Did Darrell Waltrip cheat to win the first-ever NASCAR All-Star Race?
The first-ever All-Star race had a 12-car line-up. Record champions Richard Petty and Dale Sr were there among them.
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Darrell Waltrip after 1985 All-Star race win (Credit: Fox )
The NASCAR All-Star Race is a mid-season exhibition race where the race winners and a few drivers are selected via an open race and compete for $1 Million prize money. It’s one of the most competitive and entertaining races on the schedule. The non-point paying race is hosted by resurrected North Wilkesboro in 2023, the 39th edition of the race.
Over the years, the event has witnessed some impressive performances and challenges. But what the inaugural NASCAR All-Star race outcome is still talked about to this day. The race didn’t have any magic moments or super competitive racing. It was 70 laps normal short-track race. But the winner and his car became the prime talking point.
Cup legend Darrell Waltrip won the race with 12 winners from the previous year lined up for a $200K showdown in the Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was a 70-lap race around the 1.5-mile Oval. The race wasn’t an event of its own and was the supporting race for that year’s Coco-Cola 600. The stars in the race lineup were Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, and Terry Labonte.
Waltrip, Harry Gant, and Labonte were the race leaders shole day. They fought for the win while the rest of the grid drove along. Waltrip was running second most of the day. He took the lead with just two laps remaining and won the race. Soon after the No:11 Chevy crossed the finish line, its engine blew up.
Though the cars of 1985 were no match for the current generation of cars, engine blowing up was abnormal back then as well. The race was just 105 miles, and the engine of the car that was supposed to race 600 miles on Sunday blew up. This prompted accusations of cheating from the racing community. They claimed that the car was manipulated, and with the engine issue, there were no ways to p[rove as post-race inspection was pointless.
Darrell Waltrip refuted any rumors of infractions but confirmed that his car was specially made for the race
Waltrip credits his $200K win to the late legendary Car builder Junior Johnson. The ex-driver once told the NASCAR fans that he did have a special car built for the event. Johnson and his crew put so much effort into making the “twisted sister” car. He also acknowledged that NASCAR did allow teams to come up with some crazy updates for the event.
We built a special car that had been to the wind tunnel more than any we’d ever built. There was an amazing amount of effort put into that race. Junior ground a set of rods that would run only as long as he thought they needed to run. He did the same thing with pistons and the crank. He used his experience to make that motor good for only as long as it needed to be.
Waltrip said as reported by Autoweek.
But that’s the chance you take with $200,000 on the line. It was a hand grenade motor and Junior held the pin. That was a ‘twisted-sister’ kind of car, one he built just for that race. In a lot of ways NASCAR kind of let their guard down when it came to that race. You could kind of do what you want to do.
It’s still unclear whether there were any illegal modifications done to the car. The drover has always refuted the claims, and NASCAR has never hinted at it being an illegal ride. Some also question the arguments of it being an illegal car by pointing out that it’s too hard and too risky to time the blow-up engine part for such a big race. At the same time, Waltrip’s confession that the car was specially built raises eyebrows.
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Justin P Joy
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