The Lady in Black Awaits

H

HardScrabble

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Darlington seems to want to push the "Track Too Tough to Tame" title more than the lady, but for me she's the Lady in Black.

Darlington will not reward a driver for being too aggressive, and will punish the least drop in concentration without mercy.

A little lead in of notes.

Both Ricky Craven and Steve Park had their best qualifying efforts of the season here, a pole for Ricky and a fourth for Steve.

Sterling Marlin had one of this seasons wins here and Elliott Sadler's best finish of the season was a 2nd here in the spring.

Kurt Busch has his only WC career pole at Darlington.

Ward Burton captured 2 of his 5 career wins at Darlington. He captured the pole here once as well.

Bill Elliott and Jeff Gordon have both won here 5 times, both have also captured 4 poles at Darlington.

Dale Jarrett has won 3 times and started on the pole 3 times at Darlington. All this since joining Yates in 1995.

Rusty has never won here and never sat on the pole.

Mark Martin has 1 career victory at Darlington and 2 poles

Sterling has 2 career wins and 2 poles here.

The ROTY contenders have one race each here. JJ qualified 5th and finished 6th while Ryan qualified 3rd and finished 5th.
 
I really like watching that race!
Jeff Gordon will hang it out there so far he will leave a tire mark on the wall during the race a couple times!

the spring race someone slid up in front of Jeff & he slid off there back bumper & went bye down the next straight away was one hell of a piece of driving!

that place is cool!
 
Beyond a doubt, my favorite race of the year. There is no place like Darlington. My significantly cuter other and I were planning to go to the spring race next year, but then we decided to try and buy a house, so now we do NOTHING!! Can't wait for the next race though, I look forward to it all year.
 
Plus, your Burton boys are very good there. It would be nice for Jeff to win atleast one race this year.
 
Too bad that the man in black is no longer around to go for a tenth win there. I really enjoyed watching him run at that place.
 
Originally posted by 66mustang
Plus, your Burton boys are very good there.  It would be nice for Jeff to win atleast one race this year.
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Yeah, that's a fringe benefit that Ward runs well there, but I have always loved the track. Just something about it.

Jeff sure could use a win. He's OK in my book. I got a sneaky feeling about this race though....I keep thinking pbunch will be verrrrrrrry happy after this one is over.
 
I know you were pissed when he got wrecked by Jr but did you crack up when he threw his little shoe things and then he was all happy about it.
 
Bristol, Darlington and Richmond are the best three consecutive races run all year. Those Burtons do run well at the lady in black:)
 
Originally posted by 66mustang
I know you were pissed when he got wrecked by Jr but did you crack up when he threw his little shoe things and then he was all happy about it.
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No. I cheered loud enought to wake up our 9 year old. And if he had actually hit that little hole in the window he was aiming for, I would have driven the 45 minutes to the track and congratulated him. And to say I was pissed is incorrect. I am still pissed. Snot nosed little punk. Junior not you :D
 
TWF.........you still pissed at me and abooja for disagreeing with you?:)
 
I was not pissed at anyone except the human wrecking ball. Y'all feel free to disagree with me anytime you like. I've been wrong before. Twice to be exact. :p
 
Originally posted by racer8
Too bad that the man in black is no longer around to go for a tenth win there. I really enjoyed watching him run at that place.
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Dale could deffinately get around that place. That track is so cool, i wish that the best line was still hittin the wall. I saw some video of that when they still had the gaurd rail up, it made me think they have concretewalls just for darlington.

Was the year the Jeff Gordon won the origional Winston Million the same year that dale fell asleep in his car?
 
Umm, Jeff Gordon didn't win the original Winston Million. That was Bill Elliott. My second favorite race of all time in fact.
 
Originally posted by 66mustang
Do you think that Ward will ever get a championship?
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No. I also happen to firmly believe that neither will Harvick, Junior, or Busch.
 
Originally posted by TN-Ward-Fan
Umm, Jeff Gordon didn't win the original Winston Million.  That was Bill Elliott.  My second favorite race of all time in fact.
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I know it wasnt the first Winston Million, by origional I meant that you had to be Elligable by winning 3 of 4 races, The Daytona 500, THe Winston 500, The Coke 600, or the Southern 500.
 
Didn't mean to make you mad. I was just wondering why you choose Ward. I think he is a good driver.
 
Hey dirtymo, I believe jeff won his first mil a few yaers before that incident. without checking into it I would have to say 96 was the year. and dales bad day was probably 98. just guesing on this.
hardscrabble could probably come up with the years in no time.
 
Jeff won the Winston Million in 1997, Bill won it in 1985, the first year it was created.

I donlt remember exactly when the DE "asleep at the wheel" incident was. But 1997 or 1998 would be the best guesses, those were rough years for the Dale.
 
Originally posted by 66mustang
Didn't mean to make you mad.  I was just wondering why you choose Ward.  I think he is a good driver.
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You didn't make me mad. It was bedtime. :itslove: :hyper: :growl: :eek:

I chose Ward on a one year contract. I am a Ford man, always have been. But I thought Martin (who was my favorite driver) would announce his retirement this year. Predictions like this are the reason I am not a stockbroker. Anyway, I didn't see anyone in a competitive Ford that I really liked. So with any GM product NOT being an option, I went with someone I respected, keeps his nose clean, and face it is funny as hell to listen to. And unless Ward puts on a bowtie, he'll stay my number two guy. But 5 minutes after the end of the final race this year, I become an Elliott Sadler fan.
 
The year Dale Sr. fell asleep in the car is 1997. I thought that was one of the best pictures of Dale that I had seen. It was amazing that he could have fallen asleep in that car. Such an uncomfortable looking position, and at the track no less. One of the other pictures of him falling asleep was in two straight-back folding chairs! Dale was a classic! RIP :angel:
 
I have been a Sadler fan for awhile now. I am real exciting that he is going to RYR. I think he will prove alot of people wrong who doubted him.
 
Yes, the year Dale Sr. decided to snooze during the race and Jeff Gordon winning the ORIGINAL Winston Million format were the same. I remember it like it was yesterday.
 
Maybe I'm confused here, What "original" Winston Million format are you referring to? Has it changed since its creation in 1985?
 
HS, I think they are referring to the No Bull Million. Much easier to win than what Awesome did. But so many fans today weren't around then, thus the confusion.
 
No, I'm not refering to the No Bull Million. I'm refering the to Winston Million that ONLY Bill Elliott and Jeff Gordon won. Ya know where you had to win three out of four races. It was damn near impossible but those two guys got it done. The only thing cool about the current Million dollar format is that a fan wins a million too. It's not near as hard to win as the original. I can't believe you guys don't know this with the amount of racing knowledge that you have.:rolleyes:
 
In all honesty, I didn't know Poo ever won the Winston Million under the old format. Then again, you can't prove by me that he has ever won a race, cuz I have never seen him win. I've seen him lead off turn 4 on the final lap a bunch of times, but something always seems to happen to my TV on those occasions. For some reason, it changes channels before Poo gets the checkered. So I have never seen him win. :D
 
Oh I knew the first format(and only Winston Million format, the name was changed when the format changed in honor of NASCAR's 50-year anniversary), but I thought you were trying to say the Jeff won the first one, my apologies.

Not necessarily my opinion, but controversey surrounded Jeff's win at Darilington that year. And Dale's "ailment" was big news. Thought you might find this interesting.

Top Row Seat - Darlington
Dateline: 09/02/97
RING... "911 what is your emergency?"
"I'd like to report a theft."
"Ok, what was stolen?"
"A Million Dollars."

Ok, so legally he didn't steal it. But when PosterBoy rammed Jeff Burton down onto the apron as they came down to take the white flag he displayed a complete disregard for human life that I find simply inexcusable. Bill Elliott won the Winston Million, Jeff Gordon stole it.

In victory lane Gordon said "I'm sure Jeff (Burton) is probably a little mad at me but, come on, it's a million dollars!" This shows that Jeff is aware that his fellow drivers would not agree with his decision to run Burton off the track, yet in his mind it's ok because he got a lot of money. I find this leap of logic simply unbelievable.

Jeff Burton took it pretty well. According to the Associated Press Burton said, "Now we know how to race. We know how he's going to race, so we know how to race him." This sounds pretty ominous but Burton is a smart guy and when he calms down I know he'll rise above it and race hard and clean. He may not be the first to jump in line to draft with Gordon, but I don't believe he'll take any dangerous action against him.

After watching the struggle that Ray Evernham (The best crew chief in motorsports) and his team went through battling the race car and the changing weather conditions, I was prepared to congratulate Gordon for sticking with it all day long and really earning a solid finish. But because he again showed the poor judgement that has haunted him all year, I believe this weekend's race now tops the list of reasons that I do not like Jeff Gordon.

Scary Weekend For Race Fans

One of the scariest moments of this season (second only to Steve Grissom's horrendous wreck at Atlanta) has got to be seeing Dale Earnhardt being carried from his car and rushed to the infield care center. Apparently he passed out twice in the seat before the race, and then became disoriented on the race track. All of the tests came back negative and he claims to be fine and ready to race again, but NASCAR is holding him back until they are convinced that he can safely return to the track.

An unknown illness that is threatening your career, your passion and possibly your life has got to be the most terrifying thing one man can face. Keep Dale Earnhardt in your prayers as he races this unknown challenger.

Go Fast, Turn Left, Stay Safe!
 
I remember that finish. I gained a ton of respect for Jeff Burton that day. ALL he had to do was flick his wrists to the right and he wins a million. Instead, he tries to play by the rules. Not a whole lot of drivers who would have swallowed what Poo did that day the way Burton did.
 
Burton wasn't up for a Million that day Ward-Fan. Only Jeff was. You need to get that T.V. checked out, it's causing you to miss the end of a lot of races.;)
 
Are you sure about that BC? I thought Burton was eligible too for that race. I could be wrong about that...
 
Still though it is no excuss to try and crash somebody for a million dollars.
 
I could be wrong about this but hasnt other drivers includeing DE sr wrecked people before ...

and I forgot all about that it seems jeff has grown up a bit since then atleast I think so look at sunday a bump instead of a wreck
 
Jeff won the Winston Million under the old format in 1997, he even ran a "Million Dollar Date" scheme for Darlington.
 
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