Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 21, 1994 TAG: 9408210034
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BROOKLYN, MICH. LENGTH: Medium
After the death of Davey Allison on July 13, 1993, following a helicopter crash at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Irvan was hired by Allison's car owner, Robert Yates, to drive Allison's Texaco Havoline Ford Thunderbird.
When he took over the car in September, Irvan already was established - as a winner and as a controversial, metal-banging hard-charger.
The move to Yates' car, however, moved Irvan into the highest echelon of the Winston Cup series. It allowed him, for the first time, to seriously compete for the Winston Cup championship.
But Irvan's devastating crash during practice Saturday morning at Michigan International Speedway left him with a fractured skull and critical lung injuries. He was in a fight simply to stay alive. If he survives, his career may well be over. And if it isn't, his glorious 1994 season undoubtedly is.
And for the kindly, soft-spoken Yates and his snakebit team, it was yet another frantic rush to a hospital and yet another vigil in a waiting room.
They went through this routine in Allentown, Pa., in July 1992, after Allison's terrible crash at Pocono. They did it again last year, after Allison's helicopter crash at Talladega. And Saturday night, they were doing it here.
Before Saturday's crash, Irvan was leading NASCAR's Winston Cup series in nearly every important statistical category except points, in which he trailed Dale Earnhardt by 27. In 20 races, he had three victories and 15 finishes in the top 10. He has led 79 times in 17 races. And he also has led the most laps (1,781) and the most miles (2,419).
Irvan was the man to beat in nearly every race this season, including the inaugural Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he led with five laps to go before his right-front tire deflated, giving Jeff Gordon the victory.
Coincidentally, Irvan's crash Saturday apparently was caused by a right-front tire failure.
Born in Salinas, Cal., on Jan. 13, 1959, Irvan played tennis and football in high school and raced as a hobby. His father helped him build his first race car, and he drove it to the track championship in Stockton, Calif., in 1977.
In 1982, he moved to Charlotte, N.C., to pursue a NASCAR career. One of his first jobs was welding new seats at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The sport of stock car racing was growing by leaps and bounds, and Irvan would a key player.
He raced and won in the Charlotte area in the 1980s and had his first Winston Cup start at Richmond on Sept. 13, 1987. In 1988, he finished second to Ken Bouchard in the race for Winston Cup's rookie of the year, but Bouchard's star plummeted while Irvan's took off.
His first victory, after 79 starts, came at Bristol in the night race in August 1990, while driving the Morgan-McClure Kodak Chevrolet.
In 1991, Irvan won the Daytona 500. But he also triggered big crashes at Talladega and Pocono and earned so much enmity among his fellow drivers that he was prompted to publicly apologize in a drivers' meeting.
Irvan toned down his driving after that, but kept winning and demonstrated superior skills on all types of tracks, especially road courses.
As of Saturday, Irvan had 12 victories and 16 pole positions.
Irvan and his first wife were divorced. He married his current wife, Kim, in November 1992, and they had a daughter, Jordan Leah, on Aug. 12, 1993. Outside of racing, the family has been busy building a horse farm outside Charlotte. Irvan's father, Vic, also is a member of his team.
Irvan's terrible crash was yet another blow to a sport that has experienced tremendous growth, with sellouts at nearly every race, offset by a seemingly endless series of catastrophes.
In 1991, veteran driver J.D. McDuffie was killed at Watkins Glen. In 1992, only a few weeks after Davey Allison's terrible Pocono crash, his younger brother, Clifford, was killed during practice here. In 1993, while Rusty Wallace survived terrible crashes at Daytona and Talladega, reigning Winston Cup champion Alan Kulwicki and Allison were killed in aviation crashes.
And in the space of four days in February, even as NASCAR was introducing roof flaps to prevent the tumbling crashes that Allison, Wallace, Darrell Waltrip and others had suffered, veteran drivers Neil Bonnett and Rodney Orr were killed at Daytona in non-flip crashes.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB