Nascar-April 1st-13 Years ago

Instead of my usual silliness about this weeks race, this week I choose to remember.

Alan Kulwicki Dec. 14, 1954 - Apr. 1, 1993

Alan was the Winston Cup Champion in 1992. He was killed in a plane crash going to Bristol 13 years ago today.

“Alan went into 1993 as the reining champion but on April 1,1993 Alan Kulwick was taken from us when he was in route from a Public Relations appearance in Knoxville, TN, to the next race in Bristol, TN. The plane that he and three others were riding went down near Bristol. All four on board perished.” (LINK)

I remember that weekend well. Alan fought all the odds to become champion. In my opinion he will be the last owner-driver to win the cup. His funding was limited and he and a car named Underbird became a legend. He was the true underdog. The Underbird car accomplishments deserve noting:

THIS CAR RACED 30 TIMES

CAR WON 8 POLES

ONLY 5 TIMES DID IT FAIL TO QUALIFY IN THE TOP TEN

CAR WON 1 RACE,

FINISHED IN THE TOP 5 SEVEN TIMES AND IN THE TOP 10 FOURTEEN TIMES

WON THE WINSTON CUP CHAMPIONSHIP

CAR EARNED $ 660,202 IN RACE PURSES

CAR ACCUMULATED A TOTAL OF 3,444 WINSTON CUP DRIVER POINTS

That car is still around. Alan was a engineer and worked on the car. I will close this tribute with a few of Alans words from the link above.

"I hope that when 1993 is over, the people at Winston, the people at NASCAR, and the competitors will all look back and say, 'We were proud to have him represent us as our champion.'" From Alan's 1992 Championship Awards speech.

We are Alan, we are.
“If you don’t believe you don’t belong”. Alan Kulwicki

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