Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 7, 1993 TAG: 9302070075
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
'92 CHAMP KULWICKI PROVES 1 CAN WIN RUNNING OWN SHOW
Last month, as a horde of stock-car racing reporters gathered around him, reigning Winston Cup champion Alan Kulwicki stood in his garage near Charlotte Motor Speedway and talked of the challenge of defending his title in the face of many new obligations."I'll try to deal with the media as much as possible and hope that things will go well," he said, "and I'll be a more personable person when you see me . . . ."
Suddenly, from the room on the other side of the wall behind him, came the loud and unmistakable sound of a hammer banging on sheet metal.
Kulwicki stopped talking. He looked momentarily exasperated. "Will someone go back and tell him to stop that," he said.
Then, as a team member headed toward the room, Kulwicki added: "Don't tell him to stop working. Just tell him to hammer quietly."
Obviously, there's no backing off at the Kulwicki shop for 1993. However, Kulwicki's trademark intensity has been tempered, for the moment at least, by diminished urgency. No matter what else he does in his career, he has climbed to the mountaintop of NASCAR racing.
He knows the odds are against him repeating as champion, but "now I'm working extra hard to defy those odds," Kulwicki said.
Of course, even if he fails to win the title again, a victory in the Daytona 500 on Feb. 14 would ensure his status as one of stock-car racing's greats. His winter test speeds, however, were about a mile per hour slower than the top speeds.
But Kulwicki's remarkable success, aside from being a triumph for the little guy, may promote further change in NASCAR racing in the coming years. It also may help hold down escalating costs.
Except for Richard Petty and his family-owned team, Kulwicki is the first owner/driver to win the Winston Cup title since Rex White in 1960. And Kulwicki's success could fuel a growing trend toward drivers owning their own teams.
Although Kulwicki has been the most successful, Darrell Waltrip and Rusty Wallace also have prospered with their own teams.
Geoff Bodine wants to start his own Winston Cup team, and the Labonte brothers, with their modern, family-owned shop in Trinity, N.C., are seemingly in position to do the same.
Kulwicki's victory "gives validity to the fact that today you can be an owner and a driver," Waltrip said. "Sponsorship today is what drives these teams."
In addition to the added satisfaction of winning on their own, Kulwicki, Waltrip and Wallace thrive on being their own bosses. There is no owner standing over their shoulder ready to second-guess their decisions.
"The fact is, I'm making a lot of those critical decisions and that might be a reason why we're efficient," Kulwicki said. "That's a plus for doing it this way."
Also, by spending only slightly more than $2 million to win the title, Kulwicki proved he was efficient with his budget as well as his strategy.
NASCAR's best sponsorships now are $3 million and rising, and some teams spent more than $5 million last year. But sponsors take note: Kulwicki says $2 million is plenty.
Granted, Kulwicki didn't have to pay a driver more than $1 million to drive his car; but, he said, `If you've got that kind of money [$2 million], you can't use that as an excuse" for not winning.
Said low-budget car owner Butch Mock, who is planning a full season this year with driver Dick Trickle: "My single biggest hero in this sport is Alan Kulwicki."
Mock won't even have close to $2 million to run with this year, but he said, "I know with a $2 million budget I can run with the $5 million budgets."
NASCAR has announced its intent to work for lower costs by standardizing cars. Last year, under the direction of new technical director Gary Nelson, NASCAR standardized the body shapes, insisting that cars closely match the shapes of their street-stock versions.
"The areas where we can expand and gain advantages are becoming very, very few," said Larry McReynolds, Davey Allison's crew chief.
On the other hand, Nelson's strict application of the rules "has kept me from having sleepless nights wondering if someone was getting away with something," McReynolds said.
In the future, the sanctioning body wants to cut costs even further by moving toward one race car for each team, eliminating the different cars teams use for different types of tracks.
These trends promote closer competition, which in turn promotes parity.
So the bottom line for 1993 likely will be more winners, less domination and, possibly, even closer racing. Don't be surprised if there's another six-way battle for the championship at the end of the year.
"We have the same pie we always had," Waltrip said. "But everybody is just getting a little smaller piece. I just want my piece."
As does everybody else.
Dale Earnhardt, with Harry Gant's former crew chief, Andy Petree, at the helm of his team, wants to avenge his worst season in a decade.
Davey Allison has a score to settle with the lords of luck.
Ernie Irvan wants to keep winning but add some consistency - and shed his aura of a crasher.
Jimmy Spencer apparently is ready to assume Irvan's bad-guy role. "Mr. Excitement" may have had the best quote of the off-season last month when he said during the 1993 media tour: `I think I've got a bad reputation, but it's got me where I am today."
Like Spencer, Kyle Petty and Mark Martin want to resume their late-1992 hot streaks.
Petty said the momentum from every bad year he's had in racing has carried over to the next year, "so I don't know why in the good years it shouldn't carry over, too."
Sterling Marlin, Michael Waltrip and Hut Stricklin want to win just one, at least for starters.
Rising from the ashes of their dormant careers are Bobby Hillin, driving for Junie Donlavey's freshly sponsored team; Rick Wilson, replacing Richard Petty; and Phil Parsons.
"If we can just run good, that's what we're looking for," Wilson said.
Among all these drivers will be the most promising crop of rookies ever.
Bobby Labonte, Kenny Wallace and Jeff Gordon all arrive on the Winston Cup circuit with new teams.
"We won't go out there and try to set the world on fire," Gordon said. "But we're not just going out to try to win this rookie battle. We want more."
So with all this fresh blood in Winston Cup for 1993, where does that leave a little guy like Jimmy Means, who never has come close to winning a race, scrapes by on a budget of about $300,000 per year and has three employees instead of 20.
"Well, like [crew chief] Dale Inman told me three or four or five years ago, he said, `Gettin' tough, ain't it, Jimmy?' "
"And I said, `Dale, it's always been tough.'
"So I don't look for it to be any different. I don't have an ego after 430 starts. I just try to survive and keep going. And as long as we're having fun and we can be halfway competitive, we'll just be there, doing what can and racing with what we've got."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING