The 1992 Hooters 500 Has Turned Out To Be The Worst Thing To Happen To Nascar.

dave corthell said:
Nope, not even close. Kulwicki was the underdog (underbird), nothing NASCAR has done after that race encouraged low dollar single car teams to compete and win on the circuit.
For me, there will NEVER be a better NASCAR champion than Alan Kulwicki.
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You won't get an argument from me. :wub:
 
29-4 said:
Fans who were around back then can tell me better, but is 92 viewed through rose-colored glasses? I always got the impression that the championship was a secondary concern to the race until the racing got less exciting in the early 2000s, at which point the championship was given more air time.
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If you weren't there for the last 6 races of the season.......you just can't imagine the buildup to the last race....Atlanta '92 was what every race fan hopes to see at least once in a lifetime.... there have been great races before...... but....... this is the one that burns into my mind and will be there until I die...
 
kymartin6 said:
If you weren't there for the last 6 races of the season.......you just can't imagine the buildup to the last race....Atlanta '92 was what every race fan hopes to see at least once in a lifetime.... there have been great races before...... but....... this is the one that burns into my mind and will be there until I die...
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That sounds almost religious. I suppose that is the reason some of us watch sports. I watch to see something truly amazing and fantastic. It is rare, beautiful and transcendent. I wish I were a fan of NASCAR in 1992.
 
Bowtie3 said:
I would hope that even Brian France would not be naive enough to think he could recreate that atmosphere, but I wouldn't be shocked.

I could talk about this race for days and smile for every second of it. I bet I've watch every lap at least 10 times.

That race was about Jeff Gordon for about two seconds. It was about Richard Petty for a good bit longer, but that race was about the championship. I'm sure people now would be annoyed with how many times the brought up the six drivers going after the title. They had dedicated cameras on all six drivers at all times. The only bad things were Richard crashing and if I remember correctly, Brett Bodine was hurt in the lap 2 crash. The coverage was perfect. I don't think they over saturated anything. The stories were great. Underdog Rick Mast wins the pole. The on track action was great. Bill Elliott and Alan Kulwicki put on a clinic. Those of us watching that day(except Allison and Elliott fans) knew we're seeing something special. I hope I'll never forget it. I hope NASCAR never tries to undermine it. It'll never be topped.
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Great post..............I would have been happy for any of the 6 possible drivers to win..... Elliott had a 300 point lead 6 races back.... and slowly blew it.... I was a Mark Martin fan but knew he was a very outside chance..... I thought Davey had it won ... then Irvan took him out..... (and the irony of that was Ernie took over Dayey's car when he was killed in July)........Alan was counting laps..... Tim Brewer wasn't...... Alan won the Cup because of that and Jr. was so pissed..... a couple months later Jr. accused Tim and Flossie of scheming to get his race team and he and Flossie divorced..... just a whole lot of stuff that happened that weekend that made it so memorable and so great..... Never ever will we see that much stuff unfold again....
 
kymartin6 said:
Great post..............I would have been happy for any of the 6 possible drivers to win..... Elliott had a 300 point lead 6 races back.... and slowly blew it.... I was a Mark Martin fan but knew he was a very outside chance..... I thought Davey had it won ... then Irvan took him out..... (and the irony of that was Ernie took over Dayey's car when he was killed in July)........Alan was counting laps..... Tim Brewer wasn't...... Alan won the Cup because of that and Jr. was so pissed..... a couple months later Jr. accused Tim and Flossie of scheming to get his race team and he and Flossie divorced..... just a whole lot of stuff that happened that weekend that made it so memorable and so great..... Never ever will we see that much stuff unfold again....
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That's when racing was racing.....it truly was an awesome moment for the sport.
 
It's interesting reading this stuff because while those days were awesome, it was that which created the current NASCAR environment. The money now is so fricking big stuff like that can never happen again


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Mispeedway15 said:
It's interesting reading this stuff because while those days were awesome, it was that which created the current NASCAR environment. The money now is so fricking big stuff like that can never happen again


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The definition of irony I guess. While I don't hate the product now, I sure do miss what it was then. Everything about it from that era. The cars, the drivers, the tv coverage. The Busch Series was great. The tracks were great. The schedule was better. We still had Dale, Davey, Alan and Neil. I guess the only things better now is safety and the Trucks series.
 
Bowtie3 said:
The definition of irony I guess. While I don't hate the product now, I sure do miss what it was then. Everything about it from that era. The cars, the drivers, the tv coverage. The Busch Series was great. The tracks were great. The schedule was better. We still had Dale, Davey, Alan and Neil. I guess the only things better now is safety and the Trucks series.
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Most of that was before I became interested in the sport, but I'm going to disagree with you about one point anyway: TV coverage.

When I started watching in '95, TV coverage was still hit or miss. Busch and Truck series coverage was spotty, with no coverage of practice or qualifying at any level. Races carried nationally on the three broadcast networks were often tape-delayed, 'joined in progress', or completely overridden by the local affliates in favor of local teams. The limited number of cameras and angles couldn't match the coverage we have now (more cameras, blimp and helicopter shots, overall better picture quality).

I suspect what you really miss about the TV coverage back then was limited to who was in the booth. On that, we can agree.
 
fergy1370 said:
I always heard the Chase was invented so Jr. could win the championship.....
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Bucky Badger said:
I know right, even with all the changes Jr still can't
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The Chase was invented as an attempt to retain TV audience after football season started.

Implementing a playoff as the mechanism seems to have been based on two assumptions. First was that playoffs in any sport would trump early regular season games in any other. For example, football playoffs attract more attention than early season baseball, and 'March Madness' stomps on mid-season basketball and hockey. The second was that a playoff would prevent the season championship from being a runaway (as Kenseth had accomplished the previous year), so viewers would stick around if the title was still up in the air.

It neglected to take into account that the NFL is the 800-lb gorilla of US televised sports, and that there is absolutely nothing NASCAR (or any other sport) can do to prevent people from switching. Even on this forum there are a large number of members who push NASCAR to the back burner when football kicks off. It's the reality of sports in the US, but NASCAR is unable to either accept or acknowledge its inability to compete.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
The Chase was invented as an attempt to retain TV audience after football season started.

Implementing a playoff as the mechanism seems to have been based on two assumptions. First was that playoffs in any sport would trump early regular season games in any other. For example, football playoffs attract more attention than early season baseball, and 'March Madness' stomps on mid-season basketball and hockey. The second was that a playoff would prevent the season championship from being a runaway (as Kenseth had accomplished the previous year), so viewers would stick around if the title was still up in the air.

It neglected to take into account that the NFL is the 800-lb gorilla of US televised sports, and that there is absolutely nothing NASCAR (or any other sport) can do to prevent people from switching. Even on this forum there are a large number of members who push NASCAR to the back burner when football kicks off. It's the reality of sports in the US, but NASCAR is unable to either accept or acknowledge its inability to compete.
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Yep....i certainly do now, especially since the racing isn't all that great, NFL has always been the ONLY sport worth watching in the fall once the World Series is over!
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Most of that was before I became interested in the sport, but I'm going to disagree with you about one point anyway: TV coverage.

When I started watching in '95, TV coverage was still hit or miss. Busch and Truck series coverage was spotty, with no coverage of practice or qualifying at any level. Races carried nationally on the three broadcast networks were often tape-delayed, 'joined in progress', or completely overridden by the local affliates in favor of local teams. The limited number of cameras and angles couldn't match the coverage we have now (more cameras, blimp and helicopter shots, overall better picture quality).

I suspect what you really miss about the TV coverage back then was limited to who was in the booth. On that, we can agree.
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I thought TNN..... TBS and the old ESPN did a most excellent job of coverage......
 
Matthew2470 said:
This thread is what happens when people need a new hobby.
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Hope you find a good one, too!
And dont forget about all your little hobbless friends here after the amazing discovery. Until then we shall just keep posting and waiting for word from you, to emancipate us all.

Hope.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
They did a great job with what they had. The best of both worlds would be if we could have those old booth crews and production staff using today's tools and today's schedules.
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You have a valid point. But...... to be honest...... with all the bells and whistles they have now at their disposal...... I don't feel I was being cheated back then by the coverage.... they showed everything I needed to see ....... I'm not a stickler for all the state of the art stuff. It's okay but not a requirement for me.....

As far as the booth guys....... I couldn't agree more....
 
ToyYoda said:
Richard Petty's last race
Jeff Gordon's first race
Six drivers eligible for championship going in
An underdog wins the title

What a horrible event.
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It was great, and I am thankful I got to go to that race.

As everyone knows we lost Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison the following year.
To a smaller degree Junior Johnson was never a title threat again after that race too.

I am not sure how to articulate it all, but the postscript just makes that race more memorable or epic.
I was sitting at the front stretch were Daveys car slid to a stop, and his championship hopes did too. But everydody had to believe he would get his in time he was the fastest most of the year.
It was a happy drive home for us, with
Kulwicki the ultimate underdog shocking almost everybody.

But it wasn't just that day. Nobody could have known that worse times were in store, some things or context you never forget.
And the best fiction writers would have a hard time writing a more compelling story, Hollywood absolutely could never capture the depth of the characters.
And I could never believe that Brian the fool is stupid enough to think he could recreate that.
It was just a once in a lifetime magical moment.
 
Greg said:
It was great, and I am thankful I got to go to that race.

As everyone knows we lost Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison the following year.
To a smaller degree Junior Johnson was never a title threat again after that race too.

I am not sure how to articulate it all, but the postscript just makes that race more memorable or epic.
I was sitting at the front stretch were Daveys car slid to a stop, and his championship hopes did too. But everydody had to believe he would get his in time he was the fastest most of the year.
It was a happy drive home for us, with
Kulwicki the ultimate underdog shocking almost everybody.

But it wasn't just that day. Nobody could have known that worse times were in store, some things or context you never forget.
And the best fiction writers would have a hard time writing a more compelling story, Hollywood absolutely could never capture the depth of the characters.
And I could never believe that Brian the fool is stupid enough to think he could recreate that.
It was just a once in a lifetime magical moment.
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Great post Greg....... I just cannot imagine a more riveting year and race than that.... all the stuff that happened prior.... during and after....... you are correct that Hollywood could not have produced a better example... ''But everyone had to believe he would get his in time''.......... When Alan was killed the next April...... Davey said ''I am so glad he won..... I will have many more chances''........ Davey died that July.......
 
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NJJammer said:
The sad irony of both of them dying in air accidents. I wonder how their careers would have turned out had they had the chance to finish them. Gone way too soon.
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I think the record books would look differently..... I am not sure about Alan winning another Cup..... it would have been very hard to do that again as an independent.... but... I think Jeff Gordon might have been a couple short of what he has now and Davy might have had 1 or 2...


But..... that's all speculation..... Opinions are like a$$holes.....
 
Matthew2470 said:
Sorry I couldn't rise to the high standards of a thread discussing how a race from 25 years ago destroyed NASCAR.
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I agree the thread title is over the top. But I never get tired of talking that race, at least not yet. This thread celebrates that a little.
 
Matthew2470 said:
Sorry I couldn't rise to the high standards of a thread discussing how a race from 25 years ago destroyed NASCAR.
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I did'n say the race destroyed Nascar just the idiots who run it trying to recreate the magic of it and determine to end the season with the title on the line with gimmicks like the Chase to give fans that drama.
 
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