KIDWCKED
02-04-2011, 12:38 AM
c/p from nascar.com by Andrew Giangola
When Michael Waltrip was riding "the streak" -- an astounding 0-for-462 in Cup Series competition -- he wasn't exactly the sport's hottest commodity.
Yet, going into the 2001 season, there was one believer. Driver and team owner Dale Earnhardt gave Waltrip a ride. The seven-time NASCAR champ knew his severely snakebitten driver could win, and he devised a plan to deem it so at NASCAR's grandest race, the Daytona 500.
“
Quitters don't lose 462 races in a row. They don't get the chance. I was going to do what Dale expected of me.
”
-- MICHAEL WALTRIP, book excerptDale had an idea. He, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Waltrip would drive as a team, drafting and blocking for one another on Daytona's high banks where there's strength -- and speed -- in numbers. Whichever DEI car was up front would win the race, Dale said, or rather, gruffly commanded.
And with Fox broadcasting the first race of a landmark NASCAR deal finally putting the races on network television, and Michael's big brother, Darrell, calling the action in the TV booth, that's exactly what happened.
With Dale Jr. pushing and Dale blocking a hungry pack of drivers led by Sterling Marlin, Michael Waltrip's seemingly endless stretch of futility was erased with one gigantic win.
But the best day of Waltrip's life -- he felt eerily confident before the race buoyed by coach Earnhardt's pep talks -- would become the worst. "In the blink of an eye" (the title of Waltrip's compelling new book), triumph turned to tragedy.
Behind the No. 15 Chevy on the last turn of the final lap, there had been a crash. Marlin had accidentally turned the black No. 3 Chevy into the wall. Waltrip glided past the smoking wreck clueless to the severity of his boss's situation as he headed to Victory Lane.
There, amid the back-slaps, sprayed adult beverages and commemorative photos, the overjoyed driver waited and waited for his team owner, friend and hero. It was a while before he finally got the shocking news. The driver known as "the Intimidator," the tough-as-nails outlaw assumed to be invincible, was gone.
For Waltrip, unbridled joy turned to unspeakable loss.
This was not what it was supposed to be like to win the Daytona 500.
The psychological aftershocks nearly added up to more than Waltrip could handle. His struggles unknown to most fans are now chronicled in In the Blink of an Eye: Dale, Daytona and the Day that Changed Everything (to be released Feb. 1).
Written in breezy, fast-moving prose capturing Waltrip's youthful whimsy, In the Blink of an Eye feels like a few books in one.
It is, of course, the story of one man's sudden death affecting another in a deep and powerful way, a timely personal lesson as the sport remembers the 10th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt's passing.
When Michael Waltrip was riding "the streak" -- an astounding 0-for-462 in Cup Series competition -- he wasn't exactly the sport's hottest commodity.
Yet, going into the 2001 season, there was one believer. Driver and team owner Dale Earnhardt gave Waltrip a ride. The seven-time NASCAR champ knew his severely snakebitten driver could win, and he devised a plan to deem it so at NASCAR's grandest race, the Daytona 500.
“
Quitters don't lose 462 races in a row. They don't get the chance. I was going to do what Dale expected of me.
”
-- MICHAEL WALTRIP, book excerptDale had an idea. He, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Waltrip would drive as a team, drafting and blocking for one another on Daytona's high banks where there's strength -- and speed -- in numbers. Whichever DEI car was up front would win the race, Dale said, or rather, gruffly commanded.
And with Fox broadcasting the first race of a landmark NASCAR deal finally putting the races on network television, and Michael's big brother, Darrell, calling the action in the TV booth, that's exactly what happened.
With Dale Jr. pushing and Dale blocking a hungry pack of drivers led by Sterling Marlin, Michael Waltrip's seemingly endless stretch of futility was erased with one gigantic win.
But the best day of Waltrip's life -- he felt eerily confident before the race buoyed by coach Earnhardt's pep talks -- would become the worst. "In the blink of an eye" (the title of Waltrip's compelling new book), triumph turned to tragedy.
Behind the No. 15 Chevy on the last turn of the final lap, there had been a crash. Marlin had accidentally turned the black No. 3 Chevy into the wall. Waltrip glided past the smoking wreck clueless to the severity of his boss's situation as he headed to Victory Lane.
There, amid the back-slaps, sprayed adult beverages and commemorative photos, the overjoyed driver waited and waited for his team owner, friend and hero. It was a while before he finally got the shocking news. The driver known as "the Intimidator," the tough-as-nails outlaw assumed to be invincible, was gone.
For Waltrip, unbridled joy turned to unspeakable loss.
This was not what it was supposed to be like to win the Daytona 500.
The psychological aftershocks nearly added up to more than Waltrip could handle. His struggles unknown to most fans are now chronicled in In the Blink of an Eye: Dale, Daytona and the Day that Changed Everything (to be released Feb. 1).
Written in breezy, fast-moving prose capturing Waltrip's youthful whimsy, In the Blink of an Eye feels like a few books in one.
It is, of course, the story of one man's sudden death affecting another in a deep and powerful way, a timely personal lesson as the sport remembers the 10th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt's passing.