Preamble: The title comes from a book by Robert Sheffield’s 2010 novel “Talking to Girls About Duran Duran.” In the novel, he takes 25 pop songs from the 1980s and uses each song as a jumping off point to talk about his love of music and growing up in the 1980s. (If you’re more into hair metal than pop, you should also check out Chuck Klosterman’s 2001 book “Fargo Rock City.”) In “Talking to People Who Don’t Know NASCAR About Daytona, I’m going to take devote each entry in the series to one of my Top 10 favourite Daytona 500s. Instead of discussing who led what laps, etc. I’m going to describe to an audience (and probably a non-existence one) why I chose this particular race.
#6 – “The 1989 Daytona 500 – Waltrip’s Gamble Pays Off”
Darrell Waltrip should not have won the 1989 Daytona 500.
With less than a handful of laps to go, his engine should have sputtered and quit, leaving Dale Earnhardt and Ken Schrader, drafting together some seven seconds back, to battle it out.
But with just over 50 laps to go, Waltrip had gone all in on a fuel strategy gamble that was either going to take him to Victory Lane, or leave him disappointed in his seventeenth try at the Daytona 500.
Waltrip’s Hendrick Motorsports #17 Tide Chevrolet had been prepared for the maximum fuel mileage that NASCAR would have legally allowed. He wasn’t the fastest car in the field. Teammate Ken Schrader had won the pole, the Busch Clash and his 125-mile qualifying race and lead the most laps. Waltrip probably wasn’t on anyone’s mind as a possible winner as the race went on.
On Lap 147, all of the leaders pitted. 53 laps or 132.5 miles remained in the Daytona 500. But with 22-gallon tanks, cars would only be able to run for another 100 laps, meaning everyone should have needed to pit one more time.
But in addition to crew chief Jeff Hammond and his Hendrick crew, Waltrip had a secret weapon: his wife, Stevie. Throughout the race, Stevie had kept track of Darrell’s fuel mileage and she noticed the #17 was able to stretch their gas out longer than their competitors.
With 35 laps to go, the #17 Tide team made a decision. They would gamble and try to make it all the way to the finish line of the Daytona 500. It was risky to turn the Daytona 500 into a fuel mileage race. In 1986, Dale Earnhardt had fallen short by three laps, trying to keep up with Geoff Bodine. In 1987, Bodine himself had run out of gas just past the start/finish line on the final lap and watched as Bill Elliott roared past him to win Elliott’s second Daytona 500.
Waltrip went into fuel conservation mode. He slowed down as much as he could and still keep up with the field. He drafted with everyone and anyone. Michael Waltrip, Darrell’s younger brother, once joked, when reflecting on the 1989 Daytona 500, “he drafted a bird!” It’s a story that’s been repeated by others, so perhaps it was true, or perhaps it’s just a good joke to tell.
As the laps wound down, the leaders began to head down pit road to top off with fuel. With ten laps to go, that list included Schrader and Earnhardt.
Waltrip continued to stay out and so another race – this one pitting man vs. machine – was on.
Alan Kulwicki attempted Waltrip’s strategy but, on lap 197, he had a tire go down and had to pit. Waltrip assumed Kulwicki had run out of gas and feared he would soon as well.
Indeed, the fuel pressure gauge continued to signal he was out of gas. “I’m out! I’m out!” DW cried out to crew chief Jeff Hammond. Hammond told Waltrip to shake the car, weave left and right to force another ounce or two into the fuel line.
The tactic worked. He may have been running of fuems but Waltrip managed to hang on. He coaxed the #17 Tide Chevroltet across the start/finish line on Lap 200, 7.64 seconds ahead of Schrader to win the 1989 Daytona 500.
While Waltrip’s stress-filled final laps may have been the story of the day, there are two lasting images from the day.
The first is of an emotional Darrell Waltrip grabbing future commentary partner Mike Joy and exclaiming that he had won the Daytona 500, then second-guessing him and asking “Wait…wait… this is the Daytona 500, isn’t it?”
The second occurred just moments later, when Darrell did his imitation of the “Icky Shuffle” – a touchdown celebration popularized by Cincinnati Bengals fullback Elbert “Ickey” Woods. Many NASCAR drivers, in retrospectives about the event, joke about Waltrip’s awkwardness at performing the dance.
But for anyone who knows Darrell Waltrip, from his days as “JAWS” to his commentating career (starting each race with a cry of “Boogity, Boogity, Boogity!”) would understand that Waltrip does nothing boring. It was no surprise that his Daytona 500 victory and his post-race celebration would be one to remember.
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