration advantage coming down pit road, with a fast enough pit stop guy 2 could beat out guy 1 by getting to the exit line first.

Kulwicki also ended his stint in the last days of cheaper racing. Spending was starting to skyrocket and the height of the aero wars was starting at that point and there was no guarantee that Alan's model could persist through this era. He benefits a lot from the rose colored glasses of hindsight.

As I look at it, over that five year stretch, Alan remained somewhat outside of the "Good ole boy" Network in Nascar anyway which allowed him to keep his operation tight nit with excellent loyalty from those who stayed and no hard feelings with those who washed out, such as Ray Everenham (they parted company since their personalities were too much alike). Alan's engine program was not based in North Carolina either so he could keep prying eyes from that. Even with those factors, there were a lot of lucky circumstances Alan benefitted from. But as they say, the best out there make their own luck. I don't know that Alan could have duplicated success in 94. He had concerns in 93 that Hooters would not be able to financially support his team to the level he felt it needed to be at to continue it's success. So he was starting to look for new sponsors when he was killed in the plane crash. Alan also had concerns about his age since he was in his thirties when he moved south and of course there were plenty of ladies who wanted to potentially marry him. So who knows what those influences might have done. To Alan's credit, the success of his team and it's people are what he cared most about in 93 and he wasn't letting anything get in the way. But two, three years down the road... Excellent analysis BTW.

I think it's pretty cool that Spire Motorsports have not only the same shop as Alan Kulwicki did, but from the front of their Chevy, the combination of white and orange is a throwback to Alan being sponsored by Hooters :)

I don't think that the #28 was an option for Rudd in 1994. Yates wanted Irvan, and he got him. Great video.

This video just made me appreciate Kulwicki even more. Simply a renaissance man/genius, gone too soon.

Lovely video. I would like to add a couple of points. Darrell Waltrip: Another factor in his decline was Jeff Hammond leaving his team in the middle of '92. Hammond became frustrated because Waltrip had a business partner that had gotten in his ear and he became more concerned about making money instead of building a competitive race team. Hammond finally had enough and gave Waltrip the "It's him or me" ultimatum Waltrip sided with his new buddy and Hammond left after the team's victory at the July Pocono race. "Suitcase" Jake Elder took over crew chief duties and yeah, they won two races together, but one could argue that he was just riding on the work that Hammond did. Hammond eventually left and came back to DW in '97, but by then it was too little, too late and the team was pretty much at rock bottom by then. Anyway, go listen to Hammond talk about it on the Scene Vault podcast. It's pretty good. Brett Bodine: Read this in a Ryan McGee article sometime ago, but supposedly Brett and Geoff were going to have a technical alliance with their self-owned teams, but then the '94 Brickyard happened and their already shaky relationship went to crap.

This video made me realise that, despite not having such inflated numbers and statistics as drivers like Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, AK was one of the best drivers ever. That championship he brought home in '92 was one of the most amazing feats in NASCAR history.

Fished watching the video. Very interesting! It’s crazy how Alan’s owner/driver success was such an anomaly. HOWEVER. This video made a poor case of arguing that this “kinda ruined nascar in the 90s”. Yes, their foray into being owner/drivers didn’t pay off for DW, Elliott, or Bodine, but how does that ruin nascar? In retrospect it might’ve been cool to see the old timers still compete for titles in the late 90s, but like you said, if Rudd took the 28 in 1994 who knows when (or if) we would’ve seen DJ, and if Waltrip or Bodine took the 99 when would we have seen Jeff Burton? The late 90s was a passing of the torch, and while being an owner driver didn’t work in hindsight for a lot of older stars, their competitive spirit wouldn’t have let them sit by and let an opportunity go away, and I have no problem with that EDIT: This video is overall excellent and a very fascinating explanation behind the struggles of the old guard in the 90s. But the clickbait title is what annoys me. “Alan Kulwicki kinda ruined nascar in the 90s” “well actually he just inspired a few seasoned veterans to challenge themselves to be owner/drivers which turned out derail their careers in retrospect” “Well actually it kinda worked out well for DW and Bodine at first” “Well actually Rudd did just about as well on his own as he would’ve done for Yates and never really fell off” Slap, I love ya buddy, but c’mon lmao. This didn’t ruin nascar, and the only career it really ruined was Geoff Bodine’s; he had talent, he had speed, and if he had reliability with a solid team he really could’ve made himself a household name. But besides him? Waltrip had an illustrious career already, and while he went out with a whimper, not a bang, so did petty. Yes he still had a bit left in the tank that went unrealized, but he’s not the only one. Bill Elliott is in the same boat. A second title would’ve been awesome, but his struggles as an owner driver are not some sort of irreparable black stain on his career, especially since it made his resurgence in the early 2000s all the more special. I like the guy, but it’s a stretch to assume Brett Bodine would’ve kicked ass had he stayed in the 26. And as you mention in the video, while missing out on Hendrick’s rise to power might’ve cost him a few wins, Rudd‘s performance was still on par with what it was both pre and post owner/driver stint, so I can’t really say the move was all that negative.

Never realized Geoff’s racing team came from such good roots. He had it all there for him. I went to school with his niece in Waverly, NY. His brother Eric has a dealership there still. The Bodine family are good people, they’ve always been humble about what they’ve done.

I was a teenager when he won it and now I'm old as dirt, it was great watching the little guy win it.

I am learning more about Nascar from this channel, and far more, than I could ever find myself. Thank you so much for all your hard work S1ap. It's truly appreciated.

What an absolutely tremendous video! I was just the boy when Alan was racing , but we were sure proud of him in Wisconsin. It was a sad day when he passed on. Real special guy

So far, it looks like there's a potential for a sequel in 2032, "How Tony Stewart kinda Ruined NASCAR in the 2020s" discussing newer owner-drivers like Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin and BJ McLeod. Let's hope that isn't the case, and they end up being successful in the long term.

I do wonder what could’ve become of Waltrip in his late 40s. We got to see a little bit of that Ole DW Spark when he got to drive the #1 DEI car substituting for Steve Park. He even challenged for a win. I cried with him… “they didn’t throw enough dirt on me….” In the interview. I will say, that was a BRILLIANT comparison with Gant and Martin winning races in their early 50s. Well done.

Back then me and my dad went to an ASA race at Anderson speedway in Indiana. Right before the start of the race Alan flew into the parking lot in a helicopter and jumped in the #28 Hardee's car. He dominated the first 100 laps or so before going up in smoke with a blown engine. I'll never forget it.

Dude I love your take. The one that most people don’t want to think of… Dale Earnhardt Incorporated. Sure, he didn’t leave RCR to go there, but I think that’s what he was planning. Had Dale survived Daytona it’s possible he ends up at DEI one day and they too go bankrupt.

7:33 - that's a nice touch. Respect to Corey and team for that idea. One thing - all the small sponsor stickers (moroso, gumout, diehard, champion, etc), what happened to them? Hope everyone is doing good

I never really gave thought to just how connected Bill Elliott and the elder Bodine brothers were through the Kulwicki fallout. The whole thing is a convoluted web of sorts that goes through the Junior Johnson organization. Bill and the #11 team were a dream-team arrangement, and that '92 swing-and-miss really sent them reeling. Junior had divorced and remarried, and with two little kids on the way, he seemed to have new priorities. Bill was leaving a sinking ship. Brett Bodine inherited said sinking ship for '95. After Alan's death, Hooters presented the Kulwickis with their own heir apparent, Loy Allen, Jr., who'd run some ARCA races with Hooters backing. Their plan was for Loy to drive the #7, with Loy's dad ultimately buying the operation. Gerry Kulwicki, who had guidance from Felix Sabates, opted not to sell to the Allens, losing the Hooters deal in the process. That opened the door for Geoff Bodine, who had his own earlier stint in the #11 Bud car, to purchase the #7 team from the Kulwicki family. Loy Allen and Hooters went to TriStar Motorsports in '94, then moved teams in '95 to...Junior Johnson's #27, replacing McDonald's. Loy made it only a few weeks into the year before being fired. After '95, Junior (who supposedly said "two things I'm never gonna have again, an old lady or an old race car") sold the #11 to Brett and the #27 to David Blair. Bonus #1: Todd Bodine made starts in '96 for Bill Elliott (after Bill broke his leg at Talladega) and in the #27 David Blair car. Bonus #2: Johnson had a partnership in '94 with Travis Carter, who owned the #23 Camel/Smokin' Joe's car. Hut Stricklin, who ran Johnson's #27 in '93, was farmed out to the #23 car for Carter in '94. Jimmy Spencer replaced him, then went to the #23 car in '95. Brett Bodine was replaced at King Racing (the #26) by Steve Kinser, who was fired when he struggled to adapt to Cup cars. Who replaced Kinser? Hut Stricklin.

Great video. I never considered that so many guys went owner/driver in the 90’s because of Alan.

Fun Fact: The car Bill Elliott blew over at Talladega in 1996 is in a museum in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

Once again, another great video! 🔥 Another good question is, "What if Dale Jr took over operations at DEI?" I believe, if he a taken over and still received the engine backing from RCR, the early 2000s would have looked a lot different.

So many "What If's" about early 90's nascar. Thanks for exploring this angle s1apsh0es. Never thought about this particular reverberation of the 92 title. Thanks for continuing to put out great content.

Alan won as his own boss and everyone said "If that guy can do it I sure as hell can!". It took more than winning the cup, it was only after they all tried and failed to do it his way that they *truly* realized that Alan wasn't just "that guy".

It always comes back to the 1992 Hooters 500

I love your vids man. Your depth in this time period is perfect. I'd love to see content on more what-ifs around this time. There's no shortage of them. Davey Allison, Tim Richmond, Ernie Irvan, etc.

Kluwicki championship brought cars owners in during the 90's. At a time when corporate sponsorship was growing exponentially. This championship gave hope to new cars that they might have a chance in the sport.

It's too bad he didn't live to enjoy Winning the Championship. I believe that he would have won more Championships if he had lived. Rest in Peace Alan Kulwicki.

Man, I love "What If..." stories, especially with the Cup Series. Awesome video as always, S1ap.

Nobody will ever duplicate what Alan Kulwicki did.

Whoever ends up in the #28 has an excellent shot at the '94 title without any injuries, but I'm not so sure about '99. The circumstances of Irvan's injury and Jarrett replacing him led to a unique scenario which led to Yates opening a second car for '96 (fun fact: DJ was intending to go the owner-driver route in '96 if Yates hadn't done that. Jarrett would probably have ended his career with 4 wins in that universe!) If that hadn't happened, they likely don't start a second car in '96, and knowing Yates' conservatism, they might not have joined the multi-car train until it was too late, ruining their chances in the late '90's.

Great idea for a video. It's nice that quality is the only concern on this channel, not pounding every penny available. I live not far from the airport and while the field has long since healed over, what happened on that piece a dirt will never be forgotten. Most guys still fly in there, but there is a closer (to BMS) but smaller airport some guys use. At least until Jr had his incident.

I look forward to these videos on sunday more than I do the race. Thanks slap, your killing it!

I think that Jeff Gordon would still had a great career and multiple championships, but the competition would have been tighter because of the guys like Waltrip and Rudd etc being in good equipment.

Wow S1ap's talking about Nascar in 1992, I've never seen that before

Slapshoes, you're Nascar's equivalent of Secret Base. Keep up the incredible work dude, I absolutely love learning the history.

Loved Alan. Very hard thing to do when you grow up in Hueytown, Alabama. Your neighbors are the Allison's, Neil Bonnet. It was a rough road but there was something about Alan, the underdogm

Good video as always. In an alternate timeline, Rudd, Davey Allison, Kulwicki, and Adam Petty would shake things up for sure. I always like the 🐓.

Dale Earnhardt was a team owner, but didn't drive for himself which i feel helped him a lot

Fitting that Texas World Speedway is used for a segment featuring the winner of one of it's most unique races.

One of my absolute favorite RU-vid channels! Great work again man!

I see new S1apSh0es video, instant like from me. Also, your video made me know more about how Alan Kulwicki's championship resulted in the growth of owner-drivers in the 90s.^^

Kulwicki had one more championship run probably in 93-94 after that i honestly don't think he could battle the money aspect that started pouring in the sport in the late 90s early 00s.

Oh my God, S1ap is probably one of the Great NASCAR Historians on RU-vid along with Brock Beard and nascarman history. Thanks S1ap This is something I never knew about Alan Kulwicki

He really opened the door to bringing in actual Engineers to Nascar teams.

Good to see the videos back, feels like the season has now truly begun. Well done. I remember those early 90's seasons as a 10 year old, but was always in love the black 3, not so much Allan

Now this is a hot take out of left field. Curious to see the reasoning tho, my mind is open

I'm glad you explained the SHR structure, some people can't understand that it's a partnership & Tony didn't go in to business for himself. He became a part of a struggling organization & helped improve on what they already had, that & Tony has been heavily involved in ownership for a long time, just not at the cup level until he got in the 14. MWR didn't quite make the cutoff date for this video I guess, but that's a slightly different story. I had no idea some of those guys ever tried to go it alone, well put together.

I was not aware of Lajoie’s Alan Kulwicki cosplay.

S1apSh0es, thank you for another fascinating, well-researched, finely scripted, terrifically narrated work. You are the best at producing independent Nascar stories.

I like the way you put your videos together along with your commentary keep it going, good job!

TOP video and a great topic! as always you put it together SO WELL!

It’s always a good day when s1ap uploads

Great stories! I had no clue about the owner/drivers out there!

Fantastic video, thoroughly enjoyed it. Also love that you used trading cards so much.

Great vid! That brought back some great memories in cup's last great era.

You make some QUALITY content my man. Please keep up the awesome work

A reason that Alan was more successful could be because he probably felt more pressure to succeed. One factor that can’t be overlooked is that Alan HAD to succeed to stay in the sport, because he wasn’t a known, established driver yet so he wasn’t guaranteed a sponsor. Bill, Darrell, Ricky and Geoff were all established drivers who already won races and made a name for themselves with another team. If their own team didn’t work out, they could just go drive for another owner who would love to hire them.

Excellent video...very well researched and insightful. Alan was one of a kind. Like Alan I am from Wisconsin, Alan Kulwicki was our biggest sports star of the early 90s as this was before the Aaron Rodgers or Brett Favre era. People would line up around the block whenever he was in town signing autographs.

Great video! In addition to the fact that Kulwicki was an engineer and the others were mainly just drivers, I also think some of these owner-drivers (especially Rudd) might have struggled because multi-car teams were becoming more popular and had allowed for more testing than single-car teams. A few counterpoints: -Ernie Irvan was already driving the 28 by the end of 1993, so I assume he still would've gotten the 28 and Rudd would've gone somewhere else, likely somewhere that he would be the #1 driver. (I heard Rick Hendrick said "this is my franchise" about Jeff Gordon at the 1993 Daytona 500, and Rudd didn't like that so that was why he wanted to leave.) -Brett Bodine probably wouldn't have gotten as good a ride as the other drivers in the video, though the 46 for Sabco could have been a possibility. Ernie Irvan had been a star a few years earlier, so I'd still predict him going to the 36, and Kevin Lepage was young and unproven so I would still predict him going to the 16 (although someone else like Bill Elliott could've gone there earlier). I also read that Junior Johnson originally wanted Jimmy Spencer for the 11 (who had driven the 27 for Junior the previous year), but Lowe's preferred Brett Bodine since Brett was less controversial.

Very interesting! Combining my love of NASCAR and alternate realities. What a cool idea for a video.

I don't know about Alan ruining NASCAR but people like you and estepp have been doing a good job and with NASCAR's blessing.

Love your work, S1ap - excellent as always!

AK used industrial Engineering techniques that were a novel approach at the time. He looked at a season as 'a problem to be solved'. The other owner/drivers of the following years were not engineers and tried to win by brute force (as had been successful in the past) It also helped that AK could really wheel that UNDERBIRD when needed. ASA champs are usually able.